Dancing Thoughts

Quoted from http://sanders.senate.gov/petition/?uid=c53f1aca-5881-403e-928b-a25980cb4e0c

Financial institutions that are "too big to fail" played a major role in undermining the American economy and driving our country into a severe recession.

Financial institutions that are "too big to fail" put taxpayers on the hook for a $700 billion bailout and more than $2 trillion from the Federal Reserve in virtually zero interest loans.

Huge financial institutions have become so big that the four largest banks in America (JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, and Citigroup) now issue one out of every two mortgages; two out of three credit cards; and hold $4 out of every $10 in bank deposits in the country.

Just five banks in America (JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, and Morgan Stanley) own a staggering 95% of the $290 trillion in derivatives held at commercial banks. Derivatives are risky side bets made by Wall Street gamblers that led to the $182 billion bailout of AIG, the $29 billion bailout that allowed JP Morgan Chase to acquire Bear Stearns, and the collapse of Lehman Brothers.

The concentration of ownership in the financial services industry has resulted in higher bank fees and interest rates that consumers are forced to pay for credit cards, mortgages and other financial products.

No single financial institution should be so large that its failure would cause catastrophic risk to millions of American jobs or to our nation's economic well-being.

No single financial institution should have holdings so extensive that its failure could send the world economy into crisis.

We believe it is time to break up the banks and insurance companies which are too big to fail.

We believe that passage of The Too Big to Fail, Too Big to Exist Act is essential for a strong American economy and a secure future for ourselves, our children, and our grandchildren.

We urge the immediate enactment of the Too Big to Fail, Too Big to Exist Act, which directs the treasury secretary to compile a list of those financial institutions that are too big to fail in the next 90 days, and to break up these banks and insurance companies a year after the legislation is signed into law.

Now GO SIGN THE PETITION: http://sanders.senate.gov/petition/?uid=c53f1aca-5881-403e-928b-a25980cb4e0c

Need more convincing? It should be self-evident, so check here: https://self-evident.org/?p=720

This is not about Democrats or Republicans. It is not about Barack Obama or George Bush or Glenn Beck or Keith Olbermann or Sarah Palin or even Nancy Pelosi.

This is about the financiers versus everybody else. And we are losing, badly.

Now GO SIGN THE PETITION: http://sanders.senate.gov/petition/?uid=c53f1aca-5881-403e-928b-a25980cb4e0c

The time for talking's over now,
I think it's time to let you go;
But I don't, no, I don't mind at all.

It's getting so you never know
When things are better left alone;
But I don't, no, I don't mind at all.

It's important to me
That I don't see you laughing at me.
But I'm smart enough to know
That I'll have to let you go.
But I don't mind at all.

Sentiments and tears will get you
As far as you might think they will;
But I don't, no, I don't mind at all.

Misery loves company,
But she will never fit the bill;
But I don't, no, I don't mind at all.

It's important to me
That I don't see you laughing at me.
But I'm smart enough to know
That I'll have to let you go.
But I don't mind at all.

Seven years ago,
I said good-bye to my own sanity;
But I don't, no, I don't, no, I don't mind at all.

~Bourgeois Tagg

Te conseguí la luz del sol a medianoche
y el número después del infinito,
e instalé la Osa Mayor en tu diadema
y tú seguías ahí como si nada.

Endulcé el agua del mar para tu sed,
te alquilé un cuarto menguante de la luna
y como buen perdedor busqué en la cama
las cosas que el amor no resolvía.

Y cómo duele que estés tan lejos,
durmiendo aquí en la misma cama;
cómo duele tanta distancia,
aunque te escucho respirar
y estás a cientos de kilómetros.

Y duele quererte tanto,
fingir que todo está perfecto
mientras duele gastar la vida
tratando de localizar
lo que hace tiempo se perdió...

Acabé con los jardines por tus flores,
inventé la alquimia contra la utopía,
y he llegado a confundir con la ternura
la lástima con que a veces me miras.

Que triste es asumir el sufrimiento,
patético es creer que una mentira
convoque a los duendes del milagro
que te hagan despertar enamorada.

Cómo duele que estés tan lejos
durmiendo aquí en la misma cama;
cómo duele tanta distancia,
aunque te escucho respirar
y estás a cientos de kilómetros.

