Sunday, February 17, 2013

COMMENTS - 2013/02/17




WEEKLY BLOG COMMENTS – No.51
DATES: 2013/02/10– 2013/02/17
ANALYST: Domingo Trassens
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Dear Friends:

Hello! Today I would like to share with you a series of comments posted by myself in the WSJ Journal Community during the last seven days about news related to politics, economy and business in United States and the rest of the world.

The special themes of this week are:

- President Obama: “The State of the Union

- Pope Benedict: A Shepherd Who Didn’t Protect His Herd

- Our Schools: Gap between Poor and Rich Students

- Police case:  Is The Double Amputee Olympic Runner, A Murderer?

- Nature against Man: Big Stone Over Our Heads

Next, you will find the other comments organized in the following sections: United States, Europe, The World (Asia, Africa, Middle East…), Latin America and Economy, Business and Technology.


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THEME: President Obama: “The State of the Union” or “The State of the Disunion”?



Subject: President Barak Obama addressed the 2013 State of the Union in front Congress and other members of the government.

My Comment: Last Tuesday February 12, President Obama addressed his 2013 State of the Union in front Congress and other members of the government.

Always the State of the Union speech is important independently of the ideology of the president in charge of our federal government. It marks the direction of the White House administration for a period of time.

What about the 2013 State of the Union?

Last Tuesday, President Obama spoke for more than hour about a long series of subjects: the end of the Afghanistan’s war, al Qaeda, the North Korean and Iran nuclear threats, our economy, medical research, Medicare, the current gaps of the school systems, gun controls, climate change, immigration, taxes, a new federal minimum wage of $ 9 and the importance to strengthen our middle class.

His speech was interesting in different parts of the complete State of the Union address.

We learned more about the President’s plans for his second term and his efforts to “move” the country out of the economic crisis with initiatives like the training of the 65-year old workers who lost their jobs due to the advance of the technology in companies and work positions.

He also marked the importance to reduce the education “gap” between children from poor and rich families with some initiatives that look wise and constructive. He always put education higher, of course in his way of thinking.

But like in a lot of his speeches in front Congress, President Obama showed a hard line against members of the government who represent the philosophy and practices of the Republican Party. 

This observation was marked by different political observers who don’t follow the direction of the Democrat Party. And also it was easy to perceive for anybody with a free mind to hear his words and samples of the speech.

We cannot understand why President Obama has difficulties with speaking with whose don’t think like him in a more friendly way.

This is a serious problem because the State of the Union is an address for the “union”, not the “disunion”, of all the Americans.

And President Barack Obama is our president, the leader of the nation,at the “helm” of the ship since 2009 and he will be at the top of the federal government for four more years. (2013/02/17)


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THEME: Pope Benedict: A Shepherd Who Didn’t Protect His Herd



Subject: Pope Benedict XVI announced he is will resign as the Pope of the Catholic Church due to “his deteriorating physical strength”.

My Comment: On Monday February 11, Pope Benedict XVI announced he is planning to step down at the end of this month because of “his deteriorating physical strength”.

The news shook the world due to this “move that hasn’t happened in the Catholic Church in centuries”.

But nobody till now explained what kind of disease Pope Benedict is suffering from and if this sickness really obstructs his mission of leader of the Church.

Personally, I think there is something more behind his decision to leave the leadership of the Catholic community.

Since the former Cardinal Joseph Ratzubger took the leadership of the Church, the
Vatican and the Catholic institutions across the world have been “buffered” by a wave of allegations of sexually abused children.

As reaction of this “bad wave”, Pope Benedict XVI only condemned with some statements the horrible “sin” of a lot of Catholic priests across the world, but he didn’t push the guilty priests out of the Church.

Benedict preferred to protect the “bad” priests over the victims of their abuses. And he didn’t put the “criminals” in the hands of Justice.

This action together with a series of other pending issues related to the human sexuality – divorce, contraception, marriage of priest and nuns… - show us that during his mandate of the top of authority of the Church, the current Pope didn’t assume a responsible attitude to change anachronistic rules of the Catholic Church and modernize the institutions through the right path.

