The Enormous Opportunity

The news today was good. It turns out that the United States will take over the leadership position in oil production in the next 20 years.

The implications of this opportunity are enormous. Since we have gone from the largest creditor nation to the largest debtor nation, our position as moral leader of the world has been eroded because we don't have the money to back it up. The revenues produced by the increase in oil production will change that dramatically.

But the opportunity must be approached in a different way than in the past. In the past, we stood as the world's police and enforced our will upon the world through military might. It has made us many enemies that are still paying us back as we speak.

Instead, we should use the revenues to lead by example. China and India are rapidly developing Western lifestyles, yet they are following the same path we did a century ago by using dirty fossil fuels to propel their growth. They feel no responsibility because they are following our example. Remember the marathon runners who were hesitant to compete in Beijing? No matter how the Chinese tried, they couldn't hide the pollution produced by the jammed highways that wind through the city.

We need to regain our moral authority by showing the whole world that we will lead the way to a greener future and do our best to mitigate the effects of the impending disaster we helped to create. So far, our apathy and loss of moral authority has shown the Islamic world that we are as bankrupt a culture as they suspected all along. A truly “green” revolution, powered by the profits from fossil fuels, would show Muslims that we are to be taken seriously and would go a long way towards decreasing the radicalization of Muslim youth.

The Larger National Tragedy

So here we are again. Another national tragedy. I hate to say it but I am not surprised. I am saddened but not surprised. I also feel almost prophetic. When I posted two weeks ago on my other blog about Bowling for Columbine, I hesitated to put it up there because the film wasn't actually released until October, but the feeling I had from watching it was so strong.

The movie made such an incredible point about how needlessly bloodthirsty Americans are. The media began talking about the influence of the movie and the character on the 24 year old man who committed this atrocity, James Holmes, almost as soon as it happened. But Michael Moore's film showed that people everywhere watch these movies and almost nowhere else does this kind of aberration occur. The United States is head and shoulders above other countries in the incidence of gun violence.

The gun nuts are already invoking their Second Amendment rights. The New York Times quoted a spokesman for a Colorado gun club as saying that if more people had guns in that theater then less people would be dead. All I can say to that is, I can only imagine the sense of chaos the people in that theater felt. How would it have lessened the chaos to have bullets flying in more than one direction? And would a concerned citizen with a gun have been able to avoid hitting innocent bystanders in a situation like that?

I went to the NRA website last night and today and they had no official statement. I wonder what they would say to the victims? What would they say about the incredible arsenal this young man had accumulated and the amount of ammunition he had? What would they say about his booby trapped apartment that is taking days to disarm?

I would like to say that the time has come for change. I would like to say that we have reached the tipping point and that Americans will finally open their eyes. But it won't happen.

Look what we have become. Our standard of living has fallen. We have lost the battle with global warming. Wall Street has effectively decimated middle class prosperity and anti-intellectualism has flourished to the point that we don't even have the common sense to control the sale of lethal weapons. Ego has completely overtaken enlightenment. We have a dysfunctional, apathetic society and the government we depend upon to defend us operates against our better interests. That is the larger national tragedy. The government depends on our short memories so it can remain incompetent and profit form legislative gridlock.

There is a song from Bob Dylan called Masters of War. One of the lines says, “You've thrown the worst fear that could ever be hurled, the fear to bring children into the world.” For the first time I agree with him. We simply don't want to learn. The only way we have any bliss is by remaining ignorant. Bob Dylan has another song, in my opinion his best, called “Its a Hard Rain's a Gonna Fall.” The storm is coming and your umbrella won't save you.

The only path to salvation is to completely re-examine our core beliefs and make a fundamental change in the philosophy we live by. I am not holding my breath.

You Must Be Kidding

I hear the talk all the time about how our civil liberties are slowly being eroded. This is happening because we are letting it happen. The people in charge don't want us to have any power or question their actions at all. This is why a cop at UC Davis gets away with pepper spraying a whole line of peaceful protestors. This is why a cop in Oakland gets away with spraying a tear gas canister into a crowd and almost kill someone. But the column I read today in the New York Times about an innocent, pregnant woman named Malaika Brooks trying to drive her kid to school takes the cake for the worst act of abuse of power I have ever heard.

