7 Color Lagoon

Photo © Howard Dratch.

It has been nearly a month since I have posted.  My other blogs are languishing while I try to survive in my own changed environment, changed circumstances and interests.  However, I miss writing even if only a little.

The plan is to continue this blog, 7 Color Lagoon, with changes.  It is less about travel and living as an expatriate as it will be about global economics, photography, economic news and whatever happens to catch my eye and interest.  Links will slowly be checked and redone and the ads and Amazon store re-arranged to reflect the new subject matter.  Please support the advertisers as it helps continue the blog.

Here is a current (5/16) report from Canal Once, the Mexican news and TV network from the Polytechnic Institute in the capital city.  The 5th annual meeting of leaders of the Latin American states is being held in Lima, Peru under guard by 9000 police.  A major issue being discussed is global food supplies in light of diversions to biofuels, poverty and climatic changes.

This is an excerpt from Canal Once in Spanish,

Sumida en la pobreza sobrevive una tercera parte de la población de América Latina, son 220 millones de personas que carecen de lo indispensable. A este sector se dirigieron los trabajos de la Quinta Cumbre de Jefes de Estado de Latinoamérica, el Caribe y la Unión Europea en Lima, Perú, a la que acudieron 45 gobernantes.

Desarrollo sustentable, cambio climático y energía fueron otros de los temas principales. Se llegó a un acuerdo para analizar un posible gravamen al consumo de petróleo y gas licuado a fin de conseguir fondos que serían destinados a mejorar el medio ambiente.

The Lima meeting is concentrating on the poverty that continues to affect one-third or the Latin American population — 220 million people.  President Garcia opened remarks with the declaration that hundreds of millions of people are threatened with hunger in the midst of abundance.  The European Union is the primary donor in  humanitarian aid.

Garcia warned of the consequences of eyes closed against the food crisis and proposed increasing by 2% world agricultural production.  The Spanish president, Josè Luis Rodriquez Zapatero, lamented the impact of biofuel production on  rising food prices.  Besides Hugo Chavez, Venezuelan president, trying to turn the meeting to the political crises between his country and Columbia; the major themes were sustainable development, climate change, energy needs and funds to improve the environment.

The food crisis is not just a Market manipulation.  It may well be partly a result of what Robert Heilbroner called a “revolution of rising expectations”.  Like global warming that revolution gathered momentum slowly and is now breaking out in a rapidly ascending line.  People want things they didn’t have before nor even thought to have.  More meat in their diet (healthy or not), regular meals, cell phones, national infrastructure, TV, education, credit and consumer goods, etc.  The revolution has been won in that the world is more and more demanding that its expectations be met.  Providing those expectations may strain resources on an over-crowded planet and change the political face of many parts of the world.

Photo © Howard Dratch, 2008.  Pasta & tofu.

The world may not be waiting for this heart-healthy dish of tofu, nopal cactus, chaya leaf and zucchini but it is tired of waiting for 2 or 3 meals a day.  Now that everyone - almost - watches TV they are aware that the world has plenty of food and toys and they want a piece of the action, a slice of the pie.

Photo © Howard Dratch, 2007.

Fears of Food Shortages Rise

Rice stirs fears as the prices mounted ever higher and poorer populations rioted in anxiety over the coming famine. In the US some hysteria seems to have hit as people began hoarding rice from major groceries. The Bush people said “We have plenty of food in the U.S.” (U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Paulson reported to Reuters). He predicted food prices to rise but that the rise will be less “significant” that the rise in gas prices.

Rice has jumped to $1000 a ton which is said to be 3 times what it cost at the beginning of ‘08. Thoughts of social unrest in Asia are mounting with the cost of their staple. Africa and Haiti have seen riots as well. Here in Mexico where rice is a home-grown commodity (not that I wouldn’t like some Jasmine or Basmati before the cost the same as gas) there appears no shortage and prices remain relatively even.

“In Bangkok, some traders said Thai 100-percent B grade white rice, the world’s benchmark, could hit $1,300 a ton on demand from the number-one importer, Philippines.”

Read the CNBC report from Reuters HERE.

It was a fascinating day in the financial markets today.  Chicken Little made an appearance again to speak on the possibility that the sky may fall.  Or not.  The bankers spoke of this and that and were smiled upon by the man from the Fed who knows Mr. Little and seems a little fearful of his powers.  With some luck the sky could stay above the fray.

