In his blockbuster book “The Big Short” Michael Lewis describes a scenario wherein bond trader A asks bond trader B how he is going to screw him in a trade they were considering.  Each of these characters knew that the other was going to take as much as possible with no regard for anyone else.  I guess you can call that trust because it’s all out in the open.  In this arena I can trust that you couldn’t care less about me and that it is, therefore, my job to protect myself from you.

It shouldn’t be that way when we buy a life insurance policy from a company whose stated purpose is to help people in their time of need, but it is.  Bloomberg Markets has just published a piece by David Evans about major insurance firms and the deceptive methods they employ in distributing death benefits.

Apparently the mother of a fallen soldier in our never ending war on terror was informed by one of these companies that her son had named her as the beneficiary of a $400,000 life insurance policy.  The company then asked if she would like a lump sum or a 36 month payout.  She opted for the lump sum and the company sent her what appeared to her to be a checkbook but it was not.  It was a debit book with a number of check like drafts that she assumed were checks.  Each had the name of a major bank on it and it appeared that she had an account with that bank but she did not.  The $400,000 remained in the accounts of the insurance company earning some 5% annually while she was paid interest amounting to ½%.  To add insult to injury her $400,000 was not FDIC protected while in the accounts of the company a seemingly minor point but, given the disasters of the last few years, who knows?

Andrew Cuomo is opening an investigation on this and I wish him well.  The insurance giant is sure to employ the famous “small print defense” where they, like the traders albeit in more refined language, tell us how they’re going to screw us.
 
 

Why not and, while we’re at it, why not foster the creation of thousands of small businesses to install them and why not offer these businesses a central source for purchasing the panels?

I’m thinking about a not for profit organization whose ultimate purpose is to install solar panels on every roof and to help hundreds of people get into their own businesses.  This organization will purchase the panels and offer training to the budding entrepreneurs in the installation of the panels.  Consulting services will be offered to the new business owners in accounting, sales and other business practices.

The not for profit entity will continually research the solar industry for the best panels, inverters and monitoring systems to ensure that the installing entrepreneurs are armed with the best equipment and information as they accomplish the goal of “Solar Panels on Every Roof”.

The not for profit will monitor all renewable energy incentive programs offered by federal and state governments as well as keeping all participants apprised of federal investment tax credits and other programs as they become available.  The not for profit will maintain a web site offering cost estimates to potential clients and will direct those interested to the entrepreneur installer closest to them.

I’m really looking for comments here as I’m stumped as to what to do next.  We have all heard the talk about our addiction to fossil based energy and I don’t want to simply add to the conversation.
 

“Freedom is not worth having if it does not connote freedom to err.  It passes my comprehension how human beings, be they ever so experienced and able, can delight in depriving other human beings of that precious right.”……….Mohandas Gandhi

I have had a lot of freedom in my life and have erred often but the errors have been mine.  I think that's the gift.  I’ve also not been the kind of parent who frequently pushed his children to do things they didn’t want to do.  I’m the kind of boss who lets people do what they will for the most part and they do OK. 

I’m no Gandhi; I do what I do because I would rather not have the confrontations occasioned by imposing my will on others and because, well maybe I’m lazy or simply don’t want to get involved.  In any case I like the concept of allowing others the opportunity to succeed or to fail in their own endeavors with their own hands at the helm.

When I look back at my life there are areas where I disappointed myself and others but on the whole I’m pretty satisfied.  The things I wish I had done are few and I didn’t do them because…….I just didn’t.  What I’ve done, I’ve done and no one else is responsible.
 

Last Sunday evening "60 Minutes" aired a segment about people walking away from their houses when their mortgage debt was greater than the value of the house.  Much of the focus of the show dealt with the morality of not paying ones debts and the subjects, although they felt bad about losing their houses, seemed not to believe they were doing anything wrong.

A few months ago our Supreme Court basically said that corporations have the same rights as people in terms of free speech and the right to donate money to influence political campaigns.  I see a relationship here between the folks who are walking away from their mortgage debt and this court decision.  These people are acting like corporations who walk away from a debt when to continue paying would not be a wise business decision.

And why not?  If corporations have similar, and sometimes greater, rights than people why shouldn't people make decisions in the same way as corporations do?  After all it's nothing personal; it's just a business decision.

I don’t trust any major corporation to care about its clients or employees.  They are run by people whose only objectives are to increase their share price and to project a benevolent image so the only thing I can trust is that they’ll be good for me only if I own shares in them, otherwise they’re out to get my money.  Cynical, maybe but that’s the way I see it.

