UPDATE - LINK KILLED - Fukushima Radiation Lethal, Will Hit California Jan 1 or 2

Barry, My Liege :


Between the time of posting this comment [approximately 5.00 pm PST 12.31.13] and now [approx 8.00 pm PST 12.31 13] the story linked below has been deleted from the web site. This posting comment generated higher than average traffic.

You may conclude what you wish.

I conclude that the government of the United States of America is more concerned about the profits of the nuclear power industry than the safety of the citizens of California, of which I and my family are members. We are abandoned to fend for our selves with no assistance from our elected representatives.

I am ashamed.

Are you ashamed?

It is the responsibility of the Government to protect its citizens from harm. If the government cannot protect its citizens, then it has the absolute obligation to notify its citizens of the scale and scope of any impending danger and what actions the citizens may take to protect themselves.

You, My Liege, are failing both responsibilities.

Since you have not addressed the question, it is time for Senator Barbara Boxer, Representative Nancy Pelosi and Governor Jerry Brown to step up and take actions.

If none of the government can protect us, then it is time to take what steps we can to protect ourselves, remove the current government and create a new government which will fulfill its basic obligations.

Credible forecasts predict that California will see lethal radiation in two days.

Here is the link : http://www.turnerradionetwork.com/news/156-mjt [THIS IS THE LINK THAT NO LONGER WORKS]

Here's what the story said - "BREAKING NEWS ***** URGENT ***** -- (TRN http://www.TurnerRadioNetwork.com/ ) -- Residents of Iwaki City, Fukushima, Japan should EVACUATE THE CITY IMMEDIATELY due to lethal radiation levels occurring there right now. According to the Nuclear Emergency Tracking Center (NETC), radiation levels in that city, which have averaged a level of 225 per hour over the last three months, have skyrocketed to 21,000 per hour. This level of radiation is extremely dangerous and potentially lethal. It is likely to reach the U.S. west coast in two days."


Here are the necessary measures :

Step # 1 : Nationalize the nuclear power industry. It is clear that for-profit companies WILL NOT take necessary safety precautions. It is equally clear that regulation of these companies to enforce safety is a failure.

Step # 2 : After ensuring that all safety measures are taken, all nuclear power plants should be closed.

Step # 3 : Publicly monitor and track the radioactive cloud as it crosses the Pacific.

Step # 4 : Notify citizens of the likely impact's severity, location and times.

Step # 5 : Provide evacuation plans and facilities.

Step # 6 : Declare a State of Emergency and Martial Law if necessary.

Step # 7 : Resign your office and participate in the creation of a new government structure that will take its responsibilities to citizens above the policy of maximizing private profits.

FYI - My wife lived through Chernobyl. I am not making this up.

Your frightened servant,

Fall 2013 Country Studies Published

Barry, My Liege :

The Mike P. McKeever Institute of Economic Policy Analysis [MIEPA] is pleased to announce the publication on its website [www.mkeever.com] of detailed studies of the economic policies of Dominican Republic, Ethiopia, India, Iran, New Zealand, and the United States of America.

Two countries which have not been previously analyzed by Specialists are submitted.

First the Dominican Republic is analyzed by Specialist Johanel Alcantara and may be read at http://www.mkeever.com/dominican.html

Second, New Zealand is analyzed by Specialist Henry Agyeman and may be read at http://www.mkeever.com/newzealand.html

Further new studies are :

Ethiopia is analyzed by Specialist Serkalem Tekletsadik and may be read at : http://www.mkeever.com/ethiopia.html

India is analyzed by Specialist Gladwin Tirkey and may be read at : http://www.mkeever.com/india.html

Iran is analyzed by Specialist Persiancat and may be read at : http://www.mkeever.com/iran.html

The United States is analyzed by Specialist Nelson Gee and may be read at : http://www.mkeever.com/usa.html

Noblesse Oblige

Barry, My Liege :

Back in the 1980's I was in Manila on two business visits.

During the first trip, Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos were very much in charge. The country was a lopsided oligarchy with a dictatorship. There were several military armed guards and a triple security door in the downtown hotel where I stayed.

During that trip, I met with an architect in his downtown office. While waiting in his reception area I had a chance conversation with another occupant. When I asked him what brought him to the office that day, he said he was an unemployed architect with nothing to do. The man who ran the office allowed him to hang out in the lobby for 40 hours per week in case he might run an errand and pick up a tip.

On another occasion, a group sat in a hotel lobby for a meeting. I rose to move a chair to make a more presentable seating arrangement, but another man suggested that I allow the waitress to do that task. When I protested that it was a small thing, he said that I did not understand the situation. The girls who work in the lobby are responsible for all guest needs. If one should fail to meet a need and allow a guest to move a chair, the girl will be fired. And, her family would suffer since she is the only employed person in a large family. All the girls were in that situation.

That's what it's like to live in an oligarchy: cheap labor, fear and misery.

My Liege, that is where we are heading in the United States of America.

To my readers - Noblesse oblige is a French phrase literally meaning "nobility obliges". It is the concept that nobility extends beyond mere entitlements and requires the person with such status to fulfil social responsibilities, particularly in leadership roles. [Wikipedia]

And, my readers, you are the nobles today because you have a computer and a comfortable life. You are probably not homeless and afraid of the night.

That means that you have an obligation to provide some form of meaningful work to the under employed, highly educated and eager Americans who can find only menial jobs if they can find any work at all.

Hire someone to do something for you. It is your obligation and it will help keep the country together until the situation changes. It does not matter what is the job or how long it takes. It is not charity, but it will give meaning to someone else less fortunate.

Here is a newspaper column titled 'Cheap Labor is part of American life' by Caille Milner which will explain it in down to earth language just in case you think that I am making this up :
http://www.sfgate.com/living/article/Cheap-labor-is-part-of-American-life-5063133.php

Merry Christmas, My Liege.

Your faithful servant,

Obama on Inequality, Government, Business and Growth

Barry, My Liege :

We thank you for your frank acknowledgment in last week's address of the crippling income and wealth inequalities in the United States of America today. We especially thank you for the recognition that those inequalities undermine our efforts to promote the economic growth you recognize as necessary for our prosperous future.

Here is a link to a transcript of your remarks before the Center for American Progress :

http://www.whitehouse.gov/photos-and-video/video/2013/12/04/president-obama-speaks-economic-mobility

But, My Liege, this space takes issue with some of the proscriptions inherent in your assessment of the correct policies for ensuring growth.

You say we can assure growth by " ... simplifying our corporate tax code in a way that closes wasteful loopholes and ends incentives to ship jobs overseas. And by broadening the base, we can actually lower rates to encourage more companies to hire here and use some of the money we save to create good jobs rebuilding our roads and our bridges and our airports, and all the infrastructure our businesses need... “

Your remarks contain an assumption that lower costs to businesses through lower tax rates will incentivize businesses to make investments and to hire more people. My Liege, this canard is taken directly from Ronald Reagan's discredited Supply Side economics.

That is not correct.

Businesses invest in job creating activities when - and only when - they believe that their investments will make a profit in the future. Lowering tax rates today in the hopes of creating investment in the future is simply stupid.

The single best way to incentivize business is to raise the wages of average American workers so we can afford to buy things.

Henry Ford knew that. Business leaders today know it. They won't publicly admit to it because such an admission might jeopardize some future short term profits; but, be clear My Liege: they are not stupid.

You continue with discredited Supply Side economics with this statement about growth: " It means a trade agenda that grows exports and works for the middle class. It means streamlining regulations that are outdated or unnecessary or too costly. And it means coming together around a responsible budget -- one that grows our economy faster right now and shrinks our long-term deficits, one that unwinds the harmful sequester cuts that haven't made a lot of sense -- (applause) -- and then frees up resources to invest in things like the scientific research that's always unleashed new innovation and new industries."

Our trade policies must protect American jobs at middle class wages. This will mean imposing higher tariffs on some imports when those imports destroy American jobs. This is especially true when the imports come from factories owned by American corporations who outsource jobs to low wage countries.

Regarding the debt we accumulate, John Keynes had it correct that borrowing can and should be used to stimulate the economy when the economy is in recession. Borrowing becomes a problem when the annual debt service as a percentage of GDP or the Federal Budget increases beyond today's range. And, my Liege, the biggest danger of that occurring comes from Republican refusal to conduct the basic fiscal policies of our country with minimal professionalism - it is not good to frighten Treasury Bill investors with the specter of a dysfunctional government. T-Bill purchasers are not frightened by the size of the debt.

We pray you will look more closely at your policy proscriptions in the cold light of day and not the dark light of a cocktail mixer.

Your faithful servant,

Morality and Economics

Barry, My Liege :

Some time ago I wrote an essay on the relationahip of morality to economic theory and practice. It is available online at : http://www.mkeever.com/moral.html

The essay was stimulated by a series of commentaries on the relationship of economic theory with the moral concerns about development and poverty as expressed by POVERTY AND DEVELOPMENT: AN INTER-FAITH PERSPECTIVE, written by Roger Riddel with the help of many and published by the World Faiths Development Council in 1999 [now at Georgetown University, Washington DC,http://berkleycenter.georgetown.edu/wfdd; previously at 33-37 Stockmore Street, Oxford, OX4 1Jt, United Kingdom; email: wfdd@btinternet.com; URL: www.wfdd.org.uk]

Pope Francis' recent essay on economics has stimulated interest in the topic. While it is an ongoing discussion, perhaps the Pope's essay will focus light on the relationship between poverty and violence.

Your faithful servant,

Pope Francis Gets It

Barry, My Liege :

Pope Francis in a new apostolic exhortation, has attacked the 'Tyranny of Markets' and lays blame at the feet of the rich who fail to address poverty and inequality.

Economic inequality features as one of the issues Francis is most concerned about, and the 76-year-old pontiff calls for an overhaul of the financial system and warns that unequal distribution of wealth inevitably leads to violence.

Here is a link : http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/pope-attacks-tyranny-of-markets-urges-renewal-in-key-document/article15600441/

We pray you demonstrate your agreement, My Liege.

Your faithful servant,

We Really Are Screwed

Barry, My Liege :

It is official.

Climate change will destroy our way of life.

The final report will be out next year, but the draft summary is available.

You can read it here : http://nofrakkingconsensus.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/wgiiar5-spm_fgdall.pdf

Yes, it is a draft only and states : "Do Not Cite, Quote, or Distribute"

But, My Liege, it is too important to ignore.

We pray you act to reduce the impending disaster.

Your faithful servant,

More Nuclear Power = Dumb Idea

Barry, My Liege :

Recently four environmental scientists suggested that we expand nuclear power as a means to reduce global warming while maintaining cheap power.

You can read CNN about it here : http://www.cnn.com/2013/11/03/world/nuclear-energy-climate-change-scientists/

Here's why it is an incredibly dumb idea : the economic concept of external costs.

In economics, external costs refer to costs of a product or action which are not paid by the user of the product or action. So, if there are externalized costs, the rest of us pay.

And, my Liege, the externalized costs of nuclear power are the WHOLE PLANET!

We know that we cannot manage nuclear power without harming our environment irreparably.

Fukushima. Chernobyl. Three Mile Island.

Expanding nuclear power will multiply these events.

And, we have not yet managed to dispose of the waste products from other nuclear plants.

The total cost to our species of nuclear power is beyond calculation. It is a global killer.

When we add to that explosive mix the idea that the people running the plants are trying to make a PROFIT by selling the electricity and paying NONE of the environmental costs, it becomes nightmarish.

We simply have to recognize that cheap power is gone until and unless we ramp up renewable power sources.

It is time to bite the bullet.

Your faithful servant,

Fixing The Planet

Barry, My Liege :

We know that carbon emissions will make the Earth uninhabitable in the predictable future.

And, we know that free market capitalism will oppose most solutions which promise carbon emission reductions to safe levels since real solutions require adjustments to the market system or eliminating private property and free markets entirely.