Y duele quererte tanto,
fingir que todo está perfecto
mientras duele gastar la vida
tratando de localizar
lo que hace tiempo se perdió...

Por qué nos duele
tanta distancia,
fingir que todo está perfecto
mientras sientes que te duele gastar la vida
durmiendo aquí en la misma cama...

Cómo duele...
(Ricardo Arjona)

For what it's worth (I think the readership here has dwindled down to me and a slightly-blind cat)...

What is better than fresh air and free salsa music? Not a whole lot. That's why tonight I'm going to:

Dancing Under the Stars
Date: Friday, August 14
Time: 7:30 PM - 11:00 PM

Enjoy a FREE dance lesson at 7:30 PM and learn how to Salsa!
This exciting evening includes dance lessons provided by the Linden Street Dance Studio as well as a dance exposition. Following, practice what you learned by dancing the night away to the live sounds of Edgardo Cambon y Latido

it's probably been a good five years, but I heard this song a long time ago and I can't get it out of my head. Trouble is, I only have a snippet in my brain. So it is basically stuck there until I can get to the end of the song.

If anyone wants to take up the challenge to free my brain from this torture, here is what I remember of the song. I believe it was a bachata, and it was sung by a man/woman duet, lyrics mostly in Spanish but also partly in English. Sadly, the words that I recall are from the English part, which means a lyrics search gives false returns. The words I recall are "You were my love, you were my everything." The catchy melody is a portion of the scale up and a triad down, giving the phrase a nice swing. Since it is the perfect bachata, it is about two lovers, still in love, but separated by repeated misunderstandings (at least that's how I remember it).

Quite a few clues for a song I heard a handful of times, but not enough to find it. I've heard it on the radio in the US (both SF and Miami), and at least twice in Cuba. I've searched the catalogs of Monchy & Alexandra and Aventura without success.

Please help!

My opinion? Get rid of the insurance companies entirely. Get rid of the nonsense, bureaucracy, and paying for people's gold-plate private jet flights. If the money paid for insurance went directly to the doctors and medicine we needed, we'd have no need for insurance. It's not a "free market" health care system, it's a mob run health care system, completely with bribes, blackmail, and payoffs. And Wall Street over-compensation scams.

http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/07312009/watch.html

Quoted:

WENDELL POTTER: I borrowed my dad's car and drove up 50 miles up the road to Wise, Virginia. It was being held at a Wise County Fairground. I took my camera. I took some pictures. It was a very cloudy, misty day, it was raining that day, and I walked through the fairground gates. And I didn't know what to expect. I just assumed that it would be, you know, like a health-- booths set up and people just getting their blood pressure checked and things like that.

But what I saw were doctors who were set up to provide care in animal stalls. Or they'd erected tents, to care for people. I mean, there was no privacy. In some cases-- and I've got some pictures of people being treated on gurneys, on rain-soaked pavement.

And I saw people lined up, standing in line or sitting in these long, long lines, waiting to get care. People drove from South Carolina and Georgia and Kentucky, Tennessee-- all over the region, because they knew that this was being done. A lot of them heard about it from word of mouth.

There could have been people and probably were people that I had grown up with. They could have been people who grew up at the house down the road, in the house down the road from me. And that made it real to me.

BILL MOYERS: What did you think?

WENDELL POTTER: It was absolutely stunning. It was like being hit by lightning. It was almost-- what country am I in? I just it just didn't seem to be a possibility that I was in the United States.

...

WENDELL POTTER: You know, certainly, I knew people, and I talked to people who were uninsured. But when you're in the executive offices, when you're getting prepared for a call with an analyst, in the financial medium, what you think about are the numbers. You don't think about individual people. You think about the numbers, and whether or not you're going to meet Wall Street's expectations. That's what you think about, at that level. And it helps to think that way. That's why you-- that enables you to stay there, if you don't really think that you're talking about and dealing with real human beings. "

...

BILL MOYERS: You told Congress that the industry has hijacked our health care system and turned it into a giant ATM for Wall Street. You said, "I saw how they confuse their customers and dump the sick, all so they can satisfy their Wall Street investors." How do they satisfy their Wall Street investors?

