Report: U.S. Influence Will Fade By 2025

Freedumb, Freedumb, Read All About It!

"There'll be challenges on all fronts. Climate changes from global warming will lead to shortages of food and water in dozens of countries. That, coupled with a projected population spike of 1.2 billion people worldwide could lead to wars over increasingly scarce resources. Thomas Fingar, Chairman of the National Intelligence Council predicts water shortages, disruptions to delicate agricultural patterns, continued unrest ,,,."

Today, with the science of energy stagnated and petrified, stunting education and wisdom, it is no wonder the masses are 'flag freaking' toward their own self destruction, rather than flag waving toward an unlimited, unbounded, prosperous future for all.

Scientific Stagnation bodes an ill wind to evolution, sustainability, and survival as "cycles of humiliation, dumbing us down, violence, and Unrestrained Corporate Greed prompting resource wars with nuclear finality" join hands with global warming and ecological imbalance to precipitate the historical "rise and fall of civilization" - a Tsunami accelerating toward us with a far more spectacular event than the legends and myths of 'Atlantis and Lemuria"........ If more people knew that Energy from Corn (or going backwards to a dimwitted concept of radioactive nuclear power application ) sounded a wee bit kindergartenish and senile for the twenty first century......the Future may have a chance.

As common sense in science is lost with the continued stagnation of our energy base and deep troubling theoretical foundational issues in physics, so too, Civilization's Survival Parameters fly out of sight, out of mind, along with the values and morals inherent within new scientific understanding which new energy systems would reveal. The new scientific comprehension would eliminate the caveman 'club/stick' conflict resolution methods still used in the 21st century. Besides, caveman club/stick methods do not work well with nuclear toys, as they threaten all of humanity.

"In a primitive tooth and claw society you have survival of the fittest. But as technology progresses it makes the Power, Greed, Controller, Killer, instincts so destructive that you eventually have survival of nobody at all, except maybe a few cave men. Either evolution weeds out the Power, Greed, Controller, Killer instincts or everybody ends up dead. Either moral evolution goes hand in hand with technological evolution and connects with scientific survival requirements for evolving, living systems, or we're doomed."

The Deadly Dangers of a Mis-informed, Dis-informed & Un-informed Population, Ultimately to Itself, History Provides Ample Evidence.

The Solution: The Promise of New Energy Systems & Beyond Oil Evaporates the Problem: The ill designed "Corporism: The Systemic Disease that Destroys Civilization." when devoid of a Bill of Rights for Human Life, devoid of scientific parameters necessary for Life's evolution, sustainability, and survival. ......................................................................................................................

Report: U.S. Influence Will Fade By 2025
CBS NEW YORK, Nov. 20, 2008
(CBS/AP) Analysts gazing into what amounts to an intelligence-based crystal ball see a future world marked by dwindling resources, more people and diminished power for the United States, as CBS News correspondent Bob Orr reports. Nuclear weapons will be a growing thereat in the coming decades, and new threats like cyber-terrorism will become more important than conventional military might, according to a new report from the National Intelligence Council. (CBS/AP)
The grim assessment, entitled "Global Trends 2025: A Transformed World", comes from the National Intelligence Council, an independent government body. The report concludes that by 2025, "The U.S. will remain the single most important actor but will be less dominant." There'll be challenges on all fronts. Climate changes from global warming will lead to shortages of food and water in dozens of countries. That, coupled with a projected population spike of 1.2 billion people worldwide could lead to wars over increasingly scarce resources. Thomas Fingar, Chairman of the National Intelligence Council predicts water shortages, disruptions to delicate agricultural patterns, continued unrest in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan and the continued emergence of China as America's greatest economic rival. "China will have the world's second largest economy," the report says, "and will be a leading military power." But conventional military strength will be less important. The new threats will come from hackers and cyber-terrorists, criminal gangs and other rogue groups. Terrorism will remain. But the report suggests that al Qaeda's influence in the Arab world is in decline and the group may "decay sooner than many people think." "The killing of innocents, the killing of Muslims [by al Qaeda] is turning off more people than it is turning on," Fingar says. Still, other extremist groups may be ready to step in, and analysts warn that an increased availability of nuclear weapons and materials could present an even more lethal threat. The report also suggests that global warming could boost Russia's growing economy by extending growing seasons and allowing easier access to far north oil fields. And it says that the U.S. dollar will continue to weaken and fall from favor as a top world currency. Of course, these projections are hardly certain. Analysts note that most past attempts to look ahead have been turned out to be wrong. But the report is aimed at starting the policy dialogue as a new Administration maps its strategy.
CBS Interactive Inc.