The EPA estimates that electricity production creates 33% of total US carbon emissions of 6,702 million metric tons in 2011, Transportation 28%, Industry 20%, Buildings 11% and agriculture 8%.

So, Barry, what can we do? How can we fix the carbon emission levels and retain our capitalist, market structure?

Here is a two fold process that CAN reduce carbon emissions to acceptable levels while preserving markets.

The steps are drastic and painful, but the alternative of doing nothing will be even more drastic and painful

STEP 1 : Tax all carbon emissions. Then, let the markets decide how to allocate the extra costs. The result will be less carbon emissions and more efficient use of those carbons which remain.

And, some people will be hurt more than others, so economists have proposed an income tax credit to offset the carbon tax; that may lessen the impact on some vulnerable sectors.

STEP 2 : Make the largest carbon emitters into Public Utilities; that will lessen their profits to manageable levels and reduce their lobbying power. That happens because the Utility regulators allow a normal profit or enough to stay in business but do not allow any economic or monopoly profits.

Industries affected by public utility designations will be oil and gas producers, electricity producers and public transportation providers, some of which are already publicly owned or regulated.

Private industry which creates emits large amounts of carbon emissions will be taxed but not necessarily placed under public utility designation.

Private motorists will be taxed at the fuel pump.

These actions will preserve the private property and market structure of the economy except for those businesses required to become public utilities.

Your faithful servant,

21st Century Revolution

Barry, My Liege :

The people of the United States of America as well as the people of many other countries today recognize that power in our respective countries is held by an oligarchic few who use their power to prevent the people from creating a good life for themselves so that the few may accumulate even greater fortunes.

And, people recognize that the few are actively destroying the very physical resources that sustain life itself in their fortune building process.

My Liege, that is not sustainable.

It will change.

And, that change may take one of two possible paths.

In one path, we can wish for an enlightened political system to change its direction in favor of creating a better life for all people and away from the oligarchic swamp toward which we are headed today.

After all, many popular movements in the United States have resulted in social changes mandated by the Government : Anti-slavery, Women's suffrage, Right to vote, Temperance, safety in the workplace and other popular movements have resulted in legislation which enacted the will of the people.

We pray, My Liege, that our future change will be a legislative change instead of a violent change.

In another path and to imagine the arc of a violent revolution in the United States, we simply have to look at Syria, Iraq, Tunisia and other countries which have endured revolutions in modern times.

We are not prepared for drone strikes, midnight assassinations, internment camps, torture, airstrikes on suburbs with cluster bombs and the like in the United States.

Yet, it is likely that a violent revolution in this country will look like that. The oligarchs are already fearful and paranoid; the first reaction of our government to any political disagreement is to alert the armed security forces.

Perhaps even more damaging than the physical violence is the rending of social fabric that will occur in any revolution. The Communist Revolution in Russia is a prime example.

Thucydides is the best writer I have seen on the social effects of Revolution. Here in an excerpt from his Book III, [82] he describes how citizens deserted rational behavior and followed the more extreme leaders in the Peloponnesian Wars:

"...struggles being everywhere made by the popular chiefs to bring in the Athenians, and by the oligarchs to introduce the Lacedaemonians. In peace there would have been neither the pretext nor the wish to make such an invitation; but in war with an alliance always at the command of either faction for the hurt of their adversaries and their own corresponding advantage, opportunities for bringing in the foreigner were never wanting to the revolutionary parties. The sufferings which revolution entailed upon the cities were many and terrible, such as have occurred and will always occur, as long as the nature of mankind remains the same; though in a severe or milder form, and varying in their symptoms, according to the variety of the particular case.

In peace and prosperity, states and individuals have better sentiments, because they do not find themselves suddenly confronted with imperious necessities; but war takes away the easy supply of daily wants, and so proves a rough master, that brings most men's characters to a level with their fortunes. Revolution thus ran its course from city to city, and the places which it arrived at last, from having heard what had been done before, carried to a still greater excess the reinforcement of their inventions, as manifested in the cunning of their enterprises and the atrocity of their reprisals. Words had to change their ordinary meaning and to take that which was now given them. [Ed note. - See '1984', George Orwell]

Reckless audacity came to be considered the courage of a loyal ally; prudent hesitation, specious cowardice; moderation was held to be a cloak for unmanliness; ability to see all sides of a question, inaptness to act on any. Frantic violence became the attribute of manliness; cautious plotting, a justifiable means of self-defense. The advocate of extreme measures was always trustworthy; his opponent a man to be suspected. To succeed in a plot was to have a shrewd head, to divine a plot still shrewder; but to try to provide against having to do either was to break up your party and to be afraid of your adversaries.

In time, to forestall an intending criminal, or to suggest the idea of a crime where it was wanting, was equally commended, until even blood became a weaker tie than party, from the superior readiness of those united by the latter to dare everything without reserve; for such associations had not in view the blessings derivable from established institutions but were formed by ambition for their overthrow; and the confidence of their members in each other rested less on any religious sanction than upon complicity in crime. The fair proposals of an adversary were met with jealous precautions by the stronger of the two, and not with a generous confidence.

Revenge also was held of more account than self-preservation. Oaths of reconciliation, being only preferred on either side to meet an immediate difficulty, only held good so long as no other weapon was at hand; but when opportunity offered, he who ventured to seize it and take his enemy off his guard, thought this perfidious vengeance sweeter than an open one, since, consideration of safety apart, success by treachery won him the palm of superior intelligence. Indeed it is generally the case that men are readier to call rogues clever than simpletons honest, and are as ashamed of being the second as they are proud of being the first.

The cause of all these evils was the lust for power arising from greed and ambition; and from these passions proceded all the violence of parties once engaged in contention. The leaders of the cities, each provided with the fairest professions, on one side with the cry of political equality of the people, on the other of a moderate aristocracy, sought prizes for themselves in those public interests which they pretended to cherish, and, recoiling from no means in their struggles for ascendancy, engaged in the direst excesses; in their acts of vengeance they went to even greater lengths, not stopping at what justice or the good of the state demanded, but making the party caprice of the moment their only standard, and invoking with equal readiness the condemnation of an unjust verdict or the authority of the strong arm to glut the animosities of the hour.

Thus religion was in honour with neither party; but the use of fair phrases to arrive at guilty ends was in high reputation. Meanwhile the moderate part of the citizens perished between the two, either for not joining in the quarrel, or because envy would not suffer them to escape."

My Liege, we pray you avoid this for our future.

And, we recognize you must work miracles for our better future.

Your faithful servant.

Koch To Manservant Boehner - 'Lighten up.'

Barry, My Liege :

Even the Billionaire Koch Brothers are saying they don't want to mess up the country.

Holy Cow!

Pigs are flying!

See it here : http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2013/10/09/heritage-action-obamacare-koch-brothers/2951525/

.........Table scraps from the Big House.

Let's count our blessings while we may.

Your faithful servantt.

Tea Party Taliban Traitors Shutting Down USA

Barry, My Liege :

They have officially gone off the reservation.

Tea Party Traitors.

They are simply traitors and must be punished.

You chastise national security leakers severely.

So also must you punish the Tea Party Traitors.

There is no excuse, no reason which justifies their behavior.

We pray you find retribution equal to the offense.

Your faithful servant,

Ted Cruz - RAT (Real American Terrorist)

Barry, My Liege :

At the risk of jumping on a speeding bandwagon, it is clear that Senator Ted Cruz is damaging the National Economic Security of the United States. His actions appear to derive solely from his pursuit of his personal interests since apparently he is considering a Presidential candidacy.

Giving him the benefit of the doubt between stupidity and evil, we will suggest that he is simply too dumb and self-interested to consider the effects of his actions on his party and our country.

You can access a list of the specific damages he has created so far here : http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2013/09/ted_cruz_is_despised_by_senate_republicans_a_list_of_the_reasons_gop_senators.html

We pray the Republican Party can man up and send Senator Cruz to the Taliban where he belongs.

Your faithful servant,

Who in Hell is Shaun McCutcheon?

Barry, My Liege :

This is plain disgusting.

Ain't no nice words for this.

Mitch McConnell and the Supremes are gonna sell out the United States of America to an Alabama money-grubber.

[http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/31/mccutcheon-supreme-court_n_3678555.html]

483 years of blood, tears, toil and sweat down the crapper.

I'm gonna go puke.

Your faithful servant,

OWS Birthday Celebration

Barry, My Liege :

The Occupy Wall Street [OWS] movement celebrated its second birthday last week.

It is worth noting because they are the only folks in the country who express what we all know; namely, that our beloved United States of America has changed into an economically stratified society where there is little hope of entering the middle class from lower or working classes.

Now we endure the additional indignity of a political faction which actively seeks to remove all governmental help from people in need.

Not only are they mean spirited, this faction actively seeks to destroy the economy of the United States unless their penurious demands are met.

The combination of an extremely selfish wealthy class with a political faction supporting that selfishness threatens to destroy our country.

But, all is not yet lost.

If we can muster the political courage to change 13 specific national policies we can restore some of our prosperous past.

It is a tall order and I am not optimistic that we can do it.

Nevertheless, hereinbelow is the list of changes we must make.

We pray you find some courageous compatriots to help in this effort, My Liege.



1. STRENGTHEN UNIONS - Union organizing and negotiating rights are created by Federal labor laws. When unions can organize and press for higher wages, the country benefits from higher incomes going to the middle class. It is true that unions can be messy organizations, but overall they succeed in raising middle class incomes when they can function freely. This will increase middle class purchasing power and help restore Aggregate Demand.

An inevitable result of raising wages through union activity will be that businesses have to raise prices to survive - that will require some adjustments to our trade policies as discussed below.

2. ENHANCE LABOR LAW ENFORCEMENT - Some business owners think they have an economic incentive to interfere with union actions ; they will have to pay higher wages if unions are successful. In our history, blood has been shed in labor disputes.

Henry Ford knew that true national prosperity lies with workers receiving wages high enough to buy the cars he made, but many business owners are not so enlightened.

When there is little labor law enforcement or penalties for labor law violations, then labor law has little effect.

The United States should enforce labor laws vigorously.

3. ESTABLISH ANTI-MONOPOLY LAWS - Monopolies are bad for the country, per se. Such firms have economic incentives to charge higher prices and sell fewer products than firms in competition. Their actions create a deadweight loss from economic activity not undertaken and further transfer some consumer surplus to monopoly profit. This results in less economic welfare for the country and thereby damages our National Security.

The United States should strengthen existing anti-monopoly laws, increase enforcement activity and write additional anti-monopoly laws.

The concept that monopoly is a reward for efficient firms is a false concept which serves to undermine National Security.

4. CANCEL FREE TRADE AGREEMENTS - United States trade policy does not work. We adhere to a low tariff concept that undermines our National Security. It does so by transferring jobs to foreign countries and by facilitating huge trade imbalances which serve to transfer wealth created in the United States to our trade partners.

It is time to change trade policies so that we import only as much as we export.

Our trade partners do not reciprocate our trade encouraging practices and in fact use their trade laws and national customs to protect their domestic industries. It is time to recognize reality in trade.

5. TAX AWAY GREAT FORTUNES AND GREAT INCOMES - Huge concentrations of wealth and annual income harm our economy by diverting money away from risky investments in economic growth and into safety seeking investments.

It is well known that the primary criterion of investing is safety of principal. People with large amounts of money are risk averse and do NOT wish to risk that money in new ventures, preferring to find safer investments.

Our economy will grow faster and we will be more secure when we do not have extraordinarily large income and wealth concentrations. Then will capital have greater incentives to take risks and create growth.

6. CREATE NATIONAL INDUSTRIAL POLICY - The United States should create a blueprint for our future economic growth. We should establish industries in which we wish to participate and then establish policies which encourage and protect companies in those industries.

Industries should be chosen on the basis of the likelihood that they will create good jobs in the future.