WENDELL POTTER: Well, there's a measure of profitability that investors look to, and it's called a medical loss ratio. And it's unique to the health insurance industry. And by medical loss ratio, I mean that it's a measure that tells investors or anyone else how much of a premium dollar is used by the insurance company to actually pay medical claims. And that has been shrinking, over the years, since the industry's been dominated by, or become dominated by for-profit insurance companies. Back in the early '90s, or back during the time that the Clinton plan was being debated, 95 cents out of every dollar was sent, you know, on average was used by the insurance companies to pay claims. Last year, it was down to just slightly above 80 percent.

BILL MOYERS: So, the more of my premium that goes to my health claims, pays for my medical coverage, the less money the company makes.

WENDELL POTTER: That's right. Exactly right.

BILL MOYERS: So they want to reverse that. They don't want my premium to go for my health care, right?

WENDELL POTTER: Exactly right. They--

BILL MOYERS: Where does it go?

WENDELL POTTER: Well, a big chunk of it goes into shareholders' pockets. It's returned to them as part of the investment to them. It goes into the exorbitant salaries that a lot of the executives make. It goes into paying sales, marketing, and underwriting expenses. So a lot of it goes to pay those kinds of administrative functions. Overhead.

Keep in mind, what they want to do is enhance their profits. Enhance shareholder value. That's number one. And the way that the business that they're in is health care, certainly. But their primary motivation is to reward their shareholders.

Most of the shareholders are large, institutional investors and hedge funds. Hedge fund managers are the ones who look at the stock and investors for large organizations. It's not mom and pop investor.

In the past week or so, I think I've spoken to all three of you who read this blog. Just thought I'd post an interesting article or two I've read recently, just for fun.

The Fourteen Trillion Dollar Value Drain

If you peek at this article, I urge you to make it to the bottom:

"When you bounce a ball from the height of 6 feet, and drop it normally without applying force, it rebounds back 50% to 3 feet. The law of gravity pulls the ball down, but the physical resistance of the floor intervenes, absorbs some of the impact; and obeying the law of conservation of energy, deflects the ball back up. When the ball is back up 3 feet the first time, we can say that it is momentarily in equilibrium after the bounce.

Similarly, from its all time highs (when Dow Jones went up to 14279) of 23 trillion dollars in market capitalization, the markets deflated to a low of 11 trillion dollars in market cap about seven weeks ago at the time of this writing. Now they are back up a little bit, but we are still losing 42% from the highs. 42% of 23 trillion dollars is roughly 10 trillion dollars. Suppose we gain back 50% of that, or 5 trillion dollars, and call that point to be the momentary equilibrium where everything is restored and we can start on a new footing (hopefully with less greed), we can assume that the other 5 trillion dollars got drained by Wall-Street traders."

And the conclusion:

"This looting, which we have calculated to be equivalent to $14 trillion in DRAINED VALUE, has been going on since the liar loan (sub-prime mortgage with zero down) days, and even before that, when the Gramm-Lichey-Bliley act deregulated the financial institutions completely. Wall-Street insiders have handsomely benefited from this Value Drain by paying themselves big bonus amounts even as their mis-managed derivatives related businesses were going bankrupt, and were saved by the Fed and the US Treasury TARP. In addition to the John Thains and the Finklesteins of the world, some powerful names of people who have enjoyed form the Valye Drain include Henry Paulson got $400 million from is Goldman Sachs stock, Alan Greenspan who got $8 million from his book royalties, Larry Summers who pocketed $7 million plus from his one day a week job for $5.2 million yearly compensation plus speaking engagements, etc. "

"These guys at these companies were on a Sherman's March through their companies financed by our 410ks and all the incentives of their companies were for short term profit. They burned the fucking house down with our money and walked away rich as hell and you guys knew that that was going on." --Jon Stewart, The Daily Show, March 12, 2009. http://consumerist.com/5169419/daily-show-vs-cnbc-they-burned-the-f+ing-house-down-with-our-money-and-walked-away-rich-as-hell

20 years of working at this stoopid job with abusive managers, and I have nothing to show for it. Nothing at all. And I don't blame the people who got mortgages they couldn't afford, I don't even blame the brokers and banks that deceived them into thinking they could afford those mortgages. Speculative construction? Well that was based on the success of the first two, so even that is not entirely at fault. I 100% blame those day traders, derivatives dealers, commercial paper participants who gambled money they didn't have and ran away with the profits--which turned out to be funded by our retirements and savings--and left us with nothing for all our years of hard work.

