http://articles.latimes.com/2012/jan/22/business/la-fi-germany-middle-class-20120122


So often one is exposed in American media only to articles criticizing Europe and the great experiment that is the European community's attempt, to find common ground, as both neighbors and commercial entities. It is so easy to be critical and yet I believe the Eurozone will survive this transitional period and arise stronger than ever from the current crisis. 

I am also gratified to see that an American newspaper (LA Times) would print some real truth finally about a European country. I am the senior analyst for a German Based corporation, AYIKO Group GmbH and also am originally from the UK. So I do have a good idea as to the inner workings of most European economies and yes Germany plays a key role in the Eurozone, as outlined in the LA.Times piece. They are still dependent however, to a great deal, upon their neighbors consumption to maintain their healthy export dynamic. Such interdependency is the very reason they must survive as a whole. To splinter would appear as folly, since one cannot, nor would one want to envision, such a catastrophe occurring. 

It is a little unfair though to single out Germany for such singular honor and to overlook other similarly strong European economic models simply to promote Germany as the 'ideal' of what was once an 'american like' economy? Denmark and Sweden have similarly successful mixed economies, with strong social programs. The Apprenticeship program in Germany is actually modeled after the British system of a century ago. A system which was eventually degraded, by the change from an industrial to a 'services' economy during the Thatcher era. The famous 'Laissez faire' unregulated system of trickle down economics, similar to the US model?

The downgrading issue has as we know hit many nations, not the least being the US. It is very possible, regardless of Germany's strength that they, as well as the entire group of nations making up the Euro, might suffer similar downgrades in the near future. This is of little consequence as I have said often. Such is the reality of transitional periods. France and Belgium have strong economies regardless and yes even Italy and the Balkan nations have potential to become like Germany, Sweden and Denmark. Other nations await on the sidelines to become equally effective members of the Eurozone (Turkey etc) 

The extra diverse Euro protocols, that were the result of a lack of a "centralized" European economic policy, (caused to a great extent by the Thatcher and Reagan influence on the outcome of the Eurozone debates circa 1989-1992), has indeed shown itself to be flawed, and has highlighted the weakness of the trickle down model in those economies that allowed or chose, what amounted to a totally unregulated financial system? Greece, Ireland, Portugal, Spain, etc. What is true folly, is there are those that still parrot the view, this flawed Americanized Anglo Saxon economic model, is still preferable to a stable, socially responsible mixed economic model, more loosely based upon strong keynesian standards such as Germany, Denmark, sweden etc.

What is equally important to point out, is that a mixed economy wherein social programs are balanced with sensible economic platforms, that enhance growth and allow for human resources to be sensibly utilized and rewarded, is preferable to any wildly diverse system, that sees a nations wealth abused by the few,  in the manner we have seen and are still witnessing in several jurisdictions, most notably including the U.S. 

Similarly, as is the case in all of these successful models, healthcare is a right not a burden, and the medical sector is likewise held to a standard of accountability at every level. It is a highly efficient model and cost effective and mostly based upon a single payer methodology. Also what needs to be mentioned, is that the individual is the key to these economic models. Their social care and benefits are protected by the state, as the essential elements to achieve their healthy economy. For example, vacations and pregnancy are paramount incidences that show as essential to social well being, the byproduct of which positively effects the nations health and it's treasury.

What also needs to be highlighted is the lack of income disparity (gap) and lower poverty factors experienced in these socially accountable models. Neither is their any lack of entrepreneurial success nor of  individual incidences of great wealth. None of which is frowned upon by the greater majority of the citizenry. My own experiences of Europe is that it is socially more akin to the Canadian reality than any similarity to a US experience. 

All systems have their flaws, but where and how one chooses to live, becomes a matter of preference does it not? Once decided, one must fight through a democratic activity, to preserve that which is socially important, wherever possible and necessary and which one deems to be at the heart of the very reason for the choice in the first place? Obviously one lives and loves ones own nation, and it is not for an outsider to force anyone to accept a dominion of thought or lifestyle, that is somehow uncomfortable. But certainly it is also necessary to be fair when speaking of other domains in a comparative manner? American media has not always displayed such "fairness" when describing Europe to it's readers. 

I have tried in my writings to be critical of what I see as the increasing danger that faces those nations, which continue to choose greed as the divining definition for their societies growth dynamic. And who wish to perpetuate that very system of greed, that allows for these cyclical highs and lows. These very results which provide the essential fuel for the anarchy and civil commotions, that ultimately result in poverty, generational violence, anarchy, war and death. Perhaps it is only right therefore that a nation (Germany) that was once the source of so much of the carnage and horrors of never ending wars, should now be held up as the model of a socially responsible and effective democracy. With a people at peace with themselves and their neighbors.

