My 10 minute radio segment with Alan Butler, WAFS 1190, Atlanta's premier radio station. I come on at the 28 minute mark. Topics today: EU and Obama's desperate indoctrination ad with children blaming their parents for Obama's economic failures.
I come on before Presidential candidate Gary Johnson, the governor of New Mexico. Why is he exactly running at this point as an Independent? To siphon off votes from Romney?
http://www.cyberears.com/cybrss/17255.mp3
My view of the world through personal experience, 30 years of teaching Economics and Foreign Languages, travel in Europe and North America, research, and living 20 years under communism.
Wednesday, October 31, 2012
Monday, October 29, 2012
A Late September Day in 2012
Between
the suffocating smoke wafting to the third floor of my cousin’s villa from burning
egg-plants on the indoor grill, the ambulance sirens, the wild dogs roaming the
streets all night barking, and the cock-a-doodle of the rooster from the
chicken coop across the street announcing the start of a new day, I had no
chance to sleep past 7 a.m. The rooster is a bit confused, he cock-a-doodles
all hours of the day and night.
I
woke up to a cacophony of sounds of a big city, so close to downtown, I could
see the cathedral spires from my window and hear the bells toll. The trolley
bus running up and down the street below was filled to refuse with humanity
packed like sardines, going downtown to work. A mass exodus of villagers occurs
every morning and every late afternoon. Driving to work is prohibited by the
high price of gasoline, the lack of parking spaces, and the deliberate narrow
roads and streets, built at a time when only the ruling elites were allowed or
could afford to purchase a car.
I
took a picture from the window of my bedroom. The skyline is very crowded by
drab high-rises that dwarf my cousin’s beautiful and elegant ocre-colored
villa. This section of the street has not been demolished yet to make room for
more utilitarian concrete twelve story apartment buildings. I love the red
roofs on the remaining homes on Malu Rosu Street. They are so cheery in an
otherwise landscape of grey and pollution filth. It has not rained all summer
long, it is dusty everywhere and grass, unless copiously watered, is crisply
brown.
The
street is eight minutes-walk to downtown yet many homes still do not have
running water – the city never attached them to the water department system. A
few have their own electric pumps. Every morning there is a stream of people
bringing buckets of dirty water and dumping them directly into the street
drain. When the drain clogs and over runs into the street, the fetid smell forces
residents to call the city’s water department.
I
am fascinated by my surroundings yet it is so noisy, I miss my quiet home and
the solitude of my woods. Anna’s cactus is in full bloom this morning. It
started opening last night. The delicate white flower stays open 24 hours and
then it dies. I saw it last year when it bloomed earlier. The warmer
temperatures this year must have tricked its biological clock and it opened a
couple of weeks later.
The
hurried urbanites on foot from the surrounding grey and dingy high-rises
crowding the landscape discharge into the streets like a huge colony of ants
looking for food. True to form, a large portion of the citizens’ budget is
spent on food and housing. For this reason, politicians like to bribe the lower
class voters with tokens of food during campaigning, luring them to the voting
booth on Election Day with food as well, including free bus rides.
Not
much is illegal in this country anymore, the corruption is endemic. White
collar crime or traffic offenses are seldom punishable. Most people know someone
who can forgive their violations for the right cash payment or bartering other
types of favors. A favor is not just something you do for a close friend or out
of kindness, it is commodity money, and must be returned in kind.
Driving
on the highly congested roads is a hazard in itself. Drivers never stay in
their lanes because they do not exist as a painted space; sometimes one lane is
occupied by three cars side by side and only a native can understand the irate
hand signals indicating who has the right of way. Passing takes place on the
right, on the left, in-between cars, on the shoulder, and on the sidewalk.
Pedestrians are fair game even in designated cross-walks. Crowding three cars
in a parking space designed for one and double parking are quite common.
Cousin
Ana drove us to the abundant market, full of vegetables and fruits, flowers,
and busy bees buzzing the nectar oozing from crushed fruits. I bought a purple mum
and candles to take to my Dad’s grave in Popesti. The gas station attendant
filled our SUV with $10 a gallon Diesel. I remained silent on the way to
Popesti. Memories were flooding back as landmarks flashed by – the country
school where my six cousins graduated from, the creek filled with fish where we
bathed in summertime. The road was blacktopped and I was riding in a
comfortable car instead of the communist bus smoking oil and fumes inside for
two long hours, bumping us with every pot hole.
The
cemetery seemed over run with weeds in some places but the view to the valley
below was spectacular. I stood on the cliff, peering into the distance,
re-living my 5 km walk to the country fair with Grandma and cousin Gigi. The
trek seemed endless for five year olds but the reward at the end was worth it –
a ride on the merry-go-around, freshly roasted corn, and a clay whistle or toy
Grandma always bought us.
Wild
flowers bloomed around the dilapidated church, which had fallen into disrepair
because there were not enough builders for all the construction projects after
the fall of communism in 1989. I had met
an architect in Washington State earlier this year who told me that she had
traveled to Romania to give pro-bono construction advice in many church
projects in Maramures.
Dad’s
cross has weathered so badly – he passed away 23 years ago, six months before
the fall of communism. He would have loved to have seen the positive changes
that took place since the demise of Ceausescu’s totalitarian regime.
I
planted the purple mum and watered it copiously. The friendly owner of a house nearby lent
me a shovel and gave me a bucket of water. He was playing with his little girl
in the yard. I lit the candles and said a prayer in memory of my Dad’s
sacrifice. It felt sad and comforting at the same time to be so close to the
person who gave me life and freedom, to the places where we grew up and yet I
felt such longing for my home in Virginia.
My
heart ached for the unfulfilled past but rejoiced in the present. I was well
enough to fly 7,000 miles to plant flowers on my Dad’s grave and pay my respects
to his life cut short by the commies. America, the promised land, has given me
so many opportunities that I would not have been permitted under communist
Romania. Had I stayed, I would have been just another daughter of the poor and
exploited proletariat. Because Dad let me go, I had a shot at a better life. I
never squandered this gift.
The
water well in front of the cemetery is dry now; people have their own
hydro-pumps. The houses nearby are shaded by pergolas covered with grapevines laden with golden and
red grapes, waiting to be picked. The crop is abundant and the grapes are
especially sweet.
I
took a few photographs and left my Daddy behind, alone but surrounded by such
simple peace and tranquility. His resting place is sacred ground – he gave his
life for what he believed in most ardently, freedom from oppression. I know he
is looking over me from heaven because I escaped to freedom and I am able to
carry on his legacy. I have touched so many lives in my career, he would be
happy.
