Monday, May 12, 2014
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
The Lies and Legacy of Zardari & Gilani – Pakistan Supreme Court’s Decision
The Lies and Legacy of Zardari & Gilani – Pakistan Supreme Court’s Decision
It is the general belief amongst the people of Pakistan that Asif Ali Zardari is a corrupt politician whose rise to Presidential power has witnessed the ascent of corruption to new heights. Long after he is swept from power people will remember him as the worst thing that happened to Pakistan, his administration will forever be marked in history as the most corrupt, the most inept, the most uncaring and the one that destroyed Pakistan’s infrastructure and plunged Pakistan into the dark ages with black outs closing factories.
Having experienced the arrogance and vagaries of military dictatorships; Pakistanis tolerated this democratically elected government while praying for a constitutional end to its chicanery. The Supreme Court’s decision rendered today, January 10, 2012, by Justice Asif Saeed Khan Khosa, is an answer to these prayers.
It is a thoughtful, well written decision, worthy of the best decisions rendered by the Supreme Court of any land. Justice Khosa reaches back to the “sage Aristotle: When laws do not rule, there is no Constitution”, articulates Justice Brandeis of the US Supreme Court: In a government of laws, existence of the government will be imperiled if it fails to observe the law scrupulously..If the government becomes a lawbreaker, it breeds contempt for law; it invites every man to become a law unto himself; it invites anarchy”, seeks inspiration from the Quran and finds the Prime Minister and the President disobeying the Court and lying to the people of Pakistan.
The court starts with a finding that the National Accountability Bureau failed to proceed against criminals appointed to posts by the Government “despite clear directions issued..by. (the) court” and finds the conduct “..to be utterly unsatisfactory.. an attempt ..to screen, shield and protect” criminals. This conduct showed a “…contemptuous disregard of..” the Courts and reflected an attitude “..we find to be contumacious, to say the least.”
Justice Khosa points out that in the Mobashir case the Court had issued clear and specific directions to the Federal Government but in the two years that had elapsed since that decision, the Government had delayed implementation under “one pretext or the other”. While the Court “demonstrated a lot of patience and restraint” and provided ample opportunity to implement the court order, it appeared that the Government “consciously decided to defy and disobey this Court.” This left the court with “.. no other option but to, as warned in categorical terms on the last date of hearing, take appropriate actions in order to uphold and maintain the dignity of this Court and to salvage and restore the delicately poised constitutional balance in accord with the norms of constitutional democracy.”
Justice Khosa declares that the Prime Minister of Pakistan and the President of Pakistan have failed to abide by their oath of office as prescribed in the Constitution of Pakistan and relies on the verses of the Quran to impress the sanctity of oaths and to warn them of the wrath of God:
“And take not your oaths, to practice deception between yourselves, with the result that somebody’s foot may slip after it was firmly planted, and ye may have to taste the evil consequences of having hindered men from the path of Allah, and a mighty wrath descend on you." (S. XVI: 94)
It was clear to the court that the Prime Minister and the President made “a political decision not to obey some part of the judgment handed down by this Court” and that their “loyalty to a political party” outweighs their loyalty to the State and their “inviolable obligation” to obey the Constitution and all its commands. “We may unhesitatingly observe that in our country governed by a Constitution political loyalty cannot be accepted as stronger than loyalty to the State and dictates of a political master or party cannot be allowed to be put up as a defense to failure to obey the Constitution.”
While the decision lays out the rationale that the Court, comprising of five Justices, expects to use to render its ultimate judgment, it has forwarded options to the Chief Justice of Pakistan, Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudry, and asked that the final decision be rendered by the full bench of the Supreme Court, comprising of 15 Justices. The Options are:
1. In accordance with clause (f) of Article 62(1) of the Constitution, the Court may find that the Prime Minister was not qualified to be a member of Parliament because he is not “sagacious, righteous, non-profligate, honest and amen”. The court could make a finding in view of the “apparent persistent, obstinate and contumacious resistance, failure or refusal of the Chief Executive of the Federation to completely obey, carry out or execute the directions issued by this Court .. that he may not be an “honest” person on account of his not being honest to the oath of his office and seemingly he may not be an “ameen” due to his persistent betrayal of the trust reposed in him as a person”.
2. Initiate proceedings against the Chief Executive, the Federal Minister for Law, Justice and Human Rights Division and the Federal Secretary Law, Justice and Human Rights Division for committing contempt of Court for “persistently, obstinately and contumaciously resisting, failing or refusing to implement or execute in full the directions issued by this Court in its judgment”.
3. Appoint a Commission to execute the relevant parts of the judgment passed and directions issued in the case of Dr. Mobashir Hassan.
