Iraqi Father Killed his Daughter

An Iraqi father killed his daughter.  What the hell is driving these muslim men to kill their daughters.  In this case, the father complained that his daughter was becoming too westernized, so he decides to run her over with his car.  Oh, by the way, he also ran over his daughter's friend as well (an accomplice to her westernization?).  This story is not only disgusting and ridiculous, it's completely insane. There have been recent accounts of other muslim men committing similar crimes because their daughter "dishonored" the family by becoming too westernized.  Earlier this year, a muslim father brutally attacked and killed his daughter for the same reason.

The day the news of a father running over his daughter broke out, I was watching Rick Sanchez on CNN and when he broke the story to all of us, a muslim man tweeted Rick saying that he would have done the same thing if his daughter had dishonored his family... What?!

I don't know if it is the suppression of women rights in many of the Middle Eastern nations that make these men think the way they do, but if you are coming to America, all that crap gets left behind at the border.  We are a nation of tolerance, but things like this aren't tolerated.  Being in college and knowing muslim students, many of their parents are in the dark to much of what they do (drinking etc.).  It's quite sad, but apparently their parents are literally capable of causing their child harm and the college kids don't really have much of a choice but to hide everything from them.  I can't believe that many of these muslim fathers are naive enough to believe their children will not become westernized by living in the United States.  We are a westernized nation with progressive ideals.  If that can't be handled then don't come to the United States and put your children in danger. 

Republicans say NO to more stimulus

Republicans, who are the house and senate minority, have said no to a new economic stimulus plan. The associated press released an article stating that republicans are against a new stimulus plan and the Obama administration thinks it is premature to be thinking about a new plan as well. I am relieved.

When president Obama was asked about the stimulus package recently by Anderson Cooper, Obama said "the stimulus is working exactly as we had anticipated." Really Mr. President? Just recently Joe Biden "slipped" by saying we misjudged the weakness of the economy. We also had the administration stating unemployment will not go past 8.5 percent when the stimulus bill was passed. We are now hovering around 9.5 unemployment rate, with rates close to 20 percent in some parts of the nation. There is an unfathomable amount of money being printed and spent. An increasing concern globally about the strength of the dollar. There is also some evidence that may suggest government intervention in the stock market as well. What the hell has the stimulus done? Many people will argue that we would be worse if there was no stimulus, but I am convinced that the amount of money we are printing and spending will be just as detrimental in the future.

I suppose all that can be done right now is hope that the administration does not find a need to create a second stimulus plan. I also hope that democrats in the senate and house see that a second stimulus is not what this nation needs right now and that they will align themselves with republicans on this matter.

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The administration and why more stimulus is a bad idea

As I have been saying for quite some time now, the Obama administration has been too optimistic. Recently, Vice President Joe Biden said that the administration misread the economy. Thank you Mr. Vice President!

The administration was adamant about creating new stimulus plans to create jobs and therefore "stimulate" the economy. Not only was it ineffective, but it was put together in such a poor way that many people, including those in the administration, did not really understand everything about it. They also created bank stress tests, however, these tests were insufficient and did not go far enough. So what is being said today? More stimulus.

Laura Tyson, who is one of Obama's economic advisors, recently said that we should consider more stimulus. Creating more stimulus will only increase the deficit even greater. This country is already at 62 trillion dollars in debt, an unfathomable number, and many nations, such as China, India, Russia, and even France are decreasing the amount of dollars they will have in their own reserves.


Charles Ortel, who is the managing director at Newport Value Partners, says that we must create incentives for other people around the world to come here and work, the best minds. I couldn't agree more, and I do fear that as every other nation (china and India) catches up to us, it is going to be harder and harder to stay ahead of the curve.

Find Charles Ortel's Interview here.

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India is Questioning the Strength of the Dollar

Recently, there has been a lot of talk about creating a new world reserve currency. Currently, the US dollar is the world’s currency. When there is an international transaction, it is all done in dollars. Lately however, all of this is changing. As of last week, China has expressed their belief that a “super-soverign currency” should be created in order to replace the dollar as the world’s currency. More recently, India has also expressed this concern.

Suresh Tendulkar, who is the chairman of the Indian Prime MInister Economic advisory council, has recently come out publicly saying that he agrees with china’s position. He is urging the Indian government to stop holding its reserves in dollars.

Along with China and India is Russia. Russia has decided that it too will cut the dollar from their reserves as well. With all this talk about creating a new world currency, what does this do for the dollar?

Well recently, the dollar has been pretty weak due to our economic situation. In the long run, however, creating a new world currency that totally displaces the dollar can be a nightmare for our country. When we say that we are borrowing money from china, we literally mean that China is buying our debt at treasury auctions. Now, if there is a new world currency, there isn’t much incentive for other nations to invest into the United States. All of this seems a bit scary, but I am willing to bet that nothing will happen anytime soon. The G8 will be meeting this week and you can bet that this will be something that Obama has to deal with.