Certainly, Cardinal Joseph Ratzubger who is a brilliant theologian knows that he didn’t do the “job” that all the Catholics of the world were waiting from him.

Probably, his roots with the past and his theological background were crucial “barriers” for his action. Perhaps, he tried to take action, but he didn’t.

When I say that in the current decision of the Pope, there is something more that his “deteriorating physical strength”, it is because I believe his step down is a way to open the doors to another Pope to do the work he didn’t do.

If this “factor” was on the table in the current decision of Pope Benedict, but we have to applaud him.

But the sad end of Pope Benedict XVI is that our Shepherd didn’t protect our children, our women and also the students of priest against the sexual abuse of his bad ministers.

At this point, I would like to make an additional comment. The sexual abuse was not only against the children who studied in Catholic schools in
Europe or US. The sexual abuse was a “common practice” during decades and presumably centuries through all the aisles of the Church and Catholic institutions.

Till now I remember the dramatic explanation that one member of my family gave me long time ago after he left suddenly his studies of priest in a Catholic institution of
Latin America. This victim whose I am talking commented me that the same theology professor who during all the mornings was teaching the students of that institution in the classroom, during the nights in the dormitory abused his students. This is not a “fairy tale”. This is a true story.

Pope Benedict XVI knew about these cases. Pope Benedict knew about all these experiences, but he didn’t have the resolute attitude of Jesus to throw out of the “
Temple” these bad ministers.

For this reason, with a lot of sadness I have to conclude that Pope Benedict was a shepherd who didn’t protect the good members of his herd because he preferred to protect his ministers against the action of Justice…. (2013/02/16) 1 Recommendation


Story: Pope Benedict to Resign – Part 1

Subject: First “news” about the decision of the Cardinal Joseph Ratzubger to resign as Pope of the Catholic Church.

My Comment: I agree with the decision of Pope Benedict to resign if “he is no longer physically, psychologically, and spiritually capable of handling” his duties of Pope.

From my point of view, it is more than a right of a top leader of any religious or political institution when he realizes that he cannot handle his duties. It is an obligation and a sign of responsibility in front all the members of the community.

From the other side, it is great opportunity for the Church to change its direction according the current demands of the world in times of big social, political and economic changes.

During the last seven years, due to the conservative ideas and behaviors of Pope Benedict, the Catholic Church lost part of its protagonist role as world center of faith and religious institution.

We need a new leader with the capacity and the decision to change the Church probably more than 360 degrees.

The Catholics need a leader with the capacity to give the right answer to all the social changes of the last decades, plus crucial issues that require new definitions and levels of “tolerance’ like: divorce, contraceptives, abortion, homosexuality, marriage of nuns and priests and more.

We have to pray God that he gives to the new leader of the Catholic Church, the capacity to put down the term “sin” and up the concept of the “love” in its most comprehensive meaning.

From now, the Catholic Church has to be an institution of feasible and realistic answer and not an organ of spiritual, intellectual or physical punishment or religious oppression. (2013/02/11)
5 Recommendations


Story: Pope Benedict to Resign – Part 2

My Comment answering to another member of the Journal Community who pointed out my opinion in a positive way: David: I appreciate a lot your approach. Thank you for extending the ideas that I drew through my comment with your own perspective. We agree!  (2013/02/11) 2 Recommendations


Story: Pope Benedict to Resign – Part 3

My Comment answering to another member of the Journal Community who pointed out my opinion in a positive way: Hanna: Thank you! I understand your comment, but today the Catholic Church cannot continue with the ideas of the “fear of God” because it will lose all the believers and it convert itself in an anachronistic mechanism with only one label: “out of order”. (2013/02/11) 1 Recommendation


Story: Pope Benedict to Resign – Part 4

My Comment answering to another member of the Journal Community who didn’t understand my expression of “360 degrees”: Jim: Thank you for your comment. When I said more than “360 degrees” I would like to remark that the changes the new Pope has to make are very radical and fundamental changes. I didn’t use the concept of “360 degrees” in a mathematical way.

First at all the new Pope has to end with the classical ideas of “sin” and “punishment”. This is a huge change.