4. Proceed against the Chairman, National Accountability Bureau for failure to follow the Court’s directions.
5. If it appears that the Government will defy the Court than, to avoid a direct confrontation that may destroy the country, let the people decide what should be done.
In three and half short years the economic engine that was Pakistan has come to a grinding halt as Zardari and his cohorts declared open season on Pakistan and looted its wealth. While corruption is nothing new in Pakistan and in most developing countries, corruption that paralyzes and entire nation (and prevents economic development at a time when countries in similar situation are becoming the envy of the world) has the same effect as the hordes of Chengez Khan and his Mongol successors that ravaged and plundered the world killing, by some estimates, 40 million people.
For Zardari, what anyone may think has never mattered. He has shown his mastery of the art of politicking by cajoling, conniving, committing and coming up with creative solutions that have kept him in power and made mere bystanders of the seasoned career politicians of Pakistan. Zardari has a keen sense of understanding as to what he needs to do to get his way and how far he can push his agenda. In fact it may not be too far off the mark to say that he actually relishes and enjoys the rush of being at the precipice in dealing with opponents and issues.
If Zardari was indeed looking for another rush, then the Supreme Court findings and decision handed down today provide him with a volcanic eruption of adrenalin. It is now up to the full bench of the Supreme Court of Pakistan to ensure that it does not step back from the decision rendered today so that the rule of law may finally prevail in Pakistan.
It is said that every cloud has a silver lining. For Pakistan, Zardari’s disregard for law and the Courts has provided an opportunity for Pakistan’s Court to build a Supreme Monument to the Supremacy of Law and Justice. While Zardari will be remembered for heading Pakistan’s worst government, it may also be said that but for Zardari’s unscrupulousness, Pakistan may never have received the gift of a Supreme Monument.
It is the general belief amongst the people of Pakistan that Asif Ali Zardari is a corrupt politician whose rise to Presidential power has witnessed the ascent of corruption to new heights. Long after he is swept from power people will remember him as the worst thing that happened to Pakistan, his administration will forever be marked in history as the most corrupt, the most inept, the most uncaring and the one that destroyed Pakistan’s infrastructure and plunged Pakistan into the dark ages with black outs closing factories.
Having experienced the arrogance and vagaries of military dictatorships; Pakistanis tolerated this democratically elected government while praying for a constitutional end to its chicanery. The Supreme Court’s decision rendered today, January 10, 2012, by Justice Asif Saeed Khan Khosa, is an answer to these prayers.
It is a thoughtful, well written decision, worthy of the best decisions rendered by the Supreme Court of any land. Justice Khosa reaches back to the “sage Aristotle: When laws do not rule, there is no Constitution”, articulates Justice Brandeis of the US Supreme Court: In a government of laws, existence of the government will be imperiled if it fails to observe the law scrupulously..If the government becomes a lawbreaker, it breeds contempt for law; it invites every man to become a law unto himself; it invites anarchy”, seeks inspiration from the Quran and finds the Prime Minister and the President disobeying the Court and lying to the people of Pakistan.
The court starts with a finding that the National Accountability Bureau failed to proceed against criminals appointed to posts by the Government “despite clear directions issued..by. (the) court” and finds the conduct “..to be utterly unsatisfactory.. an attempt ..to screen, shield and protect” criminals. This conduct showed a “…contemptuous disregard of..” the Courts and reflected an attitude “..we find to be contumacious, to say the least.”
Justice Khosa points out that in the Mobashir case the Court had issued clear and specific directions to the Federal Government but in the two years that had elapsed since that decision, the Government had delayed implementation under “one pretext or the other”. While the Court “demonstrated a lot of patience and restraint” and provided ample opportunity to implement the court order, it appeared that the Government “consciously decided to defy and disobey this Court.” This left the court with “.. no other option but to, as warned in categorical terms on the last date of hearing, take appropriate actions in order to uphold and maintain the dignity of this Court and to salvage and restore the delicately poised constitutional balance in accord with the norms of constitutional democracy.”
Justice Khosa declares that the Prime Minister of Pakistan and the President of Pakistan have failed to abide by their oath of office as prescribed in the Constitution of Pakistan and relies on the verses of the Quran to impress the sanctity of oaths and to warn them of the wrath of God:
“And take not your oaths, to practice deception between yourselves, with the result that somebody’s foot may slip after it was firmly planted, and ye may have to taste the evil consequences of having hindered men from the path of Allah, and a mighty wrath descend on you." (S. XVI: 94)
It was clear to the court that the Prime Minister and the President made “a political decision not to obey some part of the judgment handed down by this Court” and that their “loyalty to a political party” outweighs their loyalty to the State and their “inviolable obligation” to obey the Constitution and all its commands. “We may unhesitatingly observe that in our country governed by a Constitution political loyalty cannot be accepted as stronger than loyalty to the State and dictates of a political master or party cannot be allowed to be put up as a defense to failure to obey the Constitution.”