Science in a Post-Bush World

Freedumb, Freedumb, Read All About It!

"The government's scientific advisory process has been distorted by political considerations. As a result, our once dominant position in the scientific world has been shaken and our prosperity has been placed at risk. We have lost time critical for the development of new ways to provide energy, treat disease, reverse climate change, strengthen our security, and improve our economy."

Today, with the science of energy stagnated and petrified, stunting education and wisdom, it is no wonder the masses are 'flag freaking' toward their own self destruction, rather than flag waving toward an unlimited, unbounded, prosperous future for all.

Scientific Stagnation bodes an ill wind to evolution, sustainability, and survival as "cycles of humiliation, dumbing us down, violence, and Unrestrained Corporate Greed prompting resource wars with nuclear finality" join hands with global warming and ecological imbalance to precipitate the historical "rise and fall of civilization" - a Tsunami accelerating toward us with a far more spectacular event than the legends and myths of 'Atlantis and Lemuria"........ If more people knew that Energy from Corn (or going backwards to a dimwitted concept of radioactive nuclear power application ) sounded a wee bit kindergartenish and senile for the twenty first century......the Future may have a chance.

As common sense in science is lost with the continued stagnation of our energy base and deep troubling theoretical foundational issues in physics, so too, Civilization's Survival Parameters fly out of sight, out of mind, along with the values and morals inherent within new scientific understanding which new energy systems would reveal. The new scientific comprehension would eliminate the caveman 'club/stick' conflict resolution methods still used in the 21st century. Besides, caveman club/stick methods do not work well with nuclear toys, as they threaten all of humanity.

"In a primitive tooth and claw society you have survival of the fittest. But as technology progresses it makes the Power, Greed, Controller, Killer, instincts so destructive that you eventually have survival of nobody at all, except maybe a few cave men. Either evolution weeds out the Power, Greed, Controller, Killer instincts or everybody ends up dead. Either moral evolution goes hand in hand with technological evolution and connects with scientific survival requirements for evolving, living systems, or we're doomed."

The Deadly Dangers of a Mis-informed, Dis-informed & Un-informed Population, Ultimately to Itself, History Provides Ample Evidence.

The Solution: The Promise of New Energy Systems & Beyond Oil Evaporates the Problem: The ill designed "Corporism: The Systemic Disease that Destroys Civilization." when devoid of a Bill of Rights for Human Life, devoid of scientific parameters necessary for Life's evolution, sustainability, and survival. ...............................................................................................................................

Science in a Post-Bush World
Intertwining Ideology and Science Has Compromised Advancement, Scientists Say
By KI MAE HEUSSNER
Nov. 6, 2008—
After eight years of brawls with the Bush administration on issues including climate change, stem cell research and health care, scientists across the country aren't just hungry for change they can believe in, but science they can trust.
While many a scientist has picked apart many a science-based policy of President Bush, the underlying issue that has sparked outrage from across the scientific community is the politicization of the discipline.
"The idea of putting ideology into decisions about science -- that has really denigrated the role of science," said Martin Chalfie, a Columbia University geneticist who was awarded a Nobel Prize in chemistry in early October.
Along with 75 other Nobel Laureates, he endorsed now-President-elect Barack Obama in an open letter that also blasted the Bush administration.
"The government's scientific advisory process has been distorted by political considerations. As a result, our once dominant position in the scientific world has been shaken and our prosperity has been placed at risk. We have lost time critical for the development of new ways to provide energy, treat disease, reverse climate change, strengthen our security, and improve our economy," the letter said.
As Obama the senator becomes Obama the president, these scientists and throngs of others eagerly wait for him to gain the ground lost by his predecessor.
Overcoming Legacies of George W. Bush
"The past eight years of denial and delay are over," Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) President Kevin Knobloch said in a statement the morning after the election.
Particularly when it comes to policies related to global warming, the organization is looking for a fast and clean break from the approach of Bush that did not recognize man-made global warming, and obstructed international cooperation.
But that is hardly the only issue area that needs tending, scientists say.
In science-related agencies all over Washington, such as the Consumer Product Safety Commission and the Federal Drug Administration, "scientists have been so patiently waiting for change. They've hung on and they've kept their heads down," said Francesca Grifo, senior scientist and director of the Scientific Integrity Program at UCS.
In 2006, she led an effort by leading scientists that condemned political interference in science. In 2004, the UCS first issued a petition calling for the restoration of scientific integrity to federal policy making. Today, that document bears the names of more than 15,000 scientists, Grifo said.
On issues from A to Z, federal bureaucrats have undermined the scientific method and changed reports to make them politically or ideologically palatable......full text of Full FreeDumb