Critics argue that the government is unable to make sound predictions in this area since even private companies have difficulty doing so.

While that may be, there are countries which use this practice with great success and many more countries which are beginning to establish this process. The government of South Korea established this practice in the 1950's and was able to convert a nation of rice farmers and fishermen into an industrial powerhouse.

7. EXPAND PUBLIC UTILITY INDUSTRY DESIGNATIONS AND REGULATE EACH DESIGNATED INDUSTRY WITH AN ELECTED COMMISSION - There are some businesses which require a government protected monopoly for some reason ; for example, some industries like electricity generation and distribution require such huge capital investments that investors will not make that investment unless assured of freedom from future competition.

In these cases it makes economic and national security sense to regulate the prices charged to the public so that the company earns a normal profit, which allows a return to investors sufficient to ensure survival and uninterrupted service provision, but does not allow for monopoly profits.

Any industry whose products or services are regularly used by more than one third of the population and in which there are few suppliers is a candidate for public utility designation.

8. ENSURE FINANCIAL SYSTEM STABILITY BY RESTORING GLASS-STEAGALL - Stability in our financial system is required for our national security.

We know absolutely that the financial system cannot regulate itself without great harm to our economy.

Under Glass-Steagall we had stability for 50 years.

Restore it.

It is the only choice.

9. KEEP SOCIAL SECURITY AND MEDICARE - Not only do these programs provide dignity to people who have worked all their lives, they provide significant income to help support Aggregate Demand.

There are pressures to reduce or destroy these programs. The stated reason is the budget deficit, but the real reason is simple greed from the financial system.

Countries which have chosen to reduce pensions and healthcare because of a fiscal deficit problem are now experiencing recessions and high unemployment.

No country in history has been able to cut its way to prosperity. Many countries have found prosperity by borrowing in bad times to sustain employment.

10. INSTALL SINGLE PAYER HEALTH CARE - Regardless of the outcome of the Supreme Court's decision, there is no place for profit in the healthcare system. If we can eliminate insurance company profits, we can pay for our healthcare with current expenditures.

11. MANAGE DEBT TO BORROW IN BAD TIMES, PAY BACK IN GOOD TIMES - With a properly functioning national government, we can use fiscal policy wisely to keep full employment and growth achievable.

The Federal Budget is the flywheel of the economy - it prevents stalls when the engine's speed declines.

12. REDUCE MONEY REQUIRED FOR NATIONAL ELECTIONS BY REQUIRING BROADCASTERS TO PROVIDE FREE POLITICAL ADS - One of the reasons for our corrupt political system is that elections are very expensive.

But, most of the money goes to running political ads on broadcast media. Since broadcast media receives a license from the FCC to use their frequencies, we can require them to run free ads as a condition of their licenses.

This would reduce the cost of running for office and, consequently reduce the opportunities for political corruption.

Other election financing reforms should be pursued as well.

13. RESPECT BUT DO NOT FEAR OCCUPY PROTESTORS - Occupy protestors are about 20% of our people who have been harmed by market failures in our system. They are exercising their Constitutional rights to seek redress of their grievances.

Creating a rigid, militaristic response to a peaceful protest is the opposite of our founding principles.

If they follow our past history of peaceful protest, they may well be the force that helps correct our imbalances.

In conclusion Barry, My Liege, we pray that you will remember these issues in your policy considerations.


Your faithful servant,

We're F**ked! UPDATE NAOMI KLEIN

Barry, My Liege :

Read Naomi Klein on this by following this URL : http://www.newstatesman.com/2013/10/science-says-revolt

Due to a confluence of trends, our home planet is rapidly approaching the final tipping point.

When trends become overwhelming, the planet will change so that it no longer supports life.

My Liege, we may have passed that point already.

In a copyrighted San Francisco Chronicle article from September 3, 2013, Carolyn Lochead connects the trends in order to assess our status. You can read the article here - http://www.mkeever.com/popgrowth.doc

The headline comment above is a reaction from a student after reading the article.

Your faithful servant,

Save Syrians

Barry, My Liege :

It is time for the United States of America to do some real good.

It is time to provide humanitarian assistance to nearly two million Syrian refugees, of which about half are children under age 13.

If we bomb Syria we will kill a few people, but the stream of refugees will continue fleeing the country at the rate of 10,000 per day.

We should be ashamed for considering bombs instead of real help.

The only way we can help Syrians with bombs is to kill Assad, but even if we succeed in doing that, there will be two million desperate people who need real help.

When we help Syrian refugees, we will be thumbing our nose at Assad by countering his evil with good.

We should provide assistance at the ground level - not the government to government help which can degenerate into bribery and corruption.

But, we should offer assistance without asking for credit.

Just do it.

Now.

Send our food, water, medical supplies, sanitation workers, tents and HOPE to the victims.

Here's where they are per UNHCR in July:

Total Syrian refugee population:

1,750,075 estimated

1,559,864 registered by UNHCR


Regions with significant populations
(Numbers don't include foreign citizens, who fled Syria)

Lebanon

587,795 estimated

503,724 registered

Jordan

498,947 estimated

431,828 registered

Turkey

402,176 estimated

381,475 registered

Egypt

88,460 estimated

70,140 registered

Iraq

206,365 estimated

205,503 registered

Algeria

25,000 estimated

10,000 "asylum seekers"

Armenia

3,248 applied for visas (July 2012)

Nagorno-Karabakh Republic

70 families (April 2013)

Language: Arabic, Kurdish, Turkish, Syriac, Armenian

Religion: Sunni Islam, Christianity, Shia Islam

Your faithful servant,

Bombing Syria

Barry, My Liege :

Controlling Syria is not like arresting a street gang.

Bombing Assad does not create respect.

NOBODY doubts that POTUS has power and uses it.

It is time to show some maturity and consider the reality of bombing Syria.

Will it control chemical weapons?

Don't be stupid.

Will Assad feel 'punished'?

No one cares about that.

The only possible good that can come is to kill Assad AND ALSO install a coalition of international troops with the power to control the Al Queda and Muslim Brotherhood troops there already and restore stability.

Can we do that?

No.

We have zero good options here.

Stay out.

Your faithful servant,

Balancing Security with Democracy

Barry, My Liege :

We applaud you for making public the ongoing discussion about NSA, Prism and National Security.

We can debate whether Mr. Manning and Mr. Snowden are heroes or villains, but there is no denying that they have performed a valuable service by showing us some of the dimensions of your spying and secrecy apparatus.

Among the truisms that history teaches us, My Liege, are two outstanding issues. First, Islam has been violently attacking Western civilization in an attempt to spread religious doctrine since Muhammad took the Hijra from Mecca to Medina in 622 AD. Before that, the Greeks fought numerous battles with an expanding Persia including the famous Battle of Marathon in 490 BC.

Second, history teaches us that Western civilization has won most of these battles largely because of the Western disposition toward democracy and open societies. When placed in conflict with tyrannical forces, a counter force composed of armies from open societies has won the day in most cases.

These two issues collide in today's battle against violent Islam. We recognize, My Liege, that the Commander In Chief requires secrecy when going into battle. At the same time, we also know that if that desire for secrecy overpowers our openness and democratic principles, then we will be weaker in the face of an attack.

Those open principles require that our population has extensive knowledge of the government actions you take to preserve our National Security.

Your job, My Liege, is to balance the need for secrecy with the equally important need for public access.

Part of the public access is to demonstrate to the public that you are subject to our laws and not above them. In other words, My Liege, we want you to protect us both militarily and politically. After all, without some iron clad assurance of due process built into the system, then the next President - who might be a Rand Paul or a Chris Christie - will have the same powers with perhaps less scruples to err on the side of open access.

And, My Liege, the public is not assured of the correctness of your choices so far. They appear to err on the side of excessive secrecy and against the side of public access.

We pray for your wisdom, My Liege.

Your faithful servant,

Fukushima = Chernobyl

Barry, My Liege :

Just in case you have not observed the reality of nuclear power, it is time to recognize that it is not safe for people.

Too much radiation creates cancer in human and animal bodies. Cancer death is not pleasant.

Mistakes in nuclear power plants release radiation into the environment which stays for thousands of years.

Our ability as human beings to manage nuclear power safely is not adequate to the task.

Albert Einstein said:

“Our world faces a crisis as yet unperceived by those possessing the power to make great decisions for good and evil. The unleashed power of the atom has changed everything save our modes of thinking, and thus we drift toward unparalleled catastrophe......Nuclear power is one hell of a way to boil water!” ~ Albert Einstein

Sensible people now advise us that 300 or 400 tons of radioactive water are leaking daily into the Pacific Ocean from Fukushima. Do not eat fish from any part of the Pacific Ocean. [http://www.collapsingintoconsciousness.com/at-the-very-least-your-days-of-eating-pacific-ocean-fish-are-over/][CORRECTION - 300 ton leak is daily as per http://www.trueactivist.com/11-facts-about-the-ongoing-fukushima-nuclear-holocaust-that-are-almost-too-horrifying-to-believe/]

'Nearly 25 years to the date after the Chernobyl catastrophe, the Fukushima Dai-ichi crisis became the only other civilian nuclear accident to warrant the highest possible rating of 7 on the International Nuclear Event Scale (INES). The scale judges the severity of nuclear events by their impact on people and the environment.'By Prachi Patel, IEEE.org [
http://spectrum.ieee.org/energy/nuclear/three-mile-island-chernobyl-and-fukushima]

Where is the next disaster, My Liege, and when is it coming?

We may kill the planet, My Liege.

We pray you take note.

Your faithful servant,

Trusting the Trustee

Barry, My Liege :

Some people want to create a legacy of their material accumulations and so seek to create a Trust. Trusts are legal entities which promise to preserve assets and to follow the wishes of the person who accumulated the assets.

Trusts have existed for hundreds of years as has litigation over thieving trustees.

Unfortunately, folks who approach the ends of their lives sometimes have diminished capacities. They can fall prey to unscrupulous parties who will promise to carry out their wishes and distribute assets to charities, friends and relatives.

Sadly this unscrupulous group can and does include children and other close relatives as well as carpet bagging strangers.

A trust document is written which appears very authoritative and promises to carry out the decedent’s wishes.

But, once the Trustee obtains power over the assets, there is only a 50% chance that the Trustee will not steal all the assets for his/her personal bank account.

There are two ways to reduce the odds of this theft occurring:

1. Use a professional Trustee.

Professional trustees who are bonded and reliable do exist. Using these services will improve one's chances of accomplishing one's goals.

2. Give away all assets before dying.

While there may be some tax implications from these gifts, the certainty of seeing that assets are delivered according to one's wishes outweighs any chimerical tax savings.

Be careful, My Liege.

Your faithful servant,

Climate Change : Fact

Barry, My Liege :

Climate change is real.

In California we live with it.

Here's a link to the official report :

http://oehha.ca.gov/multimedia/epic/2013EnvIndicatorReport.html

Your faithful servant,

Kill The Housing Market

Barry, My Liege :

Your recent proposal to end Federal participation in the United States residential housing markets by ending the guaranteeing of home loans by the Federal government will kill the US housing market.

I agree that it is not right to allow banks to profit from good loans while being reimbursed for bad loans, but removing Federal participation entirely will leave the United States economy to the mercy of banks.

We have seen what happens when banks control the economy, and we do NOT like it.

“Removing them [Fannie and Freddy] entirely would be devastating,” Kelly Powers, vice president for advocacy at the Arizona Mortgage Lenders Association, told FoxNews.com.

Powers argues that there isn’t enough private capital to step in and take over, and the results on lending could be damaging.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/08/07/community-banks-lenders-question-housing/

Here's a better proposal :

Change the rules so that banks have 'skin' in each transaction; that is, the bank which originates the loan stands to lose some of its equity if the loan fails.

For example, for each home loan that fails for which the bank has evidence of due diligence in the origination process, the Federal reimbursement is limited to 50% of the loss.

