FFM

The United States is under threat of losing its dominant status in the world. We are losing our influence not because of a lack of military power, but rather the relative decline in our economic power. The remainder of the world is catching up and this is particularly true with China and other parts of Asia. The question is what, if anything, can we do about it. The National Intelligence Agency (NIA) recently published their economic global forecasts for the year 2030 .using four different scenarios.

What went wrong in Benghazi and who should be blamed? The Secretary of State (SOS) is the chief foreign affairs adviser to the President. The State Department employees tens of thousands of people across the globe and ultimately they report to the SOS. When appointing a Secretary of State the President looks for someone to assist in developing, implementing and executing the nations plans and objectives as it relates to rest of the world and that person represents the United States across the globe. The need for management skills should not be high on the list of prerequisites to be considered for the position. This in turn requires the SOS to have a staff reporting to her that has the necessary management skills to help achieve the goals of the department through the efforts of thousands of employees working for the State Department. Per the organization chart of the Department of State the SOS has seventeen individuals reporting directly to her. These individuals must have the

Here is a three minute video on the fiscal cliff by Robert Reich, head of the Department of Labor under the Clinton Administration. It is one of the clearest explanations I have seen. The only concerns I have is we need a clearer understanding of whether we must cut back on the safety net programs over time. It may just be that we cannot do everything we want for the needy. We certainly need to cut back on military spending and put some of that savings into education .

China stole Christmas past and maybe future with the help of Goldman Sachs and other Wall Street firms and bankers. China from around 1980 on was ready to sell us goods at cheap prices and in the late nineties Goldman, and other corporate culprits, devised a way for the American citizen to pull equity out of their homes, when in fact there was very little equity, to buy goods from China. The gimmick was sub-prime loans. Now, as a result, we are in a battle with China to maintain our standard of living and our economic position in the world. We not only lost the equity in our homes, but at the same time transferred much of our wealth to Asia by consuming what they produced. The battle is not over; however, we need to make serious adjustments if we are to win. Per a research study completed by the National Intelligence Council , "By 2030 Asia will be well on its way to returning to being the world’s powerhouse, just as it was before 1500." Presently the Defense budget o

On December 10, 2012  The New York Times  reported on how The National Intelligence Council (NIC) expects the world to change over the next seventeen years. By 2030 Asia will be well on its way to returning to being the world’s powerhouse, just as it was before 1500. By 2030, majorities in most countries will be middle-class, not poor, which was the condition of most people throughout human history. Below is a chart depicting the percent of total world consumption of the middle class from the year 2000 to 2050. The countries in blue are India and China. The impact on consumption by Europe and the United States is on the decline.

Let us memorialize the deaths of 20 innocent children in Connecticut by finally addressing the issue of gun control in this country. When will we no longer allow the National Rifle Association to be the only decision maker to decide how we control guns? Something needs to be done. Below is an excerpt from an article appearing in the Guardian on July 22, 2012,   Gun Homicides And Gun Ownership by Country ,   comparing murder rates by country. "The Small Arms Survey is also useful - although it is from 2007, it collates civilian gun ownership rates for 178 countries around the world, and has 'normalised' the data to include a rate per 100,000 population.  So, given those caveats, we can see which countries have the highest ownership rates for firearms - and which have the highest gun murder rates. The key facts are: • The US has the highest gun ownership rate in the world - an average of 88 per 100 people. That puts it first in the world for gun ownership - and eve

The National Intelligence Council (NIC) did an extensive study on how they expect the world to change over the next seventeen years through 2030. Below are some questions that per  The National Intelligence Council  the answers could significantly alter their forecast. 1. "Will divergences and increased volatility result in more global breakdown? Or will the development of multiple growth centers lead to increased resiliency?" 2. "Will current forms of governance and international institutions be able to adapt fast enough to harness and channel change instead of being overwhelmed by it?" 3. "Will rapid changes and shifts in power lead to conflicts?" 4. "Will regional instability, especially in the Middle East and South Asia, spill over and create global insecurity?" 5. "Will technological breakthroughs occur in time to solve the problems caused by rapid urbanization, strain on natural resources, and climate change?" 6. &q

Below are some events that per The National Intelligence Council are almost certain to happen by the year 2030. Majority of world’s population won’t be impoverished. Middle classes will expand in  most countries. As individuals move into the middle class, values will shift including possible strengthening of religious, ethnic and national identities. But middle classes won’t feel secure: one billion workers from developing countries will be added to global labor pool, putting additional  pressure on low-skilled labor. Rapid extensions of life expectancy likely : global deaths from communicable diseases projected to drop by more than 40 percent. Some countries, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, will still have youthful populations, but demographic arc of instability will narrow on both east and west flanks. “Aging” countries face the possibility of decline in economic growth. Increased migration will spread to emerging powers. Urbanization set to grow to almost