Russians With Pumpkins Protest Many U.S. Plots

Every living soul armed to the teeth & we will have PEACE PEACE PEACE. Marching in sync to fulfill Nostradamus's prophesies - resource wars and control and protection of the oil regions, wherever they may be, at all costs..... “This is not about being gunrunners,” said Bruce S. Lemkin, the Air Force deputy under secretary who is helping to coordinate many of the biggest sales. “This is about building a more secure world.” This is what was said in Rome. This is what "repeat the repeater', the mouthpiece for greed and power madness, has said throughout all history. Today, with the science of energy stagnated and petrified, stunting education and wisdom, it is no wonder the masses are 'flag freaking' toward their own self destruction, rather than flag waving toward an unlimited, unbounded, prosperous future for all.

"In a primitive tooth and claw society you have survival of the fittest. But as technology progresses it makes the Power, Greed, Controller, Killer instinct so destructive that you eventually have survival of nobody at all, except maybe a few cave men. Either evolution weeds out the Power, Greed, Controller, Killer instinct or everybody ends up dead. Either moral evolution goes hand in hand with technological evolution and connects with scientific survival requirements for evolving, living systems, or we're doomed."

As common sense in science is lost with the continued stagnation of our energy base and deep troubling theoretical foundational issues in physics, so too, Civilization's Survival Parameters fly out of sight, out of mind, along with the values and morals inherent within new scientific understanding which new energy systems would reveal. The new scientific comprehension would eliminate the caveman 'club/stick' conflict resolution methods still used in the 21st century. Besides, caveman club/stick methods do not work well with nuclear toys, as they threaten all of humanity

Scientific Stagnation bodes an ill wind to evolution, sustainability, and survival as "cycles of humiliation, dumbing us down, violence, and Unrestrained Corporate Greed prompting resource wars with nuclear finality" join hands with global warming and ecological imbalance to precipitate the historical "rise and fall of civilization" - a Tsunami accelerating toward us with a far more spectacular event than the legends and myths of 'Atlantis and Lemuria"........ had more people known that Energy from Corn (or going backwards to a dimwitted concept of radioactive nuclear power application ) sounded a wee bit kindergartenish and senile for the twenty first century......the Future may have had a chance.

The Deadly Dangers of a Mis-informed, Dis-informed & Un-informed Population, Ultimately to Itself, History Provides Ample Evidence.

The Solution: The Promise of New Energy Systems & Beyond Oil Evaporates the Problem: The ill designed "Corporism: The Systemic Disease that Destroys Civilization." when devoid of a Bill of Rights for Human Life, devoid of scientific parameters necessary for Life's evolution, sustainability, and survival.

