The WAWG Blog

In Has America’s Greatest Generation Begat The Failure Generation?, I summarized the introduction to “The Rise of the Rogue Executive,” where the authors point out, “Business scandals are just another part of the stream of daily news that is full of scandal.”   Well here is the latest example.   Ralphs Supermarkets was indicted on federal charges for engaging in a “company-wide course of criminal conduct involving the hiring of locked-out employees under false names, Social Security numbers and documentation.”   To make this work, Ralphs managers sent the locked-out, re-hired employees with false identities to other stores where they would not be recognized.   Ralphs concedes some managers acted illegally and they are willing to pay appropriate fines.

For more, see Chicago Tribune and Ralphs News and Info, where Paul Heldman, a Kroger senior vice president states, “Ralphs regrets that a number of its store managers took it upon themselves to violate Company policy and federal law in order to rehire striking workers.   Although we believe many of these managers acted for humanitarian or personal reasons, their actions nonetheless were wrong and contrary to explicit Company policy.”

The total WAWG index was down 11,407 points from November, 2005.   The December average was down 834 points from November’s.   This is the second down month.   But this is only the third month of tracking this index.

November saw a 95 percent decrease in cronyism from October that may have been an error on my part.   However, for December there is a 53.7 percent decrease for obsession with crime and punishment and another slight decrease for cronyism.

For December, the largest increase was 4.3 percent for election fraud.

Of the fourteen items tracked, 10 were down and 4 were up.

The November 23, 2005 issue of Personal Finance (PF) Newsletter included an article titled, “China: The New Masters of Soft Power.”   Of course, “new masters” implies they are at least in the process of replacing some other world power.   Guess which country that might be?   Just in case your not sure, read on.

PF indicated that China may lag the current champ (CC) economically, technologically and militarily, but “its moving fast” to catch up and move beyond.   PF also points out that the CC has “failed to take serious interest in the emerging global struggle for influence” between it and China, “the new kid on the block.”

The CC is also not looking beyond “China’s military developments” to see the potentially more serious threat from China’s “growing economy and its ability to use economic interdependence as a strategic weapon …”. According to PF, China’s GDP is “almost three times” that forecast for the CC.

The PF also points out that China’s ties to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations ASEAN are shifting from the CC to China.   One example cited by PF is South Korea.

In the technology world, PF reports that China has made “remarkable breakthroughs in … supercomputers, advanced communications systems, satellite technology, and nanotechnology.”   Worse yet is their computer expertise at hacking into CC’s military computer systems.

In today’s world, there are two tools in wide use for resolving conflict: violence and politics.   If the political option doesn’t exist, violence is a sure thing.   China’s choice, according to PF, is more political than military, even with respect to the Republic of China (Taiwan).

According to PF, additional evidence of its ignored but growing political offensive include:

• “Trade missions not only to Central Asia and the Persian Gulf but also to Africa and Latin America” to support its rising energy needs.
• China uses the agenda of the CC to gain favor with those that fear the CC’s agenda. According to PF both Russia and China convinced the President of Uzbekistan that the CC was going to overthrow him and start another democracy.   Shortly thereafter, the CC was asked to pull its troops from Uzbekistan.
• While the CC imposes trade sanctions, China ignores violence and genocide to make oil deals with Sudan.

In case you haven’t figured it out yet, the CC is the United States.   Will the administration’s lack of recognition of the growing political power of China add an international aspect to the current list of domestic failures of my boomer generation?

This government media source isn’t as blatant as Pentagon Channel and seems to be more more responsive to requests to cut out the propaganda.

According to The Recovery Channel web site, “The focus of the FEMA Recovery Channel is to assist FEMA in reaching the victims of national disasters, wherever they may be located.   Content amplifies and broadens critical information from government agencies, non-governmental organizations and volunteer groups to help residents through the long and difficult recovery period.   It is updated every day to assure the latest and best information is available without interpretation directly from those working “on the ground” to serve disaster victims.   The content is a mix of reports, pre-taped interviews, and produced segments and text.   The Recovery Channel’s sole objective is to deliver correct and timely information to disaster victims so that they can make good decisions for themselves and their families.”