Stock brokerages were much more deserving of trust when they were partnerships and their income was dependent on how well they managed their money.  Now that they are publicly owned they are investing OPM (other people’s money) they no longer have much “skin in the game” and I basically don’t trust them to look out for me.  Also, brokerages are now parts of major banks and are the most profitable areas of those banks. My sense is that it’s pretty simple.  If you can sell me an investment product and tell me about it’s upside potential while buying a short position in that same security I have no faith in your intentions.

I’ve read recently that the six largest banks in the USA control some 60% of the country’s assets.  We hear the term “too big to fail” and nothing happens.  They are too big to fail and they should, therefore, be broken up.  My sense is, also, that the trading operations should be once again separated from the commercial and personal banking business.  They should be separate corporations.  They should be made small enough such that, when they begin acting like casinos again, and they lose their capital it will have no impact on the economy at large.  When Goldman Sachs or some other firm convinces another AIG that they want to buy “insurance” against the failure of some “sure not to fail” security and that security turns to garbage, I want the impact to be felt only by the people on either side of the bet.

And, speaking of trust, how about Enron, Arthur Andersen, Monsanto, Exxon, Payday loans from Bank of America, The Health Insurance Business. Big Pharma…….the list goes on and on and I trust none of them.  Corporations are composed of people who, taken individually, may very well be honest but, put them in a situation where their income depends solely on increased profits………..watch out!

When it becomes clear to people that my political leanings are distinctly liberal I am often asked how that can be when I am a business owner hoping to make a profit.  It’s an interesting question to which I’ve given a lot of thought.  It seems to me to be the only fair way to think in a competitive society such as ours.  The nature of competition ensures that there will be winners and losers. 

I’ve been fortunate from birth.  I was born to parents who loved and cared for me and did all they could to provide me with opportunity.  I am the eldest of eight children and we’ve all done reasonably well although we were raised in a home that was, at best, economically challenged.  We all attended a Catholic grammar school which was successful in giving us the basis of a good education.  We all read well and graduated from that school with strong basic math skills.  We were prepared to move ahead educationally.  Most attended really good high schools and colleges and those of us who didn’t had no one but ourselves to blame. 

I am very fortunate to be a partner in a small printing company in Jersey City and, as a result, I employ people who have not done nearly as well economically as I have.  I believe that my position in the company brings with it a serious responsibility for the welfare of my employees.  I’ve done well largely as a result of birth and circumstance and most of these people have not had the same advantages I have had.  Furthermore, were it not for them I would not have the life I have.  My profit comes from their labor, pure and simple.

I believe that proper food and shelter and access to good health care and education are human rights and that our American society has an obligation to provide them to the less fortunate among us.

We saw “The Hurt Locker” over the weekend and I came out of the theater thinking of enrolling in a non-violence training program.  I found the movie to be among the saddest I’ve ever seen.  It centered on an explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) team in Iraq whose mission was to find and either disarm or detonate improvised explosive devices (IED) set out as traps against American forces in the country.  The soldiers performing this frightening task were all members of the non-commissioned force and all seemed to come from the lesser educated parts of our society.  The movie steered clear of politics but I find it near impossible to not think about the fabricated reasons for our presence there.

There would be many fewer IED’s in Iraq and Afghanistan if our armed forces were not there and these hideous weapons kill scores of innocent citizens of these countries every month.  When will it stop and who will stop it?  I am becoming more and more convinced that adherence to non-violence principles is the only way and who better to learn them from than Mohandas Gandhi and Martin Luther King.

“I cannot teach you violence, as I do not myself believe in it.  I can only teach you not to bow your heads before anyone even at the cost of your life.”  Mohandas Gandhi

Mom and Pop McGee lived in a ground floor apartment on Highland Avenue, also in Jersey City.  I remember their apartment as being dark and dingy and that it smelled of stale booze and a hint of urine.  I didn’t like going there.

Aunt Sue’s house on Ridgewood Avenue in Glen Ridge always smelled of cookies or cakes baking in the oven.  It was a beautiful house, a brick center hall colonial with plenty of room and beautiful gardens.  During the fall the smell of burning leaves there was always a treat.  I loved that house and the rooms I used to explore.

The house I grew up in on Ege Avenue in Jersey City, and was always ashamed of, brings no particular smell to mind.  However, when Mom washed the sheets and hung them on the line to dry I used to put my face in them and feel the cold cotton and breathe the clean smell with delight. 
 

Now, being the external approval junkie that I am, I love comments.  I even love them when they disagree with a point of view I might hold so please comment if only to let me know that your receiving my occasional missives.

