Amerindia US Blog

How to move from a lost environment to a renewed environment, climate, and society. Save 20″ to see this worth every second video.
Willie Smits restores a rainforest

Regarding our comments on leadership in our last post: a Pew Poll shows that US citizen’s trust in their leadership in government and institutions “has plummeted to a near-historic low.” We do know that there are bright spots and good leaders, but unfortunately they are too few, and in a democracy, it is critical to have a full quorum of good leaders. We need leaders who see themselves as responsible to the people who elect them, and those who are immune to selling their votes behind closed doors.

We think our comments on lack of good leadership was timely, and is supported by this poll.
Pew Poll: Trust in Government His Near-Historic Low

The Queen of Amerindia

We have commented on many issues as US administrations have come and gone, and as the world of nations elbow their way into, or fall away from, the progress of nations into the contemporary world. But our comments quickly become dated, so we leave specifics and details for another time. Our comment for today is that we need, everywhere, more responsible, grown up leaders. We need leaders who see beyond their own gain, and instead work for a Sustainable Good that they can leave behind. We need this from all the princes, presidents, CEOs, and other leaders of our time.

We wonder why the promises of a healthy, civilized society do not materialize as promised. More is not better, false science betrays, cures can become an ill begotten cause, choice becomes confusion, complexity obscures, and money purchases opinion, understanding, and leadership. As the world seems to shrink, we struggle with world problems that continue to be bigger than we are. Economy, politics, agriculture, environment, water – on a world scale much is not well. Hunger, poverty, disease, human rights, war, inequality – band aid solutions, token attempts, and even some very good and well intentioned ideas too, are not enough to stem the march into problems we can identify. And there is an angst that we no longer have another place, another neighborhood, another country – another earth, that we can escape to.

We see a fundamental issue that many leaders are as a child, or adolescent. First a child feels only for himself, then hopefully grows to understand the rights, feelings, and needs of others. Then comes adolescence, full of energy and drive, but still full of self. And adolescence is known for taking risks, a sense of invulnerability, and often not making the connection with future consequences.

But we hear “How could I have known?”, “I must have been wrong [ for 30 years]“, “there were no such memos – we had no idea”, “I don’t remember”, “we actually didn’t understand what derivatives were”, “I don’t know where the money went”, “the research proved it was safe”, “the data was flawed”, “unsubstantiated fears”, “it’s safe for humans”, “it was pilot error”, “we have no idea where the contamination came from”, “it’s the fault of the media for making it public”, “it’s technically legal”, and on and on. This sounds like the infamous “the dog ate my homework.” In other words, I’m not responsible for what happened, even though I’m in charge, and I don’t expect there to be consequences. Adolescent thinking.

This is true now with unimaginable Greed. The thought that one can take any amount, endlessly, regardless of the methods, that no one will catch on, I can bully my way out if they do, that I can buy the important things, it will make me all powerful and popular [forever], and there will be no consequence I can’t get out of. Adolescent.

It would seem to us that much of our problems are created by those who have not achieved full maturity.

Companies and kings, leaders of all kinds, many cannot think what their actions will get them in the long term. They do not see that power and wealth, no matter what you think it gets you now, you will not have it always. It will not buy you trust and true friends; it may get you compliance but with fear, not respect; true loyalty is not for sale . You will get sick, you will get old. Whatever you took from this world, no thing will leave it with you.

We need leaders who can live not at the expense of others, who are not afraid of transparency, who are ready to be accountable, and understand that our value is a measure of what we give, not what we have taken. We need the people to be fully informed of the whole truth, and to be strong and wise enough to demand the rightful behavior of leaders who guide our life on this planet, and life for the next generation.

The Queen of Amerindia

The run for the US presidency is always on. We would guess it is on most potential candidate’s minds by the time he/she is in high school. For US presidential elections one must start with (1) looks (2) the right spouse to fit the job (3) a photogenic family (4) a huge cash box (5) connections.
The rest is all about creating the right image. Now that things are heating up after all the focus on the new Health Bill, eyes turn toward potential candidates for the ‘12 race facing Obama.

