You’ve probably heard of Mint.com which helps you keep track of your transactions on credit cards, bank accounts, retirement funds, etc. I recently bumped into Manilla.com. Manilla helps you organize all your bills in one place, sends you reminders when they are due, and organizes and saves the billing statements. It is an awesome tool for those that are overwhelmed by numerous bills and are likely to miss payments. Manilla.com has an iPhone and an Android app too. Go ahead, get it and never miss a payment again!

The events leading up to the U.S. financial crisis all the way up to the aftermath of the crisis and recession, there was all the big talk about how Wall Street caused damage to the Main Street, politicians calling for civil and criminal investigations, harsh punishments, and strong regulation.  Guess what, none of that happened.  The Wall Street accountability is now officially a forgotten episode in the U.S. financial history.

For those of us that are not fully aware of what actually caused the crisis and heard of buzz words that meant alien such as “mortgage-backed securities”, “derivatives”, “predatory lending”, may I suggest watching “The Inside Job”, a powerful movie narrating the events that led to the financial meltdown.

Not only was there no punitive action taken against any of the rogue companies, in some instances, as we have now come to know, there were huge bonuses to the people working in these companies.  Whatever happened to the civil fraud action against Goldman Sachs.  Oh wait a minute, that was “settled”.  Yes, you do not believe that a fraud action results in paying a “few pennies” at least by Goldman standards and they get to go home clean? See this:

http://www.democracynow.org/2010/7/16/goldman_sachs_settles_civil_fraud_case

Conflict of Interest: Academicians in the Economics discipline in bed with Wall Street? You be the judge.  There have been several dozens of cases where professors, deans, and other members of economics discipline have taken thousands of dollars in “consulting fees” to write reports that are favorable to companies.  Think of it as a Scientist researching a disease writes a report that a certain drug works great on the disease and gets a grant from the pharmaceutical company that manufactures the drug in question.  Similarly, there are those in the discipline of economics that have, from time to time criticized any regulation of finance industry, produced reports that were favorable to the companies that sponsored them.  And yet, these individuals in the teaching profession felt that there was no need to disclose the potential conflict.  For example, in 2006, Prof. Frederic Mishkin of Columbia Business School co-authored a report called “Financial Stability in Iceland”. The report maintained that Iceland’s economic fundamentals were strong. The report was commissioned by the Icelandic Chamber of Commerce in response to critical coverage of the Icelandic economy and certain Icelandic companies in the international business media. Mishkin was paid $124,000 to co-author the report.  In another example, Glenn Hubbard, the Dean of Columbia School of Business, refuses to disclose which companies use his services and that he receives income from.  And these guys are in the teaching profession, who we are supposed to look up to.

Regulation of Wall Street’s Reckless Behavior – Obama, Bush - They are all the same: Despite all the verbal bashing that Wall Street received from Obama or Bush, neither of them did hardly anything to make Wall Street more accountable.  And how could they.  For example, Obama, who promised Wall Street cleanup hired a bunch of guys that used to eat and sleep on Wall Street.  Timothy Geithner was the President of Federal Reserve of New York.  Larry Summers has deep financial connections to Wall Street and was the Director of National Economic Council until recently.

In the financial world, derivatives caused perhaps the most damage.  Yet, trading of derivatives remains unregulated.  Ask Larry Summers on the record, if he supports regulation of Wall Street.  Where is the regulation on executive compensation for the financial companies? End of the day – no matter which party comes to power, the lobbyists will buy ‘em all.  Apparently, there are 3,000+ Wall Street lobbyists for 600+ members of the Congress.  Wall Street is where all the money is and we know that money speaks.  Unless, there is a strong leader like Lincoln, Roosevelt or Eisenhower that calls the shots and is not intimidated to do what is morally right.  The ultimate victim of the Wall Street excesses is the middle class.  And no, I am not a Communist.

The past few months has seen an increased level of nationwide protest in India against corruption. The anti-graft movement is inspired by Gandhian Mr. Anna Hazare.  The present Administration headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has lost the confidence of people across the nation.  Its ministers and members of parliament have been involved in numerous scandals including but not limited to Suresh Kalmadi, Sheila Dikshit, A. Raja, and others.  Moreover, the emergency-like stifling of rights of the people has been on the increase.  Given that the present government does not have the respect of the people, as a matter of moral responsibility, Mr. Manmohan Singh and his Cabinet must resign effective immediately and pave the way for elections.

After twenty years of civil war, a ceasefire which was agreed between the North (Muslim majority) and the South (Christian majority) in Sudan in 2003 did not unfortunately include Darfur region.  From 2003 up until recently when the South got its independence, over 350,000 people have been killed, over 2 million people have been displaced, and countless atrocities on women were committed in Darfur region.

It has now become evident from the criminal charges filed by International Criminal Court that the crimes were indeed Genocide under the international law and that the ethnic cleansing by the ruthless Janjaweed militia was undertaken with the full support and cooperation of Omar Al-Bashir’s government – a State sponsored act of Genocide.

It is also evident that even though states around the world could have intervened militarily, none of them cared enough to undertake a military operation against Khartoum’s regime.  Even though it took several months for United States to officially confirm that the acts were indeed Genocide, there was absolutely no military operation ever considered by the Bush Administration.  Europe and Russia turned a complete blind eye to the Darfur crisis. What about India and China – the much talked about nations these days and upcoming economic powers of Asia?  What you are about to read is going to shock you.

