ISLAM / ISIS and Extremists criticized as not ‘Nation of Islam’ but ‘Anti-Muslim’

ISLAM / Where are the moderate Muslims speaking out? If you ignore anything said by a Muslim then you probably have heard nada, zip, zilch.

Last week the highest cleric in Egypt, the Grand Mufti, unconditionally condemned ISIS and extremism.

On September 10th, the American Muslim community held a press conference that strongly condemned extremists, and specifically ISIS. They also pledged their love and respect for the American ideal … being an ideal for all.

Nelson Mandela and flying the U.S. Flag at half-staff

Nelson Mandela and flying the U.S. Flag at half-staff

There has been some grousing that President Obama has order the U.S. flag to fly at half-staff in honor of South African President Mandela’s passing.

“The president may order the flag to be flown at half-staff to mark the death of other officials, former officials, or foreign dignitaries. In addition to these occasions, the president may order half-staff display of the flag after other tragic events.”

— U.S. Flag Code, para 3.

Twice before has a president directed the U.S. flag to be flown at half-staff for a foreign dignitary.

President George W. Bush ordered flags to fly at half-staff at the passing of Pope John Paul II in 2005, and President Lyndon Johnson bestowed the honor in recognition of the passing of Winston Churchill in 1965.

Alexis de Tocqueville Quotes – How many still apply to ‘America 2012’?

Alexis-Charles-Henri Clérel de Tocqueville, or known to most Americans as just Alexis de Tocqueville, wrote Democracy in America (1835) after his travels in the United States.

de Tocqueville saw democracy as an equation that balanced liberty and equality, concern for the individual as well as the community.

How many of the quotes below from de Tocqueville’s early 1830’s observations about America and Americans still represent our country today?

“The whole life of an American is passed like a game of chance, a revolutionary crisis, or a battle.”

“What is most important for democracy is not that great fortunes should not exist, but that great fortunes should not remain in the same hands. In that way there are rich men, but they do not form a class.”

“No protracted war can fail to endanger the freedom of a democratic country.”

“The American Republic will endure until the day Congress discovers that it can bribe the public with the public’s money.”

“As one digs deeper into the national character of the Americans, one sees that they have sought the value of everything in this world only in the answer to this single question: how much money will it bring in?”

“The Americans combine the notions of religion and liberty so intimately in their minds, that it is impossible to make them conceive of one without the other.”

“The debates of that great assembly are frequently vague and perplexed, seeming to be dragged rather than to march, to the intended goal. Something of this sort must, I think, always happen in public democratic assemblies.”

“The surface of American society is covered with a layer of democratic paint, but from time to time one can see the old aristocratic colours breaking through.”

“The greatness of America lies not in being more enlightened than any other nation, but rather in her ability to repair her faults.”

“There are many men of principle in both parties in America, but there is no party of principle.”

“The main business of religions is to purify, control, and restrain that excessive and exclusive taste for well-being which men acquire in times of equality.”

“There is hardly a political question in the United States which does not sooner or later turn into a judicial one.”

“There is hardly a pioneer’s hut which does not contain a few odd volumes of Shakespeare. I remember reading the feudal drama of Henry V for the first time in a log cabin.”

“I know of no country in which there is so little independence of mind and real freedom of discussion as in America.”

“A democratic government is the only one in which those who vote for a tax can escape the obligation to pay it.”

“Americans are so enamored of equality that they would rather be equal in slavery than unequal in freedom.”

“I cannot help fearing that men may reach a point where they look on every new theory as a danger, every innovation as a toilsome trouble, every social advance as a first step toward revolution, and that they may absolutely refuse to move at all.”

“In America the majority raises formidable barriers around the liberty of opinion; within these barriers an author may write what he pleases, but woe to him if he goes beyond them.”

“In the United States, the majority undertakes to supply a multitude of ready-made opinions for the use of individuals, who are thus relieved from the necessity of forming opinions of their own.”

