GEE OOH PEE

Boehner & McConnel, nuff said.

Can Republicans get their excuses right?   Did Romney lose his bid for the presidency because Obama  had the best ground game in the history of elections.  Pooh!!!!  (Although Obama did have a spectacular, record setting, ground game.)  And, Romney did not lose because Obama was a better speaker. Pooh, pooh!!!  Who don't know that?  (Yes, Obama was also superior to Romney in every conceivable way.   Except, in the Wall Street tactic, con game, you know, screwing people out of money for personal gain and in this case, their vote.)
No, Romney did not lose because of these or the countless  other reasons being considered by the pundits, or being spewed out by the GOP alibies (see pic) and those who spent hundreds upon hundreds of millions of dollars.  Or, Citizens United, or no Citizens United. 
And, he did not lose because someone made a video of him, which showed him just being Romney.  Everybody knew him for who  he was.  They know he kept large amounts of money  in foreign banks.  And they know the purpose for using foreign banks, is avoiding sending information to the IRS.   That's what foreign bank accounts are for, isn't it?  And, we all know  him as someone whose pets love him.  (Except at vacation time.)  And many of us saw him win that primary between a group who could not even make a casting list of characters, for a 'B' movie.  You see, in this election , almost all the republican voters, in the those states where the GOP could make laws designed to simulate a poll tax, specifically to  keep Democrats from voting, they voted.. The ones in the heavily GOP areas, they all did vote. So Rove & Co. did get they're money's worth. And of course, only the man upstairs knows how many absentee ballots, in GOP controlled red states were discarded, lost, or stolen. And as for how many computers were rigged or hacked . . . . .it boggles the mind. What else could explain the sheriff's election in Arizona. This guy's name will be on every list of phsycos banned from owning a gun. And the hundreds upon hundreds of millions of dollars spent, I'm telling you, it did work. All the racists voted. All the haters voted. All the bigots and their ilk, they voted.  That is the real reason they thought they would win the election.




They stayed and stayed and stayed and voted !!!

And that was what the GOP spent their money to make happen.  It happened. 
But, at the same time the uninformed people, the ones who usually don't vote or can't find time to vote . . . you know, voters who are turned off, or for whom voting is a chore, or those who don't let politics interfere with their sports, or their TV addiction.  For them the stink was so strong they could not wait to get in line to vote for Obama..
That was the miscalculation the GOP made.  Thanks to their tactics, as never before, to most of us, the value of each vote was discovered. 

Santa, 2012

New Gale, another wonderful memory.

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Evidently Santa thought I was a very good boy all year, which according to me means, I didn't have too much fun.  But I did get some stuff and one of my best presents ever.  And, like those coming from me, not to early, it came a little late.  The night of the day after Christmas . . and my present, it was a dream.  So real, of an evening like so many in my life.
When I dream it usually has a lot of weird atuff and if it doesn't, I usually wake at the wrong time.  Not this dream.  I  never had one that was complete like this.  So vivid, and waking from it seemed so natural it was only after I reached over, ready to say something to Rae, when I realized it wasn't real. So why was this dream my best ever present?  Because now, like all the many memories I still have, it  too is in my memory bank.

Venus

 

Venus was at the Key Biscayne Tennis Center during the girl's 14 and under Jr.  Orange Bowl tournament.  So I spoke to her and asked her if she would take a picture with me.  Venus being Venus said yes.  She did not remember me, but I'm sure she remembered an incident that happened many years ago at Flamingo Park, former home of the Orange bowl Jr. 16s & 18s Tournaments.  Its where I first met her and Serena and her father.

HGK & Venus

School buses came that day from all over Dade county, full of kids to see the tennis stars. They jammed the parking lots and adjoining spaces.  The kids were now out of the buses and were all over the stadium.  Some were even in stadium seats, all of them waiting to see the new star of the tennis world, Venus.  Venus and sister Serena and daddy Williams were getting ready to hold an exhibition on Stadium Court.  This new tennis star, with her amazing athleticism was  winning tournament after tournament and with her effervescent personality she captured the media world.  She took over women's tennis and the sports world could not get enough of her.  And she handled it all, like . . . Venus.  How is that,  you ask? 
Well, the exhibition was getting started, Venus, with sister Serena and Dad on the clay court were warming up.  They had hit one or two balls when, as it can only do on Miami Beach, without warning, a downpour soaked everything.  I started helping shepherd the kids to the media building stairway. The stairs were in the rear and led to the second floor of the long media building.  At this time it was empty of the TV cameras which sent images around the world of  palm trees and the semis and the finals of the world's number one Jr. Tennis tournament, the Orange Bowl.  But at this moment it was just a very large room with a table or two against a wall and an odd chair or so.
After helping make sure there were no wandering stray kids I went up the stairs and I saw what my memory calls up now,. The kids were all sitting in a  huge crowd on the floor.  They surrounded Venus who was at the far end sitting on what I think was her tennis racket bag. There was a kid sitting on each side of her lap, snugly under each arm.  Everyone was singing.  On the floor behind Venus was a boom box with twin speakers blaring out a song, and Venus was leading, singing loudly with all the kids.  They all seemed to know the song.  I remember wishing I knew the song so I could join in.

