What difference does it make to the dead, to the orphans and the homeless, whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitarianism or the holy name of liberty or democracy?"
-- Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948)
The United States has been at war in Afghanistan for the last eight years. In recent months, the number of young Americans dying, and suffering disabling wounds, such as amputations and brain traumas, has jumped significantly.
October, 2009 was the deadliest month for the loss of American lives -- 62 -- since the war began.
Over one thousand U.S. troops were wounded in the war in the months of August, September, and October of this year. The egregious total represents over 25 percent of the wounded since the war began in early 2001, and does not include a significant number of American forces wounded outside the combat arena.
In recent months, roadside bombs have been responsible for the majority of U.S. deaths and injuries in Afghanistan. According to military statistics, since the month of February, over 70 percent of U.S. combat deaths have been due to IED's or roadside bombs. The number of Americans killed by IED's is up 400 percent.
In March, Afghanistan became America's longest war surpassing the length of the Vietnam War to which the Afghanistan war is frequently compared.
The losing effort in Afghanistan is taking a bite out of Nobel Laureate President Barack Obama's credibility.
An average of the latest U.S. polls indicate over 60 percent of Americans now favor a withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan. The numbers have increased considerably since the summer.
So why is President Obama bent on sending thousands of additional troops into a unwinable war?
The answer is simple -- Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the commanding officer in Afghanistan.
Since his assignment began, McChrystal has accomplished little in Afghanistan. Now the general is requesting 45,000 additional troops -- a total that would bring U.S. troop levels to 115,000, the peak level of Soviet troops in Afghanistan some 20 years ago. In the ninth year of their occupation (1989) the Soviets withdrew from the country in disgrace, after pressure from inside the Soviet Union mounted to unprecedented heights.
McChrystal wants an additional decade of war to convince the Afghan people of the righteousness of his call to arms.
In the 19th century, the British also failed in their attempt to build a nation beholden to Empire. Can't forget the failure of the Greeks and Mongols who were also repelled from their adventures into the land locked nation.
In the 21st century McChrystal operates under a false premise. He believes the Afghan people want an American presence. The Afghan people don't want Americans in their country anymore than they wanted a a Soviet presence 20 years ago or the British in the mid-1800's or the Greeks or Mongols.
In the villages of Afghanistan the people want one thing -- to be left alone, so they might lives their lives quietly, without external interference. The people of this poverty stricken nation are more concerned with the rites of family life than a strong central government. Food and everyday necessities are more important than elections.
The Afghan people are unwilling to suffer further death at the hands of either American or Taliban forces. They wish to lives unambiguously.
These tribal people have lived simply for centuries. Foisting western values on a people who can't pick America out on a map is an ethnocentric enterprise that will result in tragedy for both the American and Afghan people.
Three centuries, three invasions and the nation of Afghanistan remains virtually the same.
Military might will not change the outcome of the war in Afghanistan. McChrystal's hard edged approach will not work.
It is time that this president stand up to the military, the right-wing cabal and the media which continue to pressure him to commit more troops, more military hardware and billions of additional taxpayer's hard earned dollars.
If Nobel Laureate President Obama truly seeks peace he will relieve Gen. Stanley McChrystal of his position, replacing him with a General who believes that another decade of occupation in Afghanistan will only result in the deaths of thousands of innocent American soldiers and Afghans and the countless injury of thousands more.
If this war escalates as Gen. McChrystal recommends, Afghan children with stumps will become the legacy of a president that millions believed would change the course of history by altering the course of this nation's unilateral war excursions.
Thom Carnevale
This Ganderong column was first published in the Friday, November 6, 2009 edition of the Telluride Daily Planet.
Friday, November 06, 2009
Sunday, November 01, 2009
DAILY TELLURIDE WEATHER -- NOVEMBER
Nov 1 - 54/21/ 0
Nov 2 - 54/21/ 0
Nov 3 - 57/22/ 0
Nov 4 - 61/23/ 0
Nov 5 - 58/28/ 0
Nov 6 - 58/29/ 0
Nov 7 - 60/29/ 0
Nov 8 - 56/27/ 0
Nov 9 - 56/26/ 0
Nov 2 - 54/21/ 0
Nov 3 - 57/22/ 0
Nov 4 - 61/23/ 0
Nov 5 - 58/28/ 0
Nov 6 - 58/29/ 0
Nov 7 - 60/29/ 0
Nov 8 - 56/27/ 0
Nov 9 - 56/26/ 0
TELLURIDE -- OCTOBER WEATHER SUMMARY
Normal Precip for October: 1.96"
October, 2009 Precip: 1.55"
Normal Precip through Oct. 31, 2009: 20.20"
Year Precip through Oct. 31, 2009:19.74"
Plus or minus through Oct. 31, 2009: -.46"
Average Snow, October: 9.7"
Maximum Snow October: 42"
Snow October, 2009: 9"
Highest temperature October, 2009: 67 (10-18)
Record High October Temperature: 85 (1948)
Lowest temperature, October, 2009: 6 (10-29)
Record Low October Temperature: 0 (1956)
October, 2009 Precip: 1.55"
Normal Precip through Oct. 31, 2009: 20.20"
Year Precip through Oct. 31, 2009:19.74"
Plus or minus through Oct. 31, 2009: -.46"
Average Snow, October: 9.7"
Maximum Snow October: 42"
Snow October, 2009: 9"
Highest temperature October, 2009: 67 (10-18)
Record High October Temperature: 85 (1948)
Lowest temperature, October, 2009: 6 (10-29)
Record Low October Temperature: 0 (1956)
Friday, October 30, 2009
BANKING CRISIS REDUX
The banks — they are a failin’,” is a direct quote from this columnist’s Gandering column on Sept. 4, 2009.
Since that writing, 30 additional banks have failed, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, responsible for insuring the nation’s bank deposits, has fallen into the red.
As of this writing, Shelia Bair, executive director of the FDIC, has resisted calling upon an increment of the $500 billion FDIC bailout money, appropriated by Congress earlier this year. The first $100 billion of the bailout fund does not require approval by the U.S. Treasury.
In 2009, more banks failed than in any year since 1992, the height of the savings and loan crisis.
The most severe economic crisis to strike this nation since the Great Depression has hit small and large banks alike.