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The Obama administration is being too optimistic

Recently, there was an article in the New York Times regarding this administrations overoptimistic view of the current economic situation. The article, which was written by David Leonhardt, states that many of the models the administration used were the exact same models that did not foresee this economic recession.

"It’s not fair to expect Mr. Obama’s economists to be clairvoyant. But they did make one avoidable mistake that led directly to their overoptimism. They relied on the same forecasting models that had completely failed to see the crisis coming."
-David Leonhardt

Leonhardt also goes on and says that the government most likely underestimated the severity of this recession. Therefore the stimulus that was initially proposed may not have been enough to keep this recession from getting any worse.

"...It’s an entirely reasonable prediction. Yet it’s hard not to look back on the last six months and worry that the administration is still underestimating the severity of the situation."
-David Leonhardt

In my opinion, stimulus plans work well theoretically, just like many things, but in practice they do not work very well. The multiple stimulus plans that were enacted by this administration have not brought down unemployment. Let's face it, people who had previously worked in corporate America, only to be laid off, will not settle for a construction job rebuilding a bridge (which is what most of the stimulus plan to put American's back to work is all about). The stimulus plans have only given corporations time to restructure and downgrade (layoff employees) their business. The administration has stuck to what they have been saying for a while now, that we will be out of a recession by the end of this year. In Leonhardt's article, he quotes Obama's economic advisors.

"Christina Romer, a senior Obama economist, argues that businesses that have spent the last few months drawing down their warehouse inventories will eventually need to rebuild them. Lawrence Summers, the top economics adviser, says that many consumers who have been delaying the purchase of a new car will eventually take the plunge."
-David Leonhardt

I strongly disagree with these statements. As I have said before, many people are losing their jobs. If jobs are being lost, people cannot afford to purchase a new house or car. People will also cut back on many things that they normally would have enjoyed in the past. With approximately 2.5 million jobs lost since Obama has been in office, it is fair to say that the stimulus plan may have only slowed the bleeding, but has not revived the economy. I also believe that the president's advisors understand this, they are just reluctant to admit they are wrong. I have said for a long time now that we are not out of the woods, and the fundamentals of the economy will take hold again when earnings begin coming out. I believe the economy will sink even lower through the end of this year.

How Obama Blew His Credibility on the Economy

Al Franken beats Coleman in contested Minnesota senate election

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

Al Franken, who was a saturday night live comedian and satirist, is now the new senator of Minnesota. The Minnesota supreme court ruled in favor of Franken today. After the election in 2008, Al Franken and Norm Coleman were in a dead heat. Franken was the winner, but the margin was so close that there were numerous recounts and appeals. Finally, after seven months the citizens of Minnesota have a new senator. Coleman publically conceded and congratulated Franken. Many people would ask, why wouldn't Coleman push this further, and I believe that he wants to run for another position because his political career is not riddled with controversy and he is fairly young. Candy Crowley of CNN said that Coleman may run for the governor of Minnesota.

This is a huge victory for the democrats, especially with critical bills coming up for vote, such as healthcare reform. Democrats now own 60 seats in the senate giving them a fillabuster proof majority. This can be potentially hazerdous because legislation can move through congress and be signed by the president rather quickly if all democrats are on the same page (thankfully many are skeptical about the proposed healthcare reform).

Al Franken will be sworn in after the July 4th break.

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United States withdraws from Iraq

The United States is withdrawing from Iraq on Tuesday and the feeling is mixed. The citizens of Iraq are celebrating the withdrawal, whereas the Iraqi government is hesitant about the United States leaving. Over the past ten days or so, violence in Iraq has increased as US troops leave. US troops will not completely leave the country, however. There will still be approximately 130,000 troops that will remain in the country. The only thing is that these troops will not have much of an active role in the protection of the country as it will be more of a diplomatic presence, similar to Saudi Arabia.

Should we leave Iraq? That is a very difficult question to answer. I personally believe that Iraq may still be too young of a nation to look after itself. Violence has increased since US troops have been leaving, and there is also evidence that many military and police officers of Iraq are not necessarily the most loyal. There is still a division between sunni's and shiites as well. The country was a mistake and a distraction to begin with and we should have never invaded it. What is done is done, and so now we must use valuable resources in order to make sure the last six years were for nothing.

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Bernard Madoff gets 150 years in prison

Bernard Madoff 71, was sentenced to 150 years in prison today. He stole approximately 13 billion dollars from 1300 people. Many people will never see their life savings again and so many of Madoff's victims were pleased with this sentencing.

The judge said that he did not acknowledge Madoff's plea for leniency because he wanted to send a strong message to anyone else who attempts a Ponzi scheme.

Healthcare Reform

President Obama is really pushing for health care reform. It is fair to say that his health care reform plan is most likely the largest domestic policy on his plate.