Mom and Dad, We're Blaming You for Obama's Failures
Voters
have short memories and are easily duped by a charming smile, lies, and empty
promises. Many voters lack a basic understanding of history, government, and
economics.
Only
an uninformed or welfare dependent American would vote for a person endorsing
the repulsively obscene ad that presents a young woman urging Democrats to
carefully pick their candidate in the same way they picked the guy they lost
their virginity to.
The
Democrat factor of desperation and indoctrination is on full display in the
latest ad which uses young children, in chilling lyrics, blaming their parents
for the economic failures of the Obama’s administration. The ad takes me back
to the communist indoctrination I suffered under the communist regime when the
absolute ruler, Ceausescu, and his wife, Elena, forced us to sing in school
praises to them as our real father and mother. Our biological parents, we were
told, were stupid and needed re-education.
The
pro-Obama ad does not stop there; in carefully chosen rhyme, brainwashed
children describe an apocalyptic future in which “sick people just die,” “the
oil fills the sea,” “strip mines are fun and free,” and “the Earth is
cracked/Big Bird is sacked/And the atmosphere is frying.” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwlW4lx6TTo)
I
cannot imagine a more perverted image of America in the future, described by
pro-Obama liberal supporters who shamelessly use children to propagate hate and
advance their Marxist and environmentalist agenda.
The
outrageous song ends in, “You did your best/ You failed the test/ Mom and Dad/
We’re blaming you!” I am speechless! We live in the Hollywood make-believe
world inspired by the Matrix. No wonder our schools and curriculum are dumbed
down.
The
truth is, intelligent and informed American voters blame this President and his
failed policies. It is not mom and dad who are endangering their children’s
future unless they vote again for a President who has brought America to its
knees and has no economic plan to save the best country in the world, the
“shining city on the hill” that we love.
As
a former professor, I know firsthand the level of economic ignorance among the
American population at large, even those with college degrees. The curriculum
taught at most colleges is based on the interpretation of meaningless graphs
that most young people cannot correlate to reality. Students’ eyes glaze over
when they see graphs – how can they understand them when they have rudimentary
knowledge of mathematics?
When
students pursue degrees in Social Studies, Anthropology, Women’s Studies, and
other fluff degrees with slim possibility of finding a job much less a
six-figure job promised by eager college advisors, they are never required to
take science classes or Economics. Some students are incapable of balancing their
own checkbooks and have no idea how our government runs.
If
you add the lack of basic economics knowledge to the lack of historical facts
and American government, you have the perfect Obama voter who is ill-informed,
easily manipulated, but has very strong ignorant opinions, mostly based on
feelings or the misinformation fed to them on a daily basis by the main stream
media, the aggressive promotional army of the Obama campaign.
The
main stream media spins the truth, hides the facts, and lies in order to provide
cover for and to make their favorite candidate look innocent. How can you not
adore the rich Messianic power of someone who represents the interests of the
poor and the downtrodden with someone else’s money?
Sadder
still, most young Americans get their information from CNN, MSNBC, and
comedians like David Letterman and Jon Stuart.
Informed
Americans with abundant economic, historic, and political knowledge get their
information selectively from a variety of sources on the web. Nobody in this
category believes the liberal media.
Comedians
like Jay Leno go out into the streets to expose the glaring ignorance of the
average voter with basic questions of history, government, and current
politics. The ignorant Democrat voters are easily persuaded that Obama’s
disastrous economic policies belong to Mitt Romney, the Republican candidate.
These are people who cannot recognize political figures, the offices they hold,
and the platforms of their darling politicians they vote for and financially
support.
Democrat
voters vandalize their opponents’ signs, deposit feces on porches with Romney
signs in their yards, and deface the cars of those who display bumper stickers
supporting Republicans. Democrats have become the party of intolerance and
cowardly hooliganism.
Obama
keeps blaming Republicans and the “mess he inherited.” Many former Presidents
have inherited “messes” but they tried their best to rectify the situation. Our
President exacerbated a fixable situation by making it worse, infinitely worse.
He failed the economy, failed to protect the American citizens, and represented
the interests of the world, of United Nations, not the interests of the United
States and the American people.
President
Obama has tripled the deficit and did everything possible to destroy the
economy and the job creators. He caused huge unemployment among the oil and
coal industries, doing the EPA’s bidding and the environmentalists’ will. The
price of oil skyrocketed from $1.79 when Obama took office to $4 now while
blaming others for his refusal to allow drilling domestically and to approve the
Keystone XL pipeline.
His
own economic ignorance was on full display during the presidential debate when
he stated that gas was cheaper when he became President because the economy was
about to collapse. Since he “saved” the economy, oil is now $4 a gallon.
In
a few days, we are going to vote. We hope the producers and the informed will
outnumber the ignorant liberal voters and voters on welfare who are only
interested in “free stuff” from Obama. We conservatives who believe in the free
market and self-reliance will eventually stop producing “free stuff” for
welfare recipients and Obama will have to take benefits away. Before you vote,
ask yourself, how much worse off you are when compared to four years ago. If
you give an honest answer, the choice will be clear.
Friday, October 26, 2012
Butler on Business WAFS 1190 Atlanta 10-24-12
http://host1.cyberears.com//17720.mp3
I discuss my new book, "U.N. Agenda 21: Environmental Piracy" (ten minutes).
I come on at the 30 minute mark.
I discuss my new book, "U.N. Agenda 21: Environmental Piracy" (ten minutes).
I come on at the 30 minute mark.
Bureaucrats of EU and Global Governance
The
27-nation European Union is hanging by a thread like a loose tooth. For months
now, we have been warned weekly of impending doom and gloom if the euro is not
saved, if Spain, Greece, and Italy are not bailed out by the European Central
Bank and if France and Germany do not cooperate and agree to pay even more to
the bankrupt southern EU membership who refuses to alter their generous
socialist programs expenditures and the way they approach fiscal policy.
The
separatist voices in the EU are getting stronger. Catalonia wants independence
from its own country; they are tired of paying the lion’s share of Madrid’s
lavish expenditures. “When everybody was rich, nobody thought of how much it
cost us to be part of Spain. But now everybody sees it,” said Oriol Pujol. This
richness, of course, came to Spain in the form of easy money while the economic
and construction boom took place before the 2008 housing crash. It seems that the
producing citizens have a problem with this globalized economy and governance
which depends on spreading the wealth.
With
a Spanish unemployment rate of 25 percent, Catalonia itself had asked for a
bailout from their central government in Madrid. Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy
had promised Catalonia $23 billion at a time when Spain needs a bailout
desperately.
