Debt Crisis Redux

Wed, Feb 10, 2016, 3:47 pm  //  Dick Conoboy

Just over a week ago I wrote about the pending economic crash in a piece entitled "It's the Derivatives, Stupid!"   Chris Martenson in an article today,10 Feb 2016,  writes: "Bubbles arise when asset prices inflate above what underlying incomes can sustain. Centuries ago, the Dutch woke up one morning and discovered that tulips were simply just flowers after all. But today, the public has yet to wake up to the mathematical reality that over $200 trillion in debt and perhaps another $500 trillion of un(der)funded liabilities really cannot ever be paid back under current terms. However, this fact is dawning within the minds of more and more critical thinkers with each passing day."   Economist Michael Hudson has been speaking about this debt for years and has wrapped it all up in his most recent book, Killing the Host.  You can read Paul Craig Roberts' review of Hudson's book here at Hudson's site.  Excerpt: "Hudson shows that Western economies have been financialized in a predatory way that sacrifices the public interest to the interests of the financial sector. That is why the economy no longer works for ordinary people. Finance is no longer productive. It has become a parasite on the economy."  Hudson states often that debts that cannot be paid, will not be paid.  Now think about all those unfunded liabilities out there to the tune of hundreds of trillions and tell me that there will be no collapse.

Bellingham Wins features George Dyson

Tue, Feb 09, 2016, 9:04 am  //  John Servais

Local website Bellingham Wins has its lead story today about local resident George Dyson. It is informative and a good read - as are all the posts on their site.  We have a permanent link to Bellingham Wins in the right side column - under Local Leisure. If you read this post in the future, here is the link directly to the article about George.  

I've known George since he came to Bellingham in the late 1980s. He bought the just closed Dick's Tavern on West Holly - and there were still half pitchers of stale beer on the bar.  He uses it as his office for writing, but it is still crammed with built and partially built baidarkas. The article explains about the boats.  And it also tells of the books he has written and how he got into writing.  

Not mentioned is the book that first made George famous - 'The Starship and the Canoe', by Kenneth Brower, published in 1978. It was of George and his father, the famous physicist Freeman Dyson.  The book took liberties with the reality of their lives, but was a fun read in the waning days of the alternative living era. George became a sort of counter culture cult hero. I mean, how does one live high in a fir tree on Vancouver Island for three years? Well, he was young and he was finding himself.

The web site 'Bellingham Wins' splits its features between local persons and local cool places and events. It is a project of Bob Pritchett, the owner of Faithlife, the online bible resource company in Bellingham.  Bob moved his company to Bellingham because he likes this place a lot. This website is also a fun digression for his Faithlife staffers. There is a new feature article irregularly but about twice a week. It is under 'Leisure' because of the good articles about events.

Our unconscious racism

Thu, Feb 04, 2016, 8:42 am  //  John Servais

As publisher, I was delighted when Ralph Scwhartz said yes to becoming a writer for NWCitizen.  He left the Herald last November and I immediately contacted him as his reporting was the best of anyone at the Herald in several years and I had linked to his articles from here more than once.  So when he said he wanted his first article to be more of a pesonal subject, I said sure, whatever he wanted.  

His post - In White Skin - is a very different type of  article than we have posted in our 20 years.  When I read the draft, it seemed obvious this was the time for such a perspective.  In the past couple years all of us who are not black have become shockingly more aware of our inherent racism.  Even if we thought ourselves sensitive and aware before.  Ralph's article is by a white guy and to white people.  That is 99% of Bellingham.  We feel we are a liberal or progressive city, but we have a lot of unconscious racism in our community.

Unconscions.  Not intended, but there. Today's Bellingham Herald entertainment section, the Take 5, has a cover illustration of the two Super Bowl quarterbacks - Cam Newton and Peyton Manning.  The very black Cam is shown at least 2 inches shorter than Peyton.  Our culture ascribes better with taller.  In truth, both players are 6 feet 5 inches tall - exactly the same height.  One can say 'oh get over it, it is nothing' or that Cam had to be shorter to allow room for the section title.  And that response would in the past go unchallenged.  It should not go unchallenged any longer.  