With soaring unemployment, sagging consumer spending, and a rising number of bank failures, economic experts expect up to 1,000 failures in the next 36 months. There are currently about 8,000 U.S. banks in operation.
While the first wave of bank failures had its genesis in home real estate loans, banks are also being pummeled by failure of small businesses, and more recently, by sour commercial and condominium development loans.
Poorly timed development projects are now defaulting at a rate similar to the years of the Great Depression. Those numbers are expected to rise handily in the 2010-2011 cycle.
As of June 30, 416 banks were listed as endangered — that number is expected to show a sharp increase in the next accounting.
The endangered banks should have been shut down months ago. The condition of the troubled institutions is continuing to deteriorate, and will plague taxpayers with yet more burdensome costs at a later date.
In time, the FDIC had hoped that the condition of the troubled financial institutions would improve, but the financial dislocation has made it increasingly difficult to raise capital or sell assets.
The FDIC purposely keeps the names of the troubled banks a secret, in hopes of preventing depositors from withdrawing their funds, compounding the losses shown on the bank’s balance sheets.
Should depositors be warned their banking institution is near collapse, and if they so desire, be accorded an opportunity to withdraw their funds, or is secrecy the best modus operandi for the FDIC?
Rather than requiring banks to pay a special assessment to the FDIC insurance fund, Director Bair is considering requiring U.S. banks to pre-pay their insurance premiums. The early payment of approximately $45 billion would delay dispersal of the appropriated bailout funds. This band-aid measure will only stall the crisis.
The Obama administration recently unveiled a new bank bailout plan. It would offer cash infusions to small banks at low interest rates, if they agreed to increase lending to small businesses. The banks that serve low-income areas would get even lower rates in an attempt to aid small businesses in hard hit rural and urban areas. Administration spokesman say no additional appropriations would be required. The money would be available from funds remaining from the previous $700 billion bailout allocation.
Another interesting proposal was presented to the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston by Federal Deposit Insurance Corp officials John O’Keefe and James Wilcox, a professor at the University of California Berkeley’s Haas School of Business:
“When enough smaller institutions are similar enough they may also be systemically important. One way to address otherwise-unpriced, systemic risks that might arise from the similarity of small institutions might be to impose a capital charge for the systemic risks that each engenders,” the FDIC officials advocate.
The proposal describes the charge as “a systemic risk add-on to its capital requirement. The capital charge might be proportional to a bank’s share of the relevant banking sector.”
Today the banks are taking the same risks that led to the financial debacle. The recent slew of bank profits among some financial institutions is due to the bailout funds and technical accounting changes that make it easier for banks to hide high risk loans, not changes in the fundamental ways of doing business.
Whatever decisions are made in the ensuing months, quick action is required to stem the increasing number of American bank failures.
Thom Carnevale
This Gandering column was first published in the Friday, October 30, 2009 edition of the Telluride Daily Planet.
Since that writing, 30 additional banks have failed, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, responsible for insuring the nation’s bank deposits, has fallen into the red.
As of this writing, Shelia Bair, executive director of the FDIC, has resisted calling upon an increment of the $500 billion FDIC bailout money, appropriated by Congress earlier this year. The first $100 billion of the bailout fund does not require approval by the U.S. Treasury.
In 2009, more banks failed than in any year since 1992, the height of the savings and loan crisis.
The most severe economic crisis to strike this nation since the Great Depression has hit small and large banks alike.
With soaring unemployment, sagging consumer spending, and a rising number of bank failures, economic experts expect up to 1,000 failures in the next 36 months. There are currently about 8,000 U.S. banks in operation.
While the first wave of bank failures had its genesis in home real estate loans, banks are also being pummeled by failure of small businesses, and more recently, by sour commercial and condominium development loans.
Poorly timed development projects are now defaulting at a rate similar to the years of the Great Depression. Those numbers are expected to rise handily in the 2010-2011 cycle.
As of June 30, 416 banks were listed as endangered — that number is expected to show a sharp increase in the next accounting.
The endangered banks should have been shut down months ago. The condition of the troubled institutions is continuing to deteriorate, and will plague taxpayers with yet more burdensome costs at a later date.
In time, the FDIC had hoped that the condition of the troubled financial institutions would improve, but the financial dislocation has made it increasingly difficult to raise capital or sell assets.
The FDIC purposely keeps the names of the troubled banks a secret, in hopes of preventing depositors from withdrawing their funds, compounding the losses shown on the bank’s balance sheets.
Should depositors be warned their banking institution is near collapse, and if they so desire, be accorded an opportunity to withdraw their funds, or is secrecy the best modus operandi for the FDIC?
Rather than requiring banks to pay a special assessment to the FDIC insurance fund, Director Bair is considering requiring U.S. banks to pre-pay their insurance premiums. The early payment of approximately $45 billion would delay dispersal of the appropriated bailout funds. This band-aid measure will only stall the crisis.
The Obama administration recently unveiled a new bank bailout plan. It would offer cash infusions to small banks at low interest rates, if they agreed to increase lending to small businesses. The banks that serve low-income areas would get even lower rates in an attempt to aid small businesses in hard hit rural and urban areas. Administration spokesman say no additional appropriations would be required. The money would be available from funds remaining from the previous $700 billion bailout allocation.
Another interesting proposal was presented to the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston by Federal Deposit Insurance Corp officials John O’Keefe and James Wilcox, a professor at the University of California Berkeley’s Haas School of Business:
“When enough smaller institutions are similar enough they may also be systemically important. One way to address otherwise-unpriced, systemic risks that might arise from the similarity of small institutions might be to impose a capital charge for the systemic risks that each engenders,” the FDIC officials advocate.
The proposal describes the charge as “a systemic risk add-on to its capital requirement. The capital charge might be proportional to a bank’s share of the relevant banking sector.”
Today the banks are taking the same risks that led to the financial debacle. The recent slew of bank profits among some financial institutions is due to the bailout funds and technical accounting changes that make it easier for banks to hide high risk loans, not changes in the fundamental ways of doing business.
Whatever decisions are made in the ensuing months, quick action is required to stem the increasing number of American bank failures.
Thom Carnevale
This Gandering column was first published in the Friday, October 30, 2009 edition of the Telluride Daily Planet.
Friday, October 23, 2009
WALL STREET'S BALLOON BOYS
The Dow Jones has surpassed the 10,000 mark. Business channel pundits are predicting a Dow at 11,500 by December.