November 3, 2008
Russians With Pumpkins Protest Many U.S. Plots
By ELLEN BARRY
MOSCOW — Thousands of Russians from the pro-Kremlin youth group Nashi gathered in front of the United States Embassy here on Sunday night carrying jack-o’-lanterns inked with the names of war victims and charging that the war in Georgia was part of an American plot to improve Senator John McCain’s electoral prospects.
As music by Johnny Cash and the Allman Brothers played from loudspeakers, a stream of young people climbed off buses that had carried them to Moscow from far-flung provincial capitals. They held the pumpkins aloft for a moment of silence as a deep bass thumped and carnival-style lights played on the embassy’s facade.
In a film projected on several large screens, an actor playing President Bush (though with a heavy Russian accent) delivered a speech in which he gloated over the United States’ control over world affairs. The film asserted that the United States orchestrated World Wars I and II so that the American economy could overtake Europe’s, carried out the Sept. 11 attacks to broaden government powers and planned to brand every person on the planet with the “mark of the beast,” as referred to in the Bible.
“When that will happen, we will totally control all humanity,” said the actor playing Mr. Bush, swigging a beer, as a picture of the globe in chains glowed behind him.
The opinions in the crowd were far more nuanced. Most of the demonstrators, men and women in their teens and early 20s, said they held the United States responsible for the war in Georgia, saying President Mikheil Saakashvili of Georgia would not have attacked the separatist enclave of South Ossetia without express permission from American officials.
Several demonstrators said they had become disillusioned with the United States during the 1990s, saying the reforms it pushed had led Russia into financial and political chaos.
“We don’t like to be told how to live, and we don’t like it when our peacekeepers are attacked,” said Yura Yakor, 23. “You’re not likely to find any fans of America here.”
As they shivered in the wintry rain, nearly everyone had something to say about the coming United States elections. Many agreed with the theory, espoused by Prime Minister Vladimir V. Putin in a televised interview this fall, that the war in Georgia was planned to increase the chances of Mr. McCain, the Republican presidential candidate. A few said they thought a victory for Senator Barack Obama would greatly improve relations between the United States and Russia.
“If McCain wins, I think everything will get worse,” said Yekaterina Anisimova, 20, who had traveled from Vladimir, about 125 miles east of Moscow, for the rally. “He is categorically against Russia. Obama is the opposite. All this could end.”
Her friend, Yana Vinogradova, agreed.
“We don’t hate America,” she said. “We just have a bad relationship with this administration.”
As the American reporter departed, Ms. Anisimova yelled after her, “Vote for Obama!”

Science Advice for the Next President

Freedumb, Freedumb, Read All About It! Where were the candidates for the requested science and politics debate?

"scientific and technical advice is needed now more than ever given the importance of the entwined issues of energy security and climate change, mounting issues and opportunities in medicine, and problems in science education and American innovation and competitiveness. The letters reflect broadening concern that the White House has not been sufficiently stressing science."

Today, with the science of energy stagnated and petrified, stunting education and wisdom, it is no wonder the masses are 'flag freaking' toward their own self destruction, rather than flag waving toward an unlimited, unbounded, prosperous future for all.

"In a primitive tooth and claw society you have survival of the fittest. But as technology progresses it makes the Power, Greed, Controller, Killer, instincts so destructive that you eventually have survival of nobody at all, except maybe a few cave men. Either evolution weeds out the Power, Greed, Controller, Killer instincts or everybody ends up dead. Either moral evolution goes hand in hand with technological evolution and connects with scientific survival requirements for evolving, living systems, or we're doomed."

As common sense in science is lost with the continued stagnation of our energy base and deep troubling theoretical foundational issues in physics, so too, Civilization's Survival Parameters fly out of sight, out of mind, along with the values and morals inherent within new scientific understanding which new energy systems would reveal. The new scientific comprehension would eliminate the caveman 'club/stick' conflict resolution methods still used in the 21st century. Besides, caveman club/stick methods do not work well with nuclear toys, as they threaten all of humanity

Scientific Stagnation bodes an ill wind to evolution, sustainability, and survival as "cycles of humiliation, dumbing us down, violence, and Unrestrained Corporate Greed prompting resource wars with nuclear finality" join hands with global warming and ecological imbalance to precipitate the historical "rise and fall of civilization" - a Tsunami accelerating toward us with a far more spectacular event than the legends and myths of 'Atlantis and Lemuria"........ had more people known that Energy from Corn (or going backwards to a dimwitted concept of radioactive nuclear power application ) sounded a wee bit kindergartenish and senile for the twenty first century......the Future may have had a chance.

The Deadly Dangers of a Mis-informed, Dis-informed & Un-informed Population, Ultimately to Itself, History Provides Ample Evidence.