“In politics shared hatreds are almost always the basis of friendships.”

You can download Alexis de Tocqueville’s Democracy in America from Google Books for free.

American Future: The USA’s Credit Rating is ___?!

America’s national debt is uberlarge; the world’s largest. Our national debt is larger than the economies of many countries.

Our national debt is not a theoretical boogieman that may/may not come to haunt us. The boogieman arrives in full regalia later this year (Oct 2010) when just over $2,000,000,000,000 (2T) is due in a balloon payout to those to whom we owe $$$.

Good News: our current national credit rating: ‘AAA’, as determined by the credit rating agency Standard & Poor’s (S&P).

A triple ‘AAA’ credit rating means that we have the ability to fully pay back what we have borrowed, if we really wanted to.

Bad News: we have become addicted to borrowing rather than living within our means. We are at risk of partial default and renegotiation of our debt at much higher rates if we do not immediately change our borrowing and spending habits.

National debt has a dollar value. The more important measurement is the  debt as a percent of the total country’s production, or GDP ($14.4 trillion, 2008).

Our national debt is now 83% of GDP, up from 51% in 1988 (Source: U.S. Treasury,  Bureau of Economic Analysis). If you include the debt projected by the Obama Administration for 2011 and 2012, we will probably exceed the 95% level by late 2011; translation: it would take $95 out of every $100 earned if we were to pay back the debt in a single year.

Usually our debt payments are spread over a 10 year period, but that still means that we must pay out the equivalent of 9.5% of our total economic output just to pay the ‘minimum amount due‘.

Chart: Our Borrowing Addiction Level
The Bush Administration tax cuts had two impacts: A) we lost our ability to pay our bills in full and became dependent upon foreign loans to run our government; and B) we went from paying down our debt and having a surplus of almost $1T. Our national debt doubled during the Bush years and the Obama Administration is on track to set impressive records, too.

A non-partisan view of Democratic and Republican approaches: both assume that magic happens.

• Democrats often create debt because they boost spending with the expectation that taxation of some in society will be sufficient to pay for goodies to all. Democratic spending is like a spotted dog where each spot has its own agenda and can cause the dog to scratch without end every itch.
• Republicans believe the Tax Cut Fairy will solve everything and as a result create just as much or more debt.  They love to talk about the Laffer Curve, but forget that it has two predictive ends: tax too much and revenue drops, tax too little and you incur debt via borrowing because you still must pay your bills. The only magic here is that of compounding interest.

Bottom line: the above chart shows national spending to be on a near constant growth path. It actually diverges little regardless of which party dominates. Much of our current national deficit, which adds to our debt, is not because spending is increasing at a faster growing rate —  our ever growing deficit and debt is alarming because our economy cannot produce the revenue necessary to even get near our national expenses. With the IMF’s recent prediction that annual U.S. GDP growth will barely break 2% in 2010 then we are in trouble.

Red Flags: a country that grows its GDP by only 2% cannot afford debt equal to 9.5% of its total annual GDP.

Our Challenges:

• Is our current debt manageable?
• Is our credit rating in potential jeopardy? Either a ‘warning’ or a lowering of our credit rating per S&P would cause the interest that we pay on borrowed money to rise.
• Is there a point of default?
• Are there politically acceptable and economically sound ways to curtail and to shrink our national debt?

Over the next week I will review each of the challenges above and feedback to you what I find from the minds of various industry analysts.

View credit ratings of the different American states and various countries.

Questions? Comments? Help me research this by sending me your questions to wgolden@intelligencecareers.com.

Ranting? If you wish to rant then just do it. However, meaningful questions serve a higher purpose. We need to move beyond the partisan ‘big lies’ that have gotten us into this predicament of owing the world so much money. There is no evidence since 2000 — when we actually had a plan to shrink our national debt and our national debt clock actually was reversing — that either Republicans or Democrats are serious about managing our national debt. So rant if you wish but please be bipartisan about it because neither party has anything to be proud of on this subject.