A few weeks ago I noticed that there were three banks right next door to each other, occupying beautiful buildings on South Street in Morristown, New Jersey. I thought it odd and began to wonder why. This morning I took a photo of three banks in one image on South Street and, admittedly, I had to widen the lens a bit but it’s amazing to me that they would be so close together. After taking the shot I began to wonder how many banks there were on South Street and the Morristown Green. How does 14 sound? Peapack Gladstone Bank, TD Bank, Capital One Bank, Somerset Hills Bank, Bank of America, PNC Bank, Citi, Provident Bank, HSBC Bank, Wachovia Bank, Valley National Bank, Union Center Bank and 2 Chase Bank branches are all there in this short ¾ mile stretch.   

A few years ago Rosie and I were doing some Christmas shopping in a high end jewelry store. I remember feeling a bit low when I noticed an attractive, confident looking middle aged man at the other end of the counter. He was very well dressed and I noticed that he had on a beautiful pair of ankle length boots. A familiar feeling of “not-good-enoughness” welled up in me and I wanted a pair of boots like that. They might just do it…..might just make me OK. As we were leaving the store I happened to look down at my feet and was astounded to see that I was wearing the exact same boots. I told Rosie and we laughed at my age-old self condemning reflex which, thankfully, has been dissipating albeit very slowly for a long time.

I’ve always loved clothes but I have to admit that my primary motivation when buying them has been to look better than I think I do and to show the world that I’m good enough. Frequently I’d see someone who looks well put together and buy similar clothes thinking that they’ll complete me but some time in the next day or week or month I’d see something else and the nonsense would begin again.

This feeling of inadequacy and its attendant need for some kind of disguise has been lessening over the last few years through my attempts at awareness of my thoughts. The simple action of paying of attention to the things running around in my head has somehow restrained my former automatic responses. I continue to see people who look real sharp and my reflexive thought is to try to be like them but I act on the thoughts less and less.

Sounds like a silly statement; don’t we all know what we know? Actually, in this society it’s getting harder and harder for me to believe that what I know is true. How can it be true when the powers that be know the opposite? Can I be right when I’ve lived most of my life in self doubt?

I remember a conversation I was having with a couple of friends about 2 years ago. I was obviously ranting about some terrible trait of our American society when one of the others said “you can’t blame all of the world’s ills on the U.S.” I can still feel the shame I felt when he said that and I stopped talking. We were at a New Year’s celebration so I just joined another pocket of conversation. Clearly I haven’t forgotten that exchange and have thought about it often over the last 24 months. I guess I was, in a way, pinning the world’s problems on us and my sense is that I wasn’t too far off the mark.

I hear a lot about our American values and how we are the shining city on the hill and it rings false to me. We certainly are not the cause of all the ills in the world but are certainly not a shining beacon either.

Back to I know what I know; I know that the poor people who bought houses they could not afford are not the cause of the current financial debacle. I believe that a primary was the requirement of the moneyed classes to achieve a greater return on their investments than was offered by historically low interest rates. This pressure provided opportunity to the “financial engineers” to securitize more and more debt in more and more complicated ways. The thinking was that if you wrapped some prime meat around some scraps and fed it through the grinder a few times you’d come up with a product that looked pretty good. Turned out not to be true so why not blame it on the poor who have been told forever that the key to the American dream is home ownership.

We are told that Goldman Sachs paid back the bail out money but that turns out not to be completely true. Their bets against billions of dollars worth of collateralized mortgage obligations were paid off by us, the taxpayers, through the cashier’s window called AIG. Why didn’t these Goldman guys know that AIG couldn’t pay? They had access to the financials. AIG is a public company. My sense is that they (Goldman and others) knew they were “too big to fail” and that their boys in Treasury and the SEC would ensure that congress would agree to back them.

We were told that we invaded Iraq because of Osama Bin Laden when we all know that our only interests in the Middle East are oil and Israel.

Probably sounds like I hate my country but that is certainly not the case. I love the freedoms afforded me because of an accident of birth but I fear that, as corporate power increases, those freedoms will diminish. I am often asked how I would like to have a government bureaucrat involved in my health care decisions. My answer is that I always, always prefer government bureaucrats to corporate employees whose company’s primary obligation is to their shareholders and whose basic function is cost containment and risk avoidance.

I love the freedom that allows me to write and publish this kind of writing and I also consider it my responsibility to do so. We private citizens must either speak up or suffer the consequences of diminished freedoms as the distance between the poor and the powerful grows too wide to overcome.