The Solution: The Promise of New Energy Systems & Beyond Oil Evaporates the Problem: The ill designed "Corporism: The Systemic Disease that Destroys Civilization." when devoid of a Bill of Rights for Human Life, devoid of scientific parameters necessary for Life's evolution, sustainability, and survival.

October 31, 2008, 10:41 am
— Updated: 11:23 am -->

Science Advice for the Next President
By Andrew C. Revkin
Nearly 180 organizations representing the interdependent arenas of science, academia and business are urging the next president to appoint a White House science adviser by Inauguration Day and give the position cabinet-level rank. In letters sent Thursday to Senator John McCain and Senator Barack Obama, the organizations said scientific and technical advice was needed now more than ever given the importance of the entwined issues of energy security and climate change, mounting issues and opportunities in medicine, and problems in science education and American innovation and competitiveness. The letters reflect broadening concern that the White House has not been sufficiently stressing science.
It is “essential that you be prepared to quickly appoint a science adviser who is a nationally respected leader with the appropriate scientific, management and policy skills necessary for this critically important role,” the letters said.
The groups, including the American Association for the Advancement of Science and Association of American Universities, said the science adviser should have the same status in the cabinet as the director of the Office of Management and Budget, the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, and the U.S. Trade Representative.
In a news release, the groups criticized the Bush administration for delaying and discounting science advice: “President George W. Bush did not appoint John H. Marburger III as his science adviser until June 25, 2001, five months after taking office, and he did not give cabinet rank to the science post. Dr. Marburger, a physicist and former head of Brookhaven National Laboratory, was not confirmed by the Senate until Oct. 23, 2001, after key policies on climate change and stem cell research already had been announced by the White House.”
Here are links to the letters to Mr. McCain and Mr. Obama, along with the names of 178 organizations that signed them.What science advice would you give the next president?

The Numerati

Freedumb, Freedumb, Read All About It!

"To control the world, to manipulate our behavior -- what we buy, how we vote" -- through statistical mathematics, the mathematical modeling of humanity, WITHOUT THE SLIGHTEST INCLUSION / COMPREHENSION OF HUMAN POTENTIAL (contemporary science cannot even comprehend evolutionary energy survival requirements) - will transform every aspect of our lives.

"In a primitive tooth and claw society you have survival of the fittest. But as technology progresses it makes the Power, Greed, Controller, Killer, instincts so destructive that you eventually have survival of nobody at all, except maybe a few cave men. Either evolution weeds out the Power, Greed, Controller, Killer instincts or everybody ends up dead. Either moral evolution goes hand in hand with technological evolution and connects with scientific survival requirements for evolving, living systems, or we're doomed."

Today, with the science of energy stagnated and petrified, stunting education and wisdom, it is no wonder the masses are 'flag freaking' toward their own self destruction, rather than flag waving toward an unlimited, unbounded, prosperous future for all.

As common sense in science is lost with the continued stagnation of our energy base and deep troubling theoretical foundational issues in physics, so too, Civilization's Survival Parameters fly out of sight, out of mind, along with the values and morals inherent within new scientific understanding which new energy systems would reveal. The new scientific comprehension would eliminate the caveman 'club/stick' conflict resolution methods still used in the 21st century. Besides, caveman club/stick methods do not work well with nuclear toys, as they threaten all of humanity

Scientific Stagnation bodes an ill wind to evolution, sustainability, and survival as "cycles of humiliation, dumbing us down, violence, and Unrestrained Corporate Greed prompting resource wars with nuclear finality" join hands with global warming and ecological imbalance to precipitate the historical "rise and fall of civilization" - a Tsunami accelerating toward us with a far more spectacular event than the legends and myths of 'Atlantis and Lemuria"........ had more people known that Energy from Corn (or going backwards to a dimwitted concept of radioactive nuclear power application ) sounded a wee bit kindergartenish and senile for the twenty first century......the Future may have had a chance.

The Deadly Dangers of a Mis-informed, Dis-informed & Un-informed Population, Ultimately to Itself, History Provides Ample Evidence.