In the 1960's the auto industry was part of an oligopoly that included the UAW. Before imports, they could raise prices and pass on some of the profits to union workers in the form of higher wages. Now they longer can do that. Today more industries are controlled by oligarchs that do not include unions. These oligarchs are not buying off the unions because world competition does not allow it. If Apple raised its prices on their smart phones to pay their workers more they would lose business to Samsung in South Korea. By "crushing" oligopolies the consumer would have more choices because of competition and labor would have higher wages because there would be more companies seeking to hire good workers. The problem of competing against foreign labor would still exist, however it would be somewhat offset by technology, shipping costs, etc. It would also force shareholders at the domestic companies to put the squeeze on wages paid to their board members and senior executives

This is a bullet point summary of a well written article in the December 10, 2011 issue of the New York Times titled  Study Predicts Future for U.S. as No. 2 Economy, but Energy Independent .  The topic is a discussion of  the results of  four years of studying and analysis of the future by the National Intelligence Council that reports to the Director of National Intelligence of the United States. We encourage everyone to read the above article. The synopsis below is taken almost verbatim from it and we claim no originality on this one. We felt the information was too important not to share. I encourage you to pass it on to your family members who are in their late teens and early twenties. They can benefit the most from it. China Becomes number One Economic Power:  "China will outstrip the United States as the leading economic power before 2030, but that America will remain an indispensable world leader, bolstered in part by an era of energy independence." Russia

In the 1960's the auto industry was part of an oligopoly that included the UAW. Before imports, they could raise prices and pass on some of the profits to union workers in the form of higher wages. Now they longer can do that. Today more industries are controlled by oligarchs that do not include unions. These oligarchs are not buying off the unions because world competition does not allow it. If Apple raised its prices on smart phones to pay their workers more they would lose business to Samsung in South Korea. By "crushing" oligopolies now, the consumer would have more choices because of competition and labor would have higher wages because there would be more companies seeking to hire good workers. The problem of competing against foreign labor would still exist, however it would be somewhat offset by technology, shipping costs, etc. It would also force shareholders at the domestic companies to put the squeeze on wages paid to their board members and senior execu

President Obama is committing some of the same sins of his first term . He should not be accepting contributions, that look like bribes, from corporations and Oligarchs to pay for his inauguration for his second term. It sends a message to the voters and members of other political persuasions that he can be bought. The result will be that President Obama will lose credibility with members of the legislature and the general public. Obama should not be surprised when he negotiates with John Boehner about raising taxes on the rich and protecting the middle class Boehner has a grin on his face and says "right Mr. President, who was it that funded your inauguration?" Your acceptance of these bribes hurts your bargaining position when it comes to raising taxes on the top 2% in the country. How will your opponents be able to respect you when you say one thing and do another? Further, your acceptance of these bribes by Goldman Sachs and other greedy wall street firms and banks w

There is discussion going on about "Right to Work Laws". There should be discussions about "Right to Compete Laws". Our businesses are being controlled by oligarchs and there are fewer businesses offering consumers choices. It also means a consolidation of places to work. We are at a crossroads. If we want to stop our drift towards socialism, protect free markets from crony capitalism. A struggle is going on between oligopolies and socialism. Control over industries in our economy is becoming more centralized everyday. As this happens power, both monetary and political, is more centralized. Our markets are becoming less free and the economic playing field is skewed in favor of the oligarch. As this centralization of power and wealth is occurring, government can step in and try to "equalize" the playing field by either creating more social programs for the needy or better regulate industries so they are not dominated by crony capitalist. Since the depr

We are facing a "fiscal cliff" because our politicians, President Obama and Congress, did not solve our debt problem in 2011 and pushed it off until the end of this year. They did this by agreeing to spending cuts that were deemed to be unacceptable by all parties. The logic, or lack thereof, was after the 2012 Presidential election both parties would be forced to reach a compromise in order to avoid such drastic measures. They put a gun to their own head. This is not a way for the government of the largest economy in the world to operate and we should be mad as hell. Below is a quote from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) that describes the current budgetary problem facing the country if we do nothing, including not enacting the above mentioned fiscal cliff agreement. "... the persistence of large budget deficits and rapidly escalating federal debt would hinder national saving and investment, thus reducing GDP and income relative to the levels that would occur

Below is a handy chart that appeared in the New York Times on December 3, 2012 titled Comparing The Initial Debt Reduction Proposals .

As much as possible, mortgage relief should come from the wrong doers who precipitated the crisis in the first place; Wall Street and mortgage originators and services that are mostly affiliates of big banks. They are the ones who profited from the sub prime fiasco and they were bailed out while the homeowner suffered. The homeowner who suffered not only included those taking part in the sub prime boom, but every homeowner as a result of the entire market being pulled down. It is not an accident that some of these culprits were the largest contributors in the recent presidential election. Most seemed to have bet on the wrong horse called Romney. While the banks were bailed out very little was done to help the homeowner. The banks have been able to make substantial progress in getting on a healthier footing since the bailout. Now, per an article in the New York Times, http://nyti.ms/OY2Of1 , it is expected the banks will receive a large boost in their profits due to an expected refina