James Pyle – Author

July 10, 2014

Am I the only one dismayed by the scene at what was once the southern U.S. border?

What border?  It has disappeared under the onslaught of ‘poor abused refugees’ from El Salvador, Honduras, etc.

Regardless of whether you believe this illegal migration was instigated by a Democrat president or by the bizarre happenstance of 50,000 kids suddenly deciding last May to hitch-hike en masse to El Norte seeking a better world – is this our problem?

Excuse me, but I don’t think so.  Just as we are not the world’s policeman; we are not the world’s grocer, doctor or teacher.

But, if not, whose job is it to care for these poor folks who are unable to care for themselves?  I have a suggestion:  THE CATHOLIC CHURCH.

America’s  southern hemisphere is the largest block of Catholic believers. The Vatican bank is the largest  (and most secretive) financial institution in the world. Where are the so-called Catholic Charities?  Why are local priests not engaging the evil-doers and managing the violence and mayhem endemic in their parishes?  Why has the Pope not spoken out on the problem? Is he even aware of the problem?

If there was ever a role for religion, isn’t this a paramount challenge?  Apparently not. Only silence from the Holy Order.  What a disgrace.

Pass the collection plate.   Oh… and don’t let your young sons become altar boys.

You are welcome.

jpylewmg@mail.com

June 29, 2014

What is a ‘bitcoin’ and what is a ‘transgender’ person?

A few years ago the comedian Mark Gungor created a funny routine on the difference between the male brain and the female brain. If you haven’t seen it, I recommend checking it out on You Tube. Mark describes the male brain as consisting of numerous boxes into which men can retreat and deal with life, one box at a time. There is a box for your wife, another for your kids, still another for your job and others for hobbies, etc. My favorite box, as described by Mark, is the ‘empty box’, where many of us males seek frequent solace unfettered by worldly crises and everyday woes and concerns. (I’ll leave it to you to check out how Mark perceives the female brain. )

I freely admit agreement with Mark’s analysis and as I age, find myself spending more time in the ‘empty box’ than any other. It’s nicer there – and quieter. That box becomes even more appealing as technology advances and my ability to absorb said change declines. (Examples:  My new car’s instruction manual is 300 pages long. I cannot possibly program the TV remote.) But I don’t care. I’ve retreated into my empty box.

I am, however, a voracious reader and much of what passes for news these days leaves me scratching my head. Gays, lesbians, blacks, Indians and those suffering from income inequality are over-reported concepts that I at least comprehend – though frequently disagree with the espoused premises that grant them minority status.

But there are two recent concepts that I do not comprehend; the newfound currency termed Bitcoin and the sexual condition labeled transgender.

Please!  Someone tell me what exactly is a bitcoin. Does it depend on exchanging dollars, renminbi or euros to have value?  If so, isn’t that just another form of money? Or, more likely, is it a phony scheme to enrich a nerdy Chinese technobrat?

Likewise, what the hell is a transgender person?  Is this a nerd who never got chosen for the softball team in high school and protests by chopping off his penis? Or is it a jealous girl pissed-off because all the good jobs go to guys? I’m not a medical genius but it seems all this slicing, dicing and re-sewing of used penises is another money maker for the ObamaCare hand wringers. Soon we’ll have a Secretary of Gender Equality competing for funds with the heads of other useless agencies like TSA and the Commerce Department. Give us a break!

Meantime, I’ll stuff my rapidly depleting brain into my empty box and hope to die before this wacky world disappears into a black hole created by global warming.

You are welcome.

jpylewmg@gmail.com

June 24, 2014

On some issues the media intelligentsia resembles a mad dog fighting demons with a bone clenched in its irrational jaw.  Lately the list of targets is getting longer: discrediting New Jersey’s Governor Christie for personally creating a delay at the George Washington bridge, castigating the Koch brothers for daring to think government is over-reaching, redistributing the wealth to poor homeless folks, and, most notably – blaming man for despoiling the climate and predicting apocalyptic floods and droughts within the next ten years if we fail to tax hydrocarbons.  Such politically motivated journalism would be laughable if not for the large number of otherwise rational thinkers who read “All the News that’s fit to print” and believe the drivel as they would a sermon from the Mount.

