As Haitians and the rest of the world mourn the great loss of life and suffering, some uncomfortable questions need to be asked. The intention here is not to criticize or grand- stand in the aftermath of such a tragedy. Rather, it is an attempt to spark discussion and hopefully aid in the disaster preparedness of other nations of the ‘developing’ world.
First is what happened to the Haitian government in the week following the earthquake? The president of Haiti was nowhere to be seen. The Haitian police and military also were absent while chaos ruled the streets. Instead, discussions were centered on US and United Nations peacekeeping troops as the ones to restore order. No mention of local police or activation of the military or National Guard equivalent. Somehow all the media corps treated this as an acceptable state of affairs. It is only days later that Haitian police started making headlines for using live ammunition on looters.
Why would foreign troops take over the airport and capital city of another sovereign nation in the absence of a coup d’etat? That is unacceptable. The people of Haiti deserve better. God forbid the nation had been under attack. What would have been the government’s reaction?
The other more important question is will this serve as a wake-up call for other developing nations to put plans and resources in place for natural disasters? It would be heart-breaking to see this scene repeated again a decade from now in another part of the world. Of course the truth about all this is that the people in these countries must demand responsible governance. No amount of foreign aid (more than 50-80% of which is embezzled) will lead to self reliance on the part of these nations. History has shown this be true. For all the billions of dollars in foreign aid that flowed to developing nations since the early seventies, the vast majority of the recipients are still as poor or worse than when the aid started flowing.
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Little Things Your Bank Does to Rip You Off
I just found out that something I always suspected my bank practices is actually true. I always thought it was interesting that whenever my checking account balance was low, there seemed to be an uptick in activity. So I found out that I am not crazy. Banks do actually have software programs designed to process debit card payments in a way that depletes your balance the quickest. Here is how it works.
When you purchase something via your debit card, the bank has no obligation post the payments to your bank account in the order in which the purchases are made. They therefore process the largest amounts quicker than smaller ones. Additionally, if your account happens to be overdrawn, the bank now has the opportunity to process those little trinkets you bought at the dollar store for as much as $35 a pop. hence the famed '40 dollar latte'.
By the way there is no reason for a bank with their long 'conservative' tradition to insist on honoring a payment on your depleted account other than to rip you off. While the consumer is ultimately in charge of tracking their balances, this goes beyond good faith. Of course that overdraft fee is really a loan but they would never call it that because the 'Truth in lending act' requires banks to disclose the APR on all loans. If they did that they would have to tell you that they just charged you over 350% APR on those little charges.
This is all legal of course because the bank do actually own Washington. You are likely to hear politicians say the banks 'own Washington'. The banks have very 'powerful' lobbies. But no one will name names. An easy way to control this so called 'power'? Just ban the lobbyists from making campaign contributions. Now what senator could control something like that?
When you purchase something via your debit card, the bank has no obligation post the payments to your bank account in the order in which the purchases are made. They therefore process the largest amounts quicker than smaller ones. Additionally, if your account happens to be overdrawn, the bank now has the opportunity to process those little trinkets you bought at the dollar store for as much as $35 a pop. hence the famed '40 dollar latte'.
By the way there is no reason for a bank with their long 'conservative' tradition to insist on honoring a payment on your depleted account other than to rip you off. While the consumer is ultimately in charge of tracking their balances, this goes beyond good faith. Of course that overdraft fee is really a loan but they would never call it that because the 'Truth in lending act' requires banks to disclose the APR on all loans. If they did that they would have to tell you that they just charged you over 350% APR on those little charges.
This is all legal of course because the bank do actually own Washington. You are likely to hear politicians say the banks 'own Washington'. The banks have very 'powerful' lobbies. But no one will name names. An easy way to control this so called 'power'? Just ban the lobbyists from making campaign contributions. Now what senator could control something like that?
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Laptop Crash
My now-vintage Toshiba laptop crashed last week. I have discovered its now almost impossible to live without internet. No wonder the US govt now considers it a necessity just like utilities. No longer a luxury.