However, according to CNN, see script below, there have been some recent deviations from this statement that sound like propaganda.   One of their interviewees stated, “Most of the information was really not the specific kind of factual information one might think, but rather feature and fluff pieces that seemed designed to aggrandize FEMA, and actually the Bush administration, too.”   They also presented information relating to getting a school in New Orleans back in operation, however, the FEMA footage was of a school “two hours north.”

FEMA was contacted by CNN and provided the following statement, “The agency is taking immediate measures to ensure that all programming is unmistakably labeled as an official FEMA resource.   And it’s eliminating any editorial content.”

The only thing available from CNN is the CNN Transscript:

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Far from the cleanup, the debris and the angry public meetings.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I need some answers.

FOREMAN: Seventy miles from Washington in the Maryland countryside, it’s show time for FEMA.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In times of crisis, the best help is often just a source of reliable information.

FOREMAN: This is the “Recovery Channel,” produced by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and airing around the clock via satellite and the Internet.

DIANNA GEE, RECOVERY CHANNEL ANCHOR: It could be the best day and the worst day. The day you finally get to go back to your storm- damaged home.

FOREMAN: FEMA conceived the channel years ago to spread important information after disasters. Following Katrina, it was on in shelters, a plain display about rebuilding, financial aid, help and more. But now, with FEMA accusing the mainstream media of failing to provide enough of that info, the “Recovery Channel” has undergone a makeover.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Stay with us. Together, we can build a bright future.

FOREMAN: And at the Annenberg School of Communication, Professor Joe Turow says it’s turned into propaganda.

JOE TUROW, ANNENBERG SCHOOL OF COMMUNICATION: Most of the information was really not the specific kind of factual information one might think, but rather feature and fluff pieces that seemed designed to aggrandize FEMA, and actually the Bush administration, too.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I just want to thank FEMA for all they’ve done for us.

FOREMAN: Certainly, the channel conveys no public frustration with FEMA. When the channel was airing this,

JAMILAH FRASER, RECOVERY CHANNEL ANCHOR: The massive effort to clean up Louisiana is still topping our coverage. And to speed up this process, our commander in chief steps in with some additional assistance.

FOREMAN: CNN was airing this: UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What’s wrong with you, Uncle Sam? You drunk? Huh? What you doing with our tax money? Come on, you need to go to rehab, brother.

FOREMAN: Consider this “Focus On Education” report.

FRASER: But one New Orleans school refused to let the doors of education close on them. They just rolled in the wheels of knowledge.

FOREMAN: This segment, this week was about FEMA bringing trailers to a school where a tree destroyed several classrooms.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And all of us without FEMA would not be able to be standing here today.

FOREMAN: But this school is not in New Orleans. It’s two hours north and there was no information about more than 100 devastated schools actually in the city, where by the way, almost 8,000 school employees have just been told they’ve officially lost their jobs.

FRASER: Good information for good decisions.

FOREMAN: Another concern. The FEMA logo appears often, but much of the language on the channel suggests it is independent of the very government agency that is running it.

FRASER: Today our lead story is FEMA’s top priority: Housing. A two-week extension for those evacuees in hotels. That’s what FEMA is saying today.

FOREMAN: Critics on Capitol Hill have repeatedly suggested the administration is misusing public funds for domestic propaganda. Senator Frank Lautenberg is one of them and he watched the channel at our request.

SEN. FRANK LAUTENBERG (D), NEW JERSEY: The way this is being done, it’s a fakery. And it shouldn’t — it should be identified as a government product.

FOREMAN: When we contacted FEMA, a spokesperson defended the channel, but after reviewing the questions CNN raised, sent this statement: The agency, it says, is taking immediate measures to ensure that all programming is unmistakably labeled as an official FEMA resource. And it’s eliminating any editorial content.

As a member of the baby boomer generation, I’ve been wondering since Nine Eleven what our legacy to our children will be.   My parents were described as “The Greatest Generation” by another boomer, Tom Brokaw, so we know what their legacy is.   But years from now when one of our children writes a book about their parents, will the title of that book be something like the title of this article – only in the form of a statement and not a question?   I sure hope not.