The Solution: The Promise of New Energy Systems & Beyond Oil Evaporates the Problem: The ill designed "Corporism: The Systemic Disease that Destroys Civilization." when devoid of a Bill of Rights for Human Life, devoid of scientific parameters necessary for Life's evolution, sustainability, and survival.

The Numerati
The Book Blurb: A captivating look at how a global math elite is predicting and altering our behavior -- at work, at the mall, and in bed
Every day we produce loads of data about ourselves simply by living in the modern world: we click web pages, flip channels, drive through automatic toll booths, shop with credit cards, and make cell phone calls. Now, in one of the greatest undertakings of the twenty-first century, a savvy group of mathematicians and computer scientists is beginning to sift through this data to dissect us and map out our next steps. Their goal? To manipulate our behavior -- what we buy, how we vote -- without our even realizing it.In this tour de force of original reporting and analysis, journalist Stephen Baker provides us with a fascinating guide to the world we're all entering -- and to the people controlling that world. The Numerati have infiltrated every realm of human affairs, profiling us as workers, shoppers, patients, voters, potential terrorists -- and lovers. The implications are vast. Our privacy evaporates. Our bosses can monitor and measure our every move (then reward or punish us). Politicians can find the swing voters among us, by plunking us all into new political groupings with names like "Hearth Keepers" and "Crossing Guards." It can sound scary. But the Numerati can also work on our behalf, diagnosing an illness before we're aware of the symptoms, or even helping us find our soul mate. Surprising, enlightening, and deeply relevant, The Numerati shows how a powerful new endeavor -- the mathematical modeling of humanity -- will transform every aspect of our lives.

The Reckoning - From Midwest to M.T.A., Pain From Global Gamble

Freedumb, Freedumb, Read All About It! "A Free Trade, Free Market, Free Corporate, Unregulated Economy run like Al Capone's Casino Joint, and Policed by Al Capone". Is this the best University MBA/PHD Masters and Government Regulators can provide?

PEOPLES LIVES DEPEND UPON THE ECONOMIC SYSTEM. The economic system is not singularly a tool for profit, and the hell with Life. "We now have to pay for the greed and recklessness of those who should have known better.” It is time, Mr. Schumer said, for the American economy to be revived as the “engine of prosperity,” rather than as a “casino” for high-rollers in the realm of finance.

How, in a world of exploding human population, with unparalleled needs, wants and desires, can the economy keep falling, with more and more working people around the world, poorer, lacking basic needs and going hungry... this can only be termed Freakohnomics: The new 21st Century Supply & Demand Economics - absolute greed, absolute power brings on absolute madness - Turns into Freakohnomics gone berserk. Or mafia economics by deliberate Design - the greater the need, the higher the price for all commodities required to sustain Life. The Outcome, economic strangulation and workaholic enslavement of a people was not designed by the lord thy God, nor (for the non-believer) is it a Natural or Nature's Law, nor a Scientific Law

What factors changed Market Supply & Demand Fundamentals to Freakohnomics gone berserk? From cheaper goods and services available to all through continual advances in science, technology and mass production, to 'Whatever The Market Will Bear' depending on how great the need for sustaining Life?

The answers lie in Power, Greed, and Stagnant Energy Science

The Deadly Dangers of a Mis-informed, Dis-informed & Un-informed Population, Ultimately to Itself, History Provides Ample Evidence.

The Solution: The Promise of New Energy Systems & Beyond Oil

Evaporates the Problem: The ill designed "Corporism: The Systemic Disease that Destroys Civilization." when devoid of a Bill of Rights for Human Life, devoid of scientific parameters necessary for Life's evolution, sustainability, and survival

Mild shock and disbelief barely registered in the nation of the most productive, overworked, underpaid, underinsured, vacation deprived, low paid slave/workers in the world, as they watched their bridges fall down along with their retirement savings in equity & stocks, while their taxes, gas, energy and food costs continued skyrocketing to uncharted realms and many continue to lose their homes and go hungry; as the masses stagnated in unmovable traffic, and government departments threatened to close due to lack of funds - On the bright side, the worldwide corporate 2% greedy guts, individually, had aplenty, more wealth than 30 nations combined, apiece.... irrelevant to who is paying for their errors (as in subprime loans).