If there is no acceptable evidence of due diligence, the bank is not reimbursed. In order to encourage 30 year loans, the reimbursement could be raised to 75% on 30 year loans.

We pray, my Liege, that you consider very carefully any proposal to change the housing markets.

Your faithful servant,

Gangs in United States Armed Forces

Barry, My Liege :

In addition to the epidemic of sexual assault and abuse in our Armed Forces, gangs have infiltrated the services.

Read more here : http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/12/13/how-neo-nazis-and-gangs-infiltrated-the-u-s-military-matt-kennard-s-irregular-army.html

This is an unacceptable deterioration of our National Security.

Gang members enlist to gain weapons training and, while there, continue to engage in gang activities.

Once out, some of these folks become contract assassins for Mexican drug cartels.

My Liege, as Commander in Chief, we pray you rectify this situation.

Your faithful servant,

Economic Proscriptions for a Better USA

Barry, My Liege :

Your current foray into economic policy making is well and good, but as we know, the policies you recommend will not solve our problems even if they are all adopted.

Some time ago I created a list of 13 policies which will, if adopted, restore our economy and preserve our Economic National Security.

They are repeated here in the hope that you will address some of them.

Make no mistake, each of these proposed policies gores some sacred cow and will cause a ruckus when it is proposed.

My Liege, be clear in your mind that ALL these policies are required in the United States of America to prevent the further disintegration of American society.

Here is the list :

1. STRENGTHEN UNIONS - Union organizing and negotiating rights are created by Federal labor laws. When unions can organize and press for higher wages, the country benefits from higher incomes going to the middle class. It is true that unions can be messy organizations, but overall they succeed in raising middle class incomes when they can function freely. This will increase middle class purchasing power and help restore Aggregate Demand.

An inevitable result of raising wages through union activity will be that businesses have to raise prices to survive - that will require some adjustments to our trade policies as discussed below.

2. ENHANCE LABOR LAW ENFORCEMENT - Some business owners think they have an economic incentive to interfere with union actions ; they will have to pay higher wages if unions are successful. In our history, blood has been shed in labor disputes.

Henry Ford knew that true national prosperity lies with workers receiving wages high enough to buy the cars he made, but many business owners are not so enlightened.

When there is little labor law enforcement or penalties for labor law violations, then labor law has little effect.

The United States should enforce labor laws vigorously.

3. ESTABLISH ANTI-MONOPOLY LAWS - Monopolies are bad for the country, per se. Such firms have economic incentives to charge higher prices and sell fewer products than firms in competition. Their actions create a deadweight loss from economic activity not undertaken and further transfer some consumer surplus to monopoly profit. This results in less economic welfare for the country and thereby damages our National Security.

The United States should strengthen existing anti-monopoly laws, increase enforcement activity and write additional anti-monopoly laws.

The concept that monopoly is a reward for efficient firms is a false concept which serves to undermine National Security.

4. CANCEL FREE TRADE AGREEMENTS - United States trade policy does not work. We adhere to a low tariff concept that undermines our National Security. It does so by transferring jobs to foreign countries and by facilitating huge trade imbalances which serve to transfer wealth created in the United States to our trade partners.

It is time to change trade policies so that we import only as much as we export.

Our trade partners do not reciprocate our trade encouraging practices and in fact use their trade laws and national customs to protect their domestic industries. It is time to recognize reality in trade.

5. TAX AWAY GREAT FORTUNES AND GREAT INCOMES - Huge concentrations of wealth and annual income harm our economy by diverting money away from risky investments in economic growth and into safety seeking investments.

It is well known that the primary criterion of investing is safety of principal. People with large amounts of money are risk averse and do NOT wish to risk that money in new ventures, preferring to find safer investments.

Our economy will grow faster and we will be more secure when we do not have extraordinarily large income and wealth concentrations. Then will capital have greater incentives to take risks and create growth.

6. CREATE NATIONAL INDUSTRIAL POLICY - The United States should create a blueprint for our future economic growth. We should establish industries in which we wish to participate and then establish policies which encourage and protect companies in those industries.

Industries should be chosen on the basis of the likelihood that they will create good jobs in the future.

Critics argue that the government is unable to make sound predictions in this area since even private companies have difficulty doing so.

While that may be, there are countries which use this practice with great success and many more countries which are beginning to establish this process. The government of South Korea established this practice in the 1950's and was able to convert a nation of rice farmers and fishermen into an industrial powerhouse.

7. EXPAND PUBLIC UTILITY INDUSTRY DESIGNATIONS AND REGULATE EACH DESIGNATED INDUSTRY WITH AN ELECTED COMMISSION - There are some businesses which require a government protected monopoly for some reason ; for example, some industries like electricity generation and distribution require such huge capital investments that investors will not make that investment unless assured of freedom from future competition.

In these cases it makes economic and national security sense to regulate the prices charged to the public so that the company earns a normal profit, which allows a return to investors sufficient to ensure survival and uninterrupted service provision, but does not allow for monopoly profits.

Any industry whose products or services are regularly used by more than one third of the population and in which there are few suppliers is a candidate for public utility designation.

8. ENSURE FINANCIAL SYSTEM STABILITY BY RESTORING GLASS-STEAGALL - Stability in our financial system is required for our national security.

We know absolutely that the financial system cannot regulate itself without great harm to our economy.

Under Glass-Steagall we had stability for 50 years.

Restore it.

It is the only choice.

9. KEEP SOCIAL SECURITY AND MEDICARE - Not only do these programs provide dignity to people who have worked all their lives, they provide significant income to help support Aggregate Demand.

There are pressures to reduce or destroy these programs. The stated reason is the budget deficit, but the real reason is simple greed from the financial system.

Countries which have chosen to reduce pensions and healthcare because of a fiscal deficit problem are now experiencing recessions and high unemployment.

No country in history has been able to cut its way to prosperity. Many countries have found prosperity by borrowing in bad times to sustain employment.

10. INSTALL SINGLE PAYER HEALTH CARE - Regardless of the outcome of the Supreme Court's decision, there is no place for profit in the healthcare system. If we can eliminate insurance company profits, we can pay for our healthcare with current expenditures.

11. MANAGE DEBT TO BORROW IN BAD TIMES, PAY BACK IN GOOD TIMES - With a properly functioning national government, we can use fiscal policy wisely to keep full employment and growth achievable.

The Federal Budget is the flywheel of the economy - it prevents stalls when the engine's speed declines.

12. REDUCE MONEY REQUIRED FOR NATIONAL ELECTIONS BY REQUIRING BROADCASTERS TO PROVIDE FREE POLITICAL ADS - One of the reasons for our corrupt political system is that elections are very expensive.

But, most of the money goes to running political ads on broadcast media. Since broadcast media receives a license from the FCC to use their frequencies, we can require them to run free ads as a condition of their licenses.

This would reduce the cost of running for office and, consequently reduce the opportunities for political corruption.

Other election financing reforms should be pursued as well.

13. RESPECT BUT DO NOT FEAR OCCUPY PROTESTORS - Occupy protestors are about 20% of our people who have been harmed by market failures in our system. They are exercising their Constitutional rights to seek redress of their grievances.

Creating a rigid, militaristic response to a peaceful protest is the opposite of our founding principles.

If they follow our past history of peaceful protest, they may well be the force that helps correct our imbalances.

In conclusion Barry, My Liege, we pray that you will remember these issues in your policy considerations.


Your faithful servant,

UPDATE - RECONSIDERING Larry Summers - Deregulation, Decline

Barry, My Liege :

A recent article by Financial Times reporter Edward Luce restores partially the case in favor of Larry Summers at the FED. read it here :
http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/1acfe0b0-1c60-11e3-8894-00144feab7de.html

Here my original comments as posted in July :

With the impending retirement of Ben Bernanke as Chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank, you have an opportunity to help restore the middle class and, consequently, the Economic National Security of the United States by choosing the next Chairman.

Folded into the same choice is a danger of perpetuating the weakening of our country by exacerbating the trends toward income inequality and national decline.

Nominating Larry Summers as the next Chairman will lead the United states down a path of decline and financial turmoil. He is a poor choice because he supports policies which have led us into this decline. Such polices will hasten our decline and lead to a poorer quality of life for the entire country.

Mr. Summers is the choice of the Objectivist group which included Alan Greenspan and also includes Timothy Geithner and Robert Rubin - the folks who gave us deregulation and the financial meltdown of 2008.

As Treasury secretary under Bill Clinton, and as deputy secretary before that, Summers was a proponent of deregulating financial markets and helped repeal the Glass-Steagall Act.

It is a clear choice, My Liege, choose an alternative to Mr. Summers and continue toward restoration of the middle class or choose Mr. Summers and reverse today's positive trends and choose the path of deregulation and decline.

Your faithful servant,

UPDATE Egypt Criminalizes Muslim Brotherhood

Barry, My Liege :


Now it is official - Egypt has criminalized the Muslim Brotherhood :

http://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/Egypt-names-Muslim-Brotherhood-a-terrorist-group-5092226.php

In our world, a constant conflict has existed between the Muslim and Western or Christian worlds for more than 1300 years. Ever since the Roman Empire disintegrated, Middle Eastern people have been expandng their territory wherever possible.

Charles Martel and the Frankish people fought and defeated Islam invaders at The Battle of Tours (October 732) near Poiters in North Central France at a time when the Islamic Caliphate covered much of the known world.

It appears that some of the Islamic peoples want to continue that expansion today. Perhaps some Muslims wish to restore a Caliphate to some portions of today's world.

Your approach, My Liege, has been to suggest that we are 'not at war' with Islam while searching diligently to find spokespeople for the moderate elements of Islam who simply wish to live in peace.

On the other hand, some careful observers argue that elements of Islam are in fact at war with Western Culture in general and with Israel and the United States in particular.

As Americans, we hope that you and your administration pay careful attention to this question as a matter of National Security.

And a part of this question is the idea that some Muslim adherents who wish us harm may very well lie about their intentions, hoping that we will listen to their speeches and ignore their real objectives.

After all, much of Western Society has a limited exposure to or understanding of Muslim philosophy and objectives. If there were a group of people intent upon weakening Western Society from within with the ultimate objective of establishing a caliphate, it would be logical to assume that they would conceal their real objectives in any manner possible.

This is the argument made by Erick Stakelbeck in his new book THE BROTHERHOOD: AMERICA'S NEXT GREAT ENEMY, Regenery Publishing, Washington D. C., 2013.

Mr. Stakelback is both knowledgeable and strident. It does require some patience to read through his political diatribes to the meat of his argument, but it is an effort worth making.

His core argument is that the Muslim Brotherhood [MB] is a Trojan Horse concealing a violent and murderous intent behind a facade of urbanity and democratic rhetoric. Today's situation in Egypt reflects this.

If he is correct in only some of his claims, then it is a matter of National Security to designate the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization, as has Russia.

Unfortunately, it is very difficult to designate a domestic organization as a terrorist organization. It appears we have no policy or procedure for that.

“The United States does not have a universally accepted process for defining and designating domestic terrorist individuals or groups which [is] shared throughout the law enforcement and homeland security communities,” according to David E. Heller, Assistant Special Agent in Charge, Anchorage Division, Federal Bureau of Investigation

But, My Liege, before we offer any further support to the MB or its individual spokespeople, we should investigate the motives of the people with whom we work.

Perhaps we could ask for an oath that such a spokesperson renounce the part of jihad which requires murdering civilians, renounce sharia law, swear to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States and, finally, agree to prohibit women from wearing face covering garments in public as the law in France reads today.