Goldman Sachs is roaring with enthusiastic approval — the financial behemoth has set aside $16.7 billion for bonus and benefit compensation for employees in 2009. That’s more than a half-million dollars per employee.
Sorry — I can’t buy it. There are too many economic imponderables on the table for Americans to be gleeful.
Understandably, after the greatest economic setback since the Great Depression, the power elite is angry and frightened. The greedmeisters want a return of the trillions of dollars of lost wealth.
Today’s market run up is not motivated by the return of sound economic fundamentals, but rather by impatience and greed. There are no discernible reasons for the markets to have risen to such exuberant heights.
A close look at current economic warning signs is mandatory for any American who values a sound future.
The fallout is escalating from the collapse of the commercial real estate market, bank failures are continuing at a rapid clip, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation is now operating in the red, the credit markets are still frozen, consumers are continuing to save at record levels rather than boosting the economy through increased spending, unemployment stands at 17 percent. Home foreclosures remain at record levels. Real estate prices are set to tumble an additional 11-18 percent in 2010-2011.
At the local level — Telluride real estate pundit George Harvey has this to say about the current state of the housing market: “We haven’t found the bottom for sellers. Unfortunately, we still have a tremendous amount of inventory and roughly a 7-10 year supply of real estate in every category.”
With a depressed local economy, the platforms of three local town council candidates call for tax increases on Telluride’s small business community, local and second-homeowners.
Calls for increased local taxes are reminiscent of the voodoo economic policies of former Republican President George H.W. Bush. Passage of tax increases at the local level would further enable irresponsible spending by a Telluride Town Council majority bent on undermining local economic recovery.
Yes, the balloon boys on Wall Street are making money, but consumers on main street are not. For consumers it is a loss of jobs, struggles with overpowering mortgages, and tight credit.
At some point in 2010 or 2011 some of the trillions of dollars infused into the system by the Fed will be called back. Many Americans doubt whether the public will be able to repay the debt.
The FDIC is expecting bank failures to cost the insurance fund at least $100-$200 billion in the ensuing two years.
Shelia Bair, director of the agency predicts bank failures will increase next year — many economists are predicting the failure of up to 1,000 banks in the ensuing two-year cycle. The major cause for the increasing number of bank failures: sour commercial real estate loans.
Facing the guillotine are small and regional banks that have not been given bailouts — bailouts are reserved for big banks who are tied to the power elite. In a vain attempt to remain competitive, the small banks loaded up their balance sheets with dubious loans to speculative real estate developers.
Lessons learned from the greatest economic crisis to hit this nation since the Great Depression — none.
Once again those who place greed above the common welfare are in control, laying the groundwork for a second bubble. With a re-occurrence those hurt by the unconscionable actions of the greedmeisters will only have themselves to blame.
Thom Carnevale
This Gandering column was published first in the Friday, October 23, 2009 edition of the Telluride Daily Planet.
Goldman Sachs is roaring with enthusiastic approval — the financial behemoth has set aside $16.7 billion for bonus and benefit compensation for employees in 2009. That’s more than a half-million dollars per employee.
Sorry — I can’t buy it. There are too many economic imponderables on the table for Americans to be gleeful.
Understandably, after the greatest economic setback since the Great Depression, the power elite is angry and frightened. The greedmeisters want a return of the trillions of dollars of lost wealth.
Today’s market run up is not motivated by the return of sound economic fundamentals, but rather by impatience and greed. There are no discernible reasons for the markets to have risen to such exuberant heights.
A close look at current economic warning signs is mandatory for any American who values a sound future.
The fallout is escalating from the collapse of the commercial real estate market, bank failures are continuing at a rapid clip, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation is now operating in the red, the credit markets are still frozen, consumers are continuing to save at record levels rather than boosting the economy through increased spending, unemployment stands at 17 percent. Home foreclosures remain at record levels. Real estate prices are set to tumble an additional 11-18 percent in 2010-2011.
At the local level — Telluride real estate pundit George Harvey has this to say about the current state of the housing market: “We haven’t found the bottom for sellers. Unfortunately, we still have a tremendous amount of inventory and roughly a 7-10 year supply of real estate in every category.”
With a depressed local economy, the platforms of three local town council candidates call for tax increases on Telluride’s small business community, local and second-homeowners.
Calls for increased local taxes are reminiscent of the voodoo economic policies of former Republican President George H.W. Bush. Passage of tax increases at the local level would further enable irresponsible spending by a Telluride Town Council majority bent on undermining local economic recovery.
Yes, the balloon boys on Wall Street are making money, but consumers on main street are not. For consumers it is a loss of jobs, struggles with overpowering mortgages, and tight credit.
At some point in 2010 or 2011 some of the trillions of dollars infused into the system by the Fed will be called back. Many Americans doubt whether the public will be able to repay the debt.
The FDIC is expecting bank failures to cost the insurance fund at least $100-$200 billion in the ensuing two years.
Shelia Bair, director of the agency predicts bank failures will increase next year — many economists are predicting the failure of up to 1,000 banks in the ensuing two-year cycle. The major cause for the increasing number of bank failures: sour commercial real estate loans.
Facing the guillotine are small and regional banks that have not been given bailouts — bailouts are reserved for big banks who are tied to the power elite. In a vain attempt to remain competitive, the small banks loaded up their balance sheets with dubious loans to speculative real estate developers.
Lessons learned from the greatest economic crisis to hit this nation since the Great Depression — none.
Once again those who place greed above the common welfare are in control, laying the groundwork for a second bubble. With a re-occurrence those hurt by the unconscionable actions of the greedmeisters will only have themselves to blame.
Thom Carnevale
This Gandering column was published first in the Friday, October 23, 2009 edition of the Telluride Daily Planet.
Friday, October 16, 2009
PRESERVING THE PROFIT PRIVILEGE
Recently, the term socialism has been bandied about, mostly by those who intermingle the word with others like fascism, Adolph Hitler and Communism.
Having a mute understanding of economics, the purveyors of the right use the term as if the walls of Gehenna will rain down on any individual who espouses health care reform, Social Security, Medicare, VA health care, unemployment insurance and their latest target, fire protection.
Fire protection should be privatized, they quip. Allowing fire fighters to live and work closely together forms a brother-sisterhood that is likely to spawn communal values.