Scotland
and Flanders are following in the footsteps of Catalonia, wanting out of the
EU. Although the EU touts shared
sovereignty, it actually discourages independence of member regions.
Richer
member nations are weary of subsidizing poorer countries. EU bureaucrats want a
stronger fiscal union and more centralized control over national budgets and
banks, making the parliaments of member countries irrelevant and obsolete.
Lavish
spending, outrageous social programs, out-of-control debt, outlandish infrastructure
projects, and the mushrooming growth of bureaucracy in already burdened
economies have pushed to the brink the ability of stronger economies like
Germany to subsidize poorer regions or countries.
Catalonia
in Spain, Baden-Württemberg in Germany, Rhone-Alpes in France, and Lombardy in
Italy, a regional group that bypasses their central governments, call
themselves “the four motors for Europe” because they have a combined Gross
Domestic Product larger than Spain’s.
In
a recent interview, Oskar Freysinger, Vice President of the Swiss People’s
Party (Schweizerische Volkspartei) stressed that the European Union is imposed
on nations by technocrats. In his opinion, the European Union will eventually
fail because “citizens are identifying less and less with a bureaucratic
anti-democratic and centralized power” like the EU.
When
asked, Freysinger emphasized that Switzerland’s adherence to EU would be an
organizational, economic, and financial catastrophe. Such a membership would
violate the two pillars of the Swiss Constitution, democracy and federalism,
causing an increase in the value of the added tax (VAT) alone of 8-20 percent.
Switzerland does not wish to be a cash machine to the debts accrued by the
bankrupt southern European states.
In
a widely circulated You Tube video, at the conclusion of the European Council
meeting which was held on October 18-19, 2012, Nigel Farage MEP, Leader of the
UK Independence Party (UKIP), Co-President of the Europe of Freedom and
Democracy (EFD) group in the European Parliament made headlines with his direct
speech to Herman Van Rompuy, the first full-time President of the European
Council. Herman Van Rompuy is a Belgian politician of the Christian Democratic
and Flemish Party. (Strasbourg, October 23, 2012)
“You
are the quiet assassin of nation state democracy.” And sure enough, in your
dull and technocratic way, you’ve gone about your course, but I have to say,
you are even worse than I’ve thought you were going to be. I thought it was
going to be a federal Europe, a federal union but now it appears, with every
statement you make that you want total subjugation of the states to completely
undemocratic structures based in Brussels.”
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSoCZs8WlDg)
Nigel
Farage described the atmosphere surrounding the bailouts for Greece, Spain, Ireland,
and Italy when everyone in the chamber was fearing the economic meltdown;
Rompuy was calm because, in Farage’s opinion, Rompuy saw the bailouts as an
opportunity to take control. “The sinister troika coming in, investigating the
situation, 50 officials telling puppet prime ministers what they may or may not
do.” Nigel was referring to the sinister troika as the International Monetary Fund,
the European Commission, and the European Central Bank.
The
European Commission is the executive body of the European Union responsible for
legislation, implementing decisions, upholding the union’s treaties, and daily
running of the EU. There is one commissioner per member state, 27 in total, who
are bound to represent the European Union and not the interests of their home
state. The President of the Commission is Jose Manuel Barroso, The European
Council proposes the president and the European Parliament elects him. The
Council then appoints the other 26 members in agreement with the nominated
President.
The
European Central Bank is the monetary policy enforcer for the EU. Its main goal
is price stability at 2% or below inflation rate and controls short-term
interest rates. The ECB’s Governing Council makes decisions every month by
analyzing economic and monetary developments in member countries and the risks
to price stability, making decisions on the appropriate level of their key
interest rates.
The
International Monetary Fund (IMF), established in 1944 at Bretton Woods
Conference and housed in Washington, D.C., had an original stated goal of
stabilizing exchange rates and assisting in the reconstruction of the world’s
international payment system after World War II.
The IMF describes itself now as “an organization of 188
countries, working to foster global monetary cooperation, secure financial
stability, facilitate international trade, promote high employment and
sustainable economic growth, and reduce poverty around the world.”
Nigel
Farage acknowledges that many Council members “want Spain to take the bailout
so that they too can be subjugated to this new order. Indeed, in Italy, the
appointee there, Mr. Monti, is very keen for his country to be bailed out
because he ‘fears the parliamentary democracy could bring down the union.’”
Farage
describes the next phase as forcing those who “do not need or want a bailout to
accept a bailout, to sign budget guarantees and to have the power to strike
down national budgets after they’ve been through national parliaments.” This is
eerily similar to some of the banks here in the U.S., forced to accept the
Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP) although they did not need it, want it,
or ask for it.
“I
feel that the Euro zone is now in a very dark place, economically, socially,
politically, and I fear for the countries trapped inside in that prison will be
there for many years to come. It is against this backdrop that the Nobel Peace
Prize has been awarded to the European Union.”
“This
is a divided, split Europe, with neo-Nazi parties on the rise, with violent
demonstrations in the streets, and I frankly think that the award of that Nobel
Prize devalues that whole organization.” Most of the Nobel prizes are chosen by
academicians and scientists while the Peace Prize is chosen by a 5-member
committee appointed by the Norwegian Parliament.
Farage
says that the European Union does not deserve the Nobel Peace Prize. Europe
should be thankful to NATO, to millions of American soldiers who served on
European soil to maintain peace, yet Europeans do not say a word about it
because they loathe America and everything it stands for.
Farage
ends his impassionate speech with the prediction that “the big majority of the Brits
want to leave the union.” Constituents are not happy with Cameron’s wishy-washy
stance in the EU and a political change in the Cameron government is likely to
happen as he is losing the support of millions of his own voters.
In
the meantime, the European Union remains a laboratory study of global
governance and economic control gone awry. The question remains, are Americans
paying attention to this powerful lesson?
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
Food, Voting, and Obamacare
When
Michelle Obama announced her signature initiative Let’s Move in order to
change, in her perception and opinion, the nation’s unhealthy diet and girth, one
of the first restaurants to jump on the bandwagon was Olive Garden, followed by
Red Lobster, both owned by Darden Industries. They trimmed the size of their
offerings but prices stayed the same.
I
made a conscious decision to personally boycott the two restaurants, not
because I was against eating healthy or a smaller portion but because I did not
think, it was the role of government to tell us what to eat, how much salt to
use, or how many ounces of soda to consume. Many of us can stand to lose a few
pounds which we can do on our own without government interference or the nanny
state.