Second he has to accept the “divorce” as a normal break of a marriage that doesn’t work properly and at least rethink other matters of the human beings like abortion, homosexuality and more.

In other case, very soon the Church will be labeled by all of society with this label: “out of order”.  (2013/02/11)


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THEME: Our Schools: Gap between Poor and Rich Students

                                                                                    

Subject: The State of Michigan launched the Education Achievement Authority program to reduce the gap of the schools among poor and rich students.

My Comment: The story about the new school initiative in the state of Michigan is a very good sample of the fight to eliminate the “gap” between students of poor and rich families or communities.

Republican Gov. Rick Snyder launched the Education Achievement Authority with the intention to make the big change across the poor schools of
Detroit.

The initiative of changing the standard grade-level coursework for a new system where the students learn at their own pace using individualized education looks crazy only for the people who always think in the classic “tests” to evaluate performance only through the filling of a sheet with small boxes of “Yes or No”, or “A, B, C, or D”.

But we don’t have to push our children to run faster than they can through the educational process. They have to walk at their pace without frustration, pressure and punishment.

We have to end with the school of punishment and rigid authority, and lacking of human sensitivity.

From my point of view, in the educational system, the “tests” are important to measure the advance of the learning process but they don’t have to intimidate the students.

I believe more in the “creativity” as a learning tool that gives the possibility of the integration of the whole class, creating responsibility and diverse skills in all the students.

If everybody is engaged, everybody learns more and together all the students can achieve greater knowledge and experiences. They internalize the stories and experiences sharing their points of view with their friends and teachers.

Definitively, if the children are engaged in creative projects, they will not think about “guns” to kill their own friends and teachers.

For the previous considerations, I would like to applaud Gov. Rick Snyder and the team who is implementing this new initiative in
Michigan. (2013/02/17)


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THEME:  Police Case: Is The Double Amputee Olympic Runner, A Murderer?



Subject: South African police accused Oscar Pistorius of the murder of his girlfriend after she has found death in a very confuse case.

My Comment: Myself, when I learn about cases like this, an Olympian runner and double-amputee charged by the South African police with the murder of his girlfriend, I don’t feel angry, I feel sad.

Till now we don’t know about all the motivations that Oscar Pistorius had to commit this terrible crime.

But the point is that a hero of sports with a lot of merit due to being a double-amputee now is painted like a murderer and probably nobody will believe anymore in his efforts and values to go ahead with his physical problems (disability).

It is very sad that sometimes a minute of anger can destroy a complete life of hard work to be the best.  (2013/02/15) 2 Recommendations



My Comment: A minute of anger is enough to commit a crime… About the police’s suspicion, we cannot make conclusions till now. We have to follow all of the trial. Also we have to know about his motivations, we are not inside the psyche of this guy. (2013/02/16)


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THEME: Nature against Man: Big Stone Over Our Heads



Subject: The fall of meteorite of the side of football field produced panic in Russia and the analysis of the experts.

My Comment: The news says a “meteorite plunged to earth” over the Russian Ural Mountains generating panic and injuring hundreds of people.

How we can label “this event”? “Nature against Man?”, “Nature against Human Beings?”, “The Power of the Universe hits our Planet?”…

We – the human beings – always are strong to fight against others. But how weak we are every time Nature acts against us! (2013/02/15) 2 Recommendations


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THEME: Europe



Subject: Horse meat sold as cow meat and mixed with lasagna shows the corruption of the food industry across Europe.

My Comment: The scandal of horse meat across different European countries is another sample of the bad times that Europe is living in right now.

The poverty of consumers pushes the chains of big supermarkets to find cheap products to sell to customers with their pockets near empty. But frequently the cheap meat is a “bomb” that can create serious health problems.

Now, we see that also when we buy food in prestigious supermarkets and/or restaurants, we have to be very careful in the selection of packages of cheap meat together with other ingredients.

Personally, when I buy stuff for eating I try to avoid the purchase of food ready to eat wrapped in boxes or packages that I don’t know who is the manufacturer and what formula was used in its preparation, for example in this case horse meat with lasagna. (2013/02/13) 3 Recommendations



Subject: Russian President Putin banned overseas banking accounts for officials and members of the Russian government with the intention to cut the corruption of the bureaucracy of his country.