We are amused by Romney. He’s in the run, and we expect a lot from his hairdresser and whoever picks out his sweaters. But we hadn’t heard the one about his dog strapped to the roof of his car while going on vacation. It will be hard undoing the bad press on that one.
Potential Republican Contenders against Obama in ‘12

The Queen of Amerindia

“We didn’t truly know the dangers of the market, because it was a dark market,” says Brooksley Born, the head of an obscure federal regulatory agency — the Commodity Futures Trading Commission [CFTC] — who not only warned of the potential for economic meltdown in the late 1990s, but also tried to convince the country’s key economic powerbrokers to take actions that could have helped avert the crisis. “They were totally opposed to it,” Born says. “That puzzled me. What was it that was in this market that had to be hidden?”

At the time Brooksley Born was trying to propose regulation it is estimated that 594 Trillion in OTC derivatives were being sold in “black box” markets. “Black box” means no regulation, and actually no recording of who is selling what to whom. There were derivatives, derivatives of derivatives, and derivatives of derivatives of derivatives being sold. And neither the individuals selling, or the buyers, understood what a derivative really was.

A derivative is, as best we can understand, a form of “insurance” that is in essence a form of betting. A simple example is that one could take out insurance on an neighbor’s house, without the owner’s knowledge. And then one could bet against it – sell it short (because of hidden knowledge of its real worth) – in essence, set fire to your neighbor’s house, and then collect the insurance.

Also, derivatives were (are) sold in such secret, that the buyers didn’t (don’t) know how many people have bought the same derivative. So there might be several buyers wanting to collect on a single derivative, while there is only enough to pay one. The complex mathematics of determining a derivative creates a kind of imaginary financial product, with no real money to pay anything.

Derivatives have payed up to 40% profit to the black box buyers. Since the time of Ronald Regan, who elevated Alan Greenspan to Chairman of the Federal Reserve, this market has been growing. Those that got in, sold, and then got out, got the money. The rest of it is a large vacuum with no real money to cover the crisis. Sound like the crash of 1929, with no real money and runs on the bank? We think, yes.

But Brooksley Born knew, warned, tried to stop it, but was defeated by the powers in Washington. Even after this meltdown, the financial lobbyists in Washington are still winning. Regulatory proposals have been written up, but are stalled. The time to move on shutting down further money drain is passing.

US citizens could be asked to poney up yet more money for the unregulated securities and derivative black box deals that go bad, since all this stuff is “too big to fail.” And they will get the apology of having to live in hard times, but not much else. We used to write about and believed that our biggest problem was the players in oil. At least that was one issue that we could see. But the financial games now being played, on a national and worldwide scale that boggles the mind – and brings down whole countries – is what worries us most at this time.

Without transparency and regulation, money that should go to the people who earned it, will continue down the black box hole. How much more financial blood can the average American donate. We are very, very worried to think.

This is a 55 minute program by Frontline of PBS see “The Warning.” After seeing this, we may not understand the mathematics of derivatives, but we do understand the problem. Obama, can you overcome the financial lobbyists and lift up your country?
Frontline: The Warning

The Queen of Amerindia

A bit more about Democracy. In a democracy, the people are sovereign. Is that (liberal) populist? – we think so. We also think that the terms “activist” and “socialism” have been unfairly demonized in too much of the US consciousness. Many fellow countries that we count as friends are socialist, and in their commitment to the welfare of their people, they are doing reasonably well.

Somehow the old Cold War opposition to Communism, as an economic system, is still feeding into the term Socialism. And to avoid the now ancient specter of (socialist) Communism “nowhere else in history, have so many [US citizens] voted against their own interests.”

The divide between rich and poor in the US continues to grow. Developing nations bring more of their citizens into a middle class, while in the US the middle class is ever more hard pressed, and dwindles. And help for the Poor, as they are defined, is based on a 40 year old calculation that isn’t updated for fear it will break the bank.

United States people, remember that you, in a Democracy, are sovereign. In Amerindia, we have a monarchy that speaks in the person of we, with the understanding and intent that we, the leader, is representative of, and obliged to, all of the people. Here leaders are sovereign to the people, and people sovereign to their leaders.

The Queen of Amerindia

In the US, and the rest of the world economy it seems, corruption and mismanagement are running rampant. It would be much to cover the entire scope of this topic, but in short, it would seem that there is a fundamental lack of transparency, greed and self interest that knows no bounds, and astonishing little attempt at regulation. The “solution” seems to point out the worst offenders, and hand out fines or punish with an increase in taxes. We Amerindians are quite frankly baffled by this limp slap on the wrist, and surprised that it’s not obvious that the cost of any punitive measure will be passed on to those who are paying too heavy a bill already.