Seems more preferable somehow, than any community divided against itself, as a result of an elite chasing hedonistic excesses and ignoring an ever increasing inequality amongst their fellows.  

James M. Convey

Feb 13th, 2012

".........Apple today announced that the Fair Labor Association will
conduct special voluntary audits of Apple’s final assembly suppliers,
including Foxconn factories in Shenzhen and Chengdu, China, at Apple’s
request. “We believe that workers everywhere have the right to a safe
and fair work environment, which is why we’ve asked the FLA to
independently assess the performance of our largest suppliers,” said
Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. A team of labor rights experts led by FLA
president Auret van Heerden began the first inspections Monday morning
at the facility in Shenzhen known as Foxconn City............."


The Unions!................. A political impasse.................

Feb 13th, 2012.

Given the increasing furor of the anti Union forces, not only in America but seemingly worldwide, it is perhaps time to investigate their purpose more thoroughly, and indeed highlight the very essential part they played, in the creation of a just society throughout the western democracies over the last 150 years. 

That developing and emerging nations are now rushing to become "enriched" and to drink from the fountain of plenty, is not a bad thing. However, that they are doing so on the backs of their lowly paid and generally ignorant citizenry, and which comparative labor pricing advantage, effectively eliminates the jobs of once great and productive workforces in other nations, is a truly significant and Global problem! 

All this, while using a capitalist model that deifies only profit at all costs, and is not in any way deflected from this goal by a social conscience, nor by any practical societal integrity! This new and fast developing global servile dynamic, should be of great concern to all of the peoples and governments of the planet! The "Human equation" is once again confronted with the great threat of enslavement to a new hierarchical system, interested only in profits and in the human resource, as simply a balance sheet equation. 

It is impossible not to understand the vital role that Unionism has played in the protection of not only the worker, but indeed in the establishment of moral standards of labor across the entirety of Western society. Samuel Gompers of New York, in his efforts to establish the AFL/CIO, beginning with his election as a simple local official in 1875, could never have foreseen the Global scope of the future of the labor movement.

Although he indeed understood the essential need for any decent society to have beneficial labor and management relationships. A 'partnership of ideals', to go forward and to maintain the engine of his nation America and it's great growth potential. 

Without this, at first very difficult to achieve cooperation, between labor and management, it is doubtful that American society would have become the wonder of the modern world? As it did in showing the peoples of the world it' s support for the inherent rights of it's citizenry, to the pursuit of happiness as well as the nation's expressed pride, in it's ability to reward the working class with some measure of personal dignity and hope. An essential dimension to the masses of immigration that were attracted and who ultimately came in their millions, to work in the factories, schools and industries. The seeds of this ideal for the rights of the working American citizen, were planted in his and his associates early efforts. Workers across the Western world today owe him and his fellows a great debt for this cooperative blueprint.

Today we are again witnessing increasing anti Union backlash of an unprecedented viciousness? Together with the shrinkage of any rights to collective bargaining and the degradation of the worker, as somehow the tool of some foreign anti capitalist sentiment? This of course is not a new phenomenon, but it is of great concern, in that the economic conditions are so dire at present and labor is under such stress, not seen in the West since the great depression! The "strawdog" arguments used historically, to paint unions and their members and indeed all workers, as somehow agents of corruption, are once again seeing the light of day and are being used to clawback the rights of all workers! 

That there may be 'need for change' is an adage that is always true in any venture, but to destroy the rights of the working man to have a strong voice in the destiny of any nation, is to destroy the heart and soul of that nation!

The question becomes, do we therefore allow our Global union model to be undermined by a corporate dynamic, that is seizing this opportunity to abuse the labor forces of their new 'profit sources'  to such an extent, that workers from these new societies have no supportive structures to look to, to define their rights as members of the human family? These emerging "economies" however, will at some near juncture, be faced with similar challenges as those witnessed during our own western history.  It's violence and efforts to define the use of labor and it's role in the already developed world, must serve as their model, if they hope to avoid the unnecessary repetition of that same civil strife and violence, witnessed at the birth of the earlier Union movements in Western Democracies.  These new societies will need a functional model to emulate, if the Globe is to avoid the civil commotion that western societies and their workforces suffered in the early days of labor unrest? 

This western model of union solidarity however, is being undermined at every turn by todays modern example of an age old pettifogerry! " The masses must be dominated by an 'uber' class! They must know their place! Unions are corrupt! Workers are too greedy! etc etc etc..........."

"..........We must close Union offices, confiscate their money and put their leaders in prison. We must reduce workers salaries and take away their right to strike........... Adolf Hitler May 2nd 1933."