This poor woman was doing nothing but driving her kid to school when she was pulled over for speeding. She was doing 32 in a 20 mph zone. I would say she deserved a ticket. But that was far from all that happened to her.

She was given a speeding ticket but refused to sign it, mistakenly believing that doing so was an admission of guilt. She was told that refusal to sign the ticket would result in her arrest but she would not change her mind. A sergeant arrived at the scene and instructed the officers to arrest Ms. Brooks. She refused to get out of the car. She told the officers she was pregnant and had to go to the bathroom. They asked her how pregnant she was. As if that makes a difference.

Her son had by now left the car and walked to the school. This spared the young child from having to witness the atrocity that was then committed against his mother. The police tasered her three times in less than a minute, first in her thigh, then in her arm and then in her neck, causing her intense pain, leaving permanent scars and finally rendering her unconscious. 

Thank God she gave birth to a healthy baby. The officers were admonished for excessive use of force, but it has been ruled that no action can be taken against them because the law written to regulate the use of Tasers was not written clearly to cover such an incident. The woman is seeking damages in civil court.

There shouldn't need to be a law. Common sense should tell you that tasering a pregnant woman is cruel and unnecessary. Any judge that says differently should be immediately removed from the bench.

But the deeper question is, what are we becoming? When a helpless woman with an unborn child who poses no threat can be abused in such fashion, the time has come for some serious soul searching. This is supposed to be a democracy, government of the people by the people. Policeman have sworn to protect and serve. How did these officers protect and serve in this case? Suppose the woman had died, which has happened before. Would these officers still face no charges because the law is unclear?

What is clear is that these officers wanted to use their high tech toy to hurt someone. They acted without any conscience whatsoever and, to add insult to injury, they are seeking to have even their admonishment overturned because they are so sure that they have the right to inflict their cruelty upon anyone they choose.

This is becoming a consistent pattern. Public servants who inflict pain upon the innocent public. A new system has to be developed to screen out the psychopaths who want to become police officers. We need public servants who actually place serving  the public before their own ego. We cannot call ourselves a civil society when we allow such injustices to go unpunished. This is the kind of hypocrisy and moral bankruptcy that fuels the hatred of terrorists. Wake up people, your America is vanishing before your eyes.

We Still Haven't Learned

The disclosure the other day that JP Morgan experienced a two billion dollar loss in its trading portfolio came as no surprise. We gave the banks nothing more than a slap on the wrist after they created the last crisis. No one went to jail or was even prosecuted. Practices that ruined the lives of thousands of Americans went unpunished. So why should we expect the banks to learn any lesson from their past misdeeds?

What did we do? We bailed them out. We had to do that. But we should have put conditions in place to make sure crises like the one we still haven't recovered from can't happen again. We have tried. Laws were passed. But the banks were successful in lobbying to make sure the laws were so watered down as to be ineffective.

So I say we haven't learned. Why do I say we? It can be seen that the banks have learned nothing. They are content to take their unnecessary risks and don't care if they create another crisis. They'll get bailed out again if need be. But what is more important is that we haven't learned. We, the people. We have allowed our lawmakers to water down the laws and listen when the banks say they can handle the risks. We are complacent. We are content to let our lawmakers do nothing. But of course when the next crisis happens we will raise our voices in protest and ask how our lawmakers let this happen again. But it won't be their fault exclusively. It will be the fault of every American citizen who sits back and lets Congress do nothing and be unduly influenced by the institutions they are in charge of regulating.

Most disturbing is the silence from Occupy Wall St. I look at their website this morning and I see no mention of any planned protests in the wake of JP Morgan's revelation. If I was the leader of the movement I would have issued an immediate call for a massive protest. Instead of some nebulous agenda, which the movement has often been accused of, here would have been the chance to scream about something real, something that we can all relate to, another misdeed that an overpaid executive perpetrated by not properly considering the risks he was taking. By staging a protest with a solid agenda, the movement could have legitimized itself and set itself on a course towards wider acceptance.

But, of course, what has happened is that this important event has passed without being exploited for the opportunity it presents. Sure, they will be looked at and a report will be made, but in the end, the banks will water this story down as well and Congress will excuse this so called "aberration" and let the banks go on taking unnecessary risks.