Mr. Stackelback provides a list of domestic organizations which are supported by the MB and which work to overthrow our society; here is that list:

1. ISNA - Islamic Society of North America

2. MSA - Muslim Students' Association

3. MCA - The Muslim Communities Association

4. AMSS - The Association of Muslim Social Scientists

5. AMSE - The association of Muslim Scientists and Engineers

6. IMS - Islamic Medical Association

7. ITC - Islamic Teaching Center

8. NAIT - North American Islamic Trust

9. FID - Foundation for International Development

10. IHC - Islamic Housing Cooperative

11. ICD - Islamic Centers Division

12. ATP - American Trust Publications

13. AVC - Audio Visual Center

14. IBS - Islamic Book Service

15. MBA - Muslim Business Association

16. MYNA - Muslim Youth of North America

17. IFC - ISNA FIQH Committee

18. IPAC - ISNA Political Awareness Committee

19. IED - Islamic Education Department

20. MAYA - Muslim Arab Yourh Association

21. MISG - Malasian Islamic Study Group

22. IAP - Islamic Association for Palestine

23. UASR - United Association for Studies and research

24. OLF - Occupied Land Fund

25. MIA - Mercy International Association

26. ISNA - Islamic Circle of North America

27. BMI - Baitul Mal Inc.

28. IIIT - International Institute for Islamic Thought

29. IIC - Islamic Information Center

We pray you protect us from those who wish us harm.

Your faithful servant,

FED - Get Banks Out of Commodities

Barry, My Liege :

The Federal Reseve Bank is considering revoking permission for banks - Barclays, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase and Morgan Stanley - to own and trade commodities like oil, natural gas and food products.

Read it here : http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-07-20/fed-reviews-rule-on-big-banks-commodity-trades-after-complaints.html

According to Sherrod Brown, United States Senate Subcommittee Chairman, there is "a potential for anti-competitive behaviour and manipulation.”

Well, Duh.

My Liege, it is something we can do to break the stranglehold of big banks on the economy.

We pray you suport this regulatiion change.

Your faithful servant,

Extraordinarily DUMB Idea from NSA

Barry, My Liege :

According to NSA chief Keith Alexander your NSA team is trying to make our personal data they collect more secure. [http://www.sfgate.com/news/politics/article/Officials-say-new-anti-leak-measures-set-at-NSA-4672688.php]

Of course, that statement is an oxymoron. The data will be totally secure if you do not collect it. Other than that, there is no ultimate security.

But, the even dumber idea they are considering is to contract with PRIVATE COMPANIES to store the data.

My Liege, it is intolerable to collect the data in the first place, but allowing a profit motivated enterprise to manage that data is insane.

My humble suggestion is to place some person with actual common sense in the decision loop. Then perhaps the National Security craziness would slow down.

Your faithful servant,

Funky Neighborhood

Barry, My Liege -

Anthem for the 21st Century.

Listen to Funky Neighborhood here : https://www.facebook.com/RonThompsonandFans

Your faithful servant,

Restore Glass-Steagall - Elizabeth Warren

Barry, My Liege :

Senator Elizabeth Warren [D - MASS] has a petition to restore the provisions of Glass-Steagall to our banking system.

It would fix the biggest mistake we have made in 200 years.

Learn about it here : http://act.boldprogressives.org/sign/sign_glasssteagall/?akid=14207.879607.5SvTbs&rd=1&source=e4-rest&t=2

Hear her speak here : https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/tbtf?refcode=e7-signers-nondon-rest

Please give it your support, My Liege.

Your faithful servant,

Love and Competence - Ruminations

Barry, My Liege :

It appears that our human species may be approaching our limits to accomplish common goals by creating organizations to complete tasks.

For example, we fail in many countries to manage nuclear power. Regardless of whether we simply do not have the capacity as a species to manage atomic power, it is clear that we fail to manage that power generation activity to our long-term benefit.

Here is a link to a story about radiation at Fukushima : http://www.nationofchange.org/fukushima-spiking-1373728437

Witness global warming. It is no longer debated. Mayors are building seawalls to hold back the rising seas.

The latest example of organizational failure is the San Francisco Bay Bridge construction where simple engineering precautions were lost or ignored to the point that the structure may be unsafe.

On reflection, one question is simply this: is this a trend or only isolated examples?

If there is a trend, then we ask: What is going on?

Over the last 50 years I have been privileged to observe and participate in many organizations both large and small.

I have seen a constant in all organizations. It is this: organizations are effective in accomplishing their goals only when ALL the members of the organization understand how the goals interact with each member's daily routine and when ALL members share the goal and are happy to modify their behavior in order to help reach those goals.

No matter how well the organization is designed in the beginning, there are countless daily circumstances which were not factored into the original design and which can cripple the organization if not addressed correctly.

Those organizations which succeed always enlist the enthusiasm and talents of the people in the organization toward achieving its goals by reacting to daily events.

Call it what you will, but the success factor is found in the common agreement of purpose in all participants.

I think we can call it Love.

It is reasonably easy to create that love or spirit in an organization. It requires a few basics of management. Leaders must create the perception that they respect the workers and will not take advantage of them. Managers must communicate the organization's goals clearly to all workers. Workers should be hired who are overqualified and then paid wages commensurate with their qualifications.

Today it is becoming more difficult to create that spirit in an organization. Economic theory proposes that workers should be paid the market minimum wage for that position. Yet, companies which pay more as above routinely out perform competitors which pay the minimum.

It appears that the material wants of the leaders drive many organizations toward ineffectiveness by alienating organizations' subordinate members.

That alone is a prescription for organizational failure. But when that greed is combined with complex technologies which are understood by only a few members of the organization, none of whom are in leadership positions, it becomes surprising when any organization actually accomplishes any concrete action.

Some misguided folks may use that idea of organizational spirit to denigrate unions since unions can bring a confrontational atmosphere to an organization; but in my experience those organizations which are effective can also work with unions and union members.

When we look at the pre-technological past, we see examples of brute force organizations which actually accomplished some tasks. Building the Suez Canal or the United States Transcontinental Railway come to mind.

But, My Liege, those days are over. In a world of Twitter and Google, one cannot force any group of people to do anything. Even less than before will people today bear routine cruelty just to make some tyrant richer.

A new day is dawning, My Liege; it is a day where love will rule.


Your faithful servant,

Banks Sock Poor Working Folks

Barry, My Liege :

As evidence that our economy is stacked in favor of the rich and against poor working folks, read this piece By JESSICA SILVER-GREENBERG and STEPHANIE CLIFFORD here : http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/01/business/as-pay-cards-replace-paychecks-bank-fees-hurt-workers.html?_r=0

Imagine that, banks make you pay the bank a fee just to acess your hard earned wages if you work for the wrong company. A company like Wal-Mart.

It is not right and it is not fair.

Jamie Dimon is laughing up his sleeve.

Your faithful servant,

Carbon Tax and Our Grandchildren

Barry, My Liege :

Your recent speech and executive actions to reduce our carbon waste are all good. Thank you for demonstrating that leadership sometimes means taking criticism for doing the right thing.

But, My Liege, we both know that your executive actions will help but will also be inadequate to solve our future problems.

There does exist a simple mechanism which uses market forces to reduce carbon emissions and guarantee a better life for our grandchildren.

It is a carbon tax - A carbon tax is a direct tax on the carbon content of fossil fuels (coal, oil and natural gas).

Here is a link to an organization which studies the tax: http://www.carbontax.org/

Proposing such a tax will bring out all the forces for greed; they will make dire preditions about all the harmful effects of such a tax.

But, My Liege, none of their predictions will come to pass. Australia has had such a tax for a year and the Australian economy is doing just fine. Read about it here : http://news.ninemsn.com.au/national/2013/07/01/00/10/australia-marks-first-year-of-carbon-tax

Perhaps it is time to use shame and guilt to counter the forces of greed. You have the 'bully pulpit'. Please use it to shame the perpetrators in front of their grandchildren.

And, My Liege, do not be shy about calling them out by name for they are destroying our future for cash today.

Your faithful servant,

UPDATE Say Good Bye to 5th Amendment! All Hail SCROTUS !

Barry, My Liege :

It is evident from recent decisions that the Supreme Court of the United States, or SCOTUS, has taken a turn toward Royalty.

After all, when voting rights are restricted and corporations are considered as people, the logical end result of such decisions is a Monarchy.

UPDATE 6.29.13 - SCROTUS apparently eliminates the 5th Amendment right against self-incrimination in a case about inferring guilt from silence. Details here : http://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/constitution/item/15787-supreme-court-bombshell-no-right-to-remain-silent

It is therefore appropriate henceforth to refer to the Court with a new name : the Supreme Court Royal of the United States, or by the acronym SCROTUS.

The Court is Dead ! Long Live the SCROTUS.

Your faithful servant,

UPDATE 6.15 Truth About How Clapper Is Dumber Than Us

Barry, My Liege :

Just in case you missed it, your Director of National Intelligence Mr. James Clapper presented some false information as a response to a question from Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) in a Senate hearing about the PRISM program.

You may want to read the fact checking statement about the exchange here http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/fact-checker/post/james-clappers-least-untruthful-statement-to-the-senate/2013/06/11/e50677a8-d2d8-11e2-a73e-826d299ff459_blog.html

UPDATE 6.15.13 Also, here's a location of more information about what the NSA is really doing : http://www.businessinsider.com/lawmaker-says-there-more-to-nsa-spying-2013-6?utm_source=hearst&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=allverticals


My Liege, as a parent you know that you cannot lie to your children. They can read you like a book.

And as a classroom teacher you know full well that you are on display every day. At any moment you are probably more intelligent than any two or three or four students in your class taken together, but collectively the whole class is a whole lot smarter than you are.

My Liege, Mr. Clapper tried to pull a fast one on 300 million Americans.

If brave men and women were not in harm's way and the future of our country were not on the line, My Liege, such an act would be laughable.

But when we are all in harm's way, such an act is inexcusable.

Let us be clear, my Liege : The American people collectively are a lot smarter than you or any of your fellows in government.

And, we do not trust you to make decisions about our lives without notifying us or seeking our consent.

It appears that you trust your own judgment when we are in harm's way and do not trust our judgment.

That is not your charter, My Liege.

It is not your decision.

Your charter is to present a comprehensible and realistic explanation of the situation to us and seek our collective judgment about alternative courses of action.

We trust you will remind your staff of that.

Your faithful servant,

UPDATE 6.10, SNOWDEN LINK - Through the Prism Glass

Barry, My Liege :

Your faithful servant has observed several of the discussions about domestic spying in the United States of America.

It appears that you have attempted to create a judicial review process, however flawed it is.

But, My Liege, this spying apparatus creates problems for our country which transcend simple fixes.

History teaches that governments with power use that power until and unless they are forced to stop.

Regardless of the bureaucratic mechanisms created today to control that power, history teaches us that there will come a time when those restraints will be disabled. The bureaucratic mechanisms do not constitute an effective restraint on abuse of power.

We now have a system which spies on every citizen and which has the power to assassinate any citizen which threatens that system.

Today the system targets foreign terrorists. Perhaps tomorrow the system will target me since I do not maintain respectful silence.

Here is a link to an interview with Edward Snowden, the patriot and man of conscience who leaked the details http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/09/edward-snowden-nsa-whistleblower-surveillance

And, My Liege, you are well aware that wealth and power are concentrated increasingly in our country.

One of the effects of that wealth concentration is what I live with every day.

My city of about 400,000 has 15 police officers for every 10,000 residents while Chicago has 45. Last weekend there were 17 shootings with one fatality.

Most nights I hear shots fired. When the shots are close by, I look out the window and frequently see the shooters escaping by driving toward the freeway. And, you know what, I usually see at least two very nice, new cars.

If there are burglars in your house, the police advise you to wait outside until an officer will take a report in a few hours.

Home burglary is an organized business where innocent appearing folks - like mothers with babes in arms and children aged between 8 and 12 - walk or drive the street looking for houses where people leave for work every day. Then they use a cell phone to call in the address to the gang leaders.

People leave good neighborhoods because home burglaries average two per week.

The probable cause of this dilemma is the financial system failure which reduced property values, thus wreaking havoc with the city budget. And, as you recall, the same people are still in charge of the financial system and there have been no effective reforms.