Michael Moore’s recently released movie, “Capitalism: A Love Story,” has ignited a great debate.
Do the excesses of an unregulated capitalist system merit exposure? Should an unregulated system that has spawned the likes of Bernie Madoff, AIG, Citibank, a Great Depression, unacceptable levels of unemployment and a twisted web of deception be allowed to extend its outgrowths further into the lives of everyday Americans?
In a letter written to the American people Moore says: “I have come to believe that there is no getting around the fact that capitalism is opposite everything that Jesus (and Moses and Mohammed and Buddha) taught. All the great religions are clear about one thing: It is evil to take the majority of the pie and leave what’s left for everyone to fight over. Jesus said that the rich man would have a very hard time getting into heaven. He told us that we had to be our brother’s and sister’s keepers and that the riches that did exist were to be divided fairly. He said that if you failed to house the homeless and feed the hungry, you’d have a hard time finding the pin code to the pearly gates.”
Does this make Moore a socialist? Moore is a multi-millionaire — it’s doubtful.
In interviews promoting his new film, a new side of Moore is being exposed — a practicing Roman Catholic extolling the teachings of Jesus Christ.
In his diatribes, Moore is not advocating an eradication of the capitalist system; rather he seeks reforms that will purge capitalism of its idiosyncrasies.
Likewise, conservative Pope Benedict XVI criticizes an economic system that embeds the vast majority of wealth in the hands of a few.
In a three-week synod of African Bishops, Pope Benedict pronounced the end of “political colonialism,” but warned of a “material colonialism” that is being exported by western capitalist countries. Benedict went on to call the materialism “toxic spiritual rubbish,” further admonishing materialism as the greatest pseudo religion of all time.
In the United States a breakdown of net worth of Americans relates a compelling story. Looking at a study conducted by the Federal Reserve Board we find the median net worth of families and their percentile ranks as follows.
Net Worth percentile -- Median net worth
Level 6 (90-100): $833,600
Level 5 (80-89.9: $263,100
Level 4 (60-79.9): $141,500
Level 3 (40-59.9): $62,500
Level 2 (20-39.9): $37,200
Level 1 (less than 20):$7,900
In addition, the top 1 percent of American households receive more pre-tax income than the bottom 40 percent. The top 1 percent of American households own 40 percent of total household wealth — more than the bottom 90 percent of households combined.
Today this nation suffers from the greatest disparity of income since the 1920s.
It is little wonder that millions of ordinary Americans are engaged in a battle with the establishment. For it is this economic establishment that has enabled such disparity. The only problem with their analysis is the conclusion.
Captivated by a group of super wealthy right-wing pundits, many Americans believe incorrectly that denizens on the right are looking out for their livelihoods. The opposite is true — wealthy pundits are looking out for themselves, seeking to preserve and protect their concentrated wealth.
The blame for the economic crisis lies not on progressives as the pundits would have us believe, but on conservatives, both Republican and Democrat, who have enabled a system that concentrates wealth in the hands of a few.
Progressives don’t deserve the ire of right-wing critics for it is their insightful proclivities that have tempered the broken system, enabling it to rebound from the depths of its excesses.
Progressives saved the capitalist system in the 1930s and are attempting to do so in the first decade of the 21st Century.
Unbridled capitalism has resulted in a system malfunction — a collapse of the American way of life faces each and every American, but a tempered reappraisal of the system’s weaknesses and the appropriate reforms will rejuvenate the economic sphere, enabling a competitive market system to share the wealth, while preserving the profit privilege.
What Michael Moore and Pope Benedict XVI are recommending is not a command economy, but one that protects the vested interests of each and every American.
Thom Carnevale
This Gandering column was first published in the Friday, October 16, 2009 edition of the Telluride Daily Planet.
Having a mute understanding of economics, the purveyors of the right use the term as if the walls of Gehenna will rain down on any individual who espouses health care reform, Social Security, Medicare, VA health care, unemployment insurance and their latest target, fire protection.
Fire protection should be privatized, they quip. Allowing fire fighters to live and work closely together forms a brother-sisterhood that is likely to spawn communal values.
Michael Moore’s recently released movie, “Capitalism: A Love Story,” has ignited a great debate.
Do the excesses of an unregulated capitalist system merit exposure? Should an unregulated system that has spawned the likes of Bernie Madoff, AIG, Citibank, a Great Depression, unacceptable levels of unemployment and a twisted web of deception be allowed to extend its outgrowths further into the lives of everyday Americans?
In a letter written to the American people Moore says: “I have come to believe that there is no getting around the fact that capitalism is opposite everything that Jesus (and Moses and Mohammed and Buddha) taught. All the great religions are clear about one thing: It is evil to take the majority of the pie and leave what’s left for everyone to fight over. Jesus said that the rich man would have a very hard time getting into heaven. He told us that we had to be our brother’s and sister’s keepers and that the riches that did exist were to be divided fairly. He said that if you failed to house the homeless and feed the hungry, you’d have a hard time finding the pin code to the pearly gates.”
Does this make Moore a socialist? Moore is a multi-millionaire — it’s doubtful.
In interviews promoting his new film, a new side of Moore is being exposed — a practicing Roman Catholic extolling the teachings of Jesus Christ.
In his diatribes, Moore is not advocating an eradication of the capitalist system; rather he seeks reforms that will purge capitalism of its idiosyncrasies.
Likewise, conservative Pope Benedict XVI criticizes an economic system that embeds the vast majority of wealth in the hands of a few.
In a three-week synod of African Bishops, Pope Benedict pronounced the end of “political colonialism,” but warned of a “material colonialism” that is being exported by western capitalist countries. Benedict went on to call the materialism “toxic spiritual rubbish,” further admonishing materialism as the greatest pseudo religion of all time.
In the United States a breakdown of net worth of Americans relates a compelling story. Looking at a study conducted by the Federal Reserve Board we find the median net worth of families and their percentile ranks as follows.
Net Worth percentile -- Median net worth
Level 6 (90-100): $833,600
Level 5 (80-89.9: $263,100
Level 4 (60-79.9): $141,500
Level 3 (40-59.9): $62,500
Level 2 (20-39.9): $37,200
Level 1 (less than 20):$7,900
In addition, the top 1 percent of American households receive more pre-tax income than the bottom 40 percent. The top 1 percent of American households own 40 percent of total household wealth — more than the bottom 90 percent of households combined.