Just to remind us all of the reasons for the present turbidity I post this picture again:

Photo ©Howard Dratch, 2007.  (Credit to photographer and link to www.7colorlagoon.com/blog1)

Photo © Howard Dratch, 2007.

In the face of the coming US recession — or so thinks Latin America — President Calderòn launched a new “Programa de Apoyo a la Economia”. The Program of Economic Support is to have 10 measures with which to push economic activity, investment and employment, according to Once Noticias, the website of Canal Once’s national TV network.

The purpose of the program, the new release explained, is for 60 billion pesos (about $US561,000,000) to be channeled into programs, services and discounted business services in order to expand productivity during a time of global adversity.

Agustin Carstens, secretario de Hacienda (Home Office/State Department) was quoted as saying, “La mayoría de estas medidas tendrán un horizonte temporal, pues lo que se busca es auxiliar a la economía durante el periodo en que la economía de Estados Unidos muestre una debilidad pronunciada”. Most of the points in the plan have a time horizon and are planned to help the economy of Mexico “… during the time in which the US economy shows a pronounced weakness.”

Eduardo Sojo, secretary of the Economy, stressed the need to reduce substantially costs and charges for businesses — especially small and medium — with savings of both time and resources. In a country where shipping a package from one state to another requires a long drive to a border customs station for examination, interrogation and possible corruption. It is not an economy in which it is easy to do business. However there are more and more US companies “going global” and global enterprises servicing both the developed world and the “emerging” markets.

The plan will reduce business taxes by 3%, stimulate business creation with additional support for a million entrepreneurs and simplify the arcane, usually endless commercial “tramités” (packages of forms for applications). It goes on to promise that the government will pay 5% of the costs for social security (IMSS) in order to promote more employment. Six hundred fifty million pesos will be used to set up a national employment system. In a society where people pay corruption money to obtain work in both private and public employment, this is a great undertaking to help Mexico’s labor force enter the 21st century.

Ten billion pesos will be designated for the renovation of the state-controlled oil industry’s pipelines and as an accelerant to employment. Pipelines built and maintained under the traditional system probably need renovation far sooner than those in more businesslike regions. The present government has been pushing for some privatization of the state oil industry to increase efficiency.

It is also promised that development will be especially supported in areas of poverty and special incentives will be directed at businesses in “vulnerable zones”.

The last is far more important than it would seem. The capacity for civil insurrection and violence pulses in the marginalized areas and in the indigenous tribes of the rural landscape. President Fox immediately de-clawed the would-be guerillas in Chiapas state by inviting them to Mexico City to speak in the Congress. It was a daring, needed and successful move. President Calderòne is doing something similar in an economic move that could not only co-opt future political problems but provide economic stimulus in previously ignored regions of a complex country.

The weakness of the American economy is certainly the catalyst for these actions. The possible benefits on a long-range basis far outweigh the dangers of American recession.

Bloomberg.com reported today the story of a supplier of parts to the Pentagon billed them $998,798 to send 2 washers with a value of 38 cents to an Army installation in Texas.

The two sisters who owned the company and lived ostentatiously on their criminal activities discovered a loop-hole in the Pentagon’s shipping system. Supplies to combat areas and military installations that had been labeled “priority” were paid automatically. Charlene Corley is the surviving sister and owner of C&D Distributors of Lexington, SC. She is being fined only $750,000 and “faces” 20 years on each count of an indictment for conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to launder money. The government is hoping to recoup some of its $20.5 million by selling off “homes, beach property, jewelry and ‘high-end automobiles”. It cannot recover the money from their vactions — a pentagon spokesperson said, “They took a lot of vacations.”

C&D charged the pentagon $455,009 for 3 screws (value:$3.93) to Marines in Habbaniyah, Iraq. They were paid automatically. They billed and received $293.451 for the shipment of a washer to Patrick AFB in Florida. It was worth 89 cents.

The southern sisters began the scam in the year 2000. They got more and more greedy as time went on. The price for each shipped item was seldom more than $100. During six years of continuing fraudulent activities the total of items shipped was $68,000. They billed and were paid $20.5 million by the vigilant procurement system.