The said laptop is now resuscitated for which I am grateful. I expect to be furiously blogging in the coming days and expect no less from my two readers. I take care of my readers!
My heart goes out to Haiti. As we mourn and pray we should also ask some tough questions. Will the rest of the third world countries learn anything from this? Will they do anything to prepare? Unofficially, a quake of similar magnitude hit San Francisco. Death toll? Less than 70.
The said laptop is now resuscitated for which I am grateful. I expect to be furiously blogging in the coming days and expect no less from my two readers. I take care of my readers!
My heart goes out to Haiti. As we mourn and pray we should also ask some tough questions. Will the rest of the third world countries learn anything from this? Will they do anything to prepare? Unofficially, a quake of similar magnitude hit San Francisco. Death toll? Less than 70.
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Upcoming Posts:
The modern automobile. A truly unimpressive machine.
Why Foreign Aid Has Been Bad for Africa
The modern automobile. A truly unimpressive machine.
Why Foreign Aid Has Been Bad for Africa
What is your 'America age?'
I have to say this popped into my head after reading Okongo's Policy blog about the African immigrant experience. The day you land in America you are reborn in a sense. A new clock starts ticking.So I thought about one of the first three questions fellow Africans ask of one another during the initial introduction. You already know where I'm going with this one.
"How long have you been in the US?" You've heard this asked a thousand times. Its irrelevant how old or young you are. This question is used to quickly asses the askee's state of progress. The way the subject askee answers this question is telling. You can instantly tell what they think of their American experience. The asker's reaction also indicates whether or not they are impressed with the mileage one has covered to get where they are.
So the next time you get asked one this, carefully observe the asker for a sign. Then come back and blog about it.
"How long have you been in the US?" You've heard this asked a thousand times. Its irrelevant how old or young you are. This question is used to quickly asses the askee's state of progress. The way the subject askee answers this question is telling. You can instantly tell what they think of their American experience. The asker's reaction also indicates whether or not they are impressed with the mileage one has covered to get where they are.
So the next time you get asked one this, carefully observe the asker for a sign. Then come back and blog about it.
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Taxoplasma: An alzheimer's-linked parasite that causes rats to be attracted to cats?
Toxoplasma gondii is the most mind-blowing parasite that I have ever read or heard about. I was driving home when I heard this story on WBUR radio Boston and it really blew my mind. It sounds like an April Fools' science fiction joke. If this doesn't disturb you, you are disturbed.(Just kidding).
So here is the story as presented by WBUR Boston. The 'toxo' parasite I referenced above has a two phased life cycle. A sexual and an asexual part. The sexual part of the life cycle can only take place in the intestines of domestic or wild cats. (felidae family). The asexual part can take place in any warm blooded mammals including humans. It is the sexual part of the life cycle that gets very interesting.
Typically the virus is commonly found in cat feces.( I did not know that rats do this. Mildly disturbing). So a rat eats the stuff and gets infected. The parasite undergoes the asexual part of reproduction in readiness for the next stage. Somehow in order to guarantee its survival, the parasite travels up the rat's bloodstream and into the brain. It infects the rat's amygdala(part of the brain that affects memory and emotional reactions in humans). Amazigly, this infection causes the rat to be attracted to the smell of cats. The rat basically goes looking for the cat, the cat does what cats do and gets infected. Now the 'toxo' can reproduce and the cycle is repeated. I would not have believed this were it not for the reliable sources. Actual scientist have reported this phenomenon.
Another disturbing finding put forth by two independent teams of scientists is that infected humans are 3 to 4 times more likely to die in a car accident.
On the serious side of things the virus can cause fetal deaths in humans and pregnant women are usually advised to avoid cats. The parasite is also linked to alzheimer's disease and scientists are studying whether the domestication of the cat caused the escalation of incidence of the disease in the 19th century.