We can all sit back and be more concerned with Mariano Rivera's torn ACL and Amar'e Stoudamire's lack of self control. And when our standard of living has deteriorated to the point where major services have to be eliminated and 25 to 30% of the population lives in poverty, then we will all scream for Congress to act. And when they fail to act, it won't be there fault, it will be ours. All 300 million of us who fail to hold our elected officials accountable. And in our wonderful American way, it will be spun into something else by the mainstream media so we can point our fingers and evade our responsibility.

I Welcome Tracy Jordan- In Support of Dr. Janine Caffrey

I welcome a new contributor to my blog, Tracy Jordan. She is a good friend and a passionate resident of Perth Amboy, dedicated to shedding light on this town's many problems. Together we will be creating a new town paper, The Perth Amboy Wave, which will debut in the next 60 days.

I am posting this letter as a relatively new resident of the City of Perth Amboy. I moved here five years ago. I write to express support of Dr. Janine Caffrey, Superintendent of Schools for the Perth Amboy Public Schools for two distinct, yet related, reasons.

First, after attending several Perth Amboy Board of Education meetings, and keeping an eye on the Board of Ed website, Dr. Caffrey has earned my respect as a competent and forward-thinking change maker. She is focused and action-oriented. At the meetings I attended, various staff members presented everything from new curricula and creative teaching methods to meet high academic goals, to tracking databases and increased parental input mechanisms. All of these initiatives are being implemented under the administration of Dr. Caffrey. Frankly, I was very pleasantly surprised and very relieved. This leads me to my second reason.

Up to and including this year, Perth Amboy’s public school system ranked 500 out of 559 in the State of New Jersey (Source: National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Dept of Education, and New Jersey Dept. of Education. Rank score is determined by averaging). I don’t have any children of my own and neither do most of my friends in this town. But that does not mean that I am not affected by the level of performance of our school children. Not at all.

I consider myself to be quite fortunate. I have held good jobs here, I currently own a business and a waterfront home. However, much to my distress, what I have seen over the past five years, is that parents of young children move out of town as the time draws near for their child to enter school. This has happened too many times for me to count. However, my experience has been that long time residents of Perth Amboy do not want to hear that. They supposedly “love” Perth Amboy, insinuating that I must not since I am “so negative.” Imagine all of the parents, or soon to be parents, who never even move here in the first place because the quality of the school system is considered to be substandard. If you don’t think that affects the quality of life of every person in this town, then you need to think again.

This city that I do love needs to break its pattern of poor decision making at critical moments. Ambitious waterfront development plans – scrapped. Five full time economic development jobs merged into one and all left vacant by the retirement of one very overworked woman. The willful disintegration of our Chamber of Commerce. Property assessments conducted by our assessor in a “random” pattern that goes unexplained. The list goes on and on and on.

Now we are faced with the possibility of losing a qualified and effective education administrator. And for what? It is frightening to think that the reason could be that she’s actually implementing the sweeping, dramatic changes needed to overhaul an educational system that languishes in the bottom 10% of the State. I implore the Perth Amboy Board of Education to not take another step backwards at yet another critical moment in the revitalization of Perth Amboy.

The 99% Speak

The 99% issued a clarion call to CEO's and corporate boards all over America this week. I commented recently that America has not heeded President Obama's call for a new age of accountability, but this is the clearest signal yet that this may be changing.

Under the Dodd-Frank Act, which was signed into law July 21,2010, corporate stockholders have the right to cast a non-binding vote approving or disapproving the compensation packages of senior management.

In a vote held this week, 55% of Citigroup investors rejected the proposed pay package for the senior management, most notably the $15 million pay package for Vikram Pandit, the current CEO.

And why not. Mr. Pandit took over the position of CEO in Dec. 2007. Since then Citigroup's stock has had an annual return of -44%. The 5 year price chart for the stock, shown in the link below, looks like a great ski slope, but a bitter disappointment for anyone who wanted to make money.

http://www.marketwatch.com/investing/stock/c

The pay package would have brought Mr. Pandit's compensation back to the level seen before the price of Citigroup stock collapsed.

Forbes Magazine, which is famous for its list of the 400 richest people, also publishes an annual list of America's best and worst bosses. To qualify for the list, you have to have a six tenure as CEO. As previously mentioned, Mr. Pandit has only been CEO for about 4.5 years. But if that criteria were discarded, then Mr. Pandit would fall solidly in the middle of the pack on the worst boss side.