Maybe what has been happening lately is only a short term deviation – a temporary glitch.   Maybe it is just a more informed public.   On the other hand, could it be the leading edge for something more long term?   Something that will result in a new leader for the world?  

Well, let’s review what could represent this leading edge or temporary glitch.   We just had Congressman Cunningham admit to taking bribes.   Lawyers for Congressman Tom Delay are manipulating the elected Texas judicial system to keep Mr. Delay from going to trial for conspiracy for money laundering.   Senator Frist is being investigated for insider trading.   Mike Brown resigned as FEMA director after a disastrous response to hurricane Katrina.   If that wasn’t enough failures on the political front, there is a report on the relative high crime rate for current and past congressmen which doesn’t include the more recent crimes mentioned above.

Where else is this leading edge of failure manifesting itself?   Women are being incarcerated at five times the rate of the US’s population growth.   Election fraud was a factor in the last two close presidential elections.   Mike Brown was one example of the Peter Principle, but there have been many more.   And now global warming seems to have kicked into overdrive with a record hurricane season.  

Then there are the failures of the boomers in the corporate world.   In the documentary Enron Emerges From Bankruptcy | August 5, 2004, CBS summarized what happened, “Houston-based Enron went bankrupt in December 2001 amid revelations of hidden debt, inflated profits and accounting skullduggery. Thousands of workers lost their jobs and millions of investors who hadn’t already bolted watched their shares become worthless.”

But that’s only one example. There are many more.   The introduction to “The Rise of the Rogue Executive,” briefly describes many of the failures that contributed to the creation and inevitable fall of corporations like Enron, WorldCom, and many others that did not make the headlines but produced the same results – lost jobs, lost retirements, lost investments, enriched lawyers, bankers, and consultants, but little punishment for the executive criminals.

The inside cover for the book put it this way, “Billions of dollars continue to be lost by companies and investors due to the pervasive impact of manipulative, self-serving executives.   Financial scandals aren’t unknown in U.S. business history, but today’s growing problem of executive excesses and self-serving behavior is unprecedented in both its persistence and pervasiveness.   Executives continue to plunder their companies and rip off their stockholders.   This book reveals the true breadth and depth of corporate corruption—including flagrant new cases that haven’t received the publicity they deserve.”

This book also points out that, “Business scandals are just another part of the stream of daily news that is full of scandal.”   There is prisoner-of-war torture, war profiteering, steroids in baseball, pedophiles in church, inflated news media circulation numbers, made up stories in leading magazines, shilling for politicians, teachers caught helping students on proficiency tests and “cooking the books” to lower their actual dropout rates.   Then there’s the CEO of Marsh & McLennan who resigned under pressure when the company was accused of rigging bids.   The firing of bankers at Citigroup for deceptive marketing practices.   Accounting irregularities at Fannie Mae force top two executives out.   Time Warner in trouble for AOL’s revenue misstatements.   Accounting at AIG found misleading.

The book goes into detail on the causes of these corporate failures and who is responsible.   The causes include excessive executive stock ownership via stock options; new powerful technologies that “tempt and facilitate financial mischief” by their users; issues at the SEC, the auditor of the auditors, “that must be resolved if the public’s auditors are to function effectively;” the “weak oversight” provided by corporate directors; the “silent critics” as represented by the members of the media and academia; the investment bankers and consultants that helped drain the “treasuries and shareholder equity” of the failing companies; the free enterprise fundamentalists that propagate “unrealistically optimistic reassurances” of capitalism; and finally the “mythic executives” who “require extraordinary compensation” and have “little patience to lead in the tough, painstaking task of building a robust business …”

In the midst of all this failure there is one more to mention.   Last but not least, by any measure, there was the crucial failure to prevent Nine Eleven and the loss of almost 3,000 lives, almost as many as those killed on December 7, 1941.

Sure there have been multiple generations involved in these failures, but which generation was leading by example and which was following?