We feel that it might help, even if governments don’t, if people get together with their own solutions. The main idea is to keep money from reaching the pockets of big interests in the first place.

1. One way is to focus on buying locally. Besides cutting the energy footprint of purchases, many middle men payments will be eliminated, as well as the insane super payments to corporate giant leaders.

2. Invest in farm shares or local markets. Or at least patronize them. Again, this eliminates the middle man price increase, and cuts into the control that giants like agra business (ConAgra) have over what we eat, what we know about what we eat, and what we pay for the privilege of ingesting food products that are often less nourishing than the over-packaging that they are delivered in.

3. Social Lending. This can be avoiding large banks (like the ones too big to fail) in favor of small local banks, co-ops, credit unions, and even person to person lending with no banks involved.

We think that of course there are many other ways that could be suggested. But the basic idea is not to punish big corporations, but to think carefully about what we need to buy, where we keep and manage our money – and keep it close. In other words, don’t let it get to the big interests whenever there is another option.

The Queen of Amerindia

We have been living in relative peace and prosperity on our Island Nation of Amerindia during the Bush years and our temporary secession from the US that resulted from his election. Bad presidents happen. But democracy allows for this, and one hopes, has ways to grow wiser in popular knowledge, revise it’s thinking, and move on to better attending the needs of its citizens.

We supported Obama, and had great hopes. We saw an intelligent speaker who spoke of bold visions for Change. But after a year in office, we are much disappointed. We won’t go on into the details, and in any event, we are glad to see a black man as president so we can get that much out of the way.

However, it is now clear that what runs the US, and much elsewhere in the world, are The Big Corporations and Their Money. It would seem that almost any election is eventually about what Corporate Interest will benefit. We had hoped that, since Obama was elected with the money of the populace, not the corporations, that things would change. But they haven’t. Democracy continues its spiral into the ground, and we don’t see effective choices in elections. When the elected get to Washington, Washington gets to the elected.

As a result, we have decided to again declare our Nation of Amerindia to be separate from the US. We cannot risk a return while Corporate Influence rules the United States. We will continue living with our benevolent monarchy of Amerindia. The only other option we would consider is an annexation to Vermont (as long as they have Bernie Sanders and Patrick Leahy).

The Queen of Amerindia

We have not commented on our Amerindia blog for some time. The reason is that there has been an overwhelming number of issues that are in the tank for the American people. To cover it all has seemed impossible, and sad.

What’s happened to this once great country? The answers would seem to be corruption, greed, and incompetence. While these attributes exist in many industries (like pharmaceuticals), they are most centered in Washington, so many of our elected officials, and government agencies (like the FDA).

Having said that, we must mention that there are a some really sincere politicians who are fighting an uphill battle to do a good job (go Bernie Sanders, VT!) – but there are too few, and the electorate isn’t giving them enough credit and the support they deserve in their battle to improve America.

The Queen of Amerindia

Maybe Americans are catching on. I hope so. Don’t believe the Bush fix for Social Security.

Social Security was created during “hard times” as a safety net for future “hard times.” Now we are told that we are coming up on the baby boomer generation retiring and there won’t be enough to go around because, after all, this is “hard times.”

The very rich have never had to worry about what they pay into social security or what they get out of it; that amount of money isn’t even on their radar screen. Where social security does make a difference is for the poor – and the middle class. Let’s say that again – for the middle class.

What is the middle class usually up to? Paying a mortgage on a house, putting kids through college, saving, and hopefully being able to have a bit of well earned fun. There is a lot of caretaking going on – for kids, parents, and grandparents.

Social security is surely a benefit to the poor, but it is equally essential for the middle class. The way to find that out is to become disabled, be a child without parental support, be a caretaker who has a sporadic work history, or lose your job for a significant portion of your working life.

Yes, Social Security helps the poor. But very significantly, it keeps the middle class from entering the ranks of the poor. Since Social Security has been implemented, the number of older women in poverty has dropped by 30%.