While the decision lays out the rationale that the Court, comprising of five Justices, expects to use to render its ultimate judgment, it has forwarded options to the Chief Justice of Pakistan, Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudry, and asked that the final decision be rendered by the full bench of the Supreme Court, comprising of 15 Justices. The Options are:
1. In accordance with clause (f) of Article 62(1) of the Constitution, the Court may find that the Prime Minister was not qualified to be a member of Parliament because he is not “sagacious, righteous, non-profligate, honest and amen”. The court could make a finding in view of the “apparent persistent, obstinate and contumacious resistance, failure or refusal of the Chief Executive of the Federation to completely obey, carry out or execute the directions issued by this Court .. that he may not be an “honest” person on account of his not being honest to the oath of his office and seemingly he may not be an “ameen” due to his persistent betrayal of the trust reposed in him as a person”.
2. Initiate proceedings against the Chief Executive, the Federal Minister for Law, Justice and Human Rights Division and the Federal Secretary Law, Justice and Human Rights Division for committing contempt of Court for “persistently, obstinately and contumaciously resisting, failing or refusing to implement or execute in full the directions issued by this Court in its judgment”.
3. Appoint a Commission to execute the relevant parts of the judgment passed and directions issued in the case of Dr. Mobashir Hassan.
4. Proceed against the Chairman, National Accountability Bureau for failure to follow the Court’s directions.
5. If it appears that the Government will defy the Court than, to avoid a direct confrontation that may destroy the country, let the people decide what should be done.
In three and half short years the economic engine that was Pakistan has come to a grinding halt as Zardari and his cohorts declared open season on Pakistan and looted its wealth. While corruption is nothing new in Pakistan and in most developing countries, corruption that paralyzes and entire nation (and prevents economic development at a time when countries in similar situation are becoming the envy of the world) has the same effect as the hordes of Chengez Khan and his Mongol successors that ravaged and plundered the world killing, by some estimates, 40 million people.
For Zardari, what anyone may think has never mattered. He has shown his mastery of the art of politicking by cajoling, conniving, committing and coming up with creative solutions that have kept him in power and made mere bystanders of the seasoned career politicians of Pakistan. Zardari has a keen sense of understanding as to what he needs to do to get his way and how far he can push his agenda. In fact it may not be too far off the mark to say that he actually relishes and enjoys the rush of being at the precipice in dealing with opponents and issues.
If Zardari was indeed looking for another rush, then the Supreme Court findings and decision handed down today provide him with a volcanic eruption of adrenalin. It is now up to the full bench of the Supreme Court of Pakistan to ensure that it does not step back from the decision rendered today so that the rule of law may finally prevail in Pakistan.
It is said that every cloud has a silver lining. For Pakistan, Zardari’s disregard for law and the Courts has provided an opportunity for Pakistan’s Court to build a Supreme Monument to the Supremacy of Law and Justice. While Zardari will be remembered for heading Pakistan’s worst government, it may also be said that but for Zardari’s unscrupulousness, Pakistan may never have received the gift of a Supreme Monument.
Friday, April 17, 2009
US Aid to Pakistan, A billion in paper cant undo the billions in metal
Pakistan is going through a very trying time.
It is a country that lives in a part of the world where China, Russia and
India were the neighborhood bullies.
With the rise of Al Qaeda and the tit for tat response of "take no
prisoners" by the US, the whole neighborhood has gone bully whack.
Pakistan has been outflanked in its efforts to boost the Taliban and the
Indian strategy has borne fruit with its allies aspiring to control
Afghanistan.
The frontier province was always a no man's land. Pakistan's control
consisted on having the tribal chiefs on her side. This could continue as
long as Pakistan was the toughest kid on the bloc. The tribal chiefs have
taken on the Americans and no longer need to bow to Pakistan or anyone else.
They now believe that they control their own destiny and Pakistan is nothing
but a pet of the US.
While the US has announced billions in aid, it will go to waste. US Aid is
channeled through consultants and corrupt politicians and by the time it
gets to the target, its worth is no more than that of that piece of shrapnel
that started as a million dollar cruise missile and now lies in between the
blown out limbs of the unsuspecting as they slept in their two dollar mud
house.