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Jobs

 workers

The modus operandi of vulture capital companies does NOT include creating jobs.  Except, when adding a few jobs would help increase vulture profits.  Like when hiring high profile people, because their names are attractive to propective investors.  
When vultures take over a company the only object is for them to make money, and fast.  And if the company itself makes or loses money, that action is by default..  Now, a money only investment is an entirely different procedure.  Here they purchase stock or bonds, like most investors, but they are in a position to get inside information or, they can trade favors with like companies or they can do stuff to influence the share price.  For the most part it requires no personal involvement.  So this is not even close to vulture investments, where the cross-hairs are only on making money by manipulation. Once a targeted company fits a pattern or blue print for sucking money out, all the red lights turns green. Full speed ahead.
For example, General Moters. Why were there no dollars in private investment money available for GM when they needed it.  When  Romney and Bain and like companies, who are always looking to make money, were approached to invest in the floundering GM it was easy for them to decline because they did not see anything viable for their bloodsucking, quick money making abilities.  To be fair, neither did most, if not all, of the private investment community.  GM was not seen as an investment opportunity, even using any of their creative tactics.  Believe me, if they saw any fast buck opportunity they would have jumped on it.  There is no accusation here, its just factual.
In normal times, they would have welcomed and competed for the chance to sell new GM securities.  Because GM's financial health, good or bad, would not stop them.   Just the name GM meant they would have  little difficulty selling GM investment stuff, regardless of its business condition.  You see, most investment transactions make money salesman  from commissions.  And to sell investments requires good stories on why you should part with your investment money.  And when buying a newly issued investment instrument the underwriter charges a higher than standard commission amount.  So, its what  they want to do. They make money by selling GM or other investment stuff and even those mortgage backed bonds which turned out to be crap.  Crap that they created.  When our venerated rating companies stamped those real estate (crap) bonds as triple A, (AAA),  get out of the way, where's the phone?  Invest in U.S. real estate was the spiel of the day. Moody's and Standard & Poors have never been held accountable for making this dubious rating in the first place and then not removing the AAA status fast when they knew the value of the bonds were deteriorating.  To me the  rating companies were culpable.

Vulture companies rarely if ever risk their own money without the ability to easily shift the risk to other investors.  And usually  their own customers, who get all the risk, as secondary investors.. When I was a neophyte investor I would have jumped at the chance to be a secondary investor. . When a regular Bain customer made an investment in a secondary or a  new stock adjustment offering, for them to make profits was normal, and losses if any were not as big as profits and did not occur often.  So their customers  were also eager.  For a perfect example, go to your computer and Google; Baxter, Bain Capital. And read the NY Times article.
And they are not alone among professional investment companies who make money by the above method.   BUT, in the middle and late 2000's, times were not normal.  Being used to milking their customers, making lots of commissions and etc., even on crap, no, there were no funds available for GM in the private sector.  Zero. Its what Wall Street had become.
So how could Obama justify putting the US Government on the hook, so to speak?  Well, its all in the point of view. Obama was looking at the reestablishing of our wrecked economy.  He saw how a favorable result and future for GM would help the economy of the country. Was it a good bet?  With that objective, Obama thought it was.  His good luck was his uncanny selection of  Ed Whitacre, the former head of A,T&T.  Its laughable when people like Romney, and Santorum and former GM people say any one of many could have presided over the turnaround.
To most investors throughout this country, an investment is a risk.    A Bond investment, no matter its rating, is a risk. A mutual fund is a risk. Woe to the investor who does not factor in risk when making a decision.  But, it takes a smart investor to recognize opportunity and not be afraid of the potential risk to make the most of it.

In 2008, I was for Hilary.  When Obama became the  Democratic candidate, the Miami Beach Tuesday Morning Breakfast Club had David Lawrence Jr., former publisher of the Miami Herald, as the guest speaker.  We spoke after the meeting and he said to me,
"Howard, I've met a lot of politicians and I can tell you, in my opinion, Obama's sincerity of purpose can not be challenged.  For a president, or even when you need  a top executive in business for that matter, when you have someone who is unusually well informed, very intelligent and sincere, what more can you ask?"   That did it for me.

To me, as president everything Obama has done personifies that statement from David Lawrence.

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