So - if you think this is about nothing, let me suggest that if Peyton were shown 2 inches shorter than Cam then we would hear from many about the error and obvious ignorance of the artist and the editors.  We are sensitive via very sophisticated psychological filters.  This is not a criticism of the Herald nor the artist - as indeed the artist probably was told to leave room for the section title. And the Herald's corporate parent, McClatchy, sent this illustration to the Herald.  Most of us would have accepted this without a second thought in the past.  We should change. 

There is a new young black writer we might read.  Ta-Nehisi Coates.  He writes well and makes sense.  He could educate all of us on the racism in our country.  He also had a book published a few months ago - Between the World and Me.  If we are seriously concerned about making progress against racism, then it is a very valuable book to us.  While this is Black History Month, we might just use this month as a start towards reducing racism.  We will try here.

It’s the Derivatives, Stupid!

Mon, Feb 01, 2016, 5:26 am  //  Dick Conoboy

To borrow phraseology from candidate Bill Clinton and at the risk of again being characterized as Chicken Little, here is some information that may make your teeth itch and your toenails curl. Compare this piece with the rhetoric of our President Obama  during his State of the Onion speech regarding our economy,  “Anyone claiming that America's economy is in decline is peddling fiction.”  This statement makes the Sword of Damocles look like a paring knife. Excerpt: "According to a report from one of the regulators of national banks, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, as of September 30, 2015, insured U.S. commercial banks and savings associations had exposure to $192.2 trillion notional (face amount) of derivatives. (Yes, that’s trillion with a “t”.) The report goes on to terrify with the revelation that only four banks hold 90.8 percent of all derivatives: Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs and Bank of America."  Derivatives took down AIG during the last crash. And it gets worse as you read on....here.

And to those who look to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation to protect your deposits, guess again. "In 2009, when the FDIC fund went $8.2 billion in the hole, Chairwoman Sheila Bair assured depositors that their money was protected by a hefty credit line with the Treasury. But the FDIC is funded with premiums from its member banks, which had to replenish the fund. The special assessment required to do it was crippling for the smaller banks, and that was just to recover $8.2 billion.  What happens when Bank of America or JPMorganChase, which have commingled their massive derivatives casinos with their depositary arms, is propelled into bankruptcy by a major derivatives fiasco?  These two banks both have deposits exceeding $1 trillion, and they both have derivatives books with notional values exceeding the GDP of the world. [nearly $200 trillion]"  (From Bail-out Is Out, Bail-in Is In: Time for Some Publicly Owned Banks.)

Then the "bail-ins" begin wherein the banks take your money to recapitalize and leave you broke.

Making Money on the Plight of Veterans

Fri, Jan 29, 2016, 6:44 pm  //  Dick Conoboy

As a veteran, I am a more than a bit sensitive about those who would profit over the condition of veterans in the US especially since those who send those soldiers into combat have little regard for their plight once they return. The vultures circle in the absence of support. A particularly odious practice is forming a charity that spends an inordinate amount for overhead and salaries. This particular veteran oriented charity (Wounded Warriors Project whose logo apears above) advertises widely on TV with the help of celebrities who are either duped into or complicit in the charade. Reports surfaced about this outfit years ago and I understand the charity spent considerable funds to attack those who exposed their chicanery.

Note this piece (on the Wounded Warrior "charity") in Alternet by Sarah Lazare entitled “Famous Charity for Veterans Accused of Inappropriate and Lavish Expenditures”.  Excerpt: “About 40 percent of the organization’s donations in 2014 were spent on its overhead, or about $124 million, according to the charity-rating group Charity Navigator,” the Times reports. “While that percentage, which includes administrative expenses and marketing costs, is not as much as for some groups, it is far more than for many veterans charities, including the Semper Fi Fund, a wounded-veterans group that spent about 8 percent of donations on overhead.”

A review of charities is advisable for all of us prior to giving. A good source of information on charities is CharityWatch.org. That is why I refuse to give and complain to management about attempts to collect money from me at the cash register of any number of stores in Bellingham. These establishments may or may not vet these charities but even if they do their vetting may not be to the standards I would hold them to. These merchants seems to count on my being embarrassed into giving in that I am in line and in proximity to others who would overhear my refusal to give a mere dollar to save the _______ (fill in the blank). However well intentioned, this borders on shakedown.