Today this nation suffers from the greatest disparity of income since the 1920s.
It is little wonder that millions of ordinary Americans are engaged in a battle with the establishment. For it is this economic establishment that has enabled such disparity. The only problem with their analysis is the conclusion.
Captivated by a group of super wealthy right-wing pundits, many Americans believe incorrectly that denizens on the right are looking out for their livelihoods. The opposite is true — wealthy pundits are looking out for themselves, seeking to preserve and protect their concentrated wealth.
The blame for the economic crisis lies not on progressives as the pundits would have us believe, but on conservatives, both Republican and Democrat, who have enabled a system that concentrates wealth in the hands of a few.
Progressives don’t deserve the ire of right-wing critics for it is their insightful proclivities that have tempered the broken system, enabling it to rebound from the depths of its excesses.
Progressives saved the capitalist system in the 1930s and are attempting to do so in the first decade of the 21st Century.
Unbridled capitalism has resulted in a system malfunction — a collapse of the American way of life faces each and every American, but a tempered reappraisal of the system’s weaknesses and the appropriate reforms will rejuvenate the economic sphere, enabling a competitive market system to share the wealth, while preserving the profit privilege.
What Michael Moore and Pope Benedict XVI are recommending is not a command economy, but one that protects the vested interests of each and every American.
Thom Carnevale
This Gandering column was first published in the Friday, October 16, 2009 edition of the Telluride Daily Planet.
Friday, October 09, 2009
GOLDEN DELICIOUS BEHAVIOR
“We must lay hold of the fact that economic laws are not made by nature. They are made by human beings.” — President Franklin Delano Roosevelt
President Obama calls the latest unemployment statistics “sobering.” The “real” unemployment rate currently stands at 17 percent, more than 7 percent higher than the reported number by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
2009 is a dreary time for those who have dropped out of the job market, part-time workers seeking full time employment, and the millions of Americans who e-mail resumes daily.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that 35.6 percent of the unemployed have been without work for over seven months.
In September, U.S. employers cut another 263,000 jobs. Job cuts have continued for 21 consecutive months.
Some economists say the worst of the downturn is over — the words of everyday workers tell a much different story.
The prime breadwinner of a typical household can survive unemployment for a day, even a month, but when months turn into a way of life, families begin to crumble under the weight of the devastation.
Yes, it’s true, the monthly job losses were more than 700,000 a month when President Obama assumed the presidency.
The number of job losses has dropped since the stimulus money has begun to trickle through the economy. This is a positive sign, but the economy is still continuing to shed jobs with more losses and higher unemployment expected in the year ahead.
All sectors of the economy are being hit. The service sector in September lost an additional 147,000 jobs, 64,000 were lost in construction, 51,000 in manufacturing. Even government jobs which had shown previous strength reported a loss of 53,000 as Federal, State and Local governments laid off increasing numbers, jeopardizing necessary government services.
Unemployment benefits have run out for more than a million workers. Many more unemployed face the same prospect in the coming months, yet Congress has not acted to lengthen the benefit period.
Unemployment benefits serve not only to help families feed themselves and pay the rent, they help maintain a sense of normalcy for young children who often suffer the ill effects of economic dislocation — silently.
Faced with a loss of their home, inadequate diets, these young Americans often lose a sense of hope.
When the present and future remain clouded with despair, the removal of hope from a child’s mental lexicon often opens the door to nefarious avenues of behavior, including crime sprees and disruptive attitudes at school and at home.
The current economic crisis caused by the golden delicious behavior of financial speculators and bankers — enabled by the economic policies of former presidents Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and a merry band of economic fundamentalists — has and will continue to call into question deregulation policies and the horrors they have unleashed on an unsuspecting American public.
Fostering short-term profits at the expense of the welfare of the nation by former presidents, and a willing Congress, threatens freedom and democratic governance.
An extension of unemployment benefits for those who have lost their footing due to the excesses of the privileged is the least Congress can do to help millions weather the economic storm.
Thom Carnevale
This Gandering column was first published in the Friday, October 9, 2009 edition of the Telluride Daily Planet.
President Obama calls the latest unemployment statistics “sobering.” The “real” unemployment rate currently stands at 17 percent, more than 7 percent higher than the reported number by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
2009 is a dreary time for those who have dropped out of the job market, part-time workers seeking full time employment, and the millions of Americans who e-mail resumes daily.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that 35.6 percent of the unemployed have been without work for over seven months.
In September, U.S. employers cut another 263,000 jobs. Job cuts have continued for 21 consecutive months.
Some economists say the worst of the downturn is over — the words of everyday workers tell a much different story.
The prime breadwinner of a typical household can survive unemployment for a day, even a month, but when months turn into a way of life, families begin to crumble under the weight of the devastation.
Yes, it’s true, the monthly job losses were more than 700,000 a month when President Obama assumed the presidency.
The number of job losses has dropped since the stimulus money has begun to trickle through the economy. This is a positive sign, but the economy is still continuing to shed jobs with more losses and higher unemployment expected in the year ahead.
All sectors of the economy are being hit. The service sector in September lost an additional 147,000 jobs, 64,000 were lost in construction, 51,000 in manufacturing. Even government jobs which had shown previous strength reported a loss of 53,000 as Federal, State and Local governments laid off increasing numbers, jeopardizing necessary government services.
Unemployment benefits have run out for more than a million workers. Many more unemployed face the same prospect in the coming months, yet Congress has not acted to lengthen the benefit period.
Unemployment benefits serve not only to help families feed themselves and pay the rent, they help maintain a sense of normalcy for young children who often suffer the ill effects of economic dislocation — silently.
Faced with a loss of their home, inadequate diets, these young Americans often lose a sense of hope.
When the present and future remain clouded with despair, the removal of hope from a child’s mental lexicon often opens the door to nefarious avenues of behavior, including crime sprees and disruptive attitudes at school and at home.
The current economic crisis caused by the golden delicious behavior of financial speculators and bankers — enabled by the economic policies of former presidents Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and a merry band of economic fundamentalists — has and will continue to call into question deregulation policies and the horrors they have unleashed on an unsuspecting American public.