Pakistan's civil movement holds promise but it must not be directed at
fighting a battle that, by its continuation, will destroy the country. Its
energy must be channeled into efforts towards building a civil and just
society in Pakistan.
The best that the US can do is not to send billions into Pakistan but by
leaving Pakistan and letting Pakistanis and the frontier men run their own
lives. The US and Pakistani bombing of the tribal areas destroys the
village where these fearless frontier men have dwelled for hundreds of
years. Having lost their homes these proud angry mountain men, whose pride
demands that every death be avenged, are descending to the valleys and
cities of Pakistan and exacting revenge. How can you convince them that it
is wrong to brazenly kill innocent civilians when they themselves have
witnessed the wholesale deaths of their innocent family members by unseen
(cowardly) drones?
The people of Afghanistan did not consider the US its enemy, Al Qaeda did.
By attacking an entire swath of Afghanistan, the US now has made an entire
population its enemy and turned ordinary Afghanis (and now frontier
Pakistanis) into Taliban.
It is a country that lives in a part of the world where China, Russia and
India were the neighborhood bullies.
With the rise of Al Qaeda and the tit for tat response of "take no
prisoners" by the US, the whole neighborhood has gone bully whack.
Pakistan has been outflanked in its efforts to boost the Taliban and the
Indian strategy has borne fruit with its allies aspiring to control
Afghanistan.
The frontier province was always a no man's land. Pakistan's control
consisted on having the tribal chiefs on her side. This could continue as
long as Pakistan was the toughest kid on the bloc. The tribal chiefs have
taken on the Americans and no longer need to bow to Pakistan or anyone else.
They now believe that they control their own destiny and Pakistan is nothing
but a pet of the US.
While the US has announced billions in aid, it will go to waste. US Aid is
channeled through consultants and corrupt politicians and by the time it
gets to the target, its worth is no more than that of that piece of shrapnel
that started as a million dollar cruise missile and now lies in between the
blown out limbs of the unsuspecting as they slept in their two dollar mud
house.
Pakistan's civil movement holds promise but it must not be directed at
fighting a battle that, by its continuation, will destroy the country. Its
energy must be channeled into efforts towards building a civil and just
society in Pakistan.
The best that the US can do is not to send billions into Pakistan but by
leaving Pakistan and letting Pakistanis and the frontier men run their own
lives. The US and Pakistani bombing of the tribal areas destroys the
village where these fearless frontier men have dwelled for hundreds of
years. Having lost their homes these proud angry mountain men, whose pride
demands that every death be avenged, are descending to the valleys and
cities of Pakistan and exacting revenge. How can you convince them that it
is wrong to brazenly kill innocent civilians when they themselves have
witnessed the wholesale deaths of their innocent family members by unseen
(cowardly) drones?
The people of Afghanistan did not consider the US its enemy, Al Qaeda did.
By attacking an entire swath of Afghanistan, the US now has made an entire
population its enemy and turned ordinary Afghanis (and now frontier
Pakistanis) into Taliban.
Thursday, February 19, 2009
President Sarah Palin-Zardari announces Three Trillion Dollar Relief - 3 Dollar Bill
February 14, 2020. At a Press Conference held on Valentine’s day in Washington Pres. Sarah Palin-Zardari announced a bold program to stimulate the American economy. Here are extracts from her speech.
“Three Hundred Million Americans find themselves burdened today by their inability to go to the toilet. The shortage of toilet paper requires a unique and creative solution. My cabinet and me have had a serious discussion on this subject and the Secretary of Treasury and Toilets, S. Hitaway, has recommended and I have approved, the printing of a 3 Dollar bill to solve this crisis. This will not be an ordinary 3 dollar bill, instead this 3 Dollar bill will be made by joining three one dollar bills end to end so that it can be efficiently used to clean ends. I am ordering that every American Man, Woman and child (except for old folks and kiddies in diapers) receive a Thousand of these 3 Dollar bills so they no longer have to fear ending up in the toilet without toilet paper.
Some of you may think I am copying the stimulus package proposed by that young virile black man who became President, ah ... Osama bin Burk, by beating a tired old scary White man. The Bush-Burk Stimulation was giving loads of money to the banks who flushed it down the toilet. My stimulus package will provide relief directly where it is required.
Printing of the 3 dollar bill will modernize our printing press and force entry into the 20th century, I mean the 22nd century, no the 21st century, or whatever. Utilization of this 3 Dollar bill will also result in clogged drains and provide a boost to our plumbing industry as toilets are scrapped and old plumbing fixed. There will also be a boost for the environmental protection nuts as they scoop the bills from the ocean in an attempt to save jellow fish. Our Generous Accounting Office (GAO) has estimated that the printing and discarding of the One Trillion 3 dollar bills will result in a 3 Trillion Dollar stimulation.