As common sense in science is lost with the continued stagnation of our energy base and deep troubling theoretical foundational issues in physics, so too, Civilization's Survival Parameters fly out of sight, out of mind, along with the values and morals inherent within new scientific understanding which new energy systems would reveal. Scientific Stagnation bodes an ill wind to evolution, sustainability, and survival as "cycles of humiliation, dumbing us down, violence, and Unrestrained Corporate Greed prompting resource wars with nuclear finality" join hands with global warming and ecological imbalance to precipitate the historical "rise and fall of civilization" - a Tsunami accelerating toward us with a far more spectacular event than the legends and myths of 'Atlantis and Lemuria"........ had more people known that Energy from Corn (or going backwards to a dimwitted concept of radioactive nuclear power application ) sounded a wee bit kindergartenish and senile for the twenty first century......the Future may have had a chance.



November 2, 2008
The Reckoning
From Midwest to M.T.A., Pain From Global Gamble
By CHARLES DUHIGG and CARTER DOUGHERTY
“People come up to me in the grocery store and say, ‘How did we get suckered into this?’ ”
— Marc Hujik, of the Kenosha, Wis., school board
On a snowy day two years ago, the school board in Whitefish Bay, Wis., gathered to discuss a looming problem: how to plug a gaping hole in the teachers’ retirement plan.
It turned to David W. Noack, a trusted local investment banker, who proposed that the district borrow from overseas and use the money for a complex investment that offered big profits.
“Every three months you’re going to get a payment,” he promised, according to a tape of the meeting. But would it be risky? “There would need to be 15 Enrons” for the district to lose money, he said.
The board and four other nearby districts ultimately invested $200 million in the deal, most of it borrowed from an Irish bank. Without realizing it, the schools were imitating hedge funds.
Half a continent away, New York subway officials were also being wooed by bankers. Officials were told that just as home buyers had embraced adjustable-rate loans, New York could save money by borrowing at lower interest rates that changed every day.
For some of the deals, the officials were encouraged to rely on the same Irish bank as the Wisconsin schools.
During the go-go investing years, school districts, transit agencies and other government entities were quick to jump into the global economy, hoping for fast gains to cover growing pension costs and budgets without raising taxes. Deals were arranged by armies of persuasive financiers who received big paydays.
But now, hundreds of cities and government agencies are facing economic turmoil. Far from being isolated examples, the Wisconsin schools and New York’s transportation system are among the many players in a financial fiasco that has ricocheted globally.
The Wisconsin schools are on the brink of losing their money, confronting educators with possible budget cuts. Interest rates for New York’s subways are skyrocketing and contributing to budget woes that have transportation officials considering higher fares and delaying long-planned track repairs.
And the bank at the center of the saga, named Depfa, is now in trouble, threatening the stability of its parent company in Munich and forcing German officials to intervene with a multibillion-dollar bailout to stop a chain reaction that could freeze Germany’s economic system.
“I am really worried,” said Becky Velvikis, a first-grade teacher at Grewenow Elementary in Kenosha, Wis., one of the districts that invested in Mr. Noack’s deal. “If millions of dollars are gone, what happens to my retirement? Or the construction paper and pencils and supplies we need to teach?”
The trail through Wisconsin, New York and Europe illustrates how this financial crisis has moved around the world so fast, why it is so hard to tame, and why cities, schools and many other institutions will probably struggle for years.
“The local papers and radio shows call us idiots, and now when I go home, my kids ask me, ‘Dad, did you do something wrong?’ ” said Shawn Yde, the director of business services in the Whitefish Bay district. “This is something I’ll regret until the day I die.”
Selling Risk
Whitefish Bay’s school district did not intend to become a hedge fund. It and four nearby districts were just trying to finance retirement obligations that were growing as health care costs rose.
Mr. Noack, the local representative of Stifel, Nicolaus & Company, a St. Louis investment bank, had been advising Wisconsin school boards for two decades, helping them borrow for new gymnasiums and classrooms. His father had taught at an area high school for 47 years. All six of his children attended Milwaukee schools.
Mr. Noack told the Whitefish Bay board that investing in the global economy carried few risks, according to the tape. ... full text