Of course I could blame myself for putting my money in the stock market to begin with, but mutual funds were supposed to be a low risk investment, what you're "supposed to do." Everyone knows that, mutual funds are safe. That's why they have the lower returns, because we can trust in their safety. These day traders abused our trust. And nobody's even thinking about going after them.

For a pretty good description and discussion about what *really* caused the market crash, listen here: http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2008/10/01/confusion/

Where is our bailout for the robbery of our retirement accounts? Why is it just the corporate thieves and greedy CEOs that get bailed out? Why is it just the people that bought houses they couldn't afford and spent more money than they had that get protected? Why is my future ignored? Why am I supposed to give all to my bad-behaving neighbor and sit by and get nothing for my good behavior?

Man, do I wish I had listened to that person who told me to just take that money and pay off my mortgage (because even without the collapse of the market, my return would've been only 2-3% lower). Then I could have fulfilled my dream of quitting this insane place to go work for Blockbuster. And to think that I once thought I was doin' pretty okay for a gov't trout.

"CNBC could be an incredibly powerful tool of illumination for people that believe that there are two markets: One that has been sold to us as long term. Put your money in 401ks. Put your money in pensions and just leave it there. Don't worry about it. It's all doing fine. Then, there's this other market; this real market that is occurring in the back room. Where giant piles of money are going in and out and people are trading them and it's transactional and it's fast. But it's dangerous, it's ethically dubious and it hurts that long term market. So what it feels like to us--and I'm talking purely as a layman--it feels like we are capitalizing your adventure by our pension and our hard earned money."

I'd like to see a tax imposed on anybody who made a greater than, say, 15% return on any hedge-related investment in the past 10 years. Put this tax in a fund and use it to repay any of these supposedly "secure" investments we were told to make. So that we can have our futures back.

The irony (or perhaps one of many) is that the smallest of the $3 billion in bonuses paid to Merrill Lynch employees as a reward for losing $15.8 billion in 2008 would be enough to replace all of my life's savings and 401k/retirement money. Having worked hard for all these years, paid my taxes and all my bills on time, saved my pennies, and lived frugally, driving a 15 year old 30mpg car, don't I at least deserve that much?

My little girl Belle, September 1991 - November 15, 2008. Beautiful kitty with a beautiful heart, I miss her so much.

:'-(

Dear Dr. Hart.

As it turns out, you were right, I was negligent in the care of my little girl, Belle. If only I had gotten her a simple antibiotic at just the right time, she would not have fallen critically ill and died. It hurts me deeply that she died from something with such a simple cure, if only I had been paying closer attention to her.

Instead, only 3 weeks or so before she died, out of extreme aggravation, I punished her for peeing yet again on the hardwood floor. For the past two years I was living in pee, the floor still shows the permanent stains of her favorite places. It had gotten so bad that I had thoughts that the end would be better than dealing with the smell and mess. Of course now I hate myself for thinking that way, but at the time I didn't know what else to do.

Although I did not realize it, peeing on the cool floor was only her way of trying to escape the pain she was in. And I punished her for that, one of the many things I can't forgive myself for. I had taken her to the doctor about a half a dozen times in the prior two years, originally because I saw she had trouble walking and I wanted to make sure it wasn't anything worse than arthritis. When I described the peeing problem, I was told over and over again that she had developed a behavioral problem. In addition to their usual mechanical litterbox, I bought 5 different litterboxes and tried 3 different types of litter, searching for the perfect combination, but nothing helped. At one point it was found she had a urinary tract infection, for which she was given two rounds of antibiotics, but the diagnosis remained that at the age of 15 she had developed behavioral problems.

Her crying at night, not just crying, but heart-breaking howling, was explained as deafness, which some cats get as they grow older. I knew that she wasn't going deaf, as she would come to me when I called her, purr at me when I left the house telling her to be a good girl. But having been told this several times by different doctors, I just accepted it as part of the aging process.