Even ordinary citizens have been convinced by the efforts of a few disingenuous ideologues, that indeed Unions have outlived their usefulness and are a burden upon society! To these people I would urge that they allow themselves to learn from the records of the labor Union movement. The history of mankind in the modern era must be relied upon, as the window of truth to what working mankind has suffered, when their wages, rights and quality of life is dependent solely upon the capricious nature of the corporate dynamic and the balance sheet! 

Follows is a segment from an important speech made by a great American President who knowingly honored the place of labor and who also incidentally warned us of the military / industrial complex..............

---James M. Convey---

.........................................................................................................................................................................................................................

President Dwight D. Eisenhower to the AFL-CIO, December 5, 1955: 

 "........................You of organized labor and those who have gone before you in the union movement have helped make a unique contribution to the general welfare of the Republic–the development of the American philosophy of labor. This philosophy, if adopted globally, could bring about a world, prosperous, at peace, sharing the fruits of the earth with justice to all men. It would raise to freedom and prosperity hundreds of millions of men and women–and their children–who toil in slavery behind the Curtain.  One principle of this philosophy is: the ultimate values of mankind are spiritual; these values include liberty, human dignity, opportunity and equal rights and justice.  
 
Workers want recognition as human beings and as individuals-before everything else. They want a job that gives them a feeling of satisfaction and self-expression. Good wages, respectable working conditions, reasonable hours, protection of status and security; these constitute the necessary foundations on which you build to reach your higher aims. 
 
Moreover, we cannot be satisfied with welfare in the aggregate; if any group or section of citizens is denied its fair place in the common prosperity, all others among us are thereby endangered. 
 
The second principle of this American labor philosophy is this: the economic interest of employer and employee is a mutual prosperity. 
 
Their economic future is inseparable. Together they must advance in mutual respect, in mutual understanding, toward mutual prosperity. Of course, there will be contest over the sharing of the benefits of production; and so we have the right to strike and to argue all night, when necessary, in collective bargaining sessions. But in a deeper sense, this surface struggle is subordinate to the overwhelming common interest in greater production and a better life for all to share. 
 
The American worker strives for betterment not by destroying his employer and his employer’s business, but by understanding his employer’s problems of competition, prices, markets. And the American employer can never forget that, since mass production assumes a mass market, good wages and progressive employment practices for his employee are good business.................." D.D.E.

Tuesday January 31st, 2012
 
On his recent trip to Europe our illustrious young Prime minister MR 
Harper, took the opportunity during a speech to European leaders, to 
berate them for their naivete' and lack of action, to solve their 
domestic economic problems and thereby threaten Global economic 
stability!  How dare they be so tardy!
 
He then went so far as to inform them of his plans, by way of an 
example of fiscal austerity and sensible governing I suppose, by 
announcing his ideas, for what would appear to some, to be a program 
of intent on domestic reforms, which may effectively decimate the 
social programs and old age security of his own people? "Hows that for 
fiscal responsibility you silly Europeans", he seemed to be saying?
 
There is no doubt nor much debate, that establishing a new retirement 
"Age" is an economically advisable move. Common sense and medical 
reality alone support this view.
 
What is concerning is that once again, as with the new crime bill, we 
have a Prime Minister who is seemingly not paying attention to actual 
science and economic statistics, but is once again playing reactionary 
politics, to what in essence is a passing phase and of no real threat 
to future economic prosperity to Canadians?
 
Instead of making his plans public beforehand and displaying the 
myriad of reports, upon which he and his cabinet are acting. Thereby 
allowing  the Canadian public to be made aware of the issue in detail. 
He scarpers off to Europe, to make some grandstanding play, as some 
form of economic genius and therefore able to dictate to and scold the 
European leaders for their lack of competence?
 
The arrogance of this is outstanding! Not that European leaders should 
not be reminded of their problems, but to use the venue to initiate a 
debate back home on an issue that, in comparison to Europe, is really 
a non issue for Canadians, from any logical fiscal planning point of 
view? Edward Whitehouse's (OECD/World Bank) report, as a notable 
commentary alone, causes questions to be raised as to the disingenuous 
nature of the PM's conclusions and therefore his actions.
 
Canada does not have a "pressing issue" in this matter as the PM 
posits! For Mr Harper to use "strawdog" style politicking, to frighten 
the dickens out of Canadian seniors (a significant voting block) would 
indicate that his style of leadership is once again, as with the crime 
legislation, bordering upon dictatorship, rather than as a 
conservative, in the Canadian traditions of political compromise? Let 
alone that it is another example of his penchant to grandstand, 
regardless of the non validity of his arguments?
 