In September of 2006 a purchasing agent (Bloomberg did not report whether the agent was rewarded or promoted for diligence and honesty) noticed a bill for sending two further washers (value: 38 cents) for $969,000. The agent rejected the bill and found the earlier $998,798 payment to the South Carolina women.

According to a spokesperson for the Pentagon’s Defense Logistics Agency, Dawn Darden, said that the government ran right out and looked at “all billing records…” and that this kind of fraud is “…not a widespread problem.” They have found some other “questionable billing” the Carolina company’s took the award. For something that is denigrated as “not wide-spread”, they noted that the “next-highest billing for questionable costs totaled $2 million.” A pittance.

Bloomberg understands money. Take this $20.5 million, that $2 million, add up the rest of the fraud and corruption and what would you have? For those of you dealing with the high cost of living in a nation embroiled in a war against evil attackers, a credit crisis (could fraud be a part of that, too?) this example of federal effectiveness will be undeniably reassuring.

Those looking for a new business should seriously consider a shipping service directed at the military. Get a UPS and FedX account and a lot of Express Mail envelopes (they are free) and keep the bill in the range of “negligible” — under $2 million. Let the troops support you.

Princess Martha Louise of Norway, the fourth in line to the throne, is in trouble with some of the population for her latest business enterprise. She and a friend (Elisabeth Samnoy who said she is a “former ship mechanic who…attended a holistic academy”) have opened a private school called Astarte Education.

The school teaches “magick” and is most interested in helping its students to “contact angels”. “Aha”, they are saying in Norway. She “saw the light” in 2002 when she married a (gasp!) writer, Ari Behn, in a storybook royal wedding in Trondheim. Her partner in angelic crime has publicly described the program as a way to get “… in touch with your own truths… (by using) readings, healing, crystals and hands-on treatment.”

Astarte, of whom the school is named, is said to be “… one of the oldest goddesses in the Middle East.” Her royal parents, King Harald and Queen Sonja, are tight-lipped although many national officials, politicians and religious figures have been chastising the princess for her use of her position in the royals to push the school. However, one poll by a Norwegian newspaper, VG, reported that 40% of Norwegians think people can develop supernatural powers and could communicate with angels.

Another site of the Temple of Astarte should be checked out for the colorful story of Carroll “Poke” Runyon, “Gentleman of the Old School”. He describes such a being as : “One who recites classical poetry to heartless beauties
while wrestling alligators.”

Astarte, herself, is “Consort to Baal, she is here depicted with two foals in ecstatic dance, her typically upraised arms grasping serpents. She was the Great Goddess, all-powerful, creating-preserving-destroying, an
embodiment of Mother Nature. Also known as Ashtoroth, in some poses she is identical with images of Kali, while in her role of virgin she is an ancient prototype of Mary.” The mother goddess was also connected with Venus, Aphodite and is the granddaughter of Beelzebub.

How could a mere princess resist the ability of speak to those socially above her, the angels, and align herself with an early Mary. We are also told of the current feast of Easter being “stolen from her” by the Christians.

The princess is surely doing little harm in spite of a certain flakiness. Look at Di, after all, the princess who wanted to be common. This one has had enough of royalty and wants to move up to angels. She is even willing to teach her clairvoyance and only asks to make it profitable.

Recent terrorist explosions aimed at multi-national corporations and the Mexican economy which culminated today in a gas-line explosion. The explosion has seriously affected Hershey’s, Honda and other multi-national corporations in the western state of Queretaro, Mexico. The terrorist attack is being claimed by “a small, leftist rebel group” called the People’s Revolutionary Army (EPR) according to a report this morning in the blog, “The Latin Americanist”.

Le Monde Diplomatique reported in 1996 that the group was “…born in the 1960s, this very secretive Maoist-oriented organization “has more than a bad reputation“, said a leader (then) of the EZLN, the “Zapatistas” who have been mostly co-opted by the former Fox government who treated them fairly and firmly.

CNN followed The Latin Americanist with a report about the effect of the gas-line explosion on nearly a dozen Mexican businesses and multi-nationals. Nissan, Honda, Kellog’s and Hershey had to be closed or their production scaled back. Mexican industries like Grupo Modelo (beer) and Vitro SAB (glass containers) are suffering financial losses. Total losses to businesses in the region are being put at at least 70 million pesos a day ($US 6.4 million) according to the influential news organization Excelsior.