There are two questions which will be answered in the coming weeks. First, will the board of Citigroup pay attention and compensate Mr. Pandit in accordance with the wishes of shareholders? Second, will those same shareholder stay on top of the situation and fight for compensation more closely in line with stock performance? I hope the answer to both questions is yes.

I have heard the argument made on a general basis that this level of compensation is necessary to retain the best talent. In Mr. Pandit's case, that argument borders on insanity. Even in general, it is a ridiculous assertion to make. The assumption made is that there are only a few hundred or maybe a few thousand people in the world who could do the job as well as Mr. Pandit. That is a lie that the big corporations would love you to keep believing.

The fact of the matter is that there are hundreds of thousands or perhaps even millions of people who could perform that function effectively. Didn't we just pass the 7 billion mark in world population last month? Let's assume that only 1/10 of one percent of the people in the world could do the job as well as Mr. Pandit. Remember, that's calling a guy who averaged a loss of 44% annually effective. But that is still 70 million people. And I'm sure that a vast majority of them would take the job for less than $15 million a year.

Let's call a spade a spade. A CEO's pay should be directly linked with the valuation of the company. Of course, Citigroup's board may just be arrogant enough to ignore the will of its shareholders. But then let's see what happens the next time the board comes up for a vote.

I applaud the action of the Citigroup shareholders. Let's hope the groundswell that signals a new age of American activism carries over to the area of corporate governance.

Another Victim of the Male Ego

There is a reason this blog is called The Age of Accountability. In deciding what to call this blog back in 2008, I had both personal and sociological reasons. I was searching for personal redemption after a rather dark period, and my feeling was that the country was itself entering a dark period after deregulation had been allowed to run amok.

I felt vindicated when President Obama, in his inaugural address, used the very same phrase. I held out the faint hope that given the circumstances Americans might get the message.

I wish I could say that my hope had come to fruition. But, unfortunately, it is clear that arrogance and complacency still hold a prominent position in the American consciousness.

During my personal dark period, I read a book by the historian Barbara Tuchman called The March of Folly. Her main assertion, which I at first thought was rather superfluous, was that the male ego is responsible for many of the worst tragedies in human history. But the more I thought about it, the more I had to admit that she was right.

In the past two weeks, we have had two glaring examples. First, we had the anti-intellectualism displayed by the Augusta National Country Club when they refused to extend a membership to the recently installed female CEO of IBM, after having given the past four male CEO's memberships. There was no logical reason given for their refusal. They just didn't feel like it.

Today, we have the culmination of the scandal involving Bobby Petrino, the now ex-football coach at Arkansas. It seems that Mr. Petrino lied about the circumstances surrounding a motorcycle accident he had on April 1st. The first report was that Mr. Petrino was alone when he had his accident. Over the weekend it was revealed the he had been accompanied by a female companion half his age. Today, the rest of the details were filled in. This female companion was someone he was having an affair with and he had hired her above 159 other applicants for a job with the Arkansas athletic department.

It turns out he lied to his superiors about the circumstances of the accident to cover up the affair for the sake of his family. This man is 51 years old, he is being paid $3.5 million a year, and his position as football coach of the biggest school in the State automatically makes him a high profile individual.

The question has to be asked: What was going through this man's mind? If he was 25 or even 30 years old, you could offer an explanation of immaturity or youthful indiscretion. But this guy is 51. What are we to conclude? That he hasn't learned his lesson yet? He is being paid $3.5 million a year. His contract was in place through the end of the 2017 season. Consider this in light of the fact that the governor of Arkansas, Mike Beebe, was paid a salary of less than $90,000 in 2010. So to sum it up in a few words, he was willing to risk close to $20 million in order to indulge his ego.

This is far from the first controversial action Mr. Petrino has taken. He has a rather tumultuous employment history. He has shown no loyalty to his employers or his players. And now he has slapped his family across the face as well. It's just the latest example of a male ego gone completely out of control.

As a disclaimer, I will say that I committed a similar indiscretion when I was in my 30's and I paid a high price for it in personal shame and public ruin. But I wasn't the coach of a major university football team and I wasn't making anywhere near $3.5 million a year. I am not trying to say that I was less wrong or hurtful in doing what I did than Mr. Petrino was. But I am saying that if I was in Mr. Petrino's position I would have given the matter more serious thought before taking such a tremendous risk. I just find it fascinating that a man would engage in such self degradation at his age, especially given the fact that I am just about the same age and I feel like I have learned a few hard lessons from the mistakes of my past. Maybe this latest indiscretion will help Mr. Petrino see the light.