So here is the story as presented by WBUR Boston. The 'toxo' parasite I referenced above has a two phased life cycle. A sexual and an asexual part. The sexual part of the life cycle can only take place in the intestines of domestic or wild cats. (felidae family). The asexual part can take place in any warm blooded mammals including humans. It is the sexual part of the life cycle that gets very interesting.
Typically the virus is commonly found in cat feces.( I did not know that rats do this. Mildly disturbing). So a rat eats the stuff and gets infected. The parasite undergoes the asexual part of reproduction in readiness for the next stage. Somehow in order to guarantee its survival, the parasite travels up the rat's bloodstream and into the brain. It infects the rat's amygdala(part of the brain that affects memory and emotional reactions in humans). Amazigly, this infection causes the rat to be attracted to the smell of cats. The rat basically goes looking for the cat, the cat does what cats do and gets infected. Now the 'toxo' can reproduce and the cycle is repeated. I would not have believed this were it not for the reliable sources. Actual scientist have reported this phenomenon.
Another disturbing finding put forth by two independent teams of scientists is that infected humans are 3 to 4 times more likely to die in a car accident.
On the serious side of things the virus can cause fetal deaths in humans and pregnant women are usually advised to avoid cats. The parasite is also linked to alzheimer's disease and scientists are studying whether the domestication of the cat caused the escalation of incidence of the disease in the 19th century.
Friday, October 30, 2009
Executive Pay: What they didn't teach you in school
It seems like everyone is talking about excessive executive pay nowadays. Obama is talking about it. Germany's Angela Merkel is reviewing plans to possibly put a cap on executive pay for all of Europe. From the millions that AIG was planning to pay out this year to the hundreds of millions Goldman is actually going to pay. The sums are mind boggling not just for size but more so the for their timing. Wall Street is emerging from their worst days since the great depression. So how is it that anyone is getting any sort of bonus?
Now, in school they taught you that shareholders own the company and have a say on the running of the company. If you are like me I imagined 'investor' to mean regular folk invested through their 401Ks and the like. So how is it that executives increasingly seem to reward themselves ahead of the best interests of the shareholders and therefore the company? Many individual investors have unsuccessfully launched proxy fights to rein in excessive pay or at least match pay to performance.
What my teacher never told me is that the biggest investors are themselves institutions. Therefore your ten shares in a corporation don't matter when institutions own the rest of the shares. These institutions because of their block of shares get to pick the board of directors of your corporation. Then those directors seat on the boards of other institutions and it creates a sort of quid pro quo. Approve my 'guaranteed bonus' and I'll approve yours. Being that all these executives have the same mentality of big payouts no matter the financial results, you have CEOs who end up unsuccessfuly running a corporation for three years of less but walking away with almost $100 million in pay. Huge payout for basically failing. This mentality is also contributing to the shrinking of the middle class when you when entry level positions in these same companies (not Goldman of course, its more like $120K there) start at a paltry $33,000 a year and wages today are still at 1998 levels in real dollar terms.
Now, in school they taught you that shareholders own the company and have a say on the running of the company. If you are like me I imagined 'investor' to mean regular folk invested through their 401Ks and the like. So how is it that executives increasingly seem to reward themselves ahead of the best interests of the shareholders and therefore the company? Many individual investors have unsuccessfully launched proxy fights to rein in excessive pay or at least match pay to performance.
What my teacher never told me is that the biggest investors are themselves institutions. Therefore your ten shares in a corporation don't matter when institutions own the rest of the shares. These institutions because of their block of shares get to pick the board of directors of your corporation. Then those directors seat on the boards of other institutions and it creates a sort of quid pro quo. Approve my 'guaranteed bonus' and I'll approve yours. Being that all these executives have the same mentality of big payouts no matter the financial results, you have CEOs who end up unsuccessfuly running a corporation for three years of less but walking away with almost $100 million in pay. Huge payout for basically failing. This mentality is also contributing to the shrinking of the middle class when you when entry level positions in these same companies (not Goldman of course, its more like $120K there) start at a paltry $33,000 a year and wages today are still at 1998 levels in real dollar terms.
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