"Whatever you do may seem insignificant to you, but it is most important that you do it."...Gandhi

Recent reminders of the evil that men do and the resurrections that sometimes follow have been appearing to me often these past few weeks. We watched “The Secret Life of Words” on Saturday evening which deals with some of the horrors perpetrated on women during the Bosnian wars. The woman portrayed in the movie seems to have had her humanity almost stripped from her but, thankfully, allows her remaining courage to reach out and achieve a kind of redemption.

I’m reading “Strength in What Remains”, a true story by Tracy Kidder about a young man who lived through the genocide that took place between the Hutu and Tutsi people in Burundi and Rwanda and who, through perseverance and the generosity of others, gets to the USA and becomes a doctor. He eventually goes back to Burundi and establishes a clinic…..another beautiful redemption story.

I was feeling down and angry when I started writing this. I was looking for a way out of those feelings knowing they were not productive and might just lead me toward a “what’s the use” attitude. Movies like “The Secret Life of Words” and “Adam”, another beautiful example of people overcoming tremendous odds and books like “Strength in What Remains” are necessary for me to stay afloat, heading in a right direction.

I have been incensed about the outsized power of major corporations and banks in our society. I believe that our government has ceded its responsibility to these inhuman entities. I say inhuman because they make decisions about people’s lives and never have to face those whose lives they interrupt and often destroy, with their decisions to foreclose on a mortgage or deny a surgery. When I was a youth we lived in a country which had an economy; now it seems we live in an economy which uses the laws of that country to its sole advantage.

These are difficult times, wars everywhere, bigotry reigns, nations trying to build nuclear bombs, religions fighting for supremacy, profits at any cost, unfair distribution of wealth, eye to eye communication dying and being replaced with texting and tweeting, etcetera, etcetera. It’s enough to put a cynic like me in perpetual rage, casting aspersions everywhere and accomplishing nothing. I’ve even begun to be angry at President Obama but thankfully I listened to his health insurance speech last night and my faith in him was rekindled. I’ve read Tracy Kidder and seen those movies and I love the many quotes of Gandhi that I try, albeit failingly, to live by. Today I’m going to do those seemingly insignificant things because they are important; important because they help me to feel hopeful and they do send ripples out in ever widening circles that may do some good. At least I know they’ll do more good than a diatribe.

True or False

I have no emeralds.
I was told this about them by a woman
who said someone had told her. True or false,
I have held my own palmful of bright breakage
from a truth too late. I know the principle.

Some 20 years ago when I first read this my only conscious thought was the true or false question. Not until some time later did I realize that it didn’t matter because I have no emeralds either. I believe this poem is one of the things that has helped me to treat those I love as best I can so I never again have to confront a palmful of bright breakage

I attend an early morning group a few times each week with others who share my desire to not drink alcohol. We meet in a beautiful, old mansion that has been used for the last few decades by the local Unitarian Church. We rent a beautiful room from them for our meetings and they also allow us to use their very ample parking lot.

For the past few weeks there has been a car parked on the street outside the building and in order to pass it to get to the parking lot one has to go into the oncoming traffic lane. Now, admittedly, this is not a heavily used road but this car does present the potential for an accident. I have known whose car this is and I have been incensed that the owner could be so inconsiderate. I have also assumed that this person was avoiding the gravel parking lot in order not to have her shoes damaged while walking from the lot to the meeting.

I have been wanting to say something to her but I was afraid that I might look foolish confronting such a trifling problem but every time I saw that car I got a bit hotter. One of my father’s favorite lines was; “we’ll have no privileged characters in this house” as he was castigating one of us about some item of behavior he didn’t like. So I pretty naturally get my dander up when I see someone acting like a “privileged character” even though I’m sure I violate the rule often.

This morning as I was walking from the parking lot to the meeting the parker was coming from her car and I said; so you’re the one whose car forces me to go into the oncoming lane when I come here (not admitting that I have known all along whose car it is). She said; “I don’t want to ruin my shoes” and I could feel my anger rising to the point that I went mute. She than said, sarcastically, “good morning sunshine” and I don’t think I replied.

That mute thing happens often when I’m in a verbal confrontation. I say that I’m afraid that I’ll get too aggressive and that’s partially true but my real fear is that I might lose the argument and look foolish. Feeling that I might look foolish is terrifying for me. It brings up all my shame issues and I feel like that shy, overweight little guy who thought he was a coward. I know now that he was wrong but every now and then I cause a situation like this morning and I’m 9 years old again and looking for a place to hide.

There is a spiritual axiom that says; “When I am disturbed, no matter the reason, there is something wrong with me”.