Fostering short-term profits at the expense of the welfare of the nation by former presidents, and a willing Congress, threatens freedom and democratic governance.
An extension of unemployment benefits for those who have lost their footing due to the excesses of the privileged is the least Congress can do to help millions weather the economic storm.
Thom Carnevale
This Gandering column was first published in the Friday, October 9, 2009 edition of the Telluride Daily Planet.
Friday, October 02, 2009
TELLURIDE -- SEPTEMBER WEATHER SUMMARY
Normal Precip for September: 2.07"
September, 2009 Precip: 2.07"
Normal Precip through Sept. 30, 2009: 18.24"
Year Precip through Sept. 30, 2009: 18.24"
Plus or minus through Set. 30, 2009: -.05
Average Snow, September: 0.9"
Maximum Snow September: 23" (1959)
Snow September, 2009: 0
Highest temperature September, 2009: 77 (9-1)
Record High September Temperature: 88 (1990)
Lowest temperature, September, 2009: 29(9-23)
Record Low September Temperature: 9 (1931)
September, 2009 Precip: 2.07"
Normal Precip through Sept. 30, 2009: 18.24"
Year Precip through Sept. 30, 2009: 18.24"
Plus or minus through Set. 30, 2009: -.05
Average Snow, September: 0.9"
Maximum Snow September: 23" (1959)
Snow September, 2009: 0
Highest temperature September, 2009: 77 (9-1)
Record High September Temperature: 88 (1990)
Lowest temperature, September, 2009: 29(9-23)
Record Low September Temperature: 9 (1931)
DAILY TELLURIDE WEATHER -- OCTOBER
Oct 1 - 50/28/ 0
Oct 2 - 59/20/ 0
Oct 3 - 61/24/ 0
Oct 4 - 60/37/ 0
Oct 5 - 48/28/ (.17)
Oct 6 - 57/20/ 0
Oct 7 - 58/30/ (.05)
Oct 8 - 53/31/ 0
Oct 9 - 55/23/ 0
Oct 10 - 58/24/ 0
Oct 11 - 56/31/ 0
Oct 12 - 61/28/
Oct 13 - 50/32/ (.39)
Oct 14 - 63/27/ 0
Oct 15 - 64/26/ 0
Oct 16 - 64/27/ 0
Oct 17 - 66/27/ 0
Oct 18 - 67/28/ 0
Oct 19 - 61/38/ (.03)
Oct 20 - 52/40/ (.04)
Oct 21 - 45/33/ (.21) Trace Snow
Oct 22 - 51/26/ (.01)
Oct 23 - 53/25/ 0
Oct 24 - 53/29/ (.04)
Oct 25 - 49/27/ (.24) 2" Snow
Oct 26 - 48/17/ 0
Oct 27 - 40/24/ (.01)
Oct 28 - 35/16/ (.31) 6" Snow
Oct 29 - 33/6/ (.05) 1" Snow
Oct 30 - 45/14/ 0
Oct 31 - 51/19/ 0
Oct 2 - 59/20/ 0
Oct 3 - 61/24/ 0
Oct 4 - 60/37/ 0
Oct 5 - 48/28/ (.17)
Oct 6 - 57/20/ 0
Oct 7 - 58/30/ (.05)
Oct 8 - 53/31/ 0
Oct 9 - 55/23/ 0
Oct 10 - 58/24/ 0
Oct 11 - 56/31/ 0
Oct 12 - 61/28/
Oct 13 - 50/32/ (.39)
Oct 14 - 63/27/ 0
Oct 15 - 64/26/ 0
Oct 16 - 64/27/ 0
Oct 17 - 66/27/ 0
Oct 18 - 67/28/ 0
Oct 19 - 61/38/ (.03)
Oct 20 - 52/40/ (.04)
Oct 21 - 45/33/ (.21) Trace Snow
Oct 22 - 51/26/ (.01)
Oct 23 - 53/25/ 0
Oct 24 - 53/29/ (.04)
Oct 25 - 49/27/ (.24) 2" Snow
Oct 26 - 48/17/ 0
Oct 27 - 40/24/ (.01)
Oct 28 - 35/16/ (.31) 6" Snow
Oct 29 - 33/6/ (.05) 1" Snow
Oct 30 - 45/14/ 0
Oct 31 - 51/19/ 0
THAT'S WHAT IT'S ALL ABOUT
"Millions of our citizens do not now have a full measure of opportunity to achieve and to enjoy good health. Millions do not now have protection or security against the economic effects of sickness. And the time has arrived for action to help them attain that opportunity and to help them get that protection."
-- former President Harry S. Truman, 1948
Americans are sick and tired of Big Health Insurance companies, Big Pharmaceutical companies
-- former President Harry S. Truman, 1948
Americans are sick and tired of Big Health Insurance companies, Big Pharmaceutical companies
and the politicians, both conservative Democrats and Republicans, who harbor an anti-health care reform agenda.
Greedmeisters in ivory towers are hell bent on destroying efforts to reform a system in which 48 million Americans stand alone without health care, another 50 million Americans stand under insured, and additional millions of insured workers are unable to change jobs because of pre-existing conditions.
What recourse exists for the millions of uninsured who are struck by catastrophic illness? The public dole.
Who pays? The American taxpayer.
Wouldn't it be fairer to taxpayers and the uninsured to provide care through a fair and balanced public option? Damn straight it would.
Not a single Republican has joined the fight to reform the teetering American health care system.
The same was true during the 1930's, 1940's, 1950's, and 1960's when Republicans, to a man -- few women resided in the halls of Congress during those decades -- opposed Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, Unemployment Insurance, the Food Stamp Program and innumerable other safety net assurances which over the decades have served as a lifeline to middle and lower income workers, and the indigent.
Currently, the uninsured rolls are increasing because of the historic numbers of unemployed Americans whose lives have been devastated by the recent economic dislocation. In the future months and years the unemployed will heavily rely on the social network of programs established over the last decades. If there is no health care reform the costs to taxpayers will rise exponentially.
As the U.S. Senators and Representatives continue their debate on the greatest issue to face the American people in decades, Republicans in both Houses of Congress are attempting to attach hundreds of debilitating amendments to the proposed health care legislation that would lift the burden off the backs of those Americans who don't possess obscene fortunes.
The sweeping overhaul of the $2.5 trillion health care industry would rein in costs, regulate insurers, and would expand coverage to most of the 48 million uninsured people living in the United States.