And, now, My Liege, the same crooks who created the crisis have the money and tools to spy on citizens and continue extracting money from the poor.

In short, that is the problem with the spying system, My Liege : the system permits the same people who profit from the system to control the system. The name for this is 'tyranny'.

History has shown us also that the only systemic solution to the problem of power concentration is a divided government with effective checks and balances.

Now, we do not have effective checks and balances.

They have been abandoned as a result of the War on Terror.

My Liege, you spoke of trade-offs in our battle for security and you have called for the repeal of the Patriot Act. One wonders if it is even possible conceptually to change the system.

I would suggest that we have gone too far toward security and have lost our freedom as a result.

We suffer from it.

Your faithful servant.

Jared Rixstine : Balanced Trade, A Critical Analysis

Barry, My Liege :

Mr. Jared Rixstine has written a thorough analysis of trade theory and the place of Balanced Trade Theory in the discussion. He is a freshman at Millikin University in Decatur, IL. He has studied economics and foreign policy (with a focus in international trade) for nearly seven years.

His paper is titled 'Swapping Sandwiches: A Comparison of International Trade Models to Determine Economic Superiority'

You can read his paper by following this URL : www.mkeever.com/rixstine.doc

Or, you can enter MIEPA's site at www.mkeever.com and follow the links there.

Your faithful servant,

Spring Country Studies Published

Barry, My Liege :

The Mike P. McKeever Institute of Economic Policy Analysis [MIEPA] is pleased to announce the publication on its website [www.mkeever.com] of detailed studies of the economic policies of Hong Kong, the Netherlands and the United States of America.

One country which has not been previously analyzed by Specialists is submitted : The Netherlands is analyzed by Specialist Roel van Heusden; the analysis may be read at http://www.mkeever.com/netherlands.html

Hong Kong is analyzed by Specialist Jack Chan; the analysis may be read at : http://www.mkeever.com/hongkong.html

The United States is analyzed by Specialist Mariela Escobedo; the analysis may be read at http://www.mkeever.com/usa.html


Your faithful servant,

Drones Killing Quietly

Barry, My Liege :

I have read cursorily your speech on Drones.

Transcript here : http://www.slate.com/blogs/weigel/2013/05/23/transcript_obama_s_foreign_policy_speech_at_national_defense_university.html

Let me say firstly that you are to be applauded for stepping up and acknowledging that the United States of America under your direction assassinates people.

We all like to know the truth.

Secondly, I salute you for the best line I have heard in a speech - ever : '...we must make decisions based not on fear, but hard-earned wisdom.'

But, My Liege, your proclamations do not solve the problem which you acknowledge : the conflict between conducting a targeted military action and the principles and values which define us as a people.

When you take a life, my Liege, we want you to be certain.

And, the process you describe does not permit any scrutiny or outside assurance of accuracy. Instead it appears to rely on your sole discretion.

While it is possible that there are review procedures incorporated in the process, a rational person must assume that such reviews are not included, else you would have mentioned them.

The process you describe of notifying Congress is analogous to a thug on a street corner announcing his intentions in this manner :

'Hey Homeys. Gonna whack this dude. A right?'

I learn my criminal law from television cop shows, but even I know that a cop has to get a judge to sign an approval for a search warrant.

How is it that you don't have to get approval from anyone to whack somebody?

It is not acceptable. My Liege.

Surely it is not asking too much to include some sort of judicial review and approval before taking a life with a drone.

What say you, My Liege?

Your faithful servant,

Whistleblowers - Now You Have A Secure Place

Barry, My Liege :

A new system has been established to protect Whistleblowers' identities from government [that's you, My Liege] spying.

It is called Strongbox and it is sponsored by the New Yorker magazine.

Here is the cut and paste URL : http://www.newyorker.com/strongbox/

It is a huge step forward in protecting First Amendment Rights. And, it will be a big step in providing the investigative reporters from New Yorker with leads to potential stories of national interest.

While the Wall Street Journal has installed a similar system, I believe it is less trustworthy than the New Yorker system because the WSJ is now owned by Rupert Murdoch.

Anyone wishing a secure submission of documents or secrets is advised to investigate the site. According to an interview with a spokesperson for the magazine, there are several steps taken to protect the identities of anyone submitting information. After rigorous testing, several hackers were unable to break the system.

We are happy that the free flow of information will be enhanced, My Liege.

Your faithful servant,

Chevron's Greed Harms the Planet

Barry, My Liege :

Chevron, an identified World Real Oil Terrorists [WROT], has exited the alternative energy market because the expected profits of 5% were not as high as the 15% profits it likes.

See Bloomberg report here : http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-04-18/chevron-defies-california-on-carbon-emissions.html

While that decision is bad for the company's shareholders in the medium term, it also demonstrates Chevron's ignorance of future trends. Chevron has chosen to maximize short term profits at the expense of the climate and the future.

We have reached peak oil production and will rely increasingly on alternative energies.

Here is a quote from the study Peak Oil by the Bundeswehr Transformation Centre Future Analysis Branch, page 8 :

'Firstly, a global lack of oil could represent a systemic risk because its versatility as a source of energy and as a chemical raw material would mean that virtually every social subsystem would be affected by a shortage.'

Read the full study here : http://www.energybulletin.net/sites/default/files/Peak%20Oil_Study%20EN.pdf

Additionally, the climate has reached a critical CO2 proportion of 400 ppm [http://climate.nasa.gov/news/916] accordingt to NASA.

Continuing to profit from carbon based fuels harms the climate, sacrifices our future and is bad management.

My Liege, it is appropriate for you to publicly and/or privately excoriate Chevron's Board members for their greed and shortsightedness.

You can find them here :

Chevron Headquarters
6001 Bollinger Canyon Road
San Ramon, CA 94583, USA
Telephone: +1 925.842.1000

Board of Directors

John S. Watson
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

George L. Kirkland
Vice Chairman and Executive Vice President of Upstream and Gas

Linnet F. Deily
Former Deputy U.S. Trade Representative and U.S. Ambassador to the WTO

Robert E. Denham
(Lead Director) Partner of Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP

Alice P. Gast
President, Lehigh University

Enrique Hernandez Jr.
Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President, Inter-Con Security Systems, Inc.

Charles W. Moorman
Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President, Norfolk Southern Corporation

Kevin W. Sharer
Retired Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Amgen Inc.

John G. Stumpf
Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President, Wells Fargo & Company

Ronald D. Sugar
Retired Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Northrop Grumman Corp.

Carl Ware
Retired Executive Vice President, The Coca-Cola Company

Your faithful servant,

Republicans Give Us Salmonella

Barry, My Liege :

The Republican sequester is making us sick from contaminated food from American farms and foreign countries which we fail to inspect for contamination because there are not enough inspectors.

Read it here : http://www.tradereform.org/2013/05/foreign-food-inspections-on-decline-as-illnesses-from-imported-goods-rise/

The United States of America has become a dumping ground for poison foods because we simply don't give a damn.

Words fail, My Liege.

Your faithful servant,

Rape Me, Pay the Price

Barry, My Liege :

As you are aware, the military forces of the United States of America are experiencing a crisis in sexual assault against both men and women.

Stars and Stripes reports here : http://www.stripes.com/news/pentagon-s-annual-report-shows-sexual-assault-numbers-up-sharply-1.219952

This is a National Security problem because of the inevitable backlash.

What I mean is that the victims will soon tire of the perps escaping and take matters into their own hands.

These are soldiers who are trained in the arts and skills of physical assault and killing.

It is not smart to hurt people like that.

This would compromise seriously our fighting effectiveness. If we were to have groups of victims and supporters meting out vigilante justice, our morale would plummet and discipline would suffer.

The only way out is for the brass to grow a pair and provide real consequences for the perps.

It is not a mystery, My Liege.

We pay you assert command.

Your faithful servant,

Clinton on Syria : Stay Out

Barry, My Liege :

As a team player and with her sensitivity to domestic politics over the next few years, our possible next President Hillary Clinton has discussed Syria only sparingly in public.

Nevertheless, it is possible to deduce some outlines of her likely stand on Assad. But, standard disclaimers apply - these are my thoughts only and do not represent her position.

While Assad is an evil man, we cannot kill him unless and until an opposition force is established which can provide order after his death. Syria probably will degenerate into sectarian violence without a stabilizing force.

There are no circumstances under which we should place American troops into Syria. If American troops are the only thing that can prevent chaos, then we are powerless. We have seen the results of our misadventures in Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya.

There is some Neocon rhetoric calling for American intervention, but these are simply political posturings and should be ignored.

Perhaps we can use some covert actions to kill the chemical weapons troops and secure those munitions ; perhaps we can send advisers to work with responsible oppositon leaders to enhance their skills and weapons capabilities ; perhaps we can work to organize other nations into a coalition which can impose a no-fly zone ; and, perhaps an errant drone might 'accidentally' kill Assad.

But, My Liege, officially we are powerless until a credible opposition exists.

Your faithful servant,

Anti-Torture Memo Proven Correct

Barry, My Liege :

It is good that you have publicly renounced the participation of the United States of America in torturing prisoners.

Here's why :

1. Torture does not work - we get better intelligence from traditional sources.

2. The people who say torturing prisoners provides useful information are LYING.

Proof is offered by a systematic study of the effects of torture here : http://detaineetaskforce.org/report/

The report is written by the Constitution Project's Task Force.

People undergoing torure will say anything to stop the pain ; therefore any information provided from torture is probably false.

3. It is illegal and against our values as Americans.

4. It places our servicemen and women at greater risk of torture.

5. Torture damages the National Security of the United States of America.

Your faithful servant,

Terrorists in Boston

Barry, My Liege :

It is apparent that some terrorists have set off a bomb in the Boston Marathon.

Now is the time to be strong and react in a civilized manner.

This is a police issue and NOT a military issue.

Please, My Liege, do not send drones or the National Guard.

If you do we will look like idiots.

Let the police handle it - the perps will be found and tried.

Your faithful servant,

UPDATE 7.1 : Which Cities Flood in 50 Years?

Barry My Liege :

It is a sobering thing to see satellite photos of coastal areas showing which houses, airports and parks will be flooded by 2030 or 2040.

Here is the link :

http://www.climatecentral.org/news/interactive-short-lived-pollutants-and-sea-level-rise-15864

UPDATE 4.22.13: It appears that the above link which enabled viewing of specific coastal locations that would be flooded has been disabled. That is a great disappointment and we would hope for an explanation or a restoration of the feature.

UPDATE 7.1.13 - Here's a study about which cities will flood : http://www.upworthy.com/which-cities-will-be-completely-underwater-in-less-than-100-years?c=bl3


We pray you remember that it is not a game.

Your faithful servant,

Your Daughter is My Slave - and I WILL Abuse Her

Barry, My Liege :

It is critical to the National Economic Security of the United States that our Middle Class is easy to enter. For if our Middle Class is difficult to enter, then our future is dark.

The future is dark because there will be fewer and fewer among us who can afford the small luxury of casting around for ideas and experience apart from the normal grind of working, sleeping and eating. When we look at the Baby Boom generation, we notice that they had ample time to explore and make stupid mistakes without fear of the consequences.

From that exploration came our vast economic growth and its associated new technologies and inventions.

It is different today.

Most students must borrow in order to stay in university. This is different than the earlier generation largely because of state cuts to higher education which began in the 1980's [http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/10/opinion/sunday/student-debt-and-the-economy.html].

When students borrow, they graduate with a big debt load which they cannot refinance, pay off easily since there are few jobs and which they cannot escape through bankruptcy.

It is a generation of indentured servants.

These young people are our future and we are locking them into a life of drudgery. ' The Federal Reserve ... estimates that nearly 18 percent of borrowers now have student loan debts of $25,000 to $50,000, and nearly 4 percent have balances greater than $100,000.' [loc cit]

It is bad enough that we damage the future of our students, but it is also a Terrorist act since it helps destroy our country's future for a few decimal points of extra profit percentage by Bankers.

