Disappointed and Saddened

Sorry for not posting more this week. I received a poison pen letter and it saddened me. I have a problem with justifications and self righteousness. I think we are all flawed, I have yet to find a perfect person or to become one.

Markstone Capital and Israeli Investments

I was searching and came across some interesting information. In December of 2009, Markstone's Chairman, Elliot Broidy, plead guilty to bribing New York pension officials. Now Markstone has received hundreds of millions in investments from CalPers, the state public pension fund. To this day, Calpers is still investing in Markstone.

CalPers Website - Markstone Capital You just have to scroll down a bit.

Now, according to Markstone's website, they were created to invest in Israel. Okay, fair enough. In addition, even Globes, the Israel Business Arena site, admits that many of the investments have turned out very poorly. Globes - Blackstone to make major investments in Israel states how Markstone is partnering in Israel to invest even more money in who knows what.

Now here is my question. Why is CalPers, a public pension fund, investing a company who plead guilty to bribing pension officials in New York and whose main interest is not in investing in America; but, is interested in investing in Israel especially when it has had such spectacular losses in Israel. And this is going on at a time when we are being told that the pension fund is in trouble. Shouldn't CalPers be making more careful investments like in, heck, how about Berkshire Hathaway, they have never lost anyone money have they?

Am I also wrong to point out that the CIM Group which is funded by public pension funds is also owned by two Israelis? Now personally I support Isreal's right exist; but, I don't want to fund it with public pension funds, that is not what they were created to do.

You might wonder why nobody cares about all of this. Well, here is an article from The Israel Democracy Institute - It's worth investing in the Jewish state. It talks about Mr. Broidy and Markstone (incorrectly spelled in the article) in 2006. The article says that while at a meeting of 4,000 Jews in Los Angeles "Mr. Wolfenson, no foe of Israel, reportedly cautioned his listeners that a new global situation is emerging in which America will find it more difficult to back Israel". Later the article says, "By making Israel stronger economically, American Jews will also help in making Israel less dependent on American aid. This will resonate well within Israeli-American relations as well."

Lets see if we can put these pieces together in one possible way. Israel and it's supporters knew that Americans were becoming less and less willing to provide the massive aid that we do to Israel. As an alternate way to get a cash flow, it was determined that investments would do the trick and that that would improve Israel-American Relations. In the United States, at the same time, we had public pensions that were vastly overfunded and needed to get rid of some money. Seems like a match made in heaven.

Just for fun, lets ask another question. Mayor Villaraigosa has just been chosen to be the chair of the Democratic National Committee in North Carolina and as a co-chair of Obama's re-election committee. He also got a very nice interview in the New York Times recently. He is the same person who appointed Elliott Broidy (you remember him) to one of the Los Angeles pension boards.

The question that keeps coming to my mind is, why does the name Andrew Adelman come to mind everytime I think about the pension funds. He wasn't on any of the boards. Maybe I am just old and muddle things together in my head. Ignore my foolish speculations, I haven't been well this week anyways.

Bored, Bothered and I don't know what

Like most of us I had the day off today, I laid in bed most of it. I read the news and it was boring. I would not say that I am melancholy, not sure what I am, just sort of apathetic perhaps. I tend to get this way when I finish long term projects, I sort of lose interest in things until I find my next goal and I don't have one right now.

I look at the world around me and the nonsense that passes for news. In the past few weeks there has been a rash of high level bankers quitting their positions and that barely makes the news. Venus is slowing down it's spin and that barely makes the news, though nobody knows why it is slowing. The sun seems to be acting strange with it's magnetic poll wobbling and that barely makes the news. Six trillion dollars in fake bonds result in eight arrests by Italian police and that barely makes the news.

When World War II ended there was a lot of enthusiasm for the future. It seemed like every year we were finding new cures for disease and new ways to improve our lives, we created a massive middle class and people actually cared about their neighbors. Things were not perfect, prejudice was promoted or ignored; but, that is now a mere fragment compared to what it used to be like.

I read an article today about how Gloria Allred had won a court case allowing people to publicly trash their ex-lovers. You know, my ex may have cheated on me; but, I would never post her name or personally identifiable information, it just seems wrong to me. Hey, people that know me and her already knew and people that don't know us personally don't need to know who we are. I promise you this, my real name is not Pimpernel.

Sometimes I get this feeling that I just want to get in my car, drive down to Baja California and take a job as a busboy at some restaurant in Cabo San Lucas. Do you ever feel that way, you know, just get up and leave, try something new. Now, don't go feeling too bad for me, I am generally very content; but, being human I get down sometimes also. There is nothing horrible going on, I will eat tonight and if I feel like talking to someone I just have to call out; but, that is the thing, I don't feel like talking to anyone.

In the Netherlands a scientist has found a way to grow beef from bovine stem cells. Some people think this is great because it could drastically reduce how many cows we need to raise; but, I find it sort of disgusting and disrespectful to the cows. There is a line in the bible that says in the end times the eating of meat will be outlawed. Maybe I am just tired of the selfishness and stupidity. Genetically modified bread and circus, how very Roman of us.

I am not sure that anything matters to me at present. I have no plans for my life, I would say I am just going from day to day, trying to help others; but, not fully engaged anymore in anything. I remember a few years ago when I should have died, thinking that I had pretty much accomplished what I set out to do. Now, I sort of feel like I am just spinning my wheels and waiting. Problem is that I don't know what I am waiting for.

I would have to say that the highlight of my week was dinner with a friend, seeing a relative and giving my sermon on Sunday. I am doing a series on one of the books in the bible and I enjoying going through it again. Perhaps this is merely the calm before the storm. Perhaps, I am just lonely. Perhaps it is just a Monday off.

