This is NOT my lucky day
By David Verveer
First of all, I have to admit that I do not believe in luck, bad eye, lucky number or any thing else that can not be explained logically other than "coincidentally". Would I have been superstitious, I would not have dared to write this letter before the bad luck had finished showing its ugly head. I will start with relating what occurred to me this morning until now (the time is just past 8, 30 in the morning).
My wife informed me this morning, that I forgot to congratulate my oldest brother on his 75th birthday, which took place 4 days ago, something, which until now, never happened before, as birthdays are very important in our family, and celebrated yearly with the traditional birthday call on the actual day of the happy occasion, when the culprit changes the number of years on this earth. In order, that the others (my other brother and sister) won't forget, we phone each other as reminder to phone. This year, nobody phoned, all three of us forgot, shame in the family, is it the age, or simply bad luck (that doesn't exist).
Of course, I phoned my brother, the moment the time was decent, as forgetting his birthday is one thing, but phoning somebody out of bed, telling him that you forgot his birthday, is really chutzpah (cheek), my sister in law answered the phone, and told me that all three of us failed to phone, you must admit, that is not very pleasant to hear, but my brother was very large, and after my confession, he officially forgave me, which means that when we are called up (to heaven or hell) he can not use this as an accuse for complains on his brothers.
But enough about the birthday, drinking my morning coffee, reading in the mean time about the problems of the world, the economic crisis and local politics, feeling happily a little bid as outsider, as I have no investments (what so ever) which are in danger of loosing their value, local politics such as "who is joining which party" really does not concern me, as all politicians are the same type of nincompoops (it’s a real word in the dictionary). Than, for no reason at all, my slurp of coffee went in the wrong direction, and I spit coffee on the computer and on the notes,I wrote down, for a project I am working on, making the notes illegible, the floor and computer smelly and dirty, which I had to wipe up and clean. And even though, I did not drink a lot of coffee this morning, I think that it is wiser not to try again.
I am not a breakfast person, and my daily breakfast consists most times only out a cup of strong coffee and a portion of yogurt, this keeps me going till noon, when I eat my warm meal, people tell me that this is really unhealthy, as your breakfast is the most important meal of the day, but since I already reached the age of pensioners in relatively good health, (knock on wood), and most of those who warned me about the importance of breakfast, developed during the days, different health complains, the need for an healthy breakfast might be in the same group of alarmists promoting health foods, no red meat, caloric poor foods, and all the bullshit, which we are exposed to daily, by radio and TV.
If you really believe all those slogans sold to you by the media, it is a wonder you made it till today, and if you add to this, those green maniacs, who tell you that modern live is killing you, slowly but surely burning you up, reading that another oil tanker was kidnapped by terrorists near the Somali coast, that the Government is not yet prepared to guaranty the value of our pensions, that the settler fanatics in Hebron are treating their neighbors and our soldiers like real Nazis, and that I promised my wife to clean the house, and I would have added the sad demise of our dog, but that happened more than 25 years ago, a very sad fact but slowly and surely it seem to lose its punch. But you understand my current trend of thoughts, life is hard, but truly I am not complaining (which does not help), and compare my lot with anybody else, and realize than I am damn lucky (even though, I don't believe in luck, which is simply superstition (and making sure, some more words, such as: "pfu-pfu" – an expression by elder Ashkenazi, against the "bad eye" – somebody who spreads bad luck, but I was told that a Hamsa (and / or mezuzah, near the entrance door of the house has the same strength as "pfu-pfu", but be careful, an single EYE hanger is NOT sufficient strong to defend you against those witches).
Thus, with an optimistic expectation for the remainder of the day, I wish you well, please note, the sun will come back, even if you were so clumsy to spill salt.
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Sunday, November 16, 2008
global fincial crisis / global warming, we are the litle monkeys
Global Financial Crisis and Global Warming, we are the little monkeys
By David Verveer
For the normal world citizen like myself, (not a politician, nor an industrialist, nor a player in the financial wilderness of international economics), our existence is threatened even more, not alone will be burn (not in hell, but here on earth), we will have to do it in poverty. Not so long ago, they (the mass media) warned us, that if we continue to use our car in order to do the shopping, will cause eventually that our great grand children will have to live in a much warmer place, without ice bears, but with new touristic sites at the tropical north pole, were you will get a tan in no time, as there is no ozone layer anymore. I could live with this horrible threat, as the supermarket opposite my house, does not have the products I want, and do not want ice bears to swim around in the wild, they are nasty animals, they eat fish, and cause every so often a price hike in the supply of fresh gefilte fish, but now, only recently, they (again the same Media) tells us that we are now in a financial crisis, that people get fired, that our life savings are loosing its value, and we are slowing down (at my age, slowing down comes naturally, but that is irrelevant).