My Comment: It looks like President Vladimir Putin has better initiatives to stop the corruption of members of the Russian government and official institutions than a lot of European countries. (2013/02/12) 2 Recommendations



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THEME: The World: Asia, Middle East, Africa



Subject: The third nuclear explosion of North Korea generated a wave of complaints and alerts across the Asian neighbors and the western countries. The Chinese authorities also made some “negative” comments.

My Comment: North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is like one of the “devils” of the James Bond movies.

If everybody is waiting for Kim Jong-un’s experiments, he will make more noise and propaganda.

I believe we have to learn – media, governments and people – that when a political leader has “crazy” behaviors, we have to isolate him in a psychological way.

If nobody from the rest of the world publishes dramatic stories and articles about the North Korean experiments, he will not have more publicity and he will realize than nobody has fears from his threats.

The journalists from the North Korean TV and radio only will repeat the news from Mr. Kim Jong-un: “Today our venerable leader led the nation's third experimental detonation. Kim Jong-un pushed the “button” while all the nations of world were waiting for their new achievement to be a nuclear power. Blab! Blab! Blab.”

In that moment, Mr. Kim Jong-un will say to himself: “I really was stupid because nobody cares about my threats. I have to stop these nasty actions and try to go outside
Pyongyang taking a friendly tour of Washington DC, Paris, Berlin, Moscow and London.”

Personally, I don’t understand why the western press spends more pages and times on “devils” and bad news than talking about constructive issues of our planet named Earth. (2013/02/12) 1 Recommendation



My Comment: I know that Mr. Kim Jong-un is a villain but if we don’t answer his attacks, we are put down his “propaganda”. This doesn’t imply that government monitors his movements. But the press has to stop helping him spread the panic that he wants to spread.

If nobody in the press and international media talk about him, he will see that nobody has fears about him and in the end he will stop the propaganda because nobody will care anymore for the messages that come from North Korean TV.

As I said before, Mr. Kim Jong-un is a “character” from the old movie series of James Bond 007. (2013/02/12)



Subject: The Algerian terrorist who planned the attack to the Saharan gas camp some weeks ago, has disappeared from the eyes of the hunters of terrorists.

My Comment: For a native of the Saharan lands, it is easy to “emerge” and “vanish” among the sand mountains and a geography that frequently is impenetrable to the assault of the best troops of the world.

For this reason, I believe that the hunting of Mokhtar Belmokhtar will be very difficult.

This kind of person can survive in the middle of nothing and in conditions more rigorous than we know for
Afghanistan and Pakistan. (2013/02/11)


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THEME:  Latin America


Subject: Rafael Correa, current President of Ecuador, is going to extend his mandate through a new presidential election.

My Comment: The Ecuador’s presidential election on Sunday is probably the most important event of Latin America during the current days.

Nobody has doubts that President Rafael Correa will be re-elected for a new term after the “amendment” of the
Ecuador’s constitution that his government handled in 2009.

Why this election is important? Securely, now that Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez is very sick, Rafael Correa will take the lead of the Latin-American politics anti-Washington.

We have to remember that the Ecuadorean President last year gave asylum to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange accused of sexual-assault in
Sweden.

Rafael Correa also declared
Ecuador's national debt illegitimate challenging international creditors and other financial institutions.

President Correa was educated in
Belgium, US and Ecuador. Before, when he was only a child, his father was caught smuggling drugs into the United States.

Due to the poor American foreign politics related to Latin American issues, the growth of Rafael Correa as a leader of the anti-Washington politics could become a serious problem for the
United States in short or long term. As I pointed out two weeks ago when I talked about legacy of the former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, during the last four years we – United States – showed a confused politic line about the Latin American continent that is full of hostile “fires” against the Pan-American fraternity. (2013/02/16) 3 Recommendations



My Comment: Till now, the Latin America foreign politics is a pending subject of our foreign office.