Some Democrats in Congress charged Republicans with attempting to pound a cross through the heart of President Barack Obama's number one domestic priority. In actuality, that charge is true.
For example, the U.S. Senate Health Care committee, made up of 13 Democrats and 10 Republicans, rejected Republican efforts to keep the agency that administers Medicare from interfering with health insurers that use scare tactics to express biased industry views about the health care reform package to their elderly customers.
Humana, one of the nation's leading health insurers of the elderly through the Medicare Advantage program, a program that augments the Medicare plan with private insurance, has been using it's financial prowess to confuse seniors, supporting Republican efforts to kill any health care reform measure.
The Senate health committee defeated the Republican attempt to defend Humana who had sent a letter to its participants warning that the reform bill would mean "millions of seniors and disabled individuals could lose many of the important benefits and services that make Medicare Advantage health plans so valuable."
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services have begun an investigation into the mailings by Humana.
Health insurers and pharmaceutical companies have spent millions of dollars lobbying against any health care reform.
According to a new study published in the American Journal of Public Health, an absence of health insurance kills 45,000 American adults a year.
Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid told Senate Democrats: "We have got to show the American people that we can overcome the power of the insurance industry and the pharmaceutical industry. That's what it's all about."
Hopefully, you'll stand by your words, Mr. Majority Leader, if you don't, this could be the last 18 months in the U.S. Senate for you, and the blue dog Democrats who fail to ensure passage of a health care reform bill that includes a public option.
Thom Carnevale
This Gandering column was first published in the Friday, October 2, 2009 edition of the Telluride Daily Planet.
Greedmeisters in ivory towers are hell bent on destroying efforts to reform a system in which 48 million Americans stand alone without health care, another 50 million Americans stand under insured, and additional millions of insured workers are unable to change jobs because of pre-existing conditions.
What recourse exists for the millions of uninsured who are struck by catastrophic illness? The public dole.
Who pays? The American taxpayer.
Wouldn't it be fairer to taxpayers and the uninsured to provide care through a fair and balanced public option? Damn straight it would.
Not a single Republican has joined the fight to reform the teetering American health care system.
The same was true during the 1930's, 1940's, 1950's, and 1960's when Republicans, to a man -- few women resided in the halls of Congress during those decades -- opposed Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, Unemployment Insurance, the Food Stamp Program and innumerable other safety net assurances which over the decades have served as a lifeline to middle and lower income workers, and the indigent.
Currently, the uninsured rolls are increasing because of the historic numbers of unemployed Americans whose lives have been devastated by the recent economic dislocation. In the future months and years the unemployed will heavily rely on the social network of programs established over the last decades. If there is no health care reform the costs to taxpayers will rise exponentially.
As the U.S. Senators and Representatives continue their debate on the greatest issue to face the American people in decades, Republicans in both Houses of Congress are attempting to attach hundreds of debilitating amendments to the proposed health care legislation that would lift the burden off the backs of those Americans who don't possess obscene fortunes.
The sweeping overhaul of the $2.5 trillion health care industry would rein in costs, regulate insurers, and would expand coverage to most of the 48 million uninsured people living in the United States.
Some Democrats in Congress charged Republicans with attempting to pound a cross through the heart of President Barack Obama's number one domestic priority. In actuality, that charge is true.
For example, the U.S. Senate Health Care committee, made up of 13 Democrats and 10 Republicans, rejected Republican efforts to keep the agency that administers Medicare from interfering with health insurers that use scare tactics to express biased industry views about the health care reform package to their elderly customers.
Humana, one of the nation's leading health insurers of the elderly through the Medicare Advantage program, a program that augments the Medicare plan with private insurance, has been using it's financial prowess to confuse seniors, supporting Republican efforts to kill any health care reform measure.
The Senate health committee defeated the Republican attempt to defend Humana who had sent a letter to its participants warning that the reform bill would mean "millions of seniors and disabled individuals could lose many of the important benefits and services that make Medicare Advantage health plans so valuable."
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services have begun an investigation into the mailings by Humana.
Health insurers and pharmaceutical companies have spent millions of dollars lobbying against any health care reform.
According to a new study published in the American Journal of Public Health, an absence of health insurance kills 45,000 American adults a year.
Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid told Senate Democrats: "We have got to show the American people that we can overcome the power of the insurance industry and the pharmaceutical industry. That's what it's all about."
Hopefully, you'll stand by your words, Mr. Majority Leader, if you don't, this could be the last 18 months in the U.S. Senate for you, and the blue dog Democrats who fail to ensure passage of a health care reform bill that includes a public option.
Thom Carnevale
This Gandering column was first published in the Friday, October 2, 2009 edition of the Telluride Daily Planet.
Friday, September 25, 2009
BARACK THE ANTI-CHRIST?
"We will never be the nation we profess to be, the nation that has proclaimed itself to be the moral beacon for the rest of the world to follow, until those members of the Republican Party who abhor the President because he is black, his politics be damned, become more like those members of the Democratic Party who love him because he is black, his policies be damned."
-- former President Jimmy Carter
According to Public Policy Polling, 35 percent of conservatives in New Jersey think President Barack Obama is the Anti-Christ.
For those who thought the 21st Century would usher in a new age of enlightenment -- beware. Hate and fear mongering are intensifying, and the world we hate to love, is becoming as paranoid as a Tea-Party activist.
In Republican states, Democratic politicians wrap themselves in Republican aphorisms, win elections, and rule without conviction.
In blue municipalities Republican greedmeisters wrap themselves in Obama's cloak, run for political office, offer the world to those who seek a stake, and with sustained intent represent the special interests seeking special favors.
"Is it any wonder I'm tired?
Is it any wonder I don't know what's right?
Is it any wonder I feel afraid?"
-- Keane
Is it any wonder that in times fraught with fear and hate, intemperate voices arise?
One such voice -- Glenn Beck of Fox -- (this columnist just can't use the word news), is an example of a bully whose mad rantings and ravings has further lowered the temperature of cold-hearted conservatives.
Glenn Beck, the star of the right has quite a resume -- divorced, recovering alcoholic and drug addict, a devout Morman, a self-described conservative who argues on his show that President Barack Obama has repeatedly shown "a deep-seated hatred for white people and the white culture. I'm not saying he doesn't like white people. I'm saying he has a problem. This guy is, I believe, a racist."