The above nonsense, is a short summary of the facts and figures we are bombarded with on the internet, radio and television, without that we have any choice to evade them, and we accept them in our stride, just like we accept the calamities we see is the reality programs on TV, as they (the Media) do not provide any solutions, and if I understand it, they don't know either, the are in the same sinking boat, and do not have any better life savers, than us, the common man.
If it wouldn't be so sad and dangerous, we would look at the humor of it, as both calamities (global financial crisis and warming) are man made, and occur (or don't exist) only due to human reaction. Global Warming, as we discussed before, is a hoax, in order to increase the value of alternative / green energy, and reduce the use of petrol and conventional fuels, based on false and fabricated, so called scientific studies, with center piece, a close up of penguins. The results until now are worldwide hunger, due to rising food prices, as surplus cereals which were sent to the third world were redirected to the Methanol production.
The Global financial Crisis is even more peculiar, it is caused by greed, loss of faith between banks and investors, using money to cover bluff transactions, and then, somebody pulled the plug, like domino stones, the reaction was started, all stones tumbled down, Governments started to pump money back in the collapsing chain reaction, without any results, as there is no bottom yet in sight. Of course the players themselves are not affected, gone are the days they lost all there possessions, and committed suicide by jumping from the roofs, they simply closed the shop and fired the employees, so that they have the opportunity to jump from the roofs instead of them.
In both situations, nothing real happened to start those calamities and both are man made, and both are affecting us, the peons, the non players, while the culprits remain high and dry, and unlike gifted journalists, I have no solution other than tell you a joke, about this small island in the middle of the ocean, on which lived a special kind of small monkeys, living in and around the only tree on the middle of the island. The Zoo of Aalten (a small town, eastern Holland, without any Zoo, as far as I know, used only to make the story sound truer) decided that they needed these apes in order to complete their collection, and went on the expedition to catch some of these animals. The landed at the island, got a landing permit from the authorities (irrelevant to the story but I want it to sound real), started to surround the apes with nets, those poor monkeys, frightened like hell, retreated to the tree, and the brave hunters circulated the tree. We had now a classical case of blockade, and our question to you, what in your opinion, those poor small apes had to do, in order to escape capture. You will think for a little while, suggest some stupid suggestions, until you raze your hands, and tell me, that you have no solution for the poor little monkeys, and than I am supposed to say, if you as giant ape, have no solution, how do you expect a solution from those small apes, (end joke).
But wait a moment, my dear fellow apes, this comparison fits us precisely, hunger, poverty and disaster are on the way, and no power in the world can stop our self destruction, my advice, enjoy the time we have before it reaches us.
By David Verveer
For the normal world citizen like myself, (not a politician, nor an industrialist, nor a player in the financial wilderness of international economics), our existence is threatened even more, not alone will be burn (not in hell, but here on earth), we will have to do it in poverty. Not so long ago, they (the mass media) warned us, that if we continue to use our car in order to do the shopping, will cause eventually that our great grand children will have to live in a much warmer place, without ice bears, but with new touristic sites at the tropical north pole, were you will get a tan in no time, as there is no ozone layer anymore. I could live with this horrible threat, as the supermarket opposite my house, does not have the products I want, and do not want ice bears to swim around in the wild, they are nasty animals, they eat fish, and cause every so often a price hike in the supply of fresh gefilte fish, but now, only recently, they (again the same Media) tells us that we are now in a financial crisis, that people get fired, that our life savings are loosing its value, and we are slowing down (at my age, slowing down comes naturally, but that is irrelevant).
The above nonsense, is a short summary of the facts and figures we are bombarded with on the internet, radio and television, without that we have any choice to evade them, and we accept them in our stride, just like we accept the calamities we see is the reality programs on TV, as they (the Media) do not provide any solutions, and if I understand it, they don't know either, the are in the same sinking boat, and do not have any better life savers, than us, the common man.
If it wouldn't be so sad and dangerous, we would look at the humor of it, as both calamities (global financial crisis and warming) are man made, and occur (or don't exist) only due to human reaction. Global Warming, as we discussed before, is a hoax, in order to increase the value of alternative / green energy, and reduce the use of petrol and conventional fuels, based on false and fabricated, so called scientific studies, with center piece, a close up of penguins. The results until now are worldwide hunger, due to rising food prices, as surplus cereals which were sent to the third world were redirected to the Methanol production.
The Global financial Crisis is even more peculiar, it is caused by greed, loss of faith between banks and investors, using money to cover bluff transactions, and then, somebody pulled the plug, like domino stones, the reaction was started, all stones tumbled down, Governments started to pump money back in the collapsing chain reaction, without any results, as there is no bottom yet in sight. Of course the players themselves are not affected, gone are the days they lost all there possessions, and committed suicide by jumping from the roofs, they simply closed the shop and fired the employees, so that they have the opportunity to jump from the roofs instead of them.