This program also helps us fight Muslimanic terrorism. I am at liberty to disclose that Homeland Paranoid Security apprehended twelve bearded Taliban woman from Gonistan who were trying to enter this country loaded with smooth pebbles stuffed in their bras in an attempt to force uptight Americans to use stones instead of toilet paper. The 3 Dollar bill will prevent such insurgent tactics and save our way of life.
I also for the life of me don’t understand Democratamics who argue that Americans should just use plain water as Muslamics do. Such thinking has forced me to raise the threat level to yellow. I am from Alaska and I will not stand for ice in the crevices.
Finally I cannot forget the boost my candidacy received from Katie Couric and Tina Faye and I am ordering the Secretary of Treasury and Toilets to print Katie’s picture on one of the Dollar bills and Tina’s on the other one. Of course the 3rd 3 Dollar bill will have the picture of my esteemed friend, that tired old man who, while in a trance on a toilet seat, had an epifany and elected me as his Vice Presidential candidate.
Americans can rest assured that this President will always be behind them.”
Editor’s comments. We understand that there were other excerpts of this speech which have been lost (flushed?). If you find them please share them with us.
“Three Hundred Million Americans find themselves burdened today by their inability to go to the toilet. The shortage of toilet paper requires a unique and creative solution. My cabinet and me have had a serious discussion on this subject and the Secretary of Treasury and Toilets, S. Hitaway, has recommended and I have approved, the printing of a 3 Dollar bill to solve this crisis. This will not be an ordinary 3 dollar bill, instead this 3 Dollar bill will be made by joining three one dollar bills end to end so that it can be efficiently used to clean ends. I am ordering that every American Man, Woman and child (except for old folks and kiddies in diapers) receive a Thousand of these 3 Dollar bills so they no longer have to fear ending up in the toilet without toilet paper.
Some of you may think I am copying the stimulus package proposed by that young virile black man who became President, ah ... Osama bin Burk, by beating a tired old scary White man. The Bush-Burk Stimulation was giving loads of money to the banks who flushed it down the toilet. My stimulus package will provide relief directly where it is required.
Printing of the 3 dollar bill will modernize our printing press and force entry into the 20th century, I mean the 22nd century, no the 21st century, or whatever. Utilization of this 3 Dollar bill will also result in clogged drains and provide a boost to our plumbing industry as toilets are scrapped and old plumbing fixed. There will also be a boost for the environmental protection nuts as they scoop the bills from the ocean in an attempt to save jellow fish. Our Generous Accounting Office (GAO) has estimated that the printing and discarding of the One Trillion 3 dollar bills will result in a 3 Trillion Dollar stimulation.
This program also helps us fight Muslimanic terrorism. I am at liberty to disclose that Homeland Paranoid Security apprehended twelve bearded Taliban woman from Gonistan who were trying to enter this country loaded with smooth pebbles stuffed in their bras in an attempt to force uptight Americans to use stones instead of toilet paper. The 3 Dollar bill will prevent such insurgent tactics and save our way of life.
I also for the life of me don’t understand Democratamics who argue that Americans should just use plain water as Muslamics do. Such thinking has forced me to raise the threat level to yellow. I am from Alaska and I will not stand for ice in the crevices.
Finally I cannot forget the boost my candidacy received from Katie Couric and Tina Faye and I am ordering the Secretary of Treasury and Toilets to print Katie’s picture on one of the Dollar bills and Tina’s on the other one. Of course the 3rd 3 Dollar bill will have the picture of my esteemed friend, that tired old man who, while in a trance on a toilet seat, had an epifany and elected me as his Vice Presidential candidate.
Americans can rest assured that this President will always be behind them.”
Editor’s comments. We understand that there were other excerpts of this speech which have been lost (flushed?). If you find them please share them with us.
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Crocodile Tears for Homeowners - Pearls for Money Lenders
Congress continues to be firmly in the hand of money lender lobbyists. The Twenty Million dollars or more that the money lenders spent for passage of the bankruptcy bill through Congress in 2005 continues to pay dividends. A $700 billion dollar proposed payout on a $ 20Million investment, not bad for bankers who are mocked for their “stupid” investments. In 2005, Congress subjected hard working Americans, suffering the destitutes of fortune, to the rigorous requirements of Credit Counseling, Financial Management and Budgetary analysis, before they could obtain the “fresh start” of bankruptcy relief provided for by the US Constitution. Failure to meet these requirements barred them from discharging obligations owed to unscrupulous credit card lenders charging usurious interest rates and from getting out from medical bills not covered by insurance. The Bankruptcy Bill was the worst piece of legislation that the US Congress enacted and it is the bite of that bill that is now also hurting financial institutions.