We pray for relief, My Liege, and we grieve.

Your faithful servant,

Oil Corporations : World Real Oil Terrorists [WROTs] 1

Barry, My Liege :

As you know, this space from time to time has called out the Real American Terrorists [RATs] who increase their personal fortunes by selling out the Economic National Security of the United States of America for personal profit.

Now it is time to call out the World Real Oil Terrorists [WROTs] who sell out the future of our planet for personal gain.

The World Real Oil Terrorists [WROTs] are the Members of the Boards of Directors of Oil Corporations.

Unless these WROTs are stopped, my grandchildren and great-grandchildren will live in a world of want, scarcity and misery we can scarcely imagine.

Acting as an International Oligopoly, these corporations systematically lobby against any law or regulation which may reduce slightly their profits today and in the future, even if it means that the rest of mankind will suffer grievously.

According to Open Secrets [http://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/indusclient.php?id=E01], International Oil Corporations spent $139,212,996 in 2012 lobbying against proposed United States laws and regulations designed to protect our future from the ravages of climate change.

That amounts to a daily expenditure of $381,405 - every day, 365 days per year - to lobby Congress and state legislatures.

And, that accounts for only the United States of America.

Let us be clear, My Liege, the science of Climate Change is clear and unequivocal: if we do not alter our fossil fuel dependency, the climate will change.

Nicholas Stern of the London School of Economics has thoroughly explored both the scientific evidence and the likely consequences for many years.

A power point presentation of his seminal 2007 address is available here :

http://www2.lse.ac.uk/asiaResearchCentre/_files/igPatelLecture_final.pdf

Additionally, his book THE ECONOMICS OF CLIMATE CHANGE has been published by the British Treasury. The book contains many citations of evidence.

Below are listed the names and addresses of the Boards of Directors of the five oil corporations who have the largest lobbying expenditures included in the $139 million figure above.

My Liege, we will be grateful if you will express our outrage in the strongest possible terms to each Board Member.

LARGEST OIL LOBBYISTS AND THEIR BOARDS

1. ROYAL DUTCH SHELL

Royal Dutch Shell

2012 Lobbying expenditures - $14,480,000 - $39,671/day

Shell headquarters

Carel van Bylandtlaan 16, 2596 HR The Hague, The Netherlands

Postal address: PO box 162, 2501 AN The Hague, The Netherlands

Tel. +31 70 377 9111

SHELL BOARD

Jorma Ollila

Chairman

Born August 15, 1950. A Finnish national, appointed Chairman of the Company with effect from June 2006. He started his career at Citibank in London and Helsinki, before moving in 1985 to Nokia, where he became Vice President of International Operations.

In 1986, he was appointed Senior Vice President Finance and between 1990 and 1992 he served as President of Nokia Mobile Phones. Between 1992 and 1999 he was President and Chief Executive Officer of Nokia, and from 1999 to June 2006 he was Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. Up until May, 2012 he was Chairman of the Board of Nokia.

Chairman of the Nomination and Succession Committee

Hans Wijers

Deputy Chairman and Senior Independent Director

Born January 11, 1951. A Dutch national, appointed a Non-executive Director of the Company with effect from January 2009. Up until April, 2012 he was Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of Management of Akzo Nobel N.V. He joined Akzo Nobel N.V. in 2002 as a Board member, and was appointed Chairman in 2003.

He obtained a PhD in economics from Erasmus University Rotterdam while teaching there. Later, he became Managing Partner of The Boston Consulting Group. He served as Dutch Minister for Economic Affairs from 1994 to 1998, after which he returned to The Boston Consulting Group as Senior Partner until his appointment as a Board member of Akzo Nobel N.V. He is Chairman of the Supervisory Board of AFC Ajax N.V., a member of the Supervisory Board of Heineken N.V., a trustee of various charities and a member of the European Round Table of Industrialists.

Chairman of the Remuneration Committee and Member of the Nomination and Succession Committee

Peter Voser

Chief Executive Officer

Born August 29, 1958. A Swiss national, appointed Chief Executive Officer of the Company with effect from July 2009. He first joined Shell in 1982 and held a variety of finance and business roles in Switzerland, the UK, Argentina and Chile, including Chief Financial Officer of Oil Products. In 2002, he joined the Asea Brown Boveri (ABB) Group of Companies as Chief Financial Officer and member of the ABB Group Executive Committee.

He returned to Shell in October 2004, when he became a Managing Director of The “Shell” Transport and Trading Company, p.l.c. and Chief Financial Officer of the Royal Dutch/Shell Group. He was a member of the Supervisory Board of Aegon N.V. from 2004 to 2006, a member of the Supervisory Board of UBS AG from 2005 to April 2010 and a member of the Swiss Federal Auditor Oversight Authority from 2006 to December 2010. In 2011, he was awarded the title of Dato Seri LailaJasaby the Sultan of Brunei.

He is a Director of Catalyst, a non-profit organisation which works to build inclusive environments and expand opportunities for women and business, and he was appointed to the Board of Directors of Roche Holdings Limited in March 2011. He is also active in a number of international and bilateral organisations, including the European Round Table of Industrialists and The Business Council.

Simon Henry

Chief Financial Officer

Born July 13, 1961. A British national, appointed Chief Financial Officer of the Company with effect from May 2009. He joined Shell in 1982 as an engineer at the Stanlow refinery in the UK.

After qualifying as a member of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants in 1989, he held various finance posts, including Finance Manager of Marketing in Egypt, Controller for the Upstream business in Egypt, Oil Products Finance Adviser for Asia-Pacific, Finance Director for the Mekong Cluster and General Manager Finance for the South East Asian Retail business.

He was appointed Head of Group Investor Relations in 2001 and Chief Financial Officer for Exploration & Production in 2004.

Josef Ackermann

Non-executive Director

Born February 7, 1948. A Swiss national, appointed a Non-executive Director of the Company in May 2008. He is Chairman of the Board of Directors of Zurich Insurance Group Limited and Zurich Insurance Company Limited, positions he has held since March 2012.

He started his professional career in 1977 at Schweizerische Kreditanstalt (SKA), where he held a variety of positions in corporate banking, foreign exchange/money markets, treasury and investment banking. In 1990, he was appointed to SKA’s Executive Board, on which he served as President between 1993 and 1996. He joined Deutsche Bank’s Management Board in 1996 with responsibility for the investment banking division and, up until May 2012, he was Chairman of both the Management Board and the Group Executive Committee of Deutsche Bank AG. He was appointed to these positions in 2006 and 2002 respectively.

He is a member of the Supervisory Board of Siemens AG, the Board of Directors of Investor AB and a number of advisory boards. He also has various roles in several foundations and academic institutions.

Member of the Remuneration Committee and the Nomination and Succession Committee

Guy Elliott

Non-executive Director

Born December 26, 1955. A British national, appointed a Non-executive Director of the Company with effect from September 2010. He is Chief Financial Officer of Rio Tinto plc and Rio Tinto Limited, positions he has held since 2002.

Following a period in investment banking, he joined the Rio Tinto Group in 1980 after gaining an MBA at INSEAD. He has held a variety of marketing, strategy and general management positions, including Head of Business Evaluation and President of Rio Tinto Brasil. He was Non-executive Director and Senior Independent Director of Cadbury plc from 2007 and 2008 respectively until March 2010. While on the Cadbury Board, he served as Chairman of the Audit Committee until April 2009.

Chairman of the Audit Committee

Charles O. Holliday

Non-executive Director

Born March 9, 1948. A US national, appointed a Non-executive Director of the Company with effect from September 2010. He served as Chief Executive Officer of DuPont from 1998 to January 2009 and Chairman from 1999 to December 2009. He joined DuPont in 1970 after receiving a B.S. in industrial engineering from the University of Tennessee and held various manufacturing and business assignments, including a six-year, Tokyo-based posting as President of DuPont Asia/ Pacific, before becoming Chairman and Chief Executive Officer.

He previously served as Chairman of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, Chairman of The Business Council, Chairman of Catalyst and Chairman of the Society of Chemical Industry – American Section and is a founding member of the International Business Council. He is Chairman of the Board of Directors of Bank of America Corporation and a Director of Deere & Company.

Chairman of the Corporate and Social Responsibility Committee and Member of the Remuneration Committee

Gerard Kleisterlee

Non-executive Director

Born September 28, 1946. A Dutch national, appointed a Non-executive Director of the Company with effect from November 2010. He was President/Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of Management of Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. from 2001 to March 2011. Having joined Philips in 1974, he held several positions before being appointed as Chief Executive Officer of Philips’ Components division in 1999 and Executive Vice-President of Philips in 2000.

He was appointed Chairman of Vodafone Group plc in July 2011. He is also a member of the European Round Table of Industrialists, Chairman of both IMD’s Foundation Board and Executive Committee, member of the Supervisory Board of De Nederlandsche Bank N.V., Daimler AG, a Director of Dell Inc. and Chairman of the Foundation of the Cancer Centre Amsterdam.

Member of the Audit Committee

Christine Morin-Postel

Non-executive Director

Born October 6, 1946. A French national, appointed a Non-executive Director of the Company in October 2004. She was a member of the Supervisory Board of Royal Dutch Petroleum Company (Royal Dutch) from July 2004 and was a Board member of Royal Dutch until December 2005.

Previously, she was Chief Executive of Société Générale de Belgique, Executive Vice-President and member of the Executive Committee of Suez S.A., Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Crédisuez S.A. and a Non-executive Director of Pilkington plc, Alcan Inc. and EXOR S.p.A. She is a Non-executive Director of British American Tobacco plc.

Member of the Audit Committee

Sir Nigel Sheinwald GCMG

Non-executive Director

Born June 26, 1953. A British national, appointed a Non-executive Director of the Company with effect from July 2012. Sir Nigel Sheinwald was a senior British diplomat who served as British Ambassador to the United States from 2007 to 2012. He joined the Diplomatic Service in 1976 and served in Brussels (twice), Washington and Moscow and in a wide range of policy jobs in London. Prior to his appointment as British Ambassador to the United States, he served as Foreign Policy and Defence Adviser to the Prime Minister and Head of the Cabinet Office Defence and Overseas Secretariat. He served as British Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the European Union in Brussels from 2000 to 2003. He retired from the Diplomatic Service at the end of March, 2012.

Member of the Corporate and Social Responsibility Committee

Linda G. Stuntz

Non-executive Director

Born September 11, 1954. A US national, appointed a Non-executive Director of the Company with effect from June 2011. She is a founding partner of the law firm of Stuntz, Davis & Staffier, P.C., based in Washington, D.C. Her law practice includes energy and environmental regulation as well as matters relating to government support of technology development and transfer. From 1989 to 1993, she held senior policy positions at the U.S. Department of Energy, including Deputy Secretary. She played a principal role in the development and enactment of the Energy Policy Act of 1992.

From 1981 to 1987, she was an Associate Minority Counsel and Minority Counsel to the Energy and Commerce Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives. She chaired the Electricity Advisory Committee to the U.S. Department of Energy from 2008 to 2009, and was a member of the Board of Directors of Schlumberger Limited from 1993 to 2010. She serves on the Board of Directors of Raytheon Company.

Member of the Audit Committee

Jeroen van der Veer

Non-executive Director

Born October 27, 1947. A Dutch national, appointed a Non-executive Director of the Company with effect from July 2009. Previously, he was Chief Executive since October 2004. He was appointed President of Royal Dutch Petroleum Company in 2000, having been a Managing Director since 1997. He was a Director of Shell Canada Limited from 2003 until 2005.

He was Vice-Chairman and Senior Independent Director of Unilever (which includes Unilever N.V. and Unilever plc) to May 2011 and is Chairman of the Supervisory Boards of Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. and of ING Group. He also has various roles in several foundations and charities.

