Tuesday, 30 September 2008
Carel Kraayenhof on bandoneón
I just came home from the Concertgebouw where we listened to Carel Kraayenhof and the Metropole Orchestra playing Cuban music. Carel plays the bandoneón and is famous in this country because he performed at the wedding of Dutch Crown Prince Willem-Alexander and his Argentine bride Princess Maxima. Even if you don't like this music, watch the video from the 2:50 mark to see pure emotions and love.
Joint statement by Senators Obama and McCain
Ladies and Gentlemen. Our fellow Americans.
We live in challenging times. Financial markets in this country and around the world are significantly down, many people have lost money in bank failures, and people are forced to leave their homes because they can no longer afford their mortgage payments.
We have decided that, for once, we will be honest with you. Yeah, we are politicians but in these difficult times even politicians need to tell you the truth. And the truth is that we, all together and as a country, have been living beyond our means. For the last couple of decades, we have spent more than we were making. Too many people were taking the American Dream too literally. What were they thinking when they dreamt that they could afford a 400,000 dollar home with a 15,000 dollar salary? What were they thinking when they paid off their Mastercard with their Visa? What were they dreaming when they bought a car for every member of their household?
The problem was exacerbated by unscrupulous people in the banking industry. They initiated, organized, facilitated and managed the greatest transfer of wealth from the pockets of investors to the pockets of borrowers, and made sure they got a huge chunk of the pie. How, you may ask, did they do this?
The answer is marketing. There is one area in which even our foreign friends will admit that America is the best in the world: marketing. We Americans can sell the greatest crap. It doesn’t matter who we sell to: individuals, businesses, in the USA or abroad. We are the best in marketing. You want proof? Two words: McDonalds and Starbucks.
So the big marketing machine was used to tell investors, people who saved some money for a rainy day, that they shouldn’t be happy with a 3% return on a savings account or a certificate of deposit. You know, there is a bit of greed in every human being so if you are told you can make 10% or even 20% it is only human to accept the offer. The financial industry mafia, from the big guys in Wall Street all the way to the financial planners in Main Street, managed to convince ordinary investors to put their money in instruments that they didn’t understand. These investment vehicles were made complicated on purpose. It was basically one big scam.
The government made matters worse. Mr Greenspan kept interest rates too low, making it easier for people to borrow too much, making it easier for the financial mafia to sell fancy products. And then we lowered your taxes at the time we should have increased them. You know what, running two wars is not cheap.
For a long time the system worked like a pyramid scheme. It is called the “bigger fool theory”. As long as there are “bigger fools” who are willing to pay inflated prices for investment vehicles, all’s well. The financial industry found a lot of big fools. Ordinary investors here in the USA, pension funds at home and abroad, the Chinese government, Arab oil sheiks, German regional banks: we never knew there were so many fools.
However, it seems we can not find bigger fools anymore. The investment balloons are rapidly deflating.
Our fellow Americans: these are difficult times. We will need to increase your taxes. Your loans will get a lot more expensive, if you still can get a loan. Your pension fund may not be able to honor its obligations. In short, it is time to tighten our belts.
We live in challenging times. Financial markets in this country and around the world are significantly down, many people have lost money in bank failures, and people are forced to leave their homes because they can no longer afford their mortgage payments.
We have decided that, for once, we will be honest with you. Yeah, we are politicians but in these difficult times even politicians need to tell you the truth. And the truth is that we, all together and as a country, have been living beyond our means. For the last couple of decades, we have spent more than we were making. Too many people were taking the American Dream too literally. What were they thinking when they dreamt that they could afford a 400,000 dollar home with a 15,000 dollar salary? What were they thinking when they paid off their Mastercard with their Visa? What were they dreaming when they bought a car for every member of their household?
The problem was exacerbated by unscrupulous people in the banking industry. They initiated, organized, facilitated and managed the greatest transfer of wealth from the pockets of investors to the pockets of borrowers, and made sure they got a huge chunk of the pie. How, you may ask, did they do this?
The answer is marketing. There is one area in which even our foreign friends will admit that America is the best in the world: marketing. We Americans can sell the greatest crap. It doesn’t matter who we sell to: individuals, businesses, in the USA or abroad. We are the best in marketing. You want proof? Two words: McDonalds and Starbucks.