Michelle
Obama also dabbled in overnight gardening at the White House although she does
not hold degrees in horticulture or nutrition. Schools have changed their menus
at her directive, requiring increased food expenditures, offering fresh fruit
and vegetables which children promptly started throwing in the garbage or using
them for food fights. High-schoolers even staged protests across the country,
demanding that the old menu be reinstated. For much younger students, fruits and
vegetables are still an acquired taste, particularly if parents have not
introduced them earlier to their children as part of daily meals.
The
Darden Restaurant Group which employs 180,000 people across the U.S. is making
headlines again. In anticipation of the unfortunately named Affordable Care Act,
better known as Obamacare, Darden is cutting hours for many employees in four
different markets. They are not sure how much Obamacare is going to cost the
company in the future. To mitigate increased cost, they are cutting employees
from full-time to part-time status. By reducing their hours, Darden does not
have to pay for their healthcare, forcing some employees into the government-run
exchanges which are part of Obamacare. Additionally, there is a re-definition
of full-time status as 30 hours of work per week.
The
Darden Industries CEO, Clarence Otis Jr., has given a lot of money to
Democrats. He has been an ardent supporter of Let’s Move Campaign, the
signature healthy initiative of First Lady, Michelle Obama. If the company is
to survive, according to the CEO, major changes must take place. The number of full-time
employees must be lowered in order to avoid the $100 per day per employee
penalty in Obamacare if insurance is not purchased. Darden cannot afford to
offer full-time insurance benefits to all of its 180,000 employees. The Darden
Restaurant Group survived so far because they received a waiver for the
Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) in 2010. Most waivers will expire at the end of
2012 or have already expired.
And
Clarence Otis Jr. is not alone. Real estate mogul, David A. Siegel, who runs
Westgate Resorts, a huge Orlando-based time share company in Orange County, an
Obama leaning county, has sent a warning letter to his employees. If Obama is
re-elected, there is a strong possibility of layoffs. He is not exactly telling
them to vote for either candidate, however, if they vote for Obama, increased
costs and uncertainty would force him to reduce staff.
Hiring
across the country has been on hold because of the entire tax structure
increase. Most companies face an uncertain future about taxation for employers
and employees, the overt and hidden costs of Obamacare, forcing big changes for
many firms. Business confidence has been quite low in the last four years. New
taxes on successful producers will leave Siegel with no choice but to cut the
size of his company. His employees have been reduced already from 8,000 four
years ago to 7,000 today.
“With
the new Obamacare coming in and now the threat of higher taxes, it just means
less money to expand our business. We are not going to fire anybody, lay off
anybody, as a result of who they vote for, or who they lean towards, it’s just
that I want them to know what the future holds for them and their families.” (David
A. Siegel, CEO)
As
the new round of Medicare cuts was to take effect in October this year, the
administration found $8 billion to avoid the painful cuts temporarily under the
guise of research. The $8 billion helped delay the elderly outrage at the
voting booth when confronted with the shift of $719 billion over ten years from
Medicare to Obamacare.
This
is what happens when nationalized health care is passed in the middle of the
night, without bipartisan debate, and then forced on Americans against their
vociferously expressed will. As Nancy Pelosi said, “You must pass the bill to
find out what’s in it.” The American people are finding out and they do not
like it.
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
Illegal Aliens and Federal Benefits
Theoretically,
the law forbids illegal aliens from receiving benefits reserved for American
citizens with the exception of emergency Medicaid. In practice, it does not prevent
any of them from applying for and receiving benefits paid for by American
taxpayers who sometimes, are themselves denied benefits.
According
to “jus soli,” codified in the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution,
children of slaves born on U.S. soil are American citizens. Liberals extended
this principle to the children of any illegal alien who happens to give birth
on U.S. soil. Thus a new breed of families is codified by the Pew Hispanic
Center as “mixed-immigration status families.” However, foreign diplomats’
children who are born on U.S. soil are citizens of their parents’ respective
countries and not American citizens.
Emergency
Medicaid provided in emergency rooms, although well intentioned, has been used
and abused by illegal aliens as their own personal physician, resulting in the
bankruptcy of many small hospitals across the nation, particularly in
California.
Federal
benefits distributed to illegal aliens include: grants, contracts, loans,
professional and commercial licenses, retirement, welfare, WIC, disability,
public housing, college education, Pell grants, food stamps, tax credits,
earned income credits, tax refunds, and unemployment benefits.
The
Census Bureau reports 40 million foreign-born people residing in the United
States. In this category, one-third is estimated to be illegal aliens. Liberal main
stream media calls them “undocumented workers,” “in the shadows residents,” or “unauthorized
residents.”
According
to the Pew Hispanic Center there were 11.2 million “unauthorized immigrants” in
2010. Their in-house demographer,
Jeffrey Passel, used 2008 Current Population Survey (CPS) to estimate “the number
of persons living in families in which the head of household or the spouse was
an authorized alien,” for a total of 8.8 million families. Liberals like to
redefine illegal aliens with euphemisms that suit their agenda. Other sources
publish much higher numbers of illegals.
Illegal
alien families are likely to have U.S. citizen children or “anchor babies.”
These families are given “mixed status” by the Congressional Research Service.
Passel also estimates that one in three illegal alien children is poor. This is
obvious since illegal aliens have fled their home countries mostly for economic
reasons and dire poverty.
Liberals
lobby Congress to deal with illegal aliens based on controversies such as demographic
issues, how to treat illegal families that have “anchor babies” who are U.S.
citizens, and how strict identification requirements may hurt Americans who are
denied benefits.
Once
a foreign national had crossed the border illegally, they have committed a
crime which is not punished lightly in most countries. In the U.S. however, progressives
demand that illegal aliens have due process rights, eligibility for federal
assistance, educational opportunities paid by taxpayers, military service
opportunities, employment rights, and pathways to citizenship. No other country
in the world rewards law breaking with citizenship but the United States.
Illegal
aliens, a.k.a. “unauthorized residents,” come in three categories:
-
Visitors
who overstay their nonimmigrant visas
-
Foreign
nationals who enter illegally (“surreptitiously” as liberals like to say)
-
Foreign
nationals who enter with forged documents
-
Pregnant
foreign nationals who enter illegally in the last month or trimester of
pregnancy in order to deliver “anchor babies” (These foreigners have spawned organized
“anchor baby tourism” in cities like New York)
The
Congressional Research Service which produces data for Congress identified another
category of illegal immigrants, “Quasi-legal migrants.” In certain cases, the
Department of Homeland Security issues temporary employment authorization
documents (EADs) to aliens who are not authorized to reside in the United
States. They can, however, obtain Social Security cards. The CRS identified
several groups in this “quasi-legal” category:
-
Those
with temporary humanitarian relief who have Temporary Protected Status (TPS)
-
Asylum
seekers with cases pending for at least 180 days
-
Those
awaiting in the U.S. the resolution of legal permanent residency process
(family and fiancées of legal residents)
-
Tourists,
students, and temporary workers who overstayed nonimmigrant visas with
petitions awaiting to adjust status as employment-based LPRs (legal permanent
resident)
The
“quasi-legal” groups are often denied approval for legal permanent resident
status. Twenty-five percent of asylum seekers and generally, 80-85% of LPRs
petitions are eventually approved.