I’m on this rant because of two articles appearing today in the NY Times.  In the first section we find, “Bipartisan Report Tallies High Toll on Economy From Global Warming”.  On the first page of the Science section we find, “A Sunken Kingdom Re-emerges”.

The lede in the first article:

“More than a million homes and businesses along the nation’s coasts could flood repeatedly before ultimately being destroyed. Entire states in the Southeast and the Corn Belt may lose much of their agriculture as farming shifts northward in a warming world. Heat and humidity will probably grow so intense that spending time outside will be dangerous, throwing industries like construction and tourism into turmoil.”  (Underlining is mine.)

What absolute hyperbole!  And who are the ‘experts’ who bring us this dire prediction? None other than Henry Paulson and Robert Rubin – two economists who couldn’t even predict interest rates one week in advance of the greatest economic disaster in modern history (a man-made disaster, precipitated by them, in their so called area of expertise). Now we are asked to believe they are competent observers and predictors of nature.  Give me a break! That’s Al Gore’s job.

If all this is not crazy enough, they call their report ‘Risky Business’.  I’ll bet even Tom Cruise is laughing at that one.  If memory serves me, that film was shot in Chicago, now home to Henry Paulson.  Maybe we need another shooting in the windy city.

Perhaps the Times’  Mr. Sulzberger should have fired himself instead of his Managing Editor. The charge would be ‘fraudulently representing opinionated beliefs as news’.

The story from the Science Section is a factual account of recent discoveries by British archaeologists off the British coast near the town of Borth which was hammered by storms in mid-2013.  The sea swallowed large swaths of the coastline and spit it out again leaving homes and businesses destroyed but uncovering a treasure trove of prehistoric trees and fossilized animal and human skeletons. Dr. Nicholas Ashton, a curator at the British museum, said: “… what the sea reveals, it tends to reclaim almost as soon.”  He went on to say: “The big lesson is, we have to adapt. Whether we like it or not, the  climate will change – it always has – and always will.”  He described what the area would have looked like 20,000 years ago with dry land stretching across the North Sea. “You could have walked from Denmark to Yorkshire in those days,” he said. I’d wager man had nothing to do with melting that bridge across the sea.

Perhaps if Beowulf or Thor (or whatever god was employed back then) had raised taxes on the cave dwellers we’d still be able to hike to Denmark from England.  Good luck with that.

The NY Times’ unintended juxtaposition of blatantly biased reporting compared to actual scientific facts, uncovered by ‘real experts’, is revealing to say the least.

You are welcome.

jpylewmg@gmail.com

June 23, 2014

Two timely topics based upon beliefs are raising fear and apprehension in the minds of many righteous and moral humans.

We are being programmed by our government and the media to suppress the first and tolerate the latter.

Man induced global warming is touted as a scientific fact, when in reality, there are no facts that support man’s involvement today any more than his involvement eons ago in killing dinosaurs and draining the seas that once covered the American mid-west. This is a ‘belief’ pushed by those with a political agenda whose goal is to inspire fear – then offer candidates promising to ‘cure’ the problem.

The fear of Islamic terror spreading rampantly around the world is a more intransigent issue. This movement is fomented by religious fervor, totally devoid of rationality.  My God is smarter than your God!  No promise of economic equality, women’s rights or democratic elections will sway these radicals from their ancient hatred of ‘non-believers’.  They are an amoral faction which poses a far greater risk of global apocalypse than does an iceberg melting in Antarctica. For the sake of all citizens in the civilized world they must be re-programmed.

We should encourage our elected representatives to stop wasting time and credibility chasing faux problems and devote our national capital to re-educating the children of Islam starting with American based mosques, then spreading to additional literate populations. Another Hiroshima or Nagasaki would be unthinkable today.

Religion, in one form or another, has been the accelerant for most world wars. Let’s stop pretending that religious freedom is a right to die for. It is simply another myth like Santa and the Easter Bunny handed down from generation to generation by people who never learned to think logically or analytically for themselves.

May 15, 2014

In the late 80’s I was at lunch with a friend, John Henske, then Chairman and CEO of the chemical giant Olin Corporation. I was CEO of a small technology company in Connecticut. On that day, a Wall Street Journal article reported that a mid-level Olin executive in Atlanta was indicted in a kick-back scheme involving a few thousand dollars. “Not a good day,” I commented facetiously.