In both situations, nothing real happened to start those calamities and both are man made, and both are affecting us, the peons, the non players, while the culprits remain high and dry, and unlike gifted journalists, I have no solution other than tell you a joke, about this small island in the middle of the ocean, on which lived a special kind of small monkeys, living in and around the only tree on the middle of the island. The Zoo of Aalten (a small town, eastern Holland, without any Zoo, as far as I know, used only to make the story sound truer) decided that they needed these apes in order to complete their collection, and went on the expedition to catch some of these animals. The landed at the island, got a landing permit from the authorities (irrelevant to the story but I want it to sound real), started to surround the apes with nets, those poor monkeys, frightened like hell, retreated to the tree, and the brave hunters circulated the tree. We had now a classical case of blockade, and our question to you, what in your opinion, those poor small apes had to do, in order to escape capture. You will think for a little while, suggest some stupid suggestions, until you raze your hands, and tell me, that you have no solution for the poor little monkeys, and than I am supposed to say, if you as giant ape, have no solution, how do you expect a solution from those small apes, (end joke).
But wait a moment, my dear fellow apes, this comparison fits us precisely, hunger, poverty and disaster are on the way, and no power in the world can stop our self destruction, my advice, enjoy the time we have before it reaches us.
Thursday, November 13, 2008
human greed caused the financial crisis
By David Verveer
Blessed are those scientists who used their genius in order ensure humanity living a healthier life, who dealt with killer diseases such as aids, cancer, strokes, and further back: plagues, cholera, pests and all those terrible mass killers, that practically disappeared from this world which endangered once our life. The result of their efforts can be seen in an increasing duration of our lifespan. Together with the improvement in living conditions, better education, care for our environment, and many other measures taken worldwide, our living conditions are improving daily.
But then something peculiar happens, suddenly the World economy collapses totally, the rich, the speculators and the people who played around with our savings and investments, decided to enter the crisis mode, with result that suddenly the economy remained without a bottom, and again we found out that this human invention, we called "global economy" is something theoretical, something that does not exist, as this was based on mutual trust and pure bluff, gone are the days when money represented and covered payment for work performed.
The baker of bread pays his suppliers for the raw materials needed to bake the bread, and sold it for a selling price, sufficiently high to allow him in making a living, but not too high, ore else the potential client could not buy his bread.
The baker was bought out by the industrialist, who, with increased efficiency produced a mass product, not as tasty as the bread produced manually in the past, but people need bread, in order to live. Of course, his economical risks as mass producer are much higher, and according our money system, he was forced to increase the price per loaf. But our mass producers have no tools to sell their products directly to the customers, for that he needed the super markets and transporters. Of course the client pays for every one handling (theoretically) the bread. The baking factory becomes slowly but surely, old fashioned, and his competitor produces more and cheaper bread, thus our factory owner goes to the bank, and takes a loan, based on a business plan he presented, prepared by a professional consultants, who promises the bakery owner that if this new machinery is bought, and new real estate is acquired, the bakery will be able to increase his production and in seven years, the money invested,will be returned. The bank provides him a loan, but as the bank employees have to live as well, the monthly pay back contains also the fees for the bank including the risk insurance to the investors of the bank.
I could go on like this for hours, and eventually you the customer pays for it, when you buy your loaf of bread.
This system worked perfectly for hundreds of years, and providing a living for everyone who provided somehow services, but than the bankers started to play around, they started marketing these loans, speculating on successful investments, which are going to make the investors rich in a very short period of time. And if they were good sellers, these shares traded became extremely attractive, and a good investment for the speculators. Soon we got into a situation that all those shares were valued much higher than their actual or real value, based on the loan or investment they covered.
This is a perfect system too get rich, provided that nobody one moment stops and looks at the bundle of shares in his position, and asks himself, is it really worth the money invested, could I get back the full payment for those high valuated shares I bought. If only one hesitate, only one sells his assets, nothing bad happens, but if people start rumors that the bank who gave the loan and issued the shares, has financial problems, the entire neighborhood gets in a panic, runs to the bank, and request the value for their investments, and if the national bank does not save the bank, it collapses, and anybody invested in the bank looses his lifetime savings.
I know, I simplified the world money crisis, as many other factors play a factor in the make believe market, in which we pay with money. But what is money? Money is a promise from the issuer (the bank with credit cards or national treasury with bank notes) that he will pay the owner, the written value in gold or silver, and originally the national treasurer kept for this tons of gold in storage, but when the use of money and the exchange rate between the countries started to be very big, the gold reserve promise became irrelevant, and the exchange value between currencies became a part of the international game of global economy.