The bankruptcy bill gave these financial institutions a false sense of security. They engaged in unscrupulous lending practices, charged usurious interest rates (sometimes reaching 30% per year) and reaped windfall profits from the enormous debt burdened placed on the American worker and homeowner.
The enacted bankruptcy law provides no protection for homeowners from the greed of these money lenders. It obligates them to pay back all home loans (and burdensome loan costs) in full or lose the house to the lender in a foreclosure regardless of the market value of the home. In an escalating market the money lender recovered its loan, with interest, penalties and fees or acquired the property for less than market value and was then able to sell the home for additional profit.
Pigs get fat and hogs get slaughtered. These money lenders jumped over each other in making nonsensical loans. Loan documents were forged, a borrower’s ability to pay was ignored, and teaser interest rates, for borrowers who obviously could not afford the loan, and negative amortization became the vogue. Loan brokers became creative; banks devoured these loans and regurgitated them onto investment houses. Investment houses split them up in tranches and parceled them off to exotic lands and places and wished them bon voyage on their journey around the world.
While the money lenders believed that the loans had sailed off and they could live happily ever after, basic economic principles proved them wrong. These loan ships have returned burdened with algae and fish meat and now cast a poisonous odor on the American financial (fish) market.
Everyone recognizes that the problem started with subprime mortgages and that those who are really hurting are the homeowners who are losing their house.
Perhaps the mistake is that what should be called a home is referred to as a house. People are losing their homes not a "house". While a house may be something put together with bricks and intended as a shelter from the rain, a home is something real, something personal, and something near and dear. This is where the young couple decides to spend their lives. This is where the husband and the wife spend countless hours landscaping, painting, decking and shooting hoops with their children. This is where they entertain and dream of better days to come while nostalgically looking back at the time that the family spent together.
It is this loss and foreclosure of homes that must be stopped. Every home that is saved results not just in a family being prevented from being on city streets, that could turn into slum streets, it keeps hope alive and burning in the family. While a family as its home, they can still believe that by working hard they can achieve whatever they dream off. A family thrown out of their home is exactly in the same position as a refugee family of a war torn nation, thrown out and forced to live in make shift tents in the middle of unknown places. There may be but little difference between economic refugees and war refugees as both lose confidence in themselves, their country and their future. A nation’s economy cannot be built on the shoulder of refugees.
“Homes” are what are being lost by Americans in America. The Bankruptcy law can easily be amended to prevent the egregious confiscation of American homes by lenders. A foreclosure sale of a home by a lender brings less than the market value of the home and the lender will not be repaid the debt that is owed it. The bankruptcy law must be changed to allow a homeowner to keep the house if he is able to pay the same price that the lender would receive at the foreclosure (or perhaps even pay the market price). This allows the lender to receive more than it would have in a foreclosure, keeps the homeowner in the house and stops the slide in market value of other properties as one home is taken off the market.
This is a simple solution and it will work. The Bankruptcy courts are already set up and well equipped to deal with such issues. Even under current law they can help investors who own multiple properties (ah the rich - they even fair better in bankruptcy courts) and modify investor loans. It is simply not equitable to deny this relief to the homeowner who only has one home. The US Economy does not need the sacrifice of this struggling homeowner and his/her family. This simple change in the Bankruptcy law is a win-win for the homeowner, the lender and the US Economy.
Congress delivered the horrible Bankruptcy Law to the lobbyist in 2005. It is time for them to say "thanks, but no thanks" to further lobbying effort to prevent amendments to the Bankruptcy laws. It is also time for Obama and McCain to stop shedding crocodile tears for homeowners . Goldman Sachs Paulson may be a wizard but even this magician cannot be allowed to turn these tears into Mikimoto pearls for the money lenders.
The bankruptcy bill gave these financial institutions a false sense of security. They engaged in unscrupulous lending practices, charged usurious interest rates (sometimes reaching 30% per year) and reaped windfall profits from the enormous debt burdened placed on the American worker and homeowner.
The enacted bankruptcy law provides no protection for homeowners from the greed of these money lenders. It obligates them to pay back all home loans (and burdensome loan costs) in full or lose the house to the lender in a foreclosure regardless of the market value of the home. In an escalating market the money lender recovered its loan, with interest, penalties and fees or acquired the property for less than market value and was then able to sell the home for additional profit.