So the big marketing machine was used to tell investors, people who saved some money for a rainy day, that they shouldn’t be happy with a 3% return on a savings account or a certificate of deposit. You know, there is a bit of greed in every human being so if you are told you can make 10% or even 20% it is only human to accept the offer. The financial industry mafia, from the big guys in Wall Street all the way to the financial planners in Main Street, managed to convince ordinary investors to put their money in instruments that they didn’t understand. These investment vehicles were made complicated on purpose. It was basically one big scam.
The government made matters worse. Mr Greenspan kept interest rates too low, making it easier for people to borrow too much, making it easier for the financial mafia to sell fancy products. And then we lowered your taxes at the time we should have increased them. You know what, running two wars is not cheap.
For a long time the system worked like a pyramid scheme. It is called the “bigger fool theory”. As long as there are “bigger fools” who are willing to pay inflated prices for investment vehicles, all’s well. The financial industry found a lot of big fools. Ordinary investors here in the USA, pension funds at home and abroad, the Chinese government, Arab oil sheiks, German regional banks: we never knew there were so many fools.
However, it seems we can not find bigger fools anymore. The investment balloons are rapidly deflating.
Our fellow Americans: these are difficult times. We will need to increase your taxes. Your loans will get a lot more expensive, if you still can get a loan. Your pension fund may not be able to honor its obligations. In short, it is time to tighten our belts.
Sunday, 28 September 2008
RO's birthday party
I just came home from RO's 40th birthday party. It was an excellent party. RO being RO, the theme of the party was "AsiaVaganza" and we were all supposed to dress in an Asian style. WI, MA, FR, BV, HE and I decided to go as Thai monks. The dress was quite inconvenient on the bicycle but we managed to get to the venue safely. RO being the King of the Amsterdam rice queens meant that the party was at least 50% Asians. I am not so sure that RO's family and his straight friends were having a good time, but for the gays it was just a perfect party. It felt strange to cycle home in the cool night dressed in an orange dress - maybe I should do it more often.
Friday, 26 September 2008
A spam e-mail
Dear Friend:
I need to ask you to support an urgent secret business relationship with a transfer of funds of great magnitude.
I am Ministry of the Treasury of the Republic of America. My country has had a crisis that has caused the need for large transfer of funds of 800 billion dollars US. If you would assist me in this transfer, it would be most profitable to you.
I am working with Mr. Phil Gramm, lobbyist for UBS, who will be my replacement as Ministry of the Treasury in January under President McCain. You may know him as the leader of the American banking deregulation movement in the 1990s. This transaction is 100% safe.
This is a matter of great urgency. We need a blank check. We need the funds as quickly as possible. We cannot directly transfer these funds in the names of our close friends because we are constantly under surveillance. My family lawyer advised me that I should look for a reliable and trustworthy person who will act as a next of kin so the funds can be transferred.
Please reply with all of your bank account and other fund account numbers and those of your children and grandchildren to wallstreetbailout@treasury.gov so that we may transfer your commission for this transaction. After I receive that information, I will respond with detailed information about safeguards that will be used to protect the funds.
Yours Faithfully,
Minister of Treasury Paulson
(thanks Talking Cock)
I need to ask you to support an urgent secret business relationship with a transfer of funds of great magnitude.
I am Ministry of the Treasury of the Republic of America. My country has had a crisis that has caused the need for large transfer of funds of 800 billion dollars US. If you would assist me in this transfer, it would be most profitable to you.
I am working with Mr. Phil Gramm, lobbyist for UBS, who will be my replacement as Ministry of the Treasury in January under President McCain. You may know him as the leader of the American banking deregulation movement in the 1990s. This transaction is 100% safe.
This is a matter of great urgency. We need a blank check. We need the funds as quickly as possible. We cannot directly transfer these funds in the names of our close friends because we are constantly under surveillance. My family lawyer advised me that I should look for a reliable and trustworthy person who will act as a next of kin so the funds can be transferred.
Please reply with all of your bank account and other fund account numbers and those of your children and grandchildren to wallstreetbailout@treasury.gov so that we may transfer your commission for this transaction. After I receive that information, I will respond with detailed information about safeguards that will be used to protect the funds.
