H O W A R D S B E N D

I am watching the seventh game of the World Series this past Friday and my wife comes in early in the game and asks who am I rooting for.  Being a pretty typical American sports fan I usually root for the under-dog or the under-dogish type team.  “I guess that I am rooting for Texas as I feel bad that they have never won a World Series and St Louis has 10 World Championships.”

“What!!!! How can you root for Texas? ”  I thought that I was about to get a lecture about the superior managing ability of Tony Larussa versus the abilities of Ron Washington at a critical moment in the game.  I thought it was going to be pointed out that the Cards can score without getting the ball out of the infield.  Maybe I would hear the praise of the Cards pitching staff over their opponents.  Could be as simple as the color of the uniforms?

“I am not sure that I could root for Texas,” she says. “Didn’t Texas give us George W Bush?  Isn’t Rick Perry from Texas.  Isn’t Texas one of the states lowest in educational performance of its students.  Doesn’t Texas rank lowest or near the bottom in healthcare and air quality?    I would like to see the Cards “execute” the Texas rangers one player at a time.  Didn’t  Texas consider seceding from the country?  Maybe the Rangers can secede from Major League Baseball.

Touche’.

In this country there is separation of church and state.  However, there is no separation of sports and state.  Congratulations Cards.  I was there for you from the middle of the seventh game on.

Today we learned that 13 Americans were among the 20 NATO soldiers killed in a car bomb attack today in Afghanistan.  I sit here and sadly shake my head wondering what it will take to end this lunacy.

President Obama rode to the White House as the only major candidate that had the foresight in 2002 to oppose an invasion of Iraq anticipating the dire consequences which would follow.  This is the President that is touring the country proudly proclaiming that he is ending the war in Iraq – a process which was ironically and irrevocably set in motion in 2008 just before George Bush left office.  This is the same President that has “doubled-down” in Afghanistan twice bringing our troop level from about 30,000 in 2008 to about 100,000 troops there today.  This is the President that is committing the same mistakes that were committed both in Viet Nam and then again in Iraq.  This is the President that cannot stand-up to the military and say “enough is enough.”

It is time to end this war and bring our troops home.  This is the war that is still resulting in hundreds of deaths a year.  This is the war that is costing the country of $100 billion a year.  This is the war that is grossly feeding hundreds of military contractors and suppliers.

The general feeling is that the OWS movement needs a defined agenda.  Ending the war and bringing our troops home is a very simple message with a simple stated goal.  Maybe the OWS can adopt this simple message.  Let’s end the war and allocate the hundreds of billions to our schools, job creation at home and helping those in need.  Let’s really “support our troops” and bring them home.

The Occupy Wall Street (OWS) movement had a very good week.  Their brand recognition is growing.  TV ratings are soaring as updates are now carried during prime-time.  OWS has also opened many new oversee markets culminating with protests across the globe this past Saturday.

As word of the movement spreads, there is a growing number of strong sympathizers and people wanting to get involved who are just not going to grap their sleeping bags, camping gear and  tents to join the ranks occupying some downtown square or plaza.  It is time to give these non-protesting supporters a realistic action plan that does not require them to give up a good home-cooked dinner.

The banks and the investment banks have become the initial target of “corporate greed”.   Why banks?  From about 2002 through 2008, the banks and investment banks had collectively issued or bought millions of the bad “subprime” mortgages  and then packaged these loans and sold them to our pension funds, insurance companies and small local banks.  During this period, these large banks earned billions in profits.  However, when the market for this product collapsed and these banks were caught with hundreds of billions of these loans in their collective portfolios, they relied on the governement for close to a trillion dollar bailout.  Of course, these bankers paid themselves billions of dollars in bonuses despite huge corportate losses.

Ironically, as these banks have returned to profitability, they are now foreclosing on mortgage holders at record paces.   Many of these deliquent mortgages are probably the same mortgages that the banks and investment banks were holding during the government bailout.  These banks are mercessly kicking people out of their homes forgetting that they would no longer be in business if not for the governemnt bailout.