Member of the Corporate and Social Responsibility Committee

Gerrit Zalm

Non-executive Director

Born May 6, 1952. A Dutch national, appointed a Non-executive Director of the Company with effect from January 1, 2013. Mr Zalm is the Chairman of the Board of Management of ABN AMRO Bank N.V., a position he has held since February 2009. Prior to that Mr Zalm was the Minister of Finance of the Netherlands from 1994-2002 and from 2003-2007. Mr Zalm will seek re-appointment by shareholders at the next Annual General Meeting, scheduled to be held in May 2013.

Member of the Corporate and Social Responsibility Committee

Michiel Brandjes

Company Secretary

Born December 14, 1954. A Dutch national, appointed as Company Secretary and General Counsel Corporate of the Company in February 2005. He joined Shell in 1980 as a Legal Adviser and was later appointed Head of Legal in Singapore. Following a period as Head of Legal in China, he was appointed Company Secretary of Royal Dutch Petroleum Company.

2. EXXON MOBIL CORPORATION

Exxon Mobil

Lobbying Expenditures 2012 : $12,970,000 - - $35,534/day

Corporate Headquarters

5959 Las Colinas Boulevard
Irving, Texas 75039-2298
(972) 444-1000

Exxon Mobil Corporation Board of Directors

Rex W. Tillerson

Age 60, Chairman and CEO since 2006; Director since 2004

Principal Occupation: Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer, Exxon Mobil Corporation

Business Experience: Mr. Tillerson was elected Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of ExxonMobil in 2006; President and Director in 2004; and, Senior Vice President in 2001. Mr. Tillerson has held a variety of management positions in domestic and foreign operations since joining the Exxon organization in 1975, including President, Exxon Yemen Inc. and Esso Exploration and Production Khorat Inc.; Vice President, Exxon Ventures (CIS) Inc.; President, Exxon Neftegas Limited; and Executive Vice President, ExxonMobil Development Company.

Current Public Company Directorships: None

Past Public Company Directorships: None

Michael J. Boskin

Age 67, Director since 1996

Principal Occupation: T.M. Friedman Professor of Economics and Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution, Stanford University

Business Experience: Dr. Boskin is also a Research Associate, National Bureau of Economic Research. He is Chief Executive Officer and President of Boskin & Co., an economic consulting company.

Current Public Company Directorships: Oracle (April 1994 – Present)

Past Public Company Directorships: Shinsei Bank (March 2000 – June 2009); Vodafone Group (June 1999 – July 2008)

Peter Brabeck-Letmathe

Age 68, Director since 2010

Principal Occupation: Chairman of the Board, Nestlé

Business Experience: Mr. Brabeck-Letmathe was elected Chairman of Nestlé in 2005, and Chief Executive Officer in 1997, relinquishing the role of CEO in 2008. He also served as Vice Chairman, Executive Vice President, and Senior Vice President of Nestlé.

Current Public Company Directorships: Nestlé (June 1997 – Present); Credit Suisse Group (May 1997 – Present); L’Oréal (June 1997 – Present)

Past Public Company Directorships: Roche Holding (April 2000 – March 2010)

Ursula M. Burns

Age 54, Director since 2012

Principal Occupation: Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Xerox

Business Experience: Ms. Burns was named President of Xerox and elected to the company’s board of directors in 2007. She was named Chief Executive Officer in 2009 and became Chairman in 2010. Ms. Burns served as Senior Vice President for Xerox’s Corporate Strategic Services and as President and Senior Vice President for Xerox’s Document Systems and Solutions Group and Xerox’s Business Group Operations.

Current Public Company Directorships: American Express (January 2004 – Present), Xerox (April 2007 – Present)

Past Public Company Directorships: None

Larry R. Faulkner

Age 68, Director since 2008

Principal Occupation: President Emeritus, the University of Texas at Austin

Business Experience: Dr. Faulkner served as President of the Houston Endowment from 2006 to 2012 and as President of The University of Texas at Austin from 1998 to 2006. He served on the chemistry faculties of The University of Texas, the University of Illinois, and Harvard University. At the University of Illinois, he also held a number of positions in academic administration including Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs.

Current Public Company Directorships: None

Past Public Company Directorships: Guaranty Financial Group (December 2007 – August 2009); Temple-Inland (August 2005 – February 2012)

Jay S. Fishman

Age 60, Director since 2010

Principal Occupation: Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer, The Travelers Companies

Business Experience: Mr. Fishman was elected Chairman of The Travelers Companies in 2005, and Chief Executive Officer in 2004 upon the merger of The St. Paul Companies and Travelers Property Casualty Corporation. From 2001 to 2004 he was Chairman, Chief Executive Officer, and President of The St. Paul Companies.

Current Public Company Directorships: Travelers (October 2001 – Present)

Past Public Company Directorships: None

Henrietta Fore

Age 63, Director since 2012

Principal Occupation: Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Holsman International

Business Experience: Ms. Fore served as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Holsman International since 2009. She served as the Administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development and Director of United States Foreign Assistance from 2007 to 2009. She also served as Under Secretary of State for Management, the Chief Operating Officer for the Department of State, from 2005 to 2007.

Current Public Company Directorships: Theravance (October 2010 – Present)

Past Public Company Directorships: None

Kenneth C. Frazier

Age 57, Director since 2009

Principal Occupation: Chairman of the Board, President and Chief Executive Officer, Merck & Co., Inc.

Business Experience: Mr. Frazier was elected President of Merck in 2010, Chief Executive Officer in January 2011, and Chairman of the Board effective December 2011. He was elected Executive Vice President and President, Global Human Health, at Merck in 2007, and Executive Vice President and General Counsel in 2006. He served as Senior Vice President and General Counsel at Merck from 1999 to 2006.

Current Public Company Directorships: Merck & Co., Inc. (January 2011 – Present)

Past Public Company Directorships: None

William W. George

Age 70, Director since 2005

Principal Occupation: Professor of Management Practice, Harvard University

Business Experience: Mr. George was elected Chairman of Medtronic in 1996, and retired in 2002; Chief Executive Officer in 1991; and President and Chief Operating Officer in 1989.

Current Public Company Directorships: Goldman Sachs (December 2002 – Present)

Past Public Company Directorships: Novartis (May 1999 – February 2009)

Samuel J. Palmisano


Age 61, Director since 2006, Presiding Director since 2008

Principal Occupation: Former Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer, IBM

Business Experience: Mr. Palmisano was elected Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer of IBM in 2003 and relinquished the roles of President and Chief Executive Officer in January, 2012 and his position as Chairman of the Board in September, 2012. Mr. Palmisano also served as President, Senior Vice President, and Group Executive for IBM’s Enterprise Systems Group, IBM Global Services, and IBM’s Personal Systems Group.

Current Public Company Directorships: None

Past Public Company Directorships: IBM (July 2000 - September 2012)

Steven S Reinemund

Age 64, Director since 2007

Principal Occupation: Dean of Business, Wake Forest University

Business Experience: Mr. Reinemund served as Executive Chairman of the Board of PepsiCo from 2006 to 2007, and retired in 2007; was elected Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board in 2001; President and Chief Operating Officer in 1999; and, Director in 1996. He was also elected President and CEO of Frito-Lay in 1992 and Pizza Hut in 1986.

Current Public Company Directorships: American Express (April 2007 – Present); Marriott (April 2007 – Present); Wal-Mart (June 2010 – Present)

Past Public Company Directorships: Johnson & Johnson (October 2003 – April 2008); PepsiCo (April 1996 – May 2007)


Edward E. Whitacre, Jr.

Age 71, Director since 2008

Principal Occupation: Former Chairman of the Board, General Motors; Chairman Emeritus, AT&T

Business Experience: Mr. Whitacre joined General Motors in 2009 as Chairman, became Chief Executive Officer later in 2009, and relinquished the roles of Chief Executive Officer and Chairman in 2010. At AT&T, Mr. Whitacre was elected Chairman and Chief Executive Officer upon its merger with SBC Communications in 2005, and retired in 2007. He was elected Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of SBC in 1990; and, President and Chief Operating Officer in 1988.

Current Public Company Directorships: None

Past Public Company Directorships: Anheuser Busch (September 1988 – November 2008); AT&T (November 2005 – June 2007); Burlington Northern Santa Fe (April 1993 – February 2010); General Motors (July 2009 – December 2010)

3. KOCH INDUSTRIES

Koch Industries

2012 Lobbying Expenditures : $10,540,000 - $28,876/day

Koch Industries, Inc.
P.O. Box 2256
Wichita, KS 67201-2256
info@kochind.com

Koch Industries, Inc. Board of Directors includes:

Charles G. Koch--Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO)

Joseph W. Moeller--Vice Chairman

David Robertson--President, Chief Operating Officer (COO), Director and Chairman of Georgia-Pacific

Steve Feilmeier--Chief Financial Officer, Executive Vice President and Director

David H. Koch--Executive Vice President and Director

Jeff Gentry--Executive Vice President and Director

Richard Fink--Executive Vice President and Director

James Mahoney--Executive Vice President of Operations Excellence & Compliance, and Director

4. CHEVRON CORPORATION

Chevron Corp

2012 Lobbying Expenditures - $9,550,000 - $26,164/day

Chevron Headquarters
6001 Bollinger Canyon Road
San Ramon, CA 94583, USA
Telephone: +1 925.842.1000

Board of Directors

John S. Watson
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

George L. Kirkland
Vice Chairman and Executive Vice President of Upstream and Gas

Linnet F. Deily
Former Deputy U.S. Trade Representative and U.S. Ambassador to the WTO

Robert E. Denham
(Lead Director) Partner of Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP

Alice P. Gast
President, Lehigh University

Enrique Hernandez Jr.
Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President, Inter-Con Security Systems, Inc.

Charles W. Moorman
Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President, Norfolk Southern Corporation

Kevin W. Sharer
Retired Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Amgen Inc.

John G. Stumpf
Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President, Wells Fargo & Company

Ronald D. Sugar
Retired Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Northrop Grumman Corp.

Carl Ware
Retired Executive Vice President, The Coca-Cola Company

5. BRITISH PETROLEUM

BP

2012 Lobbying Expenditures : $8,590,000 - $23,534/day

BP does not provide a central address.

Carl-Henric Svanberg
Chairman

Bob Dudley
Group Chief Executive
Executive member of the BP board of directors

Iain Conn
Chief Executive, Refining and Marketing
Executive member of the BP board of directors

Dr Brian Gilvary
Chief Financial Officer
Executive member of the BP board of directors

Dr Byron Grote
Executive Vice President, Corporate Business Activities
Executive member of the BP board of directors

Paul Anderson
Non-Executive Director
Chairman of the safety, ethics and environment assurance committee and member of the chairman’s, the Gulf of Mexico and the nomination committees

Admiral Frank Bowman
Non-Executive Director
Member of the chairman’s, the Gulf of Mexico and the safety, ethics and environment assurance committees

Antony Burgmans, KBE
Non-Executive Director
Chairman of the remuneration committee and member of the chairman’s, the nomination and the safety, ethics and environment assurance committees

Cynthia Carroll
Non-Executive Director
Member of the chairman’s, the nomination and the safety, ethics and environment assurance committees

George David
Non-Executive Director
Member of the chairman's, the audit, the Gulf of Mexico, and the remuneration committees

Ian Davis
Non-Executive Director
Chairman of the Gulf of Mexico committee and member of the chairman's, the nomination and the remuneration committees

Professor Dame Ann Dowling
Non-Executive Director
Member of the chairman’s, the remuneration and the safety, ethics and environment assurance committees

Brendan Nelson
Non-Executive Director
Chairman of the audit committee and member of the chairman’s and nomination committees

Phuthuma Nhleko
Non-Executive Director
Member of the chairman's and the audit committees

Andrew Shilston
Non-Executive Director
Member of the chairman’s and the audit committees and attends the nomination committee

David Jackson
Company Secretary
David Jackson was appointed Company Secretary in 2003. A solicitor, he is a director of BP Pension Trustees Limited

Your faithful servant,