Yours Faithfully,
Minister of Treasury Paulson
(thanks Talking Cock)
Wednesday, 24 September 2008
Socialism, capitalism and greed
My grandfather was an old-fashioned socialist and an active member of the Social Democratic Workers' Party for most of his life. After he died in 1976, the family found a note "I wish my grandchildren will live in a peaceful world where wealth will be distributed more evenly". He was cremated so he can't turn in his grave but I am quite sure he would have if he would have known about the current financial market meltdown.
The most ridiculous action so far is the current US government's US$ 700 billion bailout plan. The Treasury's plan, the most sweeping federal intervention in the financial markets since the Great Depression, calls for the government to buy from firms up to $700 billion in troubled assets - mainly mortgage-backed securities - whose values have declined as the housing market imploded. The goal is to stabilize the companies and prompt them to lend again.
This is basically paying out a bonus to failed companies and managers. It is rewarding the greed, mis-management, thievery and extreme capitalism of the Wall Street bankers. These people should be in prison and not in their villa in the Bahamas.It is a shame that the US government even dares to present such a plan. As always, the little people will be suffering: higher inflation, higher taxes, they will still be kicked out of their homes when they can't afford a mortgage - while the top earners will be getting their fat bonus checks.
If the US government wants to save the economy, they'd better subsidize the little people who can no longer afford their mortgage payments.
In the mean time, we all better fasten our seat belts as the crisis is far from over, the levels of public and private debt in the US are unsustainable, the credit card crisis hasn't even begun yet and there are rumours that the Chinese will soon say "enough is enough" and dump massive amounts of US paper on the market.
The most ridiculous action so far is the current US government's US$ 700 billion bailout plan. The Treasury's plan, the most sweeping federal intervention in the financial markets since the Great Depression, calls for the government to buy from firms up to $700 billion in troubled assets - mainly mortgage-backed securities - whose values have declined as the housing market imploded. The goal is to stabilize the companies and prompt them to lend again.
This is basically paying out a bonus to failed companies and managers. It is rewarding the greed, mis-management, thievery and extreme capitalism of the Wall Street bankers. These people should be in prison and not in their villa in the Bahamas.It is a shame that the US government even dares to present such a plan. As always, the little people will be suffering: higher inflation, higher taxes, they will still be kicked out of their homes when they can't afford a mortgage - while the top earners will be getting their fat bonus checks.
If the US government wants to save the economy, they'd better subsidize the little people who can no longer afford their mortgage payments.
In the mean time, we all better fasten our seat belts as the crisis is far from over, the levels of public and private debt in the US are unsustainable, the credit card crisis hasn't even begun yet and there are rumours that the Chinese will soon say "enough is enough" and dump massive amounts of US paper on the market.
Monday, 22 September 2008
Wanted
Yesterday I watched "Wanted" which I quite liked, despite it being a very violent film. A young nerdy man named Wesley Gibson (James McAvoy) works at a dead-end job with an overbearing boss. He takes depressant when he feels stressed out. His girlfriend is sleeping with his best friend. One night at a pharmacy, Gibson meets a mysterious woman who tells him his father was an elite assassin who had been killed the day before. The woman brings Gibson to the headquarters of The Fraternity, a thousand-year-old secret society of assassins. The group's leader, Sloan (Morgan Freeman), formally introduces Gibson to Fox (Angelina Jolie), the woman from the night before, and invites him to follow in his father's footsteps as an assassin. We see Wesley being trained in many violent (and sometimes funny) scenes, until he is ready to kill.
An action-packed movie that didn't bore me. And James is rather attractive when he takes his shirt of.
After the movie the entire gang was in Soho and I stayed way too long and had way too many beers. Maybe I'll change my schedule at work to have Monday mornings off!
Sunday, 21 September 2008
Alles is liefde
Last night I watched "Alles is liefde" ("Everything is love"), one of the most successful Dutch movies ever. Set in Amsterdam the week before Sinterklaas, the movie is about finding, losing, experiencing, enjoying, looking forward to, forgetting and regretting love. A sweet and funny movie which also features young actor Valerio Zeno who I personally know.
"Can I give you a ride home?
No. I'm actually waiting for my true love.
Who isn't? Now the question is. What do we do in the mean time?"
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)