In any case, these two latest examples of ego induced idiocy only serve to prove that Barbara Tuchman deserves the posthumous title of modern day genius.

Shame on Augusta

A lot of issues have confusing, gray nuances. This one doesn't. Augusta National Golf Club, the country club where the Masters Tournament is held every year, has refused to admit the recently installed CEO of IBM, Virginia Rometty, as a member because she is a woman. Since IBM has been a major sponsor of the Masters Tournament for many, the previous four CEO's, all male, were made members.

The ridiculous argument the Club's members and supporters are making is that they have the right to associate with whoever they want. Really? Are you telling me you don't want to associate with women? I have a few other questions. Do you only do business with men? Do you only go to church with men? Do you only go on vacation with men? Do you only have sex with men? If you saw a woman broken down on the side of the road would you let her in your car? Do you practice chivalry towards women?

I could probably think of 50 more questions that render the argument just as irrelevant. The 19th amendment, passed in 1920 should have put an end to this argument. Of course, the club is in Georgia, which naturally leads me to the question of how many black members they have. I would guess not many. I would agree that the club should be free to determine its own guidelines for membership. However, sex or race should not be among those criteria.

If the golfers participating in the Masters Tournament had any real balls, they would boycott the tournament until the club admits a female member. Perhaps the loss of millions of dollars in attendance and sponsorship fees would be enough to shake the Jurassic minds of the Augusta National Golf Club members out of their sexist stupor. We all know that closed minded men need to be hit in their wallets before they'll listen to reason.

Why Isn't George Zimmerman in Jail?

Let's leave the names out of it for a moment and look at the facts. A 28 year old man is following a 17 year old man. The older man calls the police, as he often does in these situations, and tells the police he is following the younger man. The police tell the older man he should not be following the younger man. A few minutes later the younger man is shot dead with a bullet from the gun of the older man. These facts are not in dispute.

Any thinking person would say that the next logical step is for the police to arrest the older man for the crime of killing the younger man. But, so far, that hasn't happened. This is where logic breaks down. The older man hasn't been arrested because the circumstances of the killing are in dispute.

Mr. Zimmerman, the older man, claims that he killed Trayvon Martin, the younger man, in self defense. But Trayvon Martin was unarmed. Even if Trayvon Martin did attack George Zimmerman in retaliation for being pursued, that does not justify Mr. Zimmerman's use of deadly force.

Because of the petty prejudices and stereotypes that persist in our society, we may never know the exact circumstances of Trayvon Martin's death. But, given the facts that we do know, George Zimmerman should be in jail at least and until we get a version of the facts that prove otherwise. If Mr. Zimmerman is not charged with murder, he should be charged with manslaughter.

All of the character assassination that's going on now is nothing more than a media smokescreen to cover up the incompetence of the Sanford police force. I don't care if Trayvon Martin had smoked pot or stolen jewelry before he met George Zimmerman. When this incident took place, all Trayvon Martin had in his pockets was a bottle of iced tea and a bag of Skittles. Trayvon Martin was not a lethal threat to George Zimmerman. Yet Mr. Zimmerman pulled a gun from his pocket and shot Trayvon Martin dead at close range. And Mr. Zimmerman remains free. That is a crime in and of itself.

The way this case has been handled by the Sanford police force sends a very disturbing message. You can claim self defense based on a stereotypical perception. That opens the door for a lot more unfortunate, unprosecuted incidents. We cannot afford to have a self appointed vigilante police force patrolling our streets. No matter what youthful indiscretions Trayvon Martin may have committed, his death deserves to be investigated and the man responsible for his death should not be walking the streets.

I Just Eat this Stuff UP!!

It's amazing to me the degree to which some people can indulge themselves in self delusion. Rick Santorum and Mitt Romney are such wonderful examples. Both of them campaign and talk about what they are going to do for America, yet they can't seem to stay out of their own way. How many completely silly statements have they both made? The list goes on and on. Mitt Romney's Etch-a-Sketch moment, Rick Santorum saying he doesn't care what the unemployment rate is.

