Politics is a dirty game. The American people are getting tired of so much energy in Washington devoted to word games attacking the incumbent administration. Now they go back to whether the Administration knew about weapons of mass destruction not being in Iraq. Yet, members of the opposition party are on the Intelligence Committee of Congress, which had the same info as the President. They voted for the war.

At last President Bush has started selling his ideas to the American public. His speech on Dec. 12 was terrific in explaining the importance of what we do in Iraq. The terrorists we kill there are terrorists who won’t come here to kill us.

On the economic side, which interests us more as investors, we hear that in spite of the strong economy, there is no “fair distribution.” In other words, the gap between the rich and the poor is widening. I remember a 1000 page book published over 40 years ago, making the same case. The fact is that the only time this gap narrows is during depressions. In good times, those who work hard and smart take advantage of the opportunities.

Those who continue to be lazy, don’t do anything to enhance their skills, do not seek continuing education or self-improvement, and will not participate in the prosperity. Why should this be the fault of the President of the country?

Anyone who is an employer knows that most job applicants have no qualifications whatsoever for the job offered. For example, you advertise for an Admin Assistant. You would expect them to at least know MS Word, for writing letters and reports. But many of the applicants either don’t know word processing, or type 30 words or less. They won’t put that on the application; otherwise they would never get the interview. When you ask why they don’t know such a basic skill, you often get the answer: “But I am a fast learner.” My answer often is, ‘then why haven’t you learned this already by now.’

Out of 100 resumes received, the average business throws out 90 without an interview. Yes, fewer than 10% pass the resume test. Out of those 10% or so, maybe one is qualified to be hired. And then, many of them get fired in the first three months because they are lazy or incompetent.

Nationally, I have read that maybe 30%-40% of the time of the average office employee is spent on the internet for personal things, such as playing video games, personal emails, etc. I have personally had that experience with several MBA’s we hired…and then fired.

If you own a house, you have probably had the experience, where you offer someone to do 2-3 hours of work for $100. Then, they never even show up because it’s not enough.

Let’s put the blame where it belongs: on the individual.

If you read Business Week or other business publications, you know that the number of 9^th grade students who eventually graduate from college is dropping alarmingly. The U.S. is being flooded with immigrants, illegal and legal. Amongst Latinos, fewer than 10% of high school graduates go to college. This obviously widens the income gap. But most of these people are happy with their lives. We shouldn’t think that only a college degree leads to happiness.

According to this week’s Barrons, China graduated 500,000 engineers last year, while India graduated 200,000. In the U.S. we graduated only 70,000!

Nearly half of all U.S. doctorates awarded in engineering and computer science in 2004 were to students from India, China, and the former Soviet Union. Barrons quoted Intel chairman Craig Barrett that we “should staple a green card” to foreign students’ diplomas and “let them stay here.”

We should not expect the occupant of the White House, no matter who he is, to be responsible for the weather, income distribution, economic problems around the world, a declining or rising dollar, etc. Even the experts can’t agree on what causes any of these trends, much less how to reverse them, or whether they even should be reversed. What ever happened to every person having responsibility for him/herself?

“We're sorry to report yet another wave of virus-laden e-mails sent out with false FBI addresses. This particular e-mail claims the FBI has been monitoring your Internet use...says you've accessed so-called illegal websites...and demands you answer questions—all you have to do is open an attachment, maliciously laced with a variant of the w32/sober virus.”

Don't do it! In fact, don't EVER respond to unsolicited poison pills like these. The FBI does not conduct business this way.

Who are the e-mails from? To date, they're being sent out with email addresses of mail@fbi.gov, post@fbi.gov and admin@fbi.gov.

What does the message say? Something like:

Dear Sir/Madam,

We have logged your IP-address on more than 30 illegal Websites.

Important: Please answer our questions! The list of questions are attached.

Yours faithfully,
Steven Allison
Federal Bureau of Investigation-FBI-

Editor’s comments: Beware of any such emails. Hope this helps.

Excerpts from a Bloomberg column by Caroline Baum:

The (tax) code should not favor sophisticated individuals and corporations -- whoever has the best tax accountants, wins -- over ordinary, unsophisticated taxpayers.

And it shouldn't be tampered with every year in a congressional free-for-all, with members handing out tax breaks to favored constituencies.

When one considers that Congress will water down any proposal to an unrecognizable form in order to preserve its power, then the panel's starting point isn't nearly radical enough.

Coming Up Short

``I can sum it up in one word: tinkering,'' said Tom Wright, executive director of FairTax.org, a grassroots organization that advocates a national sales tax and repeal of the income tax.