Pigs get fat and hogs get slaughtered. These money lenders jumped over each other in making nonsensical loans. Loan documents were forged, a borrower’s ability to pay was ignored, and teaser interest rates, for borrowers who obviously could not afford the loan, and negative amortization became the vogue. Loan brokers became creative; banks devoured these loans and regurgitated them onto investment houses. Investment houses split them up in tranches and parceled them off to exotic lands and places and wished them bon voyage on their journey around the world.
While the money lenders believed that the loans had sailed off and they could live happily ever after, basic economic principles proved them wrong. These loan ships have returned burdened with algae and fish meat and now cast a poisonous odor on the American financial (fish) market.
Everyone recognizes that the problem started with subprime mortgages and that those who are really hurting are the homeowners who are losing their house.
Perhaps the mistake is that what should be called a home is referred to as a house. People are losing their homes not a "house". While a house may be something put together with bricks and intended as a shelter from the rain, a home is something real, something personal, and something near and dear. This is where the young couple decides to spend their lives. This is where the husband and the wife spend countless hours landscaping, painting, decking and shooting hoops with their children. This is where they entertain and dream of better days to come while nostalgically looking back at the time that the family spent together.
It is this loss and foreclosure of homes that must be stopped. Every home that is saved results not just in a family being prevented from being on city streets, that could turn into slum streets, it keeps hope alive and burning in the family. While a family as its home, they can still believe that by working hard they can achieve whatever they dream off. A family thrown out of their home is exactly in the same position as a refugee family of a war torn nation, thrown out and forced to live in make shift tents in the middle of unknown places. There may be but little difference between economic refugees and war refugees as both lose confidence in themselves, their country and their future. A nation’s economy cannot be built on the shoulder of refugees.
“Homes” are what are being lost by Americans in America. The Bankruptcy law can easily be amended to prevent the egregious confiscation of American homes by lenders. A foreclosure sale of a home by a lender brings less than the market value of the home and the lender will not be repaid the debt that is owed it. The bankruptcy law must be changed to allow a homeowner to keep the house if he is able to pay the same price that the lender would receive at the foreclosure (or perhaps even pay the market price). This allows the lender to receive more than it would have in a foreclosure, keeps the homeowner in the house and stops the slide in market value of other properties as one home is taken off the market.
This is a simple solution and it will work. The Bankruptcy courts are already set up and well equipped to deal with such issues. Even under current law they can help investors who own multiple properties (ah the rich - they even fair better in bankruptcy courts) and modify investor loans. It is simply not equitable to deny this relief to the homeowner who only has one home. The US Economy does not need the sacrifice of this struggling homeowner and his/her family. This simple change in the Bankruptcy law is a win-win for the homeowner, the lender and the US Economy.
Congress delivered the horrible Bankruptcy Law to the lobbyist in 2005. It is time for them to say "thanks, but no thanks" to further lobbying effort to prevent amendments to the Bankruptcy laws. It is also time for Obama and McCain to stop shedding crocodile tears for homeowners . Goldman Sachs Paulson may be a wizard but even this magician cannot be allowed to turn these tears into Mikimoto pearls for the money lenders.
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
A solution to the US Economic problem - Chinese just have to have more kids
With Lehman sinking, AIG failing and now Reserve Money fund faltering, someone had to ask:
"Just wanted to ask you that how come lehman brothers could lend US4 600B to real estate with US$ 30 bln capital footing ? there must be some prudential regulation set by central bank or sec of USA regarding mantaining certain financial ratios or percentage of lending against capital base or backed by deposit? or even cap on lending x amount of money t a specific sector...
would appreciate if you shed some light on this being the expert..."
Such a complex financial question deserves a serious response so here goes:
"Good questions all.
Lehman is another example of the US being run by idiots.
The Regulators who regulate the banks ignored them because they didn't think that the banks were behaving badly by taking on bad loans and then parceling them out to investment houses like Lehman. Lehman also thought that stupid investors would keep buying their packages because they "very smartly" split up loans into smaller pieces, then bundled the good, the bad and the ugly loans together and convinced themselves and the investors that this reduced the risk without really understanding what the risk was. Result. The ugly loans crapped on the bad loans which blew out the good loans leaving Lehman and the rest of the US with blown out crap.
Now the US govt has a blank check to bail out these brokerage houses but the checks they are writing is from the money borrowed from the Chinese and the Japanese.
So the math is something like this. Every Chinese has now lent a $1,000 to his Uncle Sam ($1,000 x 1,000,000,000) or a total of about a trillion dollars. The American appetite however needs more money and this economy is incapable of supporting itself at this level.
So the solution, with the increasing appeal of the even more stupid leaders (McCain and Palin) to the populace (they are looking for a down to earth person who speaks in a folksy tongue), I believe the day is not that far away when the US will demand that the Chinese have more children so that they are able to lend more to the US.