Special
illegal alien immigrant juveniles (under the age of 21 and unmarried) who were
homeless, orphans, or victims of abusive family situations are eligible for permanent
legal residence and become dependents of the courts. The court grants custody
of the child to a state agency, declares him/her eligible for foster care, and
determines that it is not in the best interest of the child to return to
his/her country of birth. Taxpayers then become de facto supporters of such
children. According to CRS, since 2008, such children exceeded 1,000 each year.
“Permanently
residing under the color of law,” (PRUCOL) has been used historically to give
benefits to foreign nationals who are known to be residing in the U.S. yet the
government has no plans to deport. “Quasi-legal” aliens fall in this category
of PRUCOL.
Social
Services Block Grants and migrant health center services are offered as limited
exceptions within the 1996 welfare act:
-
Treatment
under Medicaid for emergency medical conditions (except organ transplant)
-
Short-term
emergency disaster relief
-
Immunizations
-
Testing
and treatment for communicable diseases
-
Soup
kitchens, crisis counseling, short-term shelters
-
HUD
assistance
Although
the law clearly states to the contrary, pre-natal care, treatment, and
assistance under Medicaid, CHIP, nutrition programs, and other benefits are
given to illegal aliens, all funded by U.S. taxpayers.
Title
IV of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation ACT (PRWORA)
of 1996 (P.L. 104-193) “established comprehensive restrictions on the
eligibility of all noncitizens for
means-tested public assistance, with the exceptions for LPRs with a substantial
U.S. work history or military connection.” PRWORA expressly bars illegal aliens
from most state and locally funded benefits.
The
Department of Labor estimated $53.8 billion in unemployment benefits were paid
to illegal aliens in 2002 and IRS paid $4.2 billion in refundable tax credits
in 2010 to illegal aliens. Unemployment compensation overpayment of 0.51% of
total was made to illegal aliens. (Congressional Research Service, “Unauthorized
Aliens’ Access to Federal Benefits: Policy and Issues, Ruth Ellen Wasem,
September 17, 2012)
The
Food Stamp Program reported that 1.9 million U.S. citizen children (“anchor
babies”) living with illegal alien parents received food stamps, or 7% of all
participants. Medicaid spent $2.5 billion, $2.2 billion on treatment for the
uninsured, and $1.9 billion on food assistance programs, including emergency
Medicaid and school lunch programs. According to Steven Camarota, Director of
Research at the Center for Immigration Studies, “Many of the costs associated
with illegals are due to their American-born children, who are awarded U.S.
citizenship at birth…greater efforts at barring illegals from federal programs
will not reduce costs because their citizen children can continue to access
them.” (Steven A. Camarota, The High Cost
of Cheap Labor: Illegal Immigration and the Federal Budget,
Washington, D.C.: Center for Immigration Studies, August 2004)
At
a time when so many Americans are unemployed, underemployed, out of the labor
force, and 47 million Americans are on food stamps because of the disastrous
economic policies pursued by the current administration, should we continue to
spend billions of taxpayer dollars on illegal aliens who are the responsibility
of their own countries?
Sunday, October 21, 2012
High School After Communism
We
never needed protection and guards in U.S. schools. The community and the local
police dealt with undesirables and criminal elements. We did not have metal
detectors in high school in the 70s or 80s. It is rare now that a school in the
U.S. does not have some type of security, including metal detectors. In the old
country we did not need security. Everyone was terrified of the police and the
communist party’s swift one way ticket to a real jail far away. A communist
dictatorship was certainly a strong deterrent to crime in general.
The first stop was the faculty lounge. Ten teachers and an orthodox priest were preparing for the next class. A large icon of the Virgin Mary had replaced the “cult of personality” worshipping portrait of the former dictator Ceausescu. The principal introduced me as an alumna. In the ensuing silence, one lady volunteered, she remembered me - we graduated at the same time. As she spoke, a jolt of adrenalin surged. I recognized her voice – it was Dana Malisca, my former best friend. For twelve years, we sat in the same classes and the same uncomfortable benches, writing each other notes of boredom whenever we could, and arguing over academic things constantly. This was beyond serendipity, it was divine intervention. What are the odds that I can find my former friend after so many years during a visit late in the afternoon? I was not so much looking for people, as I looking for a place in time and evidence that the darkness I experienced was gone. And Dana teaches geography at the same high school!
I
wanted to revisit the one place that helped shape who I am today and gave me
the resolve to move far away to the land of opportunity and freedom – my old
high school. I knew most of my former teachers had probably passed away or were
very old and long retired. I was looking for evidence that the communist
indoctrination disappeared. The first positive sign was the change in the name.
Gone was the communist era name, C. Dobrogeanu-Gherea – the new high school had
been renamed Nikita Stanescu, honoring a famous Romanian poet.
I
was surprised to see a guard booth at my old high school and a chicken wire
fence. The building had been renovated last year and the concrete exterior
painted a happy yellow. After 15 minutes of deliberations, trying to hold on to
my professional camera which the toothless guard wanted me to surrender before
I could go in, the principal met me at the door for an official tour.
Although
it was 5 p.m., classes were still in session and there was a beehive of
activity. Students no longer wore the ugly uniforms but casual, age appropriate
clothes. A larger gym had been built as an annex to the main school.
The first stop was the faculty lounge. Ten teachers and an orthodox priest were preparing for the next class. A large icon of the Virgin Mary had replaced the “cult of personality” worshipping portrait of the former dictator Ceausescu. The principal introduced me as an alumna. In the ensuing silence, one lady volunteered, she remembered me - we graduated at the same time. As she spoke, a jolt of adrenalin surged. I recognized her voice – it was Dana Malisca, my former best friend. For twelve years, we sat in the same classes and the same uncomfortable benches, writing each other notes of boredom whenever we could, and arguing over academic things constantly. This was beyond serendipity, it was divine intervention. What are the odds that I can find my former friend after so many years during a visit late in the afternoon? I was not so much looking for people, as I looking for a place in time and evidence that the darkness I experienced was gone. And Dana teaches geography at the same high school!