We – the United States as a member of this beautiful continent named America – cannot ignore common political, economic, social, geographic and historic points that we have with our brothers who live on the south of the Rio Grande – river that forms part of the Mexico–United States border – to Tierra del Fuego (the last important territory of South America that belongs to Argentina and Chile).

If all the countries of the American continent learn to live together in an environment of respect and cooperation with the others, we will be stronger than in our association with
Europe or Asian
nations. (2013/02/17)


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THEME: Economy, Business and Technology



Subject: The new mega-merger of two airline companies received the approval of the boards of these carriers.

My Comment: This is the new step to destroy our airline industry with mega-marriages that never work properly and after that end in a series of “outsourcing processes”…

Because top management of these big corporations are not able to solve their real problems through the way of “automation” and using technology to transform anachronistic systems into an efficient system, they go to “church” and they say to the “priest”, we want you to “marry” us as the richest and biggest world airline company of the planet.

This is one more sample of the same stupidity that we saw during the last two decades in the same and other industries. (2013/02/15)



My Comment: The news says the boards of American Airlines parent AMR Corp and US Airways Group separately voted to approve the merger of the two airline companies.

Is this news good news?

Okay, it all appears from the corner that we are seeing the new scenery: the world’s largest airline!!!

When I studied economics at the university I grew up with the idea that mergers help to consolidate business operations, grow in profitability and improve services for the customers.

Across my experience in the field – as analyst, journalist and university professor in the department of economic sciences of one university - I changed my mind. Why?

Because I learned that a lot of the mega-mergers are only good for the concentration of the “power” of a small group of companies, but they don’t solve the crucial problems of the industry: they don’t improve customer services, they don’t put the prices of their services at a more reasonable level for their customers and in the end cut employment, cut their own services and outsourcing all they can to reduce their costs but nothing more.

Now, we have to observe what really will happen with the new marriage after the honeymoon finishes. (2013/02/15)



Subject: A loss of US$ 6.74 billion hit the financial results of the second European car maker, the French Peugeot Citroën.

My Comment: Heavy losses! The French car maker Peugeot Citroën posted US$ 6.74 billion loss in 2012.

Any surprise? No! During all the past year we received a lot of bad news from the French company with the icon of the lion, while the majority of the German makers showing good results and in particular VW (No. 1 of the European Market) gave us one the best samples of a strong position in the middle of ()the European crisis.

But the problems of Peugeot are not new. Also we read a lot criticism about technical problems of its cars and bad customer service attitude across
Europe and other markets.

In particular, the fall of Peugeot in 2012 was abrupt from a Euro 588 million profit in 2011 to a net loss of Euro 5.01 billion (US$ 6.74 billion).

Solutions? The top management of the Peugeot Citroën announced restructuring measures with goals for 2014 and 2015. We have to observe and follow the initiatives. Meanwhile we agree with the writer of this story that the French maker is in a vulnerable situation due to its commercial links with three weak markets:
Spain, Italy and France, three countries that since the middle of 2012 showed serious signals of the impact of the EU economic, financial and social crisis. (2013/02/13)



My Comment answering to another member of the Journal Community from Croatia: Zvonimir: Thank you for your approach. I understand about your painful life driving a Peugeot because for a very short time I drove a Peugeot 407 with a lot of electronic problems.

Two years ago, a friend of mine bought in
Munich, Germany a Citroen zero km. Good design but it is a machine of constantly expending money and very expensive supplies. (2013/02/13)



Subject: T. Rowe is the second investing firm from Wall Street that complains for the way the privatization of Dell Inc is managing.

My Comment: Once more through the reaction of T. Row Price Group against the Michael Dell’s plan to go private, we see that Mr. Dell only thought about his own “pocket” when decided to change the financial status of Dell Inc. from “public company in Nasdaq to a private company.

I have repeated in a series of previous comments, that the value of US 24.4 billion is lower than the real value of the Dell Inc, if Michael Dell makes serious efforts to redefine his company like a provider of technology solutions and services for corporate and small and medium businesses.

Definitively, the solution of the Dell Inc. will not come through the privatization. It will come through a smart plan going ahead over “corpses” of the hardware sector of PCs. (2013/02/12)

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