PEMEX, the Mexican monopolistic petroleum producer, reported that previous explosions on pipelines Tuesday as well as two others last week affected industries in “… in the industry-rich city of Guadalajara, capital of the western state of Jalisco; the industrial city of Leon, in the central state of Guanajuato; and the central states of Queretaro and Aguascalientes.”

CNN describes the group as “ … the “military zone command of the People’s Revolutionary Army,“ or EPR, a tiny rebel group that staged several armed attacks on government and police installations in southern Mexico in the 1990s, but was later weakened by internal divisions.”

It is the nature of terrorist groups to strike at times when they are least able to be tolerated. President Calderòn’s government is working hard to control crime and violence in the country and President Fox had been effective in including the EZLN in the workings of Mexican society. Another societal disruption was hardly needed.

Mexican TV (Canal Once) today reported on an attempt on June 18 to rescue 12 politicians who were being held by the guerillas as hostages.

Eleven of the twelve were killed in the attempt.  See the report on my blog, Notes From Bacalar

Tags: Latin America, Kidnapping, Violence, Guerillas

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On the fourth of June, 2007, Yad Vashem introduced the world to another teen-ager from Europe, another voice from a newly-forgotten past. Yad Vashem in Jerusalem is the site of the Holocaust Museum, the Garden of the Righteous, museum, archive and Hall of Names.

Fourteen-year-old Rutka Laskier kept a diary in a notebook. She wrote of teen-girl things, love and growth, and she wrote vividly of the world that had gone mad around her.

(Photo from the Archives at Yad Vashem of people unknowingly waiting to be killed at Auschwitz. Click to enlarge.)

She described the innocence-destroying sight of a German soldier tearing a child from his mother and killing him with his bare hands. Like the Dutch teenager, Anne Frank, she wrote of newly experienced feelings about love and mixed that with the reality of wanting to live — she was 14 in the winter and spring of 1943 — and knowing that she was waiting to die.

Although the Germans had worked hard to keep their mass gassings and extermination plans a secret from the outside world, her ghetto of Bedzin was not that far from Auschwitz. She wrote, “I simply can’t believe that one day I will be allowed to leave this house without the yellow star. Or even that this war will end one day. If this happens I will probably lose my mind from joy …The little faith I used to have has been completely shattered. If God existed, He would have certainly not permitted that human beings be thrown alive into furnaces, and the heads of little toddlers be smashed with gun butts or shoved into sacks and gassed to death.” That was early in 1943.

The next day she wrote of a hoped-for first kiss and a crush on a boy named Janek. (more…)

During recent days of violence against journalists and protests against that violence, the blog, The Latin Americanist reported on a piece by Andres Oppenheimer about the perils that are increasing in Latin America for journalists. This is not quite the same as the filtering of the blogosphere in places like Pakistan and China. That is a worthy and important topic. But the Latin American version of filtering is to disappear or outright murder journalists. Press freedom may be touted in a number of countries south of the US but the reality is different. And it does not appear to be improving.

The Oppenheimer article was carried by the Orlando Sentinel under the apt title, “Latin America’s Press Not This Bullied In Decades.” Press freedom in the Americas hasn’t been so threatened by violent reprisals, death threats and murders as well as censorship since the heady days of the dictatorships of the 1970s. Those, too, were the days of the Ellsberg show, Presidential burglaries and troops shooting at students in Ohio. In the U.S. and other First World countries the powers-that-be and the military might like to disappear some journalists but seem to be holding to the rules of engagement in the free world. The pen may not be mightier but they know to keep their swords to themselves, mostly.

Down south by south these threats are the result of dictatorial regimes such as the Chavez government in Venezuela. In others, like Mexico, the new President is struggling to bring some order to violent chaos. His government promises to bring more safety for journalists.

In Cuba, says Reporters Without Borders from their Paris headquarters, censorship is reaching the level of a Kafka nightmare. The free lance journalist, Oscar Sanchez Madan, has been given a four year prison sentence t on the charge of “pre-criminal dangerousness.” They classify that nemesis island 90 miles south of the green flash of the setting sun where Hemingway contemplated the sharks of the Caribbean as “one of the world’s biggest prisons for journalists.”

It is said that some twenty-eight journalists are now in jail for doing their work. Some of these have gotten hit with sentences of up to twenty years in prison. (more…)