John responded: “I envy you – running a small company, one you can get your arms around. I haven’t the slightest clue about what goes on in the bowels of Olin. We’re just too damned big.”

His comment still resonates whenever I read about a major company under fire because the senior management allegedly did not know what was happening below the executive floor. We can’t deal with problems; we’re too busy resolving crises.

Today the NY Times reported that CITIGROUP belatedly discovered their Mexican arm, BANAMEX, was guilty of fraud: the bank was lending money, on favorable terms, to OceanograFIA, a financially-troubled supplier to PEMEX, the government owned oil company. What a surprise!

Anyone who has done business in Mexico (or in much of Latin America) knows that the rules of engagement are not as ‘lily-white’ as Washington would like one to believe they are in the U.S.

To believe that an executive of a major American bank would not know that Mexican business is systemically corrupt is laughable; but, if one believes CEO Michael Corbat, it took thirteen years for CITI to learn that truism.

CITIGROUP acquired BANAMEX in 2001 during Sandy Weill’s acquisition oriented tenure as CEO. Where were the lawyers who conducted ‘due diligence’ and/or the auditors who examined BANAMEX’s books prior to CITI’s acquisition? Did they misrepresent the facts; or did CITI’s board paper over the risky aspects of the deal pandering to Sandy’s voracious appetite? But to claim they didn’t know? Sorry, boys. That pig won’t fly.

Now that the Mexican defecation has hit the oscillator, eleven low level officers of the bank have been fired. According to the NY Times:

Some of the employees had worked at BANAMEX for as long as two decades and were not involved in the fraud directly. The bank fired many because they had not taken steps to detect the fraud or had ignored warning signs about the client.

Excuse me, Mr. Corbat, but isn’t that exactly what CITI’s senior management has done?

Once again, the top guys at a major bank, with shocked expressions of disbelief, skate free hiding behind a phalanx of lawyers, auditors and a pliant Board of Directors while lower level people, under pressure to please the boss, go on unemployment or to jail. And it all came to light during a federal investigation. These firings are a sham designed to placate the investigators and bank regulators.

In response, Corbat said: “We are reviewing our controls and processes in Mexico and strengthening any area we think falls short of our global standards or best practices.”

Standards?  Best Practices?

What corporate psychobabble and Bull S#*t!  Corbat should have the courage and dignity shown years ago by my friend John – and resign.

You are welcome.

May 12, 2014

The word ‘democracy’ conjures images of dutiful citizens lined up at polling places to cast votes for candidates who will enact laws that the people believe will respect and protect their rights under the Constitution and its 27 Amendments. That’s cool.

But the U.S. has, since its founding, operated under what is properly termed a ‘Representative Democracy’ wherein the eligible voting populace chooses representatives according to their stated positions on important issues of the day. Okay, nobody’s perfect.

In other forms of democracy, such as referendums or plebicites, people vote directly on individual issues of common concern, usually among two competing choices. But U.S. courts now feel free to nullify the results of referendums, arbitrarily finding them illegal or unconstitutional. Remember, most judges are unelected appointees. Not cool.

In all democracies the success of an election, as determined by the absence of unintended consequences, (my definition) is dependent upon an informed electorate. Unfortunately, we now have; a) an uninformed electorate (thanks to government intrusion into the education process) and, b) a representative body corrupted by too-big-to-fail banks and lobbyists.

Where was the outrage when the then Speaker of the House proclaimed about Affordable Care: “We have to pass the Bill so that you can find out what is in it.”?

Democrat or Republican, it makes no difference. Political preference used to be ideological in nature. Now it is more like religion: dogmatic belief passed from generation to generation. No thinking required.

Sorry, folks, that is not democracy in action. It is management by intimidation of the uninformed, perpetrated by incompetent ideologues paid by lobbyists and compounded by media bias that panders to the fears of every minority and special interest group. We have devolved to the point where the inmates run the asylum. Scary!

Wm F. Buckley, Jr. got it right when he famously said: “We don’t need more voters. We need smarter voters.” Sadly, we are acquiring more but less informed voters who feel the job of government is to care for their every need and comfort. (Think Obama phone) If that sounds like Cuba and Venezuela – it is.