Dana
joined our impromptu tour. The cosmetic changes of the school did not mitigate
the feel of unease and inner preservation fear that used to grip me every time
I stepped inside the school. The bathrooms smelled the same and I was scared to
enter. We used to wade in an inch of urine and water to go to the latrine, a
whole in the cement ground with two foot rests. Now they have modern commodes
and functioning sinks.
The
computer lab had twenty stations of flat screen desktops. It was hot and humid
like everywhere else. No air conditioning – the smart meters prevented its use.
I am not sure that happened in summer time as well, it was late fall and
unusually hot. The students were very welcoming and polite. As soon as I was
introduced to them, they quickly started searching my name on the web.
The
school added a cheerful biology lab and improved the chemistry and physics
labs. Students no longer have access to the locked chemicals, which is a good
thing. Dana reminded me how we accidentally set fire to the Christmas tree with
the burner from the lab – we had decorated it with so much paper garland, it
went up in smoke in no time. Principal Marinescu, whom we all feared, lectured
us on fire hazards. He never applied physical punishment to girls who did something
unacceptable or violated school standards. Principal Marinescu is 90 years old
now and never misses a beginning of the school year ceremony.
I
pictured the stage in the courtyard where Dana and I used to get prizes for
good grades at the end of each year. We were always in strict competition. The communist
party headquarters gave good students a book at the end of the year, sometimes
a literary piece, sometimes a propaganda piece. We were not very aware in the
beginning as to the content and intent of the gift – we were just happy to be
rewarded because we had studied so hard.
We
assembled in the same yard every morning for the principal’s pep talk of the
day and filed into the building one by one through the back door for the usual
uniform and matriculation number inspection. We had a number embroidered on our
uniforms, indicating the name of the high school that we were attending and the
individual numbers that we were assigned. If we ever misbehaved in public, that
number was reported to the principal. Because the number was required on our
coat sleeves as well, we could be reported even outside of school. If anyone
was found dressed inappropriately, he/she was sent home immediately. Shaving,
makeup, and inappropriate hair styles were strictly forbidden. Out of wedlock
pregnancies resulted in immediate expulsion from school. I did not see any
evidence now of nurseries on school premises as is the case in some school
districts in the U.S.
Students
who had finished their classes were milling about the courtyard casually and relaxed
some talking, some exchanging homework assignments. The gate guard was checking
their home passes to make sure, they were not skipping class.
The
old gym still had the parallel bars and the beam where we practiced gymnastics.
My knees really hurt today from the many falls I had taken off the beam. Sports
were not optional and some of us were more gifted than others in gymnastics,
handball, volleyball, basketball, and soccer.
Memories
are flooding back, people, places, some good, many bad, and ghosts of a
terrorized communist indoctrinating past. The school is modern and cheery
today, the sunshine flooding through the large windows. A tear found its way to the corner of my eye.
Perhaps it is the sun; perhaps it is the repressed memories of pain and discomfort
from so long ago. Maybe I am happy that the young faces around me are not
subjected to the repressive life I knew.
Students
are no longer required to take four hours of home economics. My former teacher,
Mrs. Enescu, was not very happy with students like me who hated to sit four
hours a week learning how to sew, knit, and cook. If she could only remember
me, she is 94 years old and with a keen mind, I would tell her how much her
counted cross stitch lessons have helped me deal with stress when I was pursuing
my doctoral degree.
Women
under communism were not encouraged to pursue degrees beyond high school; they
were required to be good wives and mothers with a high school diploma. Few
places were available for them at the university and men were favored. I’ve
always wondered why liberal women think that communism will install the
egalitarian utopia they seek. American women already have more freedom to
choose whatever they wish to do than any other culture in the world. Communism
would only bring them back to the early 20th century.
Some
teachers lamented that, while things have improved tremendously, even adding
religion to the curriculum, education has been watered down, de-emphasizing
history to make room for the new educational model of the global citizen who no
longer identifies with a distinct nationality with its own language, borders,
and culture. The multiculturalism drive from the European Union comes with many
grants and scholarships that are hard to turn down. The gym teacher commented
in passing that the change was superficially aesthetic and that she hated the highly
polished brown doors that looked like coffin lids.
I
could not tell the extent of substantive change around my old high school but I
was struck by the relaxed atmosphere of both faculty and teachers. Students
offered respect to their teachers not out of fear but out of personal admiration
for their scholarship. I left the grounds with the satisfactory knowledge that
no other generation since 1989 has been indoctrinated into the hideous
communist utopia.
Friday, October 19, 2012
Butler on Business, WAFS 1190, Atlanta
My segment on Butler on Business on the recent trip to Romania (8 minutes), October 17, 2012.
http://host1.cyberears.com//17646.mp3
http://host1.cyberears.com//17646.mp3
Friday chat with Silvio on national blog talk radio
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/cantotalk/2012/10/19/our-friday-chat-with-dr-ileana-johnson-paugh
Recent trip to Europe, debates, economy, my upcoming book, UN Agenda 21: Environmental Piracy
Recent trip to Europe, debates, economy, my upcoming book, UN Agenda 21: Environmental Piracy
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
The Scam of Green
You
know the scam of green has hit rock bottom when the Washington Post is
criticizing the government’s alternative energy partnerships, grants, and
subsidies and Al Gore’s $100 million fortune gained through investments in the
climate change hoax. “Al Gore is 50 times richer than he was when he left the
vice presidency in 2001.” (http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/charles-lane-liberals-green-energy-contradictions/2012/10/15/8c251ba2-16e6-11e2-8792-cf5305eddf60_story.html)
Being
the die-hard liberals that they are, the paper cannot help itself in describing
Gore’s wealth as “Romneyesque” and Mitt Romney himself as a “private-equity
baron.” In the liberal view, it is acceptable to gain wealth, whether honestly
or dishonestly if you are a Democrat, however, if you are a Republican, you
become a baron, a comparison with negative connotations, harking back to the
robber-barons era.
Criticizing
modern liberalism and the Democrat Party, the author condemns their green
agenda and their dependence on cash from high-tech venture capitalists and
lobbyists, questioning their claims that they are supporting “the little guy,”
the ordinary Americans who struggle to survive in an almost 16 percent
unemployment environment.
The
real unemployment figures, if reported correctly and honestly, are much higher
than the stated 7.8 percent by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and the
happy media supporting President Obama’s re-election campaign. The main stream
media has not bothered to report that the seventh largest economy on the planet,
California, had failed to report its unemployment figures on time last week and
was thus not included in the BLS unemployment calculations.
Charles
Lane says that it is much harder to describe “liberalism as a philosophy of
distributive justice.” Quoting Andrew Jackson’s words of 1832, the author is
indirectly complaining about the injustice of our Government.
I
do not recall our founding fathers advocating socialist re-distribution of
wealth. Liberalism is a political philosophy founded on the ideas of liberty:
free and fair elections, civil rights, freedom of the press, freedom of
religion, and the right to life, liberty, and property. Nobody is entitled to
anybody else’s property. It was John Locke who argued that each human being has
a natural right to life, liberty, and property and governments must not violate
these rights. Yet liberals trumpet that an omnipotent government should be the
arbiter and re-distributor of private property and wealth.
Charles
Lane makes a valid point that our government does not have a mandate to choose
economic winners and losers through green subsidies, grants, or tax breaks for
oil and gas. However, in his progressive views, governments must pursue “the
legitimate goal of environmentalism.”
I
am not sure if there is a legitimate goal of environmentalism or who has mandate
to pursue that goal. The majority of Americans believe environmentalism to be
counterproductive to our capitalist economy and a threat to private property
and our way of life.
Maurice
Strong, the founder of the United Nations Environment Programme, exemplifies environmentalism
gone berserk: “Isn’t the only hope for the planet that the industrialized civilization
collapses? Isn’t our responsibility to bring that about? Current lifestyles and
consumption patterns of the affluent middle class – involving high meat intake,
use of fossil fuels, appliances, air-conditioning, and suburban housing – are
not sustainable.” (Rio Earth Summit)
Questioning
Gore’s “climate crusade” as being based on money and not about saving the
planet, the author talks about Fisker, the manufacturer of the hybrid cars,
mostly priced above $100,000, the Kharma sport model selling for $117,000. Lane
believes the huge financial gain does not hurt Gore’s credibility about climate
change, just the solutions he advocates.
It
is not in the interest of liberals to let climate change/global warming crusade
die. There is too much money, wealth, power, and global control to be gained from
pushing this hoax.
The
Met Office in the U.K. reported last week that 3,000 temperature readings on
land and sea have shown that from the beginning of 1997 until August 2012 there
was no discernible rise in global temperatures. According to the Daily Mail, “the
‘plateau’ or ‘pause’ in global warming has now lasted for about the same time
as the previous period when temperatures rose, 1980 to 1996. Before that,
temperatures had been stable or declining for about 40 years.”
The
media reported with great fanfare six months ago figures through the end of
2010 – a very warm year because the data seemed to agree with their agenda. The
reporting was disingenuous because it supposedly showed a slight warming trend
since 1997. However, 2011 and the first eight months of 2012 were much cooler,
erasing the warming trend. I would also argue that environmentalists constantly
mix weather and climate, depending on their talking points. (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2217286/Global-warming-stopped-16-years-ago-reveals-Met-Office-report-quietly-released--chart-prove-it.html)
Everybody
understands green energy is expensive and not feasible and cheap on a mass
scale for years to come. Our huge economy and transportation need more than
just wind mills and solar panels. Our economy needs natural gas, oil, clean
coal, nuclear energy, and hydroelectric energy.
The
New York Times reported on California’s “net metering” subsidy for solar-panel
users. Consumers who can afford to install photovoltaic panels are paid by
their utilities for the excess capacity of electricity and to keep them on the
grid. The utilities’ costs are passed on to lower income customers. (Washington
Post, Charles Lane, October 16, 2012)
Liberals
are finally discovering that expensive electricity rates are bad for industry
and private customers alike. The $3.4 billion from the 2009 stimulus bill spent
on the Smart Grid may be efficient and profitable in energy distribution for
utilities but it is very expensive for consumers, invades their privacy, and
creates cyber security issues and privacy issues. Germany’s rapid replacement of
nuclear power with wind and solar has increased utility rates so much that
200,000 long-term unemployed Germans lost power in 2011 because they could not
afford to pay their electric bills. (http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/energy-turnaround-in-germany-plagued-by-worrying-lack-of-progress-a-860481.html)
Liberals
are finally discovering that much higher electricity rates through smart
metering are hitting their pockets and it hurts. Progressives are realizing
that the Democrat talk about “green jobs” is nothing but a con redefinition of
already existing jobs. Furthermore, smart grid and smart meters, with all their
negative effects on human health and privacy, are destroying the jobs of the
traditional meter readers. Lane calls this unintended consequence “creative
destruction” - “what makes capitalism go.” But Economics 101 teaches students
that self-interest, greed, the price system, Adam Smith’s “invisible hand,” and
the pursuit of profit are the motivators behind capitalism.
Lane
disapproves of Gore and his partners’ rent-seeking activities. “It is to be
regretted that the rich and powerful too often bend the acts of government to
their selfish purposes.” He laments the fact that the United Mine Workers of
America, a former Democrat core constituency, has refused to endorse Obama in
2008 and 2012. Mitt Romney has promised in Ohio that we will use our vast
reserves of coal, keep the miners’ jobs, and re-open those coal mines shut down
by Obama’s green energy policies.
In
the end, the scam of green is affecting Democrat and Republican consumers
alike. It just took Democrats four years to realize this obvious fact.
Friday, October 12, 2012
Disorder and Corruption in a New World Order
When
I deplaned from my comfortable KLM flight on a late September afternoon at the
ultra-modern Henri Coanda International Airport at Otopeni, Romania, I was
greeted by stifling humid heat inside and out. People were milling about with
sweaty brows from the lack of air conditioning use. I picked up the key and
contract to my rental car and hurried outside. It was somewhat more bearable –
at least there was a slight breeze.
The
rental lot gate keeper required a small bribe to let me in. The employee who handed
me the key to the car spent an inordinate amount of time presenting all the
features on the car, treating me gingerly as if I was incapable of
comprehension. I probably drove more vehicles and more years than he had imagined
or I cared to admit. The VW Jetta would be my means of transportation for the
next 12 days – no crowded trains, buses, metro, trolleybuses, or trams. I had
spent an extra $55 on a GPS, knowing that it would be my lifeline between being
utterly lost and finding where I wanted to go. Road signs, I learned the hard
way last year, were scarce and incomprehensible at best. I never knew when
roads ended sharply onto pastures as far as my eyes could see.
With
a condescending smirk on his face, the Avis attendant allowed me to drive off,
not before tipping the gate attendant again. Because remuneration is so miserly
for most people, they supplement wages with bribes. Little has changed since
the communist regime. And thus began my journey of discovery and reportage into
the new world order of capitalism infected by neo-communism of European
lineage.
Every
350 meters, the GPS voice warned me of roundabouts. After a while, I felt like
I was in roundabout hell. As long as I followed the only traffic rule that
Romanian drivers respected, the car already in the roundabout has priority, I
was safe. As I become more comfortable with roundabouts, I realized that they
saved me money, time, and Diesel. This was welcome news since gas and Diesel
were $10 a gallon. Diesel Maxx, a bio fuel mixture with rapeseed oil, was
almost $11 a gallon. We used rapeseed oil to cook with under Ceausescu’s regime
when sun flower cooking oil was hard to find. I could have sworn my Diesel
smelled like French fries.
Traffic
rules were mere humorous suggestions. Only visitors like me respected or
followed them. Drivers passed each other on the left, on the right, on the
sidewalk, on the pedestrian median, on the tram tracks, parked wherever they
wished, drove very fast and in reverse in the middle of a multi-lane street.
The few traffic police, Politia Rutiera, hardly kept up with the infractors.
Now and then I would see a car with a boot on or a speeding car stopped by a
policeman who was writing a ticket. Most drivers get out of paying fines by
offering bribes. They know someone who knows someone else and thus the ticket is
voided, no lesson learned.
I
finally understood the condescension of the rental lot attendant. Male drivers
considered female drivers a nuisance on the road that prevented male
chauvinists from reaching their destinations faster, like a fly in a fresh
glass of milk, an attitude left from the communist era when women were
generally not allowed to drive and few actually passed the very stringent
driving test.
Stations
used attendants to pump gas for patrons, especially for women. Perhaps men
thought we were not competent enough to pump our own gas. I enjoyed this
service immensely, not having to get my hands dirty with Diesel. I gladly paid
the tip.
Drivers
honked angrily and constantly at each other, leaving those driving within the
speed limit in a halo of dust. The noise pollution in big cities was huge. Pedestrians
were target practice for the angry, rude, and hurried drivers. The mortality
rate of pedestrians was unacceptably high.
I
became exhaustingly defensive and tense in my driving, watching for goats,
sheep, cows, shepherds, buggies, horses, bad drivers, and foolish pedestrians
darting across busy highways and roads with total disregard for their own
safety.
I
was driving cautiously slow in the Carpathian Mountains through endless hairpin
curves, my four-cylinder Jetta struggling to climb the steep incline. The GPS’
purple image of the twisted road looked like a heart monitor in atrial
fibrillation. I did not dare look much to my left or right – the huge drops
made my stomach churn and gave me vertigo. Yet drivers would honk and pass me
with total disregard for the double lines painted on the road or the risk to
their lives and the lives of others. They were on a mission to get wherever
they were going really fast. The roads were littered with smashed vehicles and
upturned 18-wheelers, taking up sometimes 5 hours or more to clear the road. Forty
miles from my medieval town destination, Sighisoara, the driver of an
18-wheeler had overturned his fully loaded rig, blocking both lanes, and
stopping traffic for six hours. I only hope that he survived this terrible
accident that he alone had caused.
Many
things have improved in the lives of Romanians since the fall of communism in
1989. Capitalism and entrepreneurship are flourishing because regulatory
bureaucracy is insignificant when compared to regulations in the west. But
unchecked and unpunished corruption coupled with expected briberies have
reached pandemic proportions.
Business
is conducted on two levels – there is the legal contract for taxation purposes,
and the “sub rosa” contract, hiding the real transaction. Usually, the written
contracts contain lower figures in order to escape taxation. The oral, under
the table contracts, during which bribes and percentages are paid to various
middlemen, are really the bona fide contracts. Written contractual documents
are so arcane and complex that state notaries have very lucrative offices,
raking in more money than attorneys.
State
owned enterprises are scavenged by various interested parties who are appointed
to run them, with total disregard for public/private ownership or
accountability. Those running and/or managing the plant become “ticks” that “suck”
the plant’s resources to bolster their own private companies, just like they
used to do under the communist regime.
Case
in point, Oltchim S.A., one of the largest chemical companies in Romania with
over 3,300 employees, has not paid its employees in months and is now bankrupt.
The economic crisis of 2008, mismanagement and theft of resources by employee
“ticks” that drained resources and sucked the lifeblood of Oltchim for their
own private interests were the undoing of Oltchim S.A. Oltchim S.A. used to be
the Ramnicu Vilcea Chemical Works during Ceausescu’s communist regime. It
became a joint-stock company in 1990 by post-communist government decision.
According
to Dan Straut, Oltchim had become a victim of the fall 2008 economic crisis
when Petrom, the main supplier of inputs for Oltchim, closed its petrochemical
installations. Oltchim is heavily in debt, owing 250 million euros to AVAS (the
state authority) and 147 million euros in utilities. Oltchim is a major player
in the Romanian economy because it produces chemicals used in 80 percent of
consumer products and is a main exporter. (September 10, 2012)
While
I was in Romania, the scandal and the circus that followed Oltchim’s inability
to meet its payroll for six month or more and pay its creditors, placed two
camps at odds on a daily basis – those who wanted to maintain the state
ownership of Oltchim, promising to raise the 45 million euros needed to save
it, and those who wanted to completely privatize it in order to reorganize it
and weed out the waste, unaccountability, and corruption. Dan Diaconescu, a TV
station owner, misled the whole country that he would raise the necessary funds
to give workers their back wages and pay creditors, coming up short and
empty-handed with only 3 million euros in a bag from mysterious European
sources. The corruption and mystery continue.
My
hotel in Brasov was hosting a Cybercrime Seminar sponsored by the U.S. Embassy,
American Express, EBay, Microsoft, Western Union, MoneyGram International, and Trust
wave. During discussions encouraging Romanian authorities to pass tougher laws
on cyber criminals and offering help and expertise, a participating Romanian
judge took umbrage with the suggestion and pointed out that foreigners cannot
come into their country and tell them what to do. In other words, we like to
maintain the status quo. So what if hapless Americans and westerners with money
to burn are defrauded by young Romanian cyber criminals, often underage, by
hundreds of millions of dollars?
It
appears that old habits die hard. Sixty years of communism, theft, and abuse of
power are hard to overcome even though a strange form of capitalism has taken
strong roots in Romania. The shadow communism never went away and is
re-emerging with a vengeance in public life with empty promises of free food,
easy money, and free housing. The corruption that emerged from communism got
more sophisticated and exploded on a grander scale, aided by the Internet age
and the ability to travel freely and quickly across many time zones.
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