If this is the leading edge of what is coming our way, what other failures will our children be writing about?   How we bankrupted Social Security?   How we left them with a national debt that can’t be paid off?   How we did little to stop global warming?   How we let our democracy become a theocracy?   How we let AIDS devastate Africa?   How we failed to bring peace to the Middle East?   How we failed to keep the war on terror from turning the US into a police state?

The inside cover for “The Greatest Generation” stated, “This generation was united not only by a common purpose, but also by common values–duty, honor, economy, courage, service, love of family and country, and, above all, responsibility for oneself.”   Have those values been replaced by negligence, dishonor, excesses, cowardice, selfishness, love of money, and above all an “ends justifies the means” approach to all we do?   But there is hope for us boomers.   December 7, 1941 was a failure of The Greatest Generation, but they came to their senses, had to sacrifice 400,000 lives, and changed the world for the better.   As has happened in the past, the built-in self-correcting structures of this nation have enabled needed changes of direction.

World wide demand for black gold is increasing as Brazil, Russia, China, and India motorize billions of their citizens.   Hurricanes have wreaked tens of billions of dollars in damage to our oil infrastructure.     The desire to conserve died in the eighties.   The supply of oil is limited and the cost of a barrel of oil peaked in early September at over $70 per barrel.  Â With all that in mind, what will it cost to keep our US economy going and our SUVs and hybrids humming?   What are our options, the likelihood of their success, and when does it become cost effective to invest in those options?

In Why $5 Gas Is Good for America, Spencer Reiss wrote, “For the better part of a century, cheap oil has fatally undercut all comers, not to mention smothered high-minded campaigns for conservation, increased efficiency, and energy independence.  Â  But growing demand is outrunning the oil industry’s carefully computed supply curves, bidding up long-term expectations for the price of energy.   The long term may not mean a lot when you’re standing at the pump, but the oil industry lives in a world where big projects take a decade to build and the checks that pay for them have eight or nine zeroes.   Crude hit $70 a barrel last August, but oil companies have learned the hard way how quickly prices can crash.   They adjust their expectations accordingly – downward.”

Mr. Reiss goes on to say that recent oil industry long term expectations for making profits on investments in new technologies have been based on $20 per barrel of oil, in today’s dollars.    So far, this level of investment has resulted in “advanced analysis of rock cores, 3-D seismic imagery, software for diagnosing underground oil flows – all integrated using something called fuzzy logic.”   There is also the “digital oil field” that takes the well to the petroleum engineer half way around the world and could add oil reserves equal to more than what is available from Iraq by 2013.   Then there are the deep water free-floating rigs that drill in water twice as deep as 30 years ago that account for 90 billion barrels of liquid oil reserves.

Unfortunately, all of these recent investments only improve access to about 16 percent of the world’s known reserves – those that are liquid.   Â  According to a graphic in the published version of Mr. Reiss’ article, over 49 percent of the known reserves are in tar sands and the rest, 35 percent, are in oil shale.

Tar sands “is a hot commodity at today’s prices,” but the environmental issues of open-pit mining will take time to resolve and that will increase the costs of extraction from the current $15 to $20/barrel.   Also, most of the reserves are outside of the USA -  Venezuela, Canada, and elsewhere.

As for Oil shale, Mr Reiss reports, “The US has 85 times more shale oil than crude,”  which could provide the US with independence and enough oil for “212 gasoline years”.   Â  A gasoline year is the calculation of how many gallons of gasoline we all use each year.   However, the problem here is that crude oil would have to cost $70-$95 a barrel to make this option a profitable long term investment.  Â On the other hand, recent efforts by 160 Shell employees, 30 in Colorado and 130 in Houston, may bring this cost down to $25-$30, and the extraction won’t require the bulldozing of the countryside.

So, if oil is to remain our best option, then oil shale might be the best possible source for the future.  Â   

But what about the non-oil options?  Â What about other liquids or gases?   Liquids can be created from coal and plants like soybeans, corn, or other biomass.   Gases include methane, natural gas, and hydrogen.