I should have been a better advocate for her. I knew she didn't have behavioral problems or deafness. I was feeding her the right food, but didn't notice that she had dropped too much weight, simply because I was too busy. Had I thought to read the websites on kidney failure, I would have known what she had and what to look for and how to care for her a long time ago, but I didn't know what to read or what questions to ask. The fact was that she was getting older, and I knew that she couldn't live forever. And I knew that at 17, she was considered geriatric. But she had never once been sick in her life (up until the UTI episode), so I expected her to live a long time, then one day just not wake up.

To make things worse, just a few days before she had the kidney failure episode, I noticed she had trouble climbing the stairs. When I told my husband, he thought she was fine, as she seemed to move normally once he got there to watch. I think she was trying to show me, but didn't want to show him. Even though she had stopped sleeping in our bed quite some time ago (I blamed the arthritis and her not wanting to jump high into the bed), suddenly she started to sleep with us again.

Two days later we rushed her to the emergency room. We had been watching TV and she seemed to be normal, she came downstairs to eat and drink and then came to sit on the couch with us. Then suddenly she looked sick, her head dropped, and I knew she was in bad shape. When you first saw her, straight from the emergency clinic, you knew that all of this could have been prevented, that her weight had dropped too much, and I should have noticed it. Since that day, I haven't been able to stop crying, knowing that it was my negligence that caused her illness and death.

When you called me to take her home, even though I suspected it was the end, it wasn't directly said. I had been reading the websites on kidney failure, how cats can live up to 3 years with it, given proper treatment. It was a Thursday night, of which I spent most of it with her sleeping on me on the couch. Friday I made the stupid decision to go to work, and she was alone all day--I will always regret that she was alone, except for the other cat, who might have made things worse for her, although when I got home that afternoon she seemed exactly as I had left her that morning, and seemed happy to see me again. I spent most of the night with her on the couch (I had put her in her bed for a bit but a few minutes later she meowed softly and jumped up on the couch to be with me), but then eventually I had to put her in her bed and put me in mine. When I woke up in the morning, she was sleeping under the dresser next to my bed: she had wanted to sleep with me, but didn't have the energy to jump onto the bed, so again, she was all alone.

She hadn't eaten since she came home, she threw up all the pills I gave her, and I think the only thing keeping her going was the subcutaneous fluids. My good friend and neighbor (who had originally recommended your office to us) told me that she really needed to be taken in. I still somehow thought she could get better, based on what I read about kidney failure, if only she would eat. She wouldn't eat tuna, her food covered in tuna water, catnip, and pepcid was clearly not helping her to feel any better. At some point that morning, she seemed to not really recognize me. Even so, I am sorry I could not be with her when she went to sleep, but maybe since I caused all this it was better that I wasn't there. I don't know what you do with cats' bodies after they die, but it was just a body, not the beautiful life that was in it.

She was such a sweet cat who only wanted to sit on laps and be petted. Because I was always so active, and she was a house cat, she bonded more with my former roommate than she did with me, and my other cat who was more active and dog-like got a little more spoiled by me. I am so sorry that I was neglectful of her, but it is too late. Since she is no longer here for me to make it up to her, I am apologizing to you, since you are the only other person who knows that I was terrible with her. Everyone else seems to think I treated her well, but you and I know different. I miss her so much. I just want to come home from work to see her sitting on the couch, looking up at me to say, Where is your lap and do you have time to pet me now?

dc, formerly owned by Belle, the beautiful little girl with a mustache.

No, I don't mean us, I mean the ACLO-Alameda Civic Light Opera. Click here: http://www.aclo.com/index.php

Currently showing, "Forever Plaid." Haven't heard of it? Neither had I, and I thought I'd seen *everything*. "The Plaids are a clean-cut quartet of high-school buddies whose dreams of recording an album ended when they were involved in a fatal (for them) accident with a bus filled with Catholic schoolgirls on their way to see the Beatles' American debut on The Ed Sullivan Show. The play begins with the Plaids returning from the afterlife for one last shot at musical glory."

That doesn't nearly describe the laughs, the music, and the fun. Go see it!