There are many problems in our healthcare system that must be addressed.  First of all, cost must come down, not only for the consumer, but for physicians and hospitals.  Malpractice insurance is at an all time high, causing doctors and hospitals to be very picky about who they treat.  Second of all, people must be better educated about general health.  For anyone who has a cold or a scraped arm, it does not benefit anyone when that person goes to the emergency room to seek treatment.  General health education is a way to prevent people from going to the emergency room for minor issues.  Finally, in order to effectively deal with the healthcare situation, I believe it is important to take care of and look after healthcare providers and hospitals.  There is a reason why there are so many physicians in this country who are from other countries.  My father, who is from India, is a physician in Chicago.  This country provides a great salary and attracts the best doctors from around the world.  These world class doctors in turn attract patients from around the world that want to be treated in America.  There is a reason for all of this and I believe that if doctors are not looked after, there will be dire consequences.  Universal healthcare will undoubtedly bring doctor salaries down, and there would be no reason for physicians from other nations (best minds) to come and practice in America.  President Obama is not shy about telling us that every other industrialized nation has some sort of a public healthcare system and that it only makes sense that we do as well, yet despite all of these other nations with public healthcare, there are still so many of their citizens coming to America and seeking treatment.  

I believe that we should decrease the overhead for physicians and hospitals.  This along with new regulatory measures for healthcare insurers will bring prices down for the public.  As I have said before, our nation is great because our government does not control large institutions, such as banks or healthcare.  Yet, in the midst of an economic meltdown, our government controls the financial institutions, manipulates the stock market, and is now trying to publicize healthcare, which would greatly hinder progress and ingenuity in the healthcare field.  We must not force this issue and rush through it.  It is something that must take time and careful thought because we only get one chance to get it right.  

Are Economic experts really experts?

For the last three months, the market has done pretty well, considering everything that has happened. Recently, data has come out that has been better than expected. Now, I know that is a good thing, but lets face it, we are not getting out of this recession anytime soon. Economists, such as Geithner and the likes, suggest that we will be out of the recession towards the fourth quarter of 2009. All I can do is laugh at that. Unemployment is still rising, just not as fast as it did. Banks are still failing, just not the large institutions. People still aren't spending money, yet confidence is going up. I am skeptical about believing these statistics and the "better than expected data" because of the last piece I wrote, government manipulation of the Stock Market, but I will be less skeptical just for a second. Say that better than expected data is coming out, it will still take years for this economy to come back. Let us take a look at some history, It took years to get over the recession in the 70's and 80's. It took years to get out of the 30's. What makes this time any different?

Economists understand the viscous cycle of people losing jobs and not spending. I believe that most of them also understand how long it takes to recover. What I am wondering is why there are so many economists that believe we will recover or even begin to recover in the next eight months?

Stock market manipulation by the Government

The market has seen a rally since the March lows.  Even when news wasn't all that great, the market seemed to creep higher because it was "better than expected data."  That better than expected data is still bad data.  Unemployment today is at 9.4 percent, and if I remember correctly, the government constructed the stress test for banks based on a 10 percent unemployment rate.  If you ask me, we will easily surpass 10 percent by the end of the year.  Because of that I believe the stress tests were not very accurate, but the market still crept higher.  How is the market able to creep up with all of this bad news surfacing?  Yes, the market is probably correcting itself slightly due to the huge decline towards the end of 2008, but there is also evidence of something much more controversial controlling the stock market.  The government.  Recently (last month), Dan Shaffer, who is the president of Shaffer Asset Management, observed an interesting phenomenon.  He told Fox Business that he watches the futures market closely, and towards the final minutes of trading he saw a large amount of future contracts being purchased, to the amount of 10 to 20 billion dollars worth of future S&P contracts.  Now, nobody really has that much money to purchase that many contracts in such a short amount of time(last few minutes of trading) except for the government.  

News like this really makes me wonder what is really going on behind closed doors.  I do believe that this is a very serious issue because it undermines the fundamentals of the market and will actually do more harm in the future.  The government needs to stay out of the market and let earnings and products dictate a companies future.  This really upsets me and I do hope that there is some sort of an investigation.

The video of Dan Shaffer speaking with Fox Business can be found here

Why the Media and the Government upsets me when it comes to the economy

There are many things that get on my nerves, and lately both the media and the government has gotten under my skin when it comes to the economy. For example, the government is using this economic crisis to "change" everything for the worse, in my opinion. Mostly everyone in the media is behaving like John Madden and stating the obvious. When the market goes up, they report that we are recovering and will be out of the hole soon. When the market goes down, the media does a 180 and says "whoa wait a second, we are not out of the woods yet." To me, this is just useless bantering, but there are many people out there who do not understand the fundamentals of what is really happening and do believe what they are told. Our government realizes that people are so enthralled in the fact that something must be done to fix our situation, that people are willing to take on more regulations, more restrictions, and spend trillions of dollars (in the wrong way) to get us out of it. In my opinion, there is so much happening that in the end we are digging ourselves a larger hole. In my next post, I will get into greater detail about why the media and the government has me so upset and worried.