To help compare other liquid and gas options to the cost of oil, the article introduces a ‘barrel of oil equivalent’ (boe), which equates to what oil would have to cost to make investing in the other option profitable.   Â   

To make coal liquefaction profitable, its cost would have to be around $35 to $40/boe, which makes it more expensive than tar sands and the low end for oil shale.   On the other hand, this option could provide 363 gasoline years for our cars and trucks and improve carbon emissions.   However, the land would suffer considerably.  

As for gases, the most promising of the bunch is methane hydrates.  Â  There is the equivalent of 10,882 US gasoline years locked away in the Arctic permafrost and seabeds.   There are also serious technological issues and the cost is around $90/boe.

One other option of note is biodiesel.  Â  It rates high for environmental friendliness and technical maturity, but has a cost of $45 to $50/boe.  Â  There is also the issue of having enough arable land to grow the soybeans needed to replace just one US gasoline year.  Â The amount of land needed is approximately 2,000 times larger than what is used for growing soybeans now.   Â  To put that in a little better perspective, this required land is about 30 times larger than all the arable land in the US.   There is also a moral issue.  Â Which do you prefer, burning food or feeding the hungry? 

A more likely alternate liquid replacement is ethanol.  Â It only requires about one third of all arable land in the US to replace one US gasoline year and has a cost of $60 to $75/boe.

For more details, and other alternatives and their chances of keeping your SUV or hybrid humming, here are other articles by Mr. Reiss from the same issue of WIRED.   To see the related graphics referenced for this article, you will have to buy the magazine.

1.) As Prices Rise, Technologies Emerge
2.) As the long-term price of a barrel of oil reaches $20-$30
3.) The Data Pipeline
4.) As the long-term price of a barrel of oil reaches $30-$70
5.) Fill ‘Er Up With Frankenfuel
6.) As the long-term price of a barrel of oil reaches $70 & up
7.) Tapping the Rock Field

In a previous article, I provided details on the increases in prison population through mid 2004.   This article deals with information through the end of 2004, adds in those under community supervision, and compares growth in these areas to USA’s population growth for the same time frame.

On November 2, 2005, the Houston Chronicle printed an AP article by REBECCA CARROLL stating that “Nearly 7 million adults were in U.S. prisons or on probation or parole at the end of last year, 30 percent more than in 1995 …”. Details were provided by the Bureau of Justice Statistics in a news release, “The nation’s total correctional population was 6,996,500 in 2004, of which 4,151,125 were living in the community on probation; 1,421,911 were in a state or federal prison; 765,355 were living in the community on parole; and 713,990 were in [local] jail[s] ….   The number has grown by more than 1.6 million adults under correctional authority control since 1995.”   That is a 10 year growth of 29.6%.

Relative to prisoners only, another BJS press release included this additional detail, “As of December 31, 2004, there were 2,267,787 people behind bars in the United States, of which 1,421,911 were held in federal and state prisons (not including the 74,378 state and federal inmates incarcerated in local jails), 713,990 in local jails, 102,338 in juvenile facilities, 15,757 in U.S.   Territory prisons, 9,788 in Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement facilities, 2,177 in military prisons and 1,826 in Indian country jails (as of June 30, 2003).”

The second BJS press release also included the following, “The nation’s incarceration rate rose from 411 sentenced inmates per 100,000 U.S. residents in 1995 to 486 inmates per 100,000 at the end of last year [2004] – an 18 percent increase.   (A ‘sentenced’ prisoner is an inmate serving a sentence of more than a year.)”   The report also showed a 53 percent growth in the number of women prisoners, “As of December 31, 2004, 104,848 women were held in state and federal prisons – up from 68,468 in 1995.”

However, these changes need to be placed in the context of population growth of the nation as a whole.   According to Census.gov, the July 1, 1995, estimated residential population was 266,278,393.   According to another Census.gov report, the July 1, 2004 estimated USA population was 293,655,404.   This 10 year growth in population was 10.3 percent.   That’s one half the rate of total prisoner growth, one third the rate of prisoners plus those on parole or probation, and one fifth the rate of growth for female prisoners!!!