And our leaders have the chutzpa to criticize Putin and threaten meaningless ‘sanctions’. At least Putin is in control of his Orwellian Animal Farm. Our form of Democracy no longer works!

Revolution worked once. Maybe it’s time to give it another try.

* Let’s mobilize the thinking class to vote against every one of the current office-holding SOBs and their K Street flaneurs next time around and demand that the newly elected agree to term limits.

* Make every candidate for national office clearly state his position on major issues as determined by a non-partisan group such as League of Women Voters.

* Demand every candidate for national office name his first two choices for key Cabinet positions. (State, Defense, Treasury, Agriculture & Energy)

If that doesn’t work, it may be time to reread that Second Amendment. Once again the government is becoming the enemy.

You are welcome.

He’s baaack!

May 9, 2014

Devoted readers will have noticed the dearth of postings over the past months while I sojourned in southern waters contemplating the idyllic life of manatees frolicking in a lagoon of the Indian River.

Fortunately for serious thinkers and writers the silliness and downward slide of our once-great country continues and it’s time to catch up. So many things need attention that I am posting herein a listing (in alphabetical order) and will deal with each topic in subsequent posts. First up is:

CLIMATE CHANGE HYSTERIA.

I agree that the world’s climate is changing – and it has been continuously changing for millions of years. To claim it is now changing due to man’s actions is the delusional ranting of egocentric non-scientists driven by political aspirations. I’m talking to you, Al Gore – and you, Barack.

I happen to have completed (to my then frustration) numerous courses in past and present geology en route to my B.S. degree in Petroleum and Natural Gas Engineering at Penn State.

There was a time in the Paleozoic and Cenozoic Periods (12,000 to 25,000 years ago) when Kansas and Oklahoma were submerged undersea. We know this because lungfish, shark and other sea animal fossils are abundant throughout the mid-west. I’m quite confident man did not cause that sea to recede leaving behind fertile plains. Nature was the culprit.

Likewise, our beautiful Rocky Mountains pushed their way skyward only about 12,000 years ago, unaided by man, leaving behind wonderful snow covered slopes where man finally interceded and built wonderful resorts at Vail, Aspen and others.

The ‘Ice Age’ occurred 22,000 years ago and killed all the dinosaurs. Can’t blame that on man either.

Today’s environmentalists, well meaning but flawed thinkers, like to blame man for the minor changes measured year-to-year and extrapolate these to an apocalyptic end. Don’t be fooled it is all politics. Reminds me of Plato fantasizing about Atlantis in 370 BC – the faux continent, not a resort in the Bahamas.

He must have been smoking the same hallucinogenic that our political leaders inhale today.

You are welcome.

COMING SOON:

• democracy worked – until it didn’t
• drone dreams
• education – managed by morons
• energy schizophrenia
• fear mongering to the uninformed
• income inequality
• joblessness – an unintended consequence
• nigerian girls
• quotes by “experts & scientists”
• red lines in sand – below the high water mark
• sanctions against everyone
• spying is fun
• tiger roars in asia – anyone listening?
• unbiased (?) media
• wall street rules – all of us
• where in hell is crimea? does anyone care?

March 24, 2014

The drumbeat goes on :  ” There are no jobs.”  ” We need to create new jobs. ”  “Government must create jobs.”  “Outsourcing by big companies is a job killer.”

Historically in the U.S.,  jobs for non-professionals were created largely by large public companies.  No longer. Non-governmental jobs have all but  disappeared, excepting small businesses.

Hand-wringing and political bloviating will not solve the problem.  No one has even defined the problem – so I must.

When and where did it start?   Very simply, it started with the repeal of the  Glass Steagall Act in 1999, under Clinton, after which banks started investing (gambling) with depositor’s money while not lending to corporations for what they considered a paltry interest rate. Lack of competent oversight of said gambling  coupled with a lack of  leadership (on both sides of the aisle) largely led to the financial crisis of 2008.

Banks began investing in public companies with whom they had a lending relationship.  They demanded representation on the boards of those same companies. Their mentality was always the same:  manage for short term gain and screw the long term (including the societal impact on the long term).  Profit today at any cost was the motto.  CEOs began to think ‘ tomorrow was some other guy’s problem’.