It should also be noted that it would appear as an accepted common 
courtesy, expected at least from our own Prime minister, of not 
discussing our "national dirty laundry" while berating the heads of 
state of Europe, or any other continent for that matter! This is a 
faux pas of gargantuan proportions domestically and from a diplomatic 
angle alone, may well have done damage to relationships, that are so 
desperately important to our economic future.
 
Loose cannons are seldom appreciated in any serious venue of 
international diplomacy! His actions served no purpose that I can see, 
other than to create additional stresses, that in these challenging 
economic times require leaders to appear to be at last diplomatically 
serene!
 
---James M. Convey---

The movie "Wall street" a work of fiction, deliberately lionized a character with a singular lack of empathy and clear sociopathic tendencies, called "Gordon Gecko". (Michael Douglas). There was grudging admiration for his style of kill or be killed approach to commerce.  
American and indeed most western business ethics in the last 25 years seems to  have emulated that dynamic better than any other. "Other peoples money" (Danny Devito), "Barbarians at the gates" (James Garner). These and the film "Margin Call" (Kevin Spacey) just released this year, are more accurate and clear depictions, of what these sociopathic cretins that run the nations economic engines are all about. They clearly have no social conscience and, pardon the spiritual bent, apparently no souls! 

Another term for them, "carpetbaggers",  was coined after the U.S civil war in the 19th century. They eventually became vilified and eradicated through regulation, by a more caring and empathetic nation, seeking to mend the wounds of that just ended conflagration. 

Mitt Romney, the frontrunner in the American political circus, that is the GOP nomination process, is clearly a modern day brand of that same "kick them when their down" mentality, that has ruled and still does, on Wall street and the corporate board rooms of the world! His sojourn at  Baine Capital inc; speaks of this once so admired 'Gecko' trait.

His claim to success as a businessman and of which he is so obviously proud, not unlike so many others of his generation incidentally , was that to tear down is a better way to build and was always preferable from a profit margin viewpoint, than to seeking alternative and more socially friendly solutions? That would have taken too much effort it seems, and devastating a company and it's long term employees was not an issue worthy of  consideration, when it came to pure maximizing of the profit equation?

Maybe so for buildings and yes perhaps even companies, but not when people's lives and entire communities are to be destroyed in the process? With no apparent attempt nor sense of social responsibility, to protect them from the devastating fallout! 

It is clear that people affected by these business upheavals and many times questionable corporate gyrations, are no less in mortal danger, than if a Tsunami were to breech onto their shores, or a nuclear reactor incident, or an oil spill, threaten their very existence? What is the difference, if their livelihoods are equally threatened, with no clear escape from the danger? The result is communities in despair and degradation, as we have witnessed and are still witnessing in our towns and cities today! Is this the democracy that so many fought to preserve in so many conflicts across the Globe?

Empathy is a gene that is clearly missing from the DNA makeup of the nations CEO's.  As well as the party elite, that make up the current "new" brand of the right wing movements arising, as a result of fear and disinformation, across many nations! Change is indeed needed. But the change must be to that dynamic that puts people at the bottom end of the economic equation. It is time for capitalism and economists to establish a practical calculus, that tenders to the Human equation first, before any other interests!

These people need to go back and reattach the "training wheels" to their little bikes of commerce and relearn what is the essence of a healthy society......... It's all about people............. Not just the economic stats and indices and cyclical behavior of an unfeeling marketplace!..... It is about the people first!.......... Is it not?


James M. Convey.

_"A country in denial about it's fiscal future"...... Article by Samuelson, Washington post OPED. dec 25th issue.

( My blogged response.)
"................This whole issue boils down to fear of the future and it is falsely fueled by pundits and ideologues who cannot support the fact that sensible government can and will solve the problems, without destroying the delicate balance needed to maintain healthy societal balance and growth.  
Destroying government itself and the pillars of social reliance for the populace, is the worst solution and one that is proposed only by the most extreme fear mongers!  
We are in a transition! Of that there is no doubt, but it is not the end of the world as we know it! Entitlements are also not any real current threatening issue, to consider them as some impending disaster that must be eliminated mercilessly? This is nonsense and simply the ideological ravings of insensible men!  
A new economic format is required however. One that addresses Global needs for both capital markets, asset valuation, liquidity issues and the natural demands of the malleable human resources of the planet.  
 
Fear of the future is not the temper we need to solve the problem and neither is this writer correct about his own nation. Smarter men than he are grappling with the issues we face for the future prosperity of mankind. The current inequality issue is also based in fear. Social divisions are being forced upon people by ideologues and punditry who, without conscience, feed the fires of divisive politics to their own ends, and to the detriment of our democratic institutions........."  

_"........... The very purpose of law and regulation is to tame the
beast that is unpredictable human nature. Throw off the rules and the
animals survival instinct will always confuse logic........"

---James M. Convey---