An April, 2005 article by ABC News concludes, “According to the Justice Policy Institute, which advocates a more lenient system of punishment, the United States has a higher rate of incarceration than any other country, followed by Britain, China, France, Japan and Nigeria.”

The ABC News report was based on a press release by the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS),which stated, “The nation’s prisons and jails held 2,131,180 inmates as of June 30, 2004 …”.

According to the CIA World Fact book, the estimated July, 2005 population of the United states is 295,734,134.   This means that 1 out of every 138 of our citizens is in a jail cell somewhere.   The BJS press release put it another way, “On June 30, 2004, there were an estimated 726 persons per 100,000 U.S. residents in prison or jail.”

The BJS press release also stated:

• “Between June 30, 2003 and June 30, 2004, the number of female prisoners increased 2.9 percent to reach 103,310.   At the same time, male prisoners increased 2 percent to reach 1,390,906.”
• ”Eight jurisdictions experienced double-digit growth in the year ending midyear 2004, led by Clark County, Nevada; Fulton County, Georgia; and Orange County, California — all up 20 percent.”
• “The number of noncitizens held in state or federal prisons increased 1.4 percent in the year ending June 30, 2004, reaching 91,789.   Almost two-thirds of incarcerated noncitizens were held by the federal system.”
• “At midyear 2004, jails were operating at 94 percent of capacity.”

For more detail refer to “Prison and Jail Inmates at Midyear 2004” (NCJ-208801).   Here are some snapshots from that report:

How much would the Federal numbers change if they included all the terrorists from both known and secret prisons.

The Online Journal.com reported on 10/28/2005, that “The latest critical confirmation of key indicators that the election of 2004 was stolen comes in an extremely powerful, penetrating report from the General Accounting Office that has gotten virtually no mainstream media coverage.”

Here are some other excerpts from the Online Journal about this GAO report:

“Nearly a year ago, senior Judiciary Committee Democrat John Conyers (D-MI) asked the GAO to investigate electronic voting machines as they were used during the November 2, 2004, presidential election. ”

“According to CNN, the U.S. House Judiciary Committee received ‘more than 57,000 complaints’ following Bush’s alleged re-election.”

“The United States is the only major democracy that allows private partisan corporations to secretly count and tabulate the votes with proprietary non-transparent software.   The CEO of one of the most crucial suppliers of electronic voting machines, Warren O’Dell of Diebold, pledged before the 2004 campaign to deliver Ohio and thus the presidency to George W. Bush.”

“Bush’s official margin of victory in Ohio was just 118,775 votes out of more than 5.6 million cast.”

“The GAO also confirms that access to the voting network was easily compromised because not all digital recording electronic voting systems (DREs) had supervisory functions password-protected, so access to one machine provided access to the whole network.   With 800,000 votes cast on electronic machines in Ohio, flipping the number needed to give Bush 118,775 could be easily done by just one programmer.”

“In essence, the GAO study makes it clear that no bank, grocery store or mom & pop chop shop would dare operate its business on a computer system as flimsy, fragile and easily manipulated as the one on which the 2004 election turned.”

“The GAO findings are particularly damning when set in the context of an election run in Ohio by a secretary of state simultaneously working as co-chair of the Bush-Cheney campaign.”

A related Rock River Times article added, “One Ohio campaign operative, Tom Noe, a coin dealer, was indicted Oct. 27 for illegally funneling $45,400 to Bush by writing checks to others, who then wrote checks to Bush’s re-election campaign, allegedly dodging the $2,000 limit on contributions by an individual.”

“In the 2000 election, Florida was the key; in the 2004 election, Ohio was the key.”

In my Other Thoughts category, you will find interests of mine which I felt inspired to write about, but which do not fit the primary intent of the site to record my thoughts on some critical issues that as a group can adversely affect any nation state. Some Other Thoughts may be of interest to you. Others may just be personal and important for me to write about.

(This was originally written on 2/16/06, but I moved it to November. It’s main purpose is to make sure the Other Thoughts category is listed in the navigation section.)