China helped the Sudanese government build oil pipelines and has been involved in oil production in that country so it could quench the 1.2 billion people’s thirst for oil.  China not only provided support to Sudan with infrastructure to produce oil, it even was one of the largest customers and investors in Sudanese oil industry.  China also supplied the Sudanese government with weapons and continues to do so.  India on the other hand wanted to catch up with China in its ever-growing quest for global significance.  In July 2002, the Indian government approved a proposal so the Indian state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation of India could buy into Greater Nile Petroleum Oil Company, a Sudanese state-owned oil company.  What did the Petroleum Minister in India at the time had to say about this? He said that “The Chinese are there, the Malaysians are there, and we have good relations with Sudan”.  I suppose economic interests trump any other issues including mass murder of human beings. I wonder what Mahatma Gandhi would say and do if he were alive today and learnt of Indian investment in Sudan.

One could argue that back in 2002, little did the world know about the Genocide in Sudan so China and India and Malaysia were unknowingly tying their respective economic interests with Sudan.  But, even as of today, the Greater Nile Petroleum Operating Company www.GNPOC.com continues to be owned by China (40%), Malaysia (30%), India (25%), and Sudan (5%).  Despite knowing what we know today, why are these nations still in Sudan? Why have they been in Sudan the past 10 years investing in a criminal regime they know has been funneling the oil money into acts of Genocide in Darfur and other regions? Isn’t it time that they pulled out of Sudan, sever ties with Sudan, and slap sanctions on Bashir’s brutal regime.  Did you know that he has an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A21143-2004Dec22.html

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/2051604.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7258059.stm

http://www.petroleum-economist.com/Article/2886247/Policy-and-Politics/Sudan-counts-on-China-for-critical-cash.html

I have not had a chance to blog in while.   But, I have been following the recent developments in the U.S. and global economic crises and the news.  I cannot believe that President Obama is taking a 10 day vacation in the middle of an impending economic crisis in the U.S.  He is so far from the reality that the average Americans face everyday that he decided to take a vacation.  Vacation is meant for someone who worked hard and wanted to take a break from work.  I do not think that Obama has done anything substantial since his election in 2008.

Mr. President: Instead of lying down on a beach, would it not be appropriate if you could do something about the jobs, wall street, the lost AAA rating, the housing market, the dying US infrastructure and many more rather than issuing a statement or two a day about Libya and Iraq so people know that you are still around in White House?  He is clearly “All talk and no work” President that US has never seen before.  One thing that he is good at is delegating his functions to Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi.  I hope he withdraws his nomination to run for second term and pave the way for others that are eager to serve the Country with full sincerity.

My prayers to victims of tragedy in Japan. Watching and reading the news everyday since last Friday, I am saddened to learn not just about earthquake and then the tsunami but the nuclear meltdown at Fukushima Daichii nuclear power plant.  Obviously, the folks are trying their best braving the radiation to pour water etc but so far no luck.  I just hope and pray that the nuclear meltdown ends up without any catastrophe.  I also pray for the well-being of those that survived the natural disaster.

Thursday’s U.N. Security Council vote on Libya no fly zone was a crucial one.  It called for the global consensus on putting an end to the oppression of the civilians.  Despite being on the Security Council, India among few other countries abstained from voting Yes or No to the vote.  It is a shame.  If India wants to embrace the global leadership role, it must move away from NAM (Non Aligned Movement) days and move closer to taking decisive actions.  By abstaining from the vote, India thought that it could stay away from controversy.  However, despite having a seat on Security Council and not using the vote, India projected to the world that it is weak, that it is a country you cannot depend on.

You might have read a lot about High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) in the news – or not. If not, a brief background about this product may be found in my earlier blog post

http://transformtheplanet.wordpress.com/2009/11/26/food-industry-loves-high-fructose-corn-syrup-ever-wondered-why/

Given all the negative publicity the HFCS is getting, the makers of HFCS are considering to change its name to “Corn Sugar”. Americans’ consumption of HFCS has come to a 20-year low. I am so glad that this attempt-to-change-name-thing information is made available to the world beforehand. Just by changing its name, the HFCS suddenly will not become a safe ingredient to consume. There are not enough studies to suggest that HFCS is safe to consume. There are studies out there that question HFCS in our food products and the consequences on our health.

We do not have any food products at our home that contain HFCS. About a year ago, I went to Subway to pick up Sandwich and also grabbed milk from the refrigerator. Quickly, I noticed that this chocolate milk produced by Shamrock Farms contained HFCS. I just could not believe it. I wrote to Shamrock and complained that I am never going to buy their products if they contained HFCS. They defended about the greatness of this ingredient and that it improves the shelf life of the product etc. I anyway stopped drinking it. Recently, I tried to look at the ingredients and was pleasantly surprised to see that Shamrock does not use HFCS anymore. I enjoyed my chocolate milk without artificial sugars etc!!!

Please note that HFCS can be in any of the following names/forms on a food label: “High Fructose Corn Syrup”, “Corn Syrup”, or “Corn Sugar”. It is all the same. Stay away from it. Read labels!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100914/ap_on_bi_ge/us_corn_syrup_image