Because Bush has cut taxes for the very rich and congress has been spending the nest egg that the middle class has been paying into, the Bush changes for Social Security will create the great divide – the very few very rich, and an increasing number of the middle class that joins the poor.

What Bush proposes for private accounts (2% of income) will amount to very little. One wonders what the big argument is over when there are already 401ks, Keogh Plans, and IRA accounts. If you have the money, you can already invest it as you see fit. However, if you lose your job just as the kids enter college, you could be in a different situation. If you are a single parent (half the population is divorced), you make $26,000/year and you have two kids, you aren’t investing much of anything.
But Social Security as it is will make a difference when you retire. Bush’s 2% won’t.

To have any kind of savings, you will have to be paying in every year over a long time. Plenty of situations come up for middle income Americans when circumstances interrupt that. And what about this 8% yearly increase? The times, and maybe that includes the financial times, they are a changin’. How much of “privitized” money is going to administrative fees? And who is going to get those fees?

Privitization isn’t going to help the situation. It will increase the national debt tremendously. And middle income Americans will be paying for it – the same middle income Americans who have the privitization option. But where’s the savings if you’re paying off that national debt while supporting your parents who’s Social Security benefits have been cut to the point that you have to support them? You’re going to be paying more in general, will have reduced retirement benefits when you get there, and I’ll bet you’ll have more financially marginal people in your family to support on that minimal privitized Social Security account.

Bush wants privitization not because this amount is going to improve the lot of middle income Americans. He wants private accounts so he can hand yet more money to his already very rich friends who will be “managing” it for you. I doubt they will feel financially sympathetic toward the significantly increased number of poor. They’ll already have want they wanted: the money siphoned off privitized accounts.

The Queen of Amerindia

Dear American Jesus, you’ve anointed us with oil,
And we’re grateful for this blessing as we fight on foreign soil.

You’re steadfast in your mission, making war without a fear
That the truth will have us question what you said to bring us here.

Now it’s the military mothers who are sinners in our land
For no child of theirs’ will die to buy your wartime business plan.

Your disciples, ah you have them, and you have your Judas too
But he’s turned upon the people and his pledge has gone to you.

Our elections will continue to be bought and sold by those
Whose pocketbooks buy favor where the wealthy donor goes.

We watch as nature vanishes, healthy waters disappear
But for Raptures does it matter when the end is surely near?

As leadership by gospel spreads across our nation’s land
We’re more divided than united, since this Jesus took command.

Received in Amerindia from a US citizen. This poem may be freely copied and distributed in any form. – The Queen of Amerindia

The Founding Fathers of the new nation of the United States were uniquely wise in their understanding of the failings of the systems of government that had gone before. They recognized that a state must be flexible, changing, and able to withstand the imperfections of individuals who govern. The creators of its constitution knew the endless lessons of grief that so many states and cultures had visited upon themselves and others.

Religious men themselves, they recognized the imperative of separation of church and state. The government of the many, by the many, must be able to learn, change, grow wiser, and embrace tolerance. Where the practice of democracy may not have been perfect, the vision of democracy was clear to its creators.

In the interest of unity – and immediate survival – a nation that was born allowing the institution of slavery was not one of universal democracy. The founding fathers left this chapter purposely blank, knowing that it would take time and cultural growth to correct this injustice. They left their conduct as servants of the state as a guide for future generations.

It is not a perfect democracy where any of its citizens do not have the vote or equal status before the law. Where women, minorities or any other disenfranchised citizens are waiting their turn for an equal voice there is a forming democracy – not a mature one.

Therefore, “democracy”? and “freedom’? are relative, not absolute terms. They are labels on a skeleton system of governance that is only meaningfully defined by the tolerance, wisdom and compassion of its citizens.

Democracy is mature and good only when those who make laws and enforce actions would willingly walk in the shoes of those to whom these laws and actions are applied.

We would add corruption to the blights of a democracy. A wise voice (Eisenhower) warned of the military-industrial complex. If money, greed, and dishonesty buy and sell officials and agencies of government, there is a democracy only in name, not in substance.

We of Amerindia are concerned that what is called “democracy”? is turning back the tide of tolerance, compassion and a truly caring state. In its place grows a rigid doctrine of righteousness and exclusion. We wonder what family is “vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,” what rough beast slouches its way through Bethlehem, and on toward an intolerant democracy.

The Queen of Amerindia