Author Archives: BZ

Europe setting stage to create a run on Euro banks?

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ATMs in Nicosia, Cyprus, Bank Savings RunFrom Australia’s TheAge.com:

In a move that could set off new fears of contagion across the eurozone, anxious depositors drained cash from ATMs in Cyprus on Saturday, hours after European officials in Brussels required that part of a new €10 billion ($12.6 billion) bailout must be paid for directly from the bank accounts of savers.

The move – a first in the three-year-old European financial crisis – raised questions over whether bank runs could be set off elsewhere.

Read that paragraph again, carefully.

A bank in Belgium, a country far away from yours, has declared that it gives itself the authority to wade into your personal savings account in order to pay back a loan your country acquired from the “higher banking authority.”

And anyone wonders why people are raiding their own savings accounts via ATM?

Reuters has more:

(Reuters) – Cyprus’s parliament has postponed until Monday an emergency session to vote on a levy on bank deposits after signs that lawmakers might block the surprise move agreed in Brussels to help fund a bailout and avert national bankruptcy.

In a radical departure from previous aid packages, euro zone finance ministers want Cyprus savers to forfeit up to 9.9 percent of their deposits in return for a 10 billion euro ($13 billion) bailout to the island, which has been financially crippled by its exposure to neighboring Greece.

So let me understand: taxpayers in Cyprus are, following a vote on Monday, potentially to lose 10% of their savings in order to stave off a fiscal problem due to an issue of proximity to a larger debtor nation?

Ladies, this is what you get when you turn your sovereignty over to a larger enterprise.

So let’s just see how this plays out, and how it affects the minds of taxpayers in neighboring countries.

Bank run, anyone?

Bueller?

BZ

 

 

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E. John Robinson: painter of the seas

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For those not aware, I am en vacanza on the northern Fornicalia coast in Mendocino, having rented a house with an overview of the Mendocino Headlands for 10 days.

We customarily celebrate my wife’s birthday in early January and then our anniversary in February, but our work schedules disallowed this for 2013.  We had to be slaves to work and simply postpone.  Hence our vacation now, instead of much earlier.

My wife and I won’t be leaving for another five days and, in the meantime, I’ve been continuing the blogging.  I would have placed at least two photo posts by this point, but WordPress is unhappy with the large size of my photo files.  I have to figure out how to condense said files and still retain their quality.

That said, I occasioned to step into a very small and easily-dismissed and difficult-to-see gallery today, just outside Ft Bragg, Fornicalia.  I had seen a sign, in passing, indicating something about a “master seascape painter” a number of times on Highway 1.  After stepping inside, I learned about the oil paintings and watercolors of E. John Robinson and the fact that he had passed away in 2008.  There is, unfortunately, nothing in Wikipedia on the man.

First, some examples of his work:

E John Robinson, Autumn SundownE John Robinson, December Mood, OilE John Robinson, PaintingE John Robinson, Seascape In WCAnd this quite wonderful piece:

E John Robinson, Evening RedsE. John Robinson 1932-2008

As far as I can tell, Mr Robinson was revered not only for the art he produced, but the skill he possessed as an instructor as well.

– EJR on LinkedIn.
– EJR on BookFinder.com.
– EJR on Barnes&Noble.com.

– Seascapes in Watercolour with E. John Robinson.

– Painting Landscapes in Oils with E. John Robinson-EJR-AV

All of this new information makes me wish I’d been cognizant of Mr Robinson before he passed away.

His specific website is here.

When you write things in retrospect, it simply makes you wish you’d met the person originally.

Oddly enough, the people I encountered at the small gallery were not much interested in revealing their names or promoting Mr Robinson, with the exception of a kind man I’d guess to be in his 80s — and who never introduced himself, though I did with both myself and my wife.  I never did learn his name.

The place was psychically askew.  The female in her 40s was predominantly disinterested and I could tell she silently excoriated the man in his 80s for daring to trust us with two DVDs.  She was as cuddly as a Sidewinder and wary as a Hyena.  Except that I came back, an hour later, to purposely pay for the DVDs.  I’d submit she would be better served not in retail but in an arena where minimal human contact existed.

All in all, an odd experience.

But, on the other hand, I learned about a new painter.  Who had, by my time of discovery, passed away due to what some suspected as constant contact of various oil based physicalities.  Perhaps yes, or perhaps no.