Banks’ pressure  on CEOs became intense. Labor and energy costs have always been the largest components of ‘Cost of Goods Sold’ and were the first to be reduced or eliminated.  Energy costs have, until very recently due to fracking, been kept high by a failure to invest in energy infrastructure .  (No new refinery has been built in the U.S. in over 30 years.) and environmental fears have restricted pipeline growth.  Flawed government policies on trade and immigration coupled with pandering to environmental activists exacerbated the unemployment numbers.

Social media companies are currently soaking up all available investment capital, again for short term gains. When trouble (bankruptcy) occurs those companies will suddenly find all their assets have two feet and have jumped ship leaving the common shareholders with squat.  No hard assets to distribute. Again, the banks got out early and whole, by generating false demand for these fledgling companies with no history or record of earnings and making huge fees by selling to unsuspecting buyers (other social media ‘players’).

Unfortunately for job hunters, it is a vicious cycle: Banks have amassed all the money and lend almost nothing for domestic capital investment;  they employ lobbyists who whipsaw and threaten Congress which in its cocoon of feckless pandering passes laws that drive jobs out of the country.

It is no accident that the three most profitable companies in the U.S. (Exxon-Mobil, Apple Computer and Chevron) have only one banker (at Chevron) serving on their boards.

It is past time to re-institute Glass-Steagall, make the banks lend to corporations in this country and stop, not merely limit, their ability to gamble with depositors’ money in foreign markets for their own self-serving greed.  Jobs will then return to this country.  Trust me.

You are welcome.

March 10, 2014

The politically correct media panties are in a knot – again.  This time over Russian activity in Ukraine.  A fledgling  Ukrainian democracy is being challenged by Ukrainians loyal to Russia.

A few facts to keep in mind:

• Russia has a significant military presence in the Crimea region – the naval base in Sevastapol  and an army installation in Gvardeyskoye have existed since 1783 and leases were renewed as recently as July, 2013.
• No shots have been fired – yet.
• 53% of Russian gas exports to Europe move through Ukranian pipelines.
• Europe gets 40% of its energy needs from Russia.
• Western Ukraine is operating with an interim government.  (How did that work out in Libya, Egypt, Syria and Nigeria?)

If your military presence in Eastern Europe is threatened and a big chunk of your economy is at risk – What would you do?

Putin is coming off a successful Olympics, saving Obama from an embarrassing faux pas in Syria, and having restored a nearly disastrous Russian economy.  He is not threatening attack. He is projecting a strong presence –  just as the U.S. Seventh fleet is doing in the South China Sea.

Obama is, once again, diplomatically impotent while issuing silly threats that no one takes seriously.

What would Reagan do?  What would Jesus do?  My guess is they’d both take a deep breath and let Putin resolve this problem in his own time.  He has not threatened anyone with the presence of his troops in Crimea. He is protecting his interests – which is exactly what a real U.S. president would do.

March 8, 2014

Count me among the legions of little people who loathe banks and long for the reinstitution of Glass Steagall. Recounting the reasons would require several posts but a recent experience will suffice.

I’m fortunate to have escaped the killer winter of the Northeast and to be reveling in Florida’s warm sun. The much-maligned US Postal Service, performing admirably, delivers a weekly package of mail directly to our door in time to get all bills paid when due. However, if one of those envelopes contains a check – forget about depositing it into my Connecticut bank.  For some bizarre reason, I’m able to deplete my checking account to zero via ATMs at any bank in Florida, but none will accept my deposit- even though drawn on a reputable financial institution. Their solution – open an account with us!

I know. I know. If I had an i-phone and an app, I could photograph the check and send it electronically to the home bank.  Well, I don’t have an i-phone and don’t plan to spend $500 to buy one just so I can deposit a check. In any event, the amount one can deposit via the ether is limited.  Technology yields to market dominance.

Sitting in sunny Florida with more money than I can deposit doesn’t rank up there with world hunger and Crimean secession but is one more reason to bitch about banks (my favorite past-time).  Did I mention our little CT town of 59,000 (26% of whom are under 18) has 42 bank branches (960 adults/branch) but only one book store?

Our global gyroscope is broken.