Confused?
Well here is the Math, if each Chinese lends a $1,000 to the US, and you just get the Chinese to double their population, China will be able to lend twice as much. In other words the US can then borrow 2 Trillion fom the Chinese and continue to spend happily for another couple of years. After that I guess the pressure will be on the Japanese (who have lent almost as much) and when the Chinese and the Japanese are worn out, and the Viagra has stopped working, by then the US hopes that the Indians are on line and ready to produce more kids so that the US can borrow from them.
Make Sense! So did WMD in Iraq."
"Just wanted to ask you that how come lehman brothers could lend US4 600B to real estate with US$ 30 bln capital footing ? there must be some prudential regulation set by central bank or sec of USA regarding mantaining certain financial ratios or percentage of lending against capital base or backed by deposit? or even cap on lending x amount of money t a specific sector...
would appreciate if you shed some light on this being the expert..."
Such a complex financial question deserves a serious response so here goes:
"Good questions all.
Lehman is another example of the US being run by idiots.
The Regulators who regulate the banks ignored them because they didn't think that the banks were behaving badly by taking on bad loans and then parceling them out to investment houses like Lehman. Lehman also thought that stupid investors would keep buying their packages because they "very smartly" split up loans into smaller pieces, then bundled the good, the bad and the ugly loans together and convinced themselves and the investors that this reduced the risk without really understanding what the risk was. Result. The ugly loans crapped on the bad loans which blew out the good loans leaving Lehman and the rest of the US with blown out crap.
Now the US govt has a blank check to bail out these brokerage houses but the checks they are writing is from the money borrowed from the Chinese and the Japanese.
So the math is something like this. Every Chinese has now lent a $1,000 to his Uncle Sam ($1,000 x 1,000,000,000) or a total of about a trillion dollars. The American appetite however needs more money and this economy is incapable of supporting itself at this level.
So the solution, with the increasing appeal of the even more stupid leaders (McCain and Palin) to the populace (they are looking for a down to earth person who speaks in a folksy tongue), I believe the day is not that far away when the US will demand that the Chinese have more children so that they are able to lend more to the US.
Confused?
Well here is the Math, if each Chinese lends a $1,000 to the US, and you just get the Chinese to double their population, China will be able to lend twice as much. In other words the US can then borrow 2 Trillion fom the Chinese and continue to spend happily for another couple of years. After that I guess the pressure will be on the Japanese (who have lent almost as much) and when the Chinese and the Japanese are worn out, and the Viagra has stopped working, by then the US hopes that the Indians are on line and ready to produce more kids so that the US can borrow from them.
Make Sense! So did WMD in Iraq."
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
The Conception Pains of Democracy
Condy Rice considered Iraq to be undergoing the "birth pangs" of democracy when referring to the impregnation of Iraq by more than one hundred thousand soldiers. Soldiers who were asked not just to impregnate but also to play midwife to the birth. When their midwifery skills couldn't deliver a healthy baby a surge[on] was called in. Before Bush/McCain get carried away with prematurely celebrating the blossoming of a democratic baby on the banks of the Euphrates they should stop and ponder that the nutrients that this flower feeds on is composed of the remains of the hundreds of thousands killed by a criminal invasion.
So much for the birth pangs of democracy but democracy is not a word that should be used lightly. Civilization has paid a heavy price for achieving it, what is being forced upon Iraq is better described as "Democramy" - Cramming democracy down the throats of people you don't know and don't understand, with a toilet plunger.
Examining the "democratic" process in Pakistan, Rice's phrase "birth pangs" of democracy turns into "conception pains" of democracy. Musharraf, in all likelihood, would still be at the head of an autocratic government but for his rape of the Constitution of Pakistan as he, fearing the end of his rule, "fired" the judiciary of Pakistan.
While the lawyers movement in Pakistan was on course to bring a civilized democracy to Pakistan, what has now emerged is the unforseen metoric rise of Asif Zardari. Zardari’s election by a landslide through the legislative electoral college should not be construed as a nationwide referundum of his popularity. The widely held believe is that Nawaz would easily win in a one to one contest with Zardari and some dare to say that six months from now even Musharraf would outpoll Zardari.
With Zardari at the helm, with Gilani as Prime Minister, Dogar as Chief Justice and the People's party in control of the legislature it does seem as if Pakistan is now in the grips of Benazir's widower. Of course the military and the Intelligence services of Pakistan cannot be ruled out but with the US continuing to play a gorilla role and with Zardari firmly in the hands of the US, Pakistanis will, at least in the short run, see more democramy than democracy.
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