Have conservatives forgotten -- Barack Obama was raised by a white mother and white grandmother whom he loved with the intensity of a conventional earnest child?
Glenn, why the deep-seated anger toward people unlike yourself?
Another and more serious example of the rout and rage attitude toward American President Barack Obama:
Steven Anderson, Pastor of the Faithful Word Baptist Church in Tempe, Arizona in a recent sermon had this to say about America's current president: "I hate Barack Obama, and I'm going to prove from the Bible why I should hate Barack Obama, why God Hates Barack Obama."
The following is an excerpt from an interview of Pastor Steven Anderson with Sirius XM radio talk show host Michelangelo Signorile:
Signorile: "You wouldn't be a murderer if you picked up a gun and shot the president?"
Anderson: "I don't believe they would, no".
Signorile: "You wouldn't condemn that person?"
Pastor Steven Anderson: "No."
One of Pastor Anderson's congregants recently carried a loaded automatic weapon outside an Arizona town hall meeting where President Barack Obama spoke.
Signorile was asked in a CNN interview why he chose to interview an individual who expressed hate and advocated the murder of the president. Signorile replied: "Attention needs to be focused on those who advocate hate and the killing of the president. They need to be exposed."
This is scary stuff. Gun-toting conservatives at town hall meetings, churches, schools, National Parks, on Amtrak, and at bars.
The words of former President Franklin Delano Roosevelt speak for themselves: "A conservative is a man with two perfectly good legs who, however, has never learned how to walk forward."
President Barack Obama you can no longer ignore the bullies on talk show radio, in Congress, in the churches, at the Tea-Party gatherings, and the online devotees of hate speak.
President Obama, it is time to stand with the progressive values you once espoused, not allowing the far-right to undermine the goals of your administration.
President Obama, it is time to stand against the conservative fringe that advocate violence against you and this great nation.
President Obama, you reside in the White House for one and only one reason. Millions of young, middle-aged and senior progressives financed your campaign, walked door to door -- precinct by precinct, made millions of telephone calls in your behalf, and drove millions to the polls.
Progressives stood with you throughout the primary and general election process, and you, Barack Obama, won the 2008 nomination and election because of their tireless efforts.
Mr. President, may I remind you -- you were the hands down winner of the 2008 election -- Republican conservatives (a little over 20 percent of voters call themselves Republicans) lost!
Thom Carnevale
This Gandering column was first published in the Friday, September 25, 2009 edition of the Telluride Daily Planet.
-- former President Jimmy Carter
According to Public Policy Polling, 35 percent of conservatives in New Jersey think President Barack Obama is the Anti-Christ.
For those who thought the 21st Century would usher in a new age of enlightenment -- beware. Hate and fear mongering are intensifying, and the world we hate to love, is becoming as paranoid as a Tea-Party activist.
In Republican states, Democratic politicians wrap themselves in Republican aphorisms, win elections, and rule without conviction.
In blue municipalities Republican greedmeisters wrap themselves in Obama's cloak, run for political office, offer the world to those who seek a stake, and with sustained intent represent the special interests seeking special favors.
"Is it any wonder I'm tired?
Is it any wonder I don't know what's right?
Is it any wonder I feel afraid?"
-- Keane
Is it any wonder that in times fraught with fear and hate, intemperate voices arise?
One such voice -- Glenn Beck of Fox -- (this columnist just can't use the word news), is an example of a bully whose mad rantings and ravings has further lowered the temperature of cold-hearted conservatives.
Glenn Beck, the star of the right has quite a resume -- divorced, recovering alcoholic and drug addict, a devout Morman, a self-described conservative who argues on his show that President Barack Obama has repeatedly shown "a deep-seated hatred for white people and the white culture. I'm not saying he doesn't like white people. I'm saying he has a problem. This guy is, I believe, a racist."
Have conservatives forgotten -- Barack Obama was raised by a white mother and white grandmother whom he loved with the intensity of a conventional earnest child?
Glenn, why the deep-seated anger toward people unlike yourself?
Another and more serious example of the rout and rage attitude toward American President Barack Obama:
Steven Anderson, Pastor of the Faithful Word Baptist Church in Tempe, Arizona in a recent sermon had this to say about America's current president: "I hate Barack Obama, and I'm going to prove from the Bible why I should hate Barack Obama, why God Hates Barack Obama."
The following is an excerpt from an interview of Pastor Steven Anderson with Sirius XM radio talk show host Michelangelo Signorile:
Signorile: "You wouldn't be a murderer if you picked up a gun and shot the president?"
Anderson: "I don't believe they would, no".
Signorile: "You wouldn't condemn that person?"
Pastor Steven Anderson: "No."
One of Pastor Anderson's congregants recently carried a loaded automatic weapon outside an Arizona town hall meeting where President Barack Obama spoke.
Signorile was asked in a CNN interview why he chose to interview an individual who expressed hate and advocated the murder of the president. Signorile replied: "Attention needs to be focused on those who advocate hate and the killing of the president. They need to be exposed."
This is scary stuff. Gun-toting conservatives at town hall meetings, churches, schools, National Parks, on Amtrak, and at bars.
The words of former President Franklin Delano Roosevelt speak for themselves: "A conservative is a man with two perfectly good legs who, however, has never learned how to walk forward."
President Barack Obama you can no longer ignore the bullies on talk show radio, in Congress, in the churches, at the Tea-Party gatherings, and the online devotees of hate speak.
President Obama, it is time to stand with the progressive values you once espoused, not allowing the far-right to undermine the goals of your administration.
President Obama, it is time to stand against the conservative fringe that advocate violence against you and this great nation.
President Obama, you reside in the White House for one and only one reason. Millions of young, middle-aged and senior progressives financed your campaign, walked door to door -- precinct by precinct, made millions of telephone calls in your behalf, and drove millions to the polls.
Progressives stood with you throughout the primary and general election process, and you, Barack Obama, won the 2008 nomination and election because of their tireless efforts.
Mr. President, may I remind you -- you were the hands down winner of the 2008 election -- Republican conservatives (a little over 20 percent of voters call themselves Republicans) lost!
Thom Carnevale
This Gandering column was first published in the Friday, September 25, 2009 edition of the Telluride Daily Planet.
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