I wish online poker were legal, it would give me something to do. I will file my taxes soon and should get a return, maybe I can use it to take a trip; but, where and will I come back if I go far? What would happen if I just got up and left and never came back? No, somebody would track me down. I am a prisoner to alimony.

On a lighter and totally unrelated note, on March 8th there is a good chance that the FBI will shut down a number of servers that make up part of the internet. It should not take long and is needed because some servers had been infected with a computer virus. On that same day, Greece will be involved in a series of debt swaps. I wonder if the computers being down will effect the debt swaps or at least keep some people from being involved in them.

This is most certainly a rambling post, see, nothing has me engaged, just random thoughts. Most people seem to fill their lives with urges and wants for meaningless things. Perhaps that is a way to spend your time; but, I just can't go down that road. By the way, as I have been writing this, I have also been posting on a forum and it engaged my mind for the moment. Peace.

Pension Truths

Los Angeles Times - San Diego tackles municipal pensions


The above article talks about public pensions in San Diego. Now, I have never lived in San Diego and have never worked there, so, on many levels it doesn't effect me; but, it is evidence of San Diego's poor municipal government and their residents and politicians insincerity when making agreements.

San Diego is a very conservative city which has tended to elect Republicans (I belong to no party by the way). Part of their agenda was to reduce the number of government workers and they actually attempted to contract out all computer jobs, that went really badly for them. Their relationship with their contractor soured and they didn't have their own people as a back up.

In regards to their pensions, during the happy days of a strong stock market, the City of San Diego negotiated with the unions to allow the employees a bigger retirement in exchange the City would not be required to contribute as much to the pensions. Let me explain how this worked, before the crash, public pensions were overfunded. Pension funds are only allowed to keep so much more than it is anticipated that they will need to pay out. I think it used to be 125%. Okay, the investments that the pensions made did so well that many municipalities stopped making their contributions or reduced them in exchange for letting people have bigger pensions (3% accrual a year rather than 2 1/2%). Now rather than putting aside the money that was to be paid by the municipalities into the pensions, many delayed their payments because the funds were already overfunded and spent the money on other projects.

When the market crash, the pensions ceased being overfunded, according to the Government Finance Officers Association the public pensions are not currently underfunded; but, they are no longer overfunded and the municipalities are now expected to make their contributions that they had previously promised and they don't want to. The public pensions were used by politicians to fund alternative investments to those with close ties to them. These investments lost hundreds of millions in California alone and are currently the subject of multiple FBI investigations.

Now here is where the politicians are just misrepresenting the situation. They claim that half the municipal budgets or even more will need to go to the retirees; but, this is only if they catch up on all delayed payments in one year and that is unnecessary. This is easily negotiated with the public unions, spread it over ten, it doesn't really matter as the pensions are not spending all their money now, these are projected losses if they don't increase their worth.

There was a time when government worked better, part of the reason was because there were no term limits and a career politician would have to live with his decisions, you couldn't just kick the can down the road. The politicians would actually attempt to fix problems rather than raid the budgets to pay for flashy projects to impress the electorate. They also became more familiar with the civil servants and would become educated in what the rules were. Now most elected officials are ignorant of how things work administratively.

Now, lets return to discussing pensions. If you are an elected official with a municipality or state and are subject to term limits then you can get a lot more votes for cutting pensions and destroying morale and commitment because, you won't be there to deal with it. Lets face it, we have two decades of term limits and the politicians have only gotten worse.

Let me ask this simple question, nationwide the bridges are in disrepair, many are dangerous; but, how many were fixed? Now, how many new bridges were built in the meantime? You get more applause for making new toys then for fixing old ones; but, the most cost effective thing is to fix old first. It is cheaper to replace the engine in your car then to buy a new car.

Now lets look beyond public pensions to where we are headed. The politicians blame everything on the civil servants (except the politicians write the laws and not the bureaucrats), the citizens follow along behind them crying that the civil servants should not have the pensions that they do because private industry has moved away from them and the workers lose. Here is the thing, we don't make anything any better by making it worse for anyone. We should be promoting pensions for everyone or we are advocating what is coming, pensions for nobody.

Don't think I believe that the public unions are on the right side of the issue. They are happy to negotiate lower pensions for people in the future so long as the current members don't have to take the hit and many current members are also good with that; but, it is equally wrong. The problem is the same, we are all looking to make the next guy pay for our mistakes rather than ramping back.

We have become a world of people who only look out for themselves and we have politicians who feel the same way. How many politicians do you hear saying that they should be meeting the promises that they made to these employees and if they did, who would vote for them? Not enough to get them elected. Too few seem interested in meeting their obligations in marriage, mortgages or government. Private industry doesn't believe it has obligations anymore, not to the employees and not to the nation and certainly not to the people who elected them.

We Shall Post Comedy

I am enjoying some time with a relative and friends; but, you shall have humor. Here you go.

Carol Burnett Show outtakes - Tim Conway's Elephant Story


Comedy Tonight

You have no right to complain, I have nothing in my head and I have no right to complain for I seek nothing in my head, I like the nice cool air that travels from left to right and cools the empty space in between.

The FBI, City of L.A. and Andrew Adelman

The City of Los Angeles, Department of Building and Safety seems to still have problems. Why is this not surprising? Look, the FBI does not get involved in every building inspector in the country who takes a bribe, people would have to be stupid to think that.

L.A. Weekly - Corruption at Los Angeles Building and Safety

Couple of questions, one, why does the LA Weekly mention Andrew Adelman so many times when he has been gone for years? This is the same newspaper that I had contacted and notified that there was a very good chance that the loft conversions were being done without proper asbestos removal procedures in place and I had told them