So it is very logical that the banks should be the first target of any movement attacking corporate greed.  Below are some steps that non-protesting supporters of OWS may begin to take

1. Move saving and checking accounts to small local banks.  This is something that Arianna Huffinton tried to promote recently and it is time to encourage people to move funds from the mega banks located on Wall Street to your local credit union or small bank. This will deny these big banks the capital necessary to make the next round of unsafe investments with our funds.

2.Stop using your credit card.  The big banks which fund most of these credit cards earn about 2% for each credit card transaction.  This is a very lucrative profit center for the banks.  Carry cash and when you pay with the cashier say something like,”I support OWS.”  This little verbal announcement will alert the cashier of a growing movement and if you say it loud enough maybe the two people behing you in line will also get the message.

3. Pay down your credit card debt.  Banks earn huge profits on credit card debt.  They charge the borrower about 18% to 25% of the credit card balance while banks can borrow from the Fed or use our deposits and pay 1% to 2% for the use of these funds.  This is an outrageous profit margin and large part of a bank’s total earning.  In 2004 (the last year I could find), banks earned $30 billion from their credit card business which explains the continuous stream of credit card solicitations.

4. Conserve oil and gas.  This may seem off track but investment banks have invested billions of dollars in oil futures.  They are betting that the price of a barrel of crude oil will skyrocket with widespread disruptions in the Middle East.  It is estimated that about $30 of the $85 price of a barrel of oil can be attributed to this activity.  A sudden glut of oil would cause the price to plummet creating huge losses for these Wall Street speculators.

These initial action steps might seem too simplistic to combat the greed of Wall Street.  However, these steps allow sympathizers to get involved without taking to the streets.  These steps do not really  make a difference  if only ten people stop using a credit card or pay down their credit card debt.  These action steps only have an impact if ten million people stop using credit cards.

Please spread the word and please offer any suggestions that you think might be challenge the greed of these large banks on Wall Street.

For the past few weeks, I was annoyed that the “main-stream media” was ignoring a growing grass-root movement that was directly challenging both established politics and social and economic hierarchies.  Was the “Occupy Wall Street” movement too threatening to the establishment? Perhaps it would stoke the fires of revolution burning inside an alienated and struggling growing number of people, disillusioned with the current state of affairs.  Has the Arab Spring morphed in our country to Fall of Wall Street?

I had to find out for myself why coverage of this spreading revolution could only be found on “leftist” media outlets.  So this past Sunday, I ventured to Zuccotti Square in the middle of the Wall Street area to see first-hand what was transpiring.  Quite honestly, I do not believe that I witnessed the early phases of  populist movement that had the potential to inspire more and more people to join their cause.  I do not believe that I saw a viable force that could challenge the way that our large corporations peddle their influence over the politicians with their large and and secretive campaign contributions.  I did not see a power base that would be able to stand up to the “barons” of Wall Street and demand the same kind of financial relief for its defaulting mortgage customers that was given to bail them out of their financial calamity.

What I did see in the  “Occupy Wall Street” movement is a collection of warm and sincere individuals that proudly although quietly condemn the profit motive blinds corporate America.  This group of about 500 protesters enjoys the comfort of a community with shared beliefs.   They politely remind onlookers and any passerby that there is lack of moral and humane values demonstrated by our large corporations. However, there is an overriding sense that these individuals are misplaced in a modern technological world.  These are the “hippies” from  Haight Ashbury who have kept the cause alive for 50 years later.  They are joined by another group of people mostly in their early 20s that are reminiscent of these “hippies” in their youth.  Together, they have created a cozy and very democratic environment where they collectively can chant their disappointments and frustrations with our current state of affairs.

However, this revolution is not ready for prime-time.  The group of citizens gathered on Wall Street with their political and social gripes do not really inspire.  Their demands are vague and their solutions are lacking.  I now believe that this movement was passed over by main-stream media because it was not that interesting of a story.  These protests are not unusual and not that interesting.  The feeling is that the movement will end once the cold weather descends on Wall Street and that business will continue as usual.  The media has avoided this story because the movement feels like an old re-run and not a new and exciting story ready for prime-time.