In Whatcom County there is an excellent veterans self help group, Growing Veterans.  Check it out.  A chance to give locally to an award winning group.

[The Bellingham Herald ran a story from the NYTimes on the same topic that you can read here until such time as the article is no longer available on line.]

Coal Stop calls out Lynden Tribune

Fri, Jan 15, 2016, 10:50 am  //  John Servais

Over at the local blog "Coal Stop," Sandy Robson has done an effective take down of the Lynden Tribune for running an anti-Lummi Nation opinion piece.  Robson does her usual deep research and posts it all for her readers.  The Lynden Tribune ran a article by the leaders of Northwest Jobs Alliance, a front group for the corporate interests of Cherry Point's proposed coal terminal.  With Lummi Nation trying to prevent the total destruction of their fishing rights by the proposed mega coal terminal, the Lynden Tribune allowed a hatchet-job opinion piece to grace their newspaper pages.  In truth, it is a racist hit piece on our neighbors, the Lummi.  Robson does the dissection very nicely. 

Like most of her articles, Robson's article is long and well referenced.  She does not write for those looking for a quick take on issues but rather for those who want to know all the relevant information.  We have kept a link to her website at the top of our links column since she opened the site about a year ago.  I tip my hat to her fine research and comprehensive writing.  Her website is another valuable source of local news, information, and opinion.

Note:  no link to Lynden site as they put the article behind a firewall. 

Ship gets lifted onto floating drydock

Wed, Dec 30, 2015, 11:27 am  //  John Servais

In the photo to left, the ship Bayport is slowly lifted from the water, resting on the deck of a floating drydock.  This scene is playing out this morning off the Fairhaven waterfront, as this view from Marine Park shows.  The drydock even has a name - the Faithful Servant - and is part of the Fairhaven Shipyard complex.  The drydock actually sank itself so the Bayport could float over it and now the drydock is pumping water out of itself so as to rise and lift the ship Bayport.  It will then be towed back to the shipyard which is next to Marine Park.  

Yes, this floating drydock operates just as does the huge Dockwise Vanguard lifted the Shell floating oil drilling rig.  But our drydock is 300 feet long, compared to 900 feet for the larger Vanguard.  And ours stays right here on our Bellingham waterfront.

The Bayport is a dredging barge, 303 feet long and 3,541 tons.  It is used around Puget Sound and the Salish Sea.  While on the drydock for about a month, it will have repairs and maintenance - mostly welding work. It will be easily visible on the Fairhaven waterfront as one drives south on the Boulevard. 

Since the 1800s, ships have been built and repaired at the shipyards in Fairhaven.  While the historic village is well known for its laid back ambience, art shops and dining, its residents have always and strongly supported a working waterfront.  The shipyard has refurbished Alaska ferries, Washington State ferries and US Coast Guard vessels.  The shipyard rents the property from the Port of Bellingham.  

No huge radio towers in Point Roberts

Tue, Dec 01, 2015, 8:49 pm  //  John Servais

Word is in this evening that no appeal was filed within the allotted 30 days so the Skagit County court ruling stands and the huge 50,000 watt radio towers will not be built in Port Roberts.  The coalition of Americans living in Point Roberts and Canadians living across the border in Tsawwassen has won. 

This effort of citizens against huge financial interests has been thought of as a David vs. Goliath contest.  The folks over there are celebrating tonight, and for good reason. The proposed radio towers were said to be so powerful that toasters and such would play music or talk shows.  The towers were planned to broadcast to the large south Asian population in southern British Columbia.  There was no audience planned for Point Roberts or Whatcom County or the United States.  

John Lesow, one of the writers for NWCitizen, lives in Point Roberts and has written three articles on this issue.  You can quickly find his articles by choosing his name from the drop down menu of writers.  Or click for the Oct 22, 2014 article here, the July 14, 2015 article here, and the Oct 8, 2015 article here.  

We expect more information on this tomorrow and will post.  We are pleased NWCitizen could be a supporter in this citizen effort against vested interests who cared little for two wonderful residential communities.