But the real self delusion is the thought that either of these men can beat Barack Obama in November. Romney has already lost once. Santorum represents the waning influence of the religious right. Both men are completely out of touch with the aspirations of the average American. Polling numbers consistently show that the loyal Republican base wants someone else to enter the race. Chris Christie's name has been mentioned a bunch of times. But his campaign would end as soon as the videos of him yelling at people were featured in a national commercial. Most recently he called an Iraq war veteran an idiot and all the guy was doing was trying to ask a question. Not good policy for a potential presidential candidate.

One recent moment that stands out for me is when Santorum and Romney trotted out their wives to stump for them. All that it made me do was think of what an incredible job Michelle Obama has done as First Lady. She has consistently conducted herself with class and spearheaded several efforts to improve the lives of children, while remaining outside of the political arena, which never seems to turn out well for any First Lady. If they had a debate featuring just the three wives, Michelle Obama would chew them up and spit them out in pieces.

So let the mainstream media prolong the campaign circus for the amusement of the general electorate. Whether Mitt Romney can shake his Etch-a-Sketch in August or not, Barack Obama is going to win in November.

Welcome Back OWS!!!!!

I predicted the Occupy movement would be a significant force this spring. They are already making their presence felt and I couldn't be happier. There is nothing that America needs more than a loud voice raised in protest. The mainstream media comfortably predicted the demise of OWS when it started to get cold, but I knew the return of spring would mean the return of healthy, constructive protest. The only thing that makes these protests unruly is the shameful behavior of the NYPD. Take the gates down on Wall Street and let the marchers move freely. You disgrace yourselves and contradict the spirit on which America was founded by restricting movement. The protesters have declared their peaceful intentions and are invoking the principles of Gandhi. The egos of the NYPD are preventing them from seeing things clearly.

The status quo badly needs to be shaken up. Thirty years of deregulation have completely destroyed faith in government and corporate governance. The continuation of such policies and attitudes would be just fine with the Wall Street crowd. They move well within the corrupt corridors of power. They wouldn't know how to do business in completely honest fashion. That doesn't provide enough of an adrenaline rush for their collective egos. The resignation of Greg Smith from Goldman Sachs provides indisputable evidence of that.

So welcome back Occupy Wall Street. Please rouse America from its self imposed state of apathy. By the time the dog days of summer are upon us, the movement will be impossible to ignore. I hope Occupy movements make themselves felt in every corner of this once great nation during this election year. They are absolutely essential to restore a sense of transparency in both public and private governance. Please be careful. Policeman across the country are sure to embarass themselves and all of us because they choose to swim against the tide of history.

Mayor Bloomberg's Detachment

On Wednesday, Greg Smith, an employee of Goldman Sachs, publicly announced his resignation from the firm through an op-ed piece in the New York Times. He made it clear that he no longer reconcile his conscience with his employment at the firm. He called the corporate culture "toxic" and said it was the norm for employees to refer to their clients as "muppets" and to worry more about how much money they made off their clients, rather than the other way around. This link will take you to the article:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/14/opinion/why-i-am-leaving-goldman-sachs.html

What was Mayor Bloomberg's reaction? He demonstrated his detachment from reality by visiting GS to show his solidarity with the firm and said it was his job to protect the corporate patrons of New York City since they provide so much tax revenue.

This brings up many questions. Isn't it the Mayor's job to protect the best interests of the citizens of New York City. Didn't Mr. Smith's letter of resignation show that GS is clearly not concerned with the best interests of its clients? Isn't this the same GS that marketed securities as high quality when they knew they were not and then bet against them? Isn't this the same Goldman Sachs that was never prosecuted for perpetrating such a fraud?

Of course it's no secret that Mr. Bloomberg's machines are considered standard equipment in Wall St. firms and that GS uses many of them in its operations.

I guess my last three questions are: How much money could GS have made for its clients if they really cared about them? Is it any wonder that the Occupy movement was born on Wall St.? How much money did GS contribute to the Mayor's last election?

I know its commonplace but it's always sad to see money trump one's sense of compassion. It would have been nice if the Mayor was immune to the pollution money causes, but he's only human too.

Without prosecution, the toxic environment that forced Mr. Smith to resign will never be eradicated.