The two proposals represent ``the same old kind of legislation, with no inherent immunity to special interests or lobbyists,'' he said. ``They have done nothing to get the taxman out of our lives.''   (cabaum@bloomberg.net)

Tempe Loses Bid to Take Property

by Benjamin Barr

November 30, 2005

The Arizona Supreme Court yesterday rejected Tempe’s request for a special action in Tempe v. Valentine.  At issue was whether Tempe’s proposal to condemn private property to make way for a developer to erect a shopping mall met the constitutional definition of “public use.”  At the trial court, Tempe lost; prompting the city to file its special action petition.  

The Arizona Constitution contains explicit protection for property owners, prohibiting the taking of private property for private use in most instances.  Historically, “public use” has been interpreted to include such things as sewers and roads.

In the 2003 case Bailey v. Myers, an appellate court developed a test to determine when a project meets the proper definition of “public use”.  According to the court, the public benefits of a project must “substantially predominate” over private benefits.  The test is a good first step to restoring the constitutional meaning of public use. Under this standard, a project that primarily benefits one private individual or group of individuals rather than the public as a whole will be found unconstitutional.

Our comment: congratulations to the court for standing up for Constitutional rights.

We are hearing more and more about hedge fund frauds, where the principal of the fund has stolen hundreds of millions of dollars from the funds. Here is what the the Wall Street Journal wrote about one such case recently:

“… late last month, Mr. Conway's partner, Aaron Behle, wrote to fellow investors that Mr. Conway, an author of number of books and newsletters about investing, confessed to Mr. Behle that he had created "fictitious brokerage statements, fictitious accounting reports, fictitious audit reports, a fictitious auditor, and fund performance information," according to Mr. Behle's letter.

The SEC complaint, filed in federal court in Massachusetts, alleges that Mr. Conway "defrauded his clients by not disclosing the millions of losses" that the hedge fund incurred, and misled them about the amount of assets in the fund and its trading strategy. The complaint alleges that the fund now only holds $14 million, rather than the $43 million that investors were told was in the investment pool.

Be careful when investing with any private investment pool. As Will Rogers said years ago: “I am not so concerned about the return ON my money, as I am concerned about the return OF my money.”

By the way, we are now preparing a new product for our subscribers, which gives you the benefits of a hedge fund, without sending your money away to anyone. And it’s a lot cheaper. (Contact us if you have any interest.)

“Here's my strategy on the Cold War: We win, they lose."

and another wisdom from President Reagan:

"The most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the government and I'm here to help you."

 

In Washington:

If “pro” is opposite of “con”, then what is the opposite of “progress”?

Answer:  Congress!

Here is what a chaplain of the U.S. Marines said recently:

It is the soldier, not the reporter,

Who has given us the freedom of the press.

It is the soldier, not the poet,

Who has given us the freedom of speech.

It is the soldier, not the campus organizer,

Who has given us the freedom to demonstrate.

It is the soldier,

Who salutes the flag,

And whose coffin is draped by the flag,

Who allows the protester to burn the flag.

--The Rev. Denis Edward O'Brien, USMC

The country of Jordan has now been targeted by Islam terrorism. Interestingly, this time the people and government acted with courage and showed their outrage in the streets. Al Qaeda, not the U.S., was the target of the demonstrations.

But in France the demonstrators are Muslims. Burning thousands of cars in the streets of 300 or more cities is their idea of a religious war.

Just now, the Queen of England has been declared “an enemy of Islam” by Al Qaeda.”

Americans wonder why leaders of Muslim and Arab countries have never shown public outrage about this perversion of the Islam religion. Why don’t those who claim that Islam is a “religion of peace” declare these terrorists as outlaws and defilers of Islam for their acts against innocent people?

And in the U.S. Congress, all those Democrats who had originally declared that “without doubt” Sadam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, now are conducting a witch-hunt for political purposes against President Bush and the Republicans. While our brave soldiers are giving their lives in the trenches every day, some of these Democratic leaders are comparing American troupes to “the Nazis” or the “Nol Pot” who killed millions of his own people. What a disgrace!

I don’t think the American people will like this political strategy of ‘revisionism.” I think the Dems are once again underestimating the intelligence of the people, just as John Kerry did. Deceptive talking points and twisting of the facts on national TV didn’t do it in the last campaign. I think it will fail again.

People don’t like Monday morning quarterbacks. They respect someone willing to make courageous decisions in a time of need. The country of Sudan offered Clinton to arrest Osama bin Laden and turn him over to the U.S. Clinton expressed no interest. That’s why Osama was able to blow up the World Trade Center. Clinton was too busy with an intern to make an important decision. Over 3000 civilians in that building paid for this with their lives.

The above is not meant as a political statement. It’s a statement from an immigrant who is proud to be an American, who has lived under tyranny and also American democracy, and values the difference.