Now we reach the current world economic crisis, in which nobody trust anymore the value of money or / and shares, as there is nothing back there to show for, there is no gold reserve, bank notes are valueless (see Zimbabwe) when the exchange rate for example of one dollar runs in the millions of Zimbabian dollars. This time, everybody suffers; the poor are deprived of their job and do not have money to pay for their food, the rich (and in between) don't earn as the economic activities comes to a halt.
But now, let's look back, what happened, which virus caused this disaster? The answer is "human greed". The economics went astray, when the commercial value extended the real value, when the investor bought shares for "high tech", without any tools to check if this "high tech" product really has a market. The speculators worldwide caused this disaster, which will in the near future still demand many more sacrifices, until we go back to the same insane and un-real world economy.
Of course, there is no solution for this human made disease, greed, which just as war is incurable and planted in the human, in order to prevent over-population.
Blessed are those scientists who used their genius in order ensure humanity living a healthier life, who dealt with killer diseases such as aids, cancer, strokes, and further back: plagues, cholera, pests and all those terrible mass killers, that practically disappeared from this world which endangered once our life. The result of their efforts can be seen in an increasing duration of our lifespan. Together with the improvement in living conditions, better education, care for our environment, and many other measures taken worldwide, our living conditions are improving daily.
But then something peculiar happens, suddenly the World economy collapses totally, the rich, the speculators and the people who played around with our savings and investments, decided to enter the crisis mode, with result that suddenly the economy remained without a bottom, and again we found out that this human invention, we called "global economy" is something theoretical, something that does not exist, as this was based on mutual trust and pure bluff, gone are the days when money represented and covered payment for work performed.
The baker of bread pays his suppliers for the raw materials needed to bake the bread, and sold it for a selling price, sufficiently high to allow him in making a living, but not too high, ore else the potential client could not buy his bread.
The baker was bought out by the industrialist, who, with increased efficiency produced a mass product, not as tasty as the bread produced manually in the past, but people need bread, in order to live. Of course, his economical risks as mass producer are much higher, and according our money system, he was forced to increase the price per loaf. But our mass producers have no tools to sell their products directly to the customers, for that he needed the super markets and transporters. Of course the client pays for every one handling (theoretically) the bread. The baking factory becomes slowly but surely, old fashioned, and his competitor produces more and cheaper bread, thus our factory owner goes to the bank, and takes a loan, based on a business plan he presented, prepared by a professional consultants, who promises the bakery owner that if this new machinery is bought, and new real estate is acquired, the bakery will be able to increase his production and in seven years, the money invested,will be returned. The bank provides him a loan, but as the bank employees have to live as well, the monthly pay back contains also the fees for the bank including the risk insurance to the investors of the bank.
I could go on like this for hours, and eventually you the customer pays for it, when you buy your loaf of bread.
This system worked perfectly for hundreds of years, and providing a living for everyone who provided somehow services, but than the bankers started to play around, they started marketing these loans, speculating on successful investments, which are going to make the investors rich in a very short period of time. And if they were good sellers, these shares traded became extremely attractive, and a good investment for the speculators. Soon we got into a situation that all those shares were valued much higher than their actual or real value, based on the loan or investment they covered.
This is a perfect system too get rich, provided that nobody one moment stops and looks at the bundle of shares in his position, and asks himself, is it really worth the money invested, could I get back the full payment for those high valuated shares I bought. If only one hesitate, only one sells his assets, nothing bad happens, but if people start rumors that the bank who gave the loan and issued the shares, has financial problems, the entire neighborhood gets in a panic, runs to the bank, and request the value for their investments, and if the national bank does not save the bank, it collapses, and anybody invested in the bank looses his lifetime savings.
I know, I simplified the world money crisis, as many other factors play a factor in the make believe market, in which we pay with money. But what is money? Money is a promise from the issuer (the bank with credit cards or national treasury with bank notes) that he will pay the owner, the written value in gold or silver, and originally the national treasurer kept for this tons of gold in storage, but when the use of money and the exchange rate between the countries started to be very big, the gold reserve promise became irrelevant, and the exchange value between currencies became a part of the international game of global economy.
Now we reach the current world economic crisis, in which nobody trust anymore the value of money or / and shares, as there is nothing back there to show for, there is no gold reserve, bank notes are valueless (see Zimbabwe) when the exchange rate for example of one dollar runs in the millions of Zimbabian dollars. This time, everybody suffers; the poor are deprived of their job and do not have money to pay for their food, the rich (and in between) don't earn as the economic activities comes to a halt.
But now, let's look back, what happened, which virus caused this disaster? The answer is "human greed". The economics went astray, when the commercial value extended the real value, when the investor bought shares for "high tech", without any tools to check if this "high tech" product really has a market. The speculators worldwide caused this disaster, which will in the near future still demand many more sacrifices, until we go back to the same insane and un-real world economy.
Of course, there is no solution for this human made disease, greed, which just as war is incurable and planted in the human, in order to prevent over-population.
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