I wish I’d been able to meet the man.  I’d wager he was soft and understanding and loving and ebullient and filled with the positivism of his craft.

BZ

 

 

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From the ‘You’ve Got To Be Kidding Me Dept’: “Obama couldn’t eat at Hill meeting without food ‘taster’ “

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Obama the KingFrom the DailyCaller.com:

WASHINGTON — Following President Obama’s lunch meeting with Senate Republicans on Capitol Hill, Maine Republican Senator Susan Collins described the food served and said the president was not able to eat since his “taster” was not present.

“He looked longingly at it,” Collins continued. “He honestly did look longingly at it, but apparently he has to have essentially a taster, and I pointed out to him that we were all tasters for him, that if the food had been poisoned all of us would have keeled over so, but he did look longingly at it and he remarked that we have far better food than the Democrats do, and I said that was because I was hosting.”

Additional articles, in case anyone disbelieves, here and here and here, even from Huffington Post.  Audio here.

This man really does think he’s a king.

BZ

 

 

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Ted Cruz vs Diane Feinstein on gun control bills

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From Politico.com:

The Senate Judiciary Committee has approved a hugely controversial ban on assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition clips, but the measure faces nearly certain defeat on the Senate floor.

The proposal, authored by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), bans 157 different models of assault weapons, as well as magazines containing more than 10 bullets.

The vote was 10 to 8, with all Democrats supporting it and all Republicans opposed.

Something tells me there wasn’t much Obama “bipartisanship” in that vote.  “Bipartisanship” according to Mr Obama means that every Republican and Independent vote precisely as do the Demorats.  Wait; does that mean there isn’t any “bipartisanship” on the Demorat side?

Correct!

BZ

 

 

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NY Mayor Bloomberg: “telecommuting is dumb”

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Telecommuting CatAnd for once, I have to agree with New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

Telecommuting IS “dumb.”  Working from home, for a larger corporation or governmental agency IS dumb.

Because here is what you forfeit over someone else: presence.  And immediacy.

If you’re nothing but a governmental drone and couldn’t care less about promotions or better working conditions or advanced pay — yes — stay the hell at home.

Those persons interested in promoting and advancement make themselves known to their ranking individuals and make plans for ascending the corporate or public sector platform.  They present an immediacy and a presence that otherwise cannot be provided by anything less.

Start thinking like a Manager if you want to promote.  Start thinking like an Upper Manager if you want to promote.  Start thinking like a CEO if that’s where you wish to be.

Because, in an upper position, what would you rather do: promote an individual who thinks like you and has chosen a similar career path — or choose someone who will be at odds with you from the moment they step into their office?

I think we all know the answer to that question.  it doesn’t require a brain scientist or a rocket surgeon to discern.

Which is why: telecommuting is dumb for those with ambition; it is, however, perfectly in keeping with those who have no ambition whatsoever.

BZ

P.S.
Oddly enough, new Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer agrees with Bloomberg.  She recently presented a memo that “working from home” is UNproductive.  And because, YES, it IS all about presence and immediacy.

The only working from home Yahoo employees will be doing is looking for another job.

The company’s remote employees have until June to take a shower and come into the office, according to a company-wide mandate put out by Marissa Mayer, the Business Insider reports.

If they don’t like it, they are encouraged to leave, according to reports.

I completely concur.  Because either you are an automaton, a drone, or you are an actual human being.

The remote workers simply aren’t productive enough for Mayer’s liking, according to an anonymous insider, who added that the company itself is bloated with too much infrastructure and too many workers whose duties are unclear. Employees were able to effectively “hide” for far too long.

COMPLETELY concur.

Unless you’re your own Personal Entrepreneur, here’s what you do working from home:

– Get up late; sleep in; stay in pajamas or shorts and tank top; scratch your belly;
– Feed the baby, make breakfast, send the wife/husband off to work or a Social Security office;
– Watch some TV’;
– Check personal e-mails;
– Pay some bills if lucky;
– Watch the Today show;
– Delay checking work e-mails;
– Watch Judge Judy; Wendy Williams has a nice show today;
– Schedule the car for its service;
– Take an afternoon nap; check out websites for tomorrow’s weather;

Ad nauseum.

Eventually, after around 3:30 or so, it’s time to address some actual work issues.  However, by that time, you rationalize it’s close to quitting time and, after all, no one can truly see when you physically stop work at home.

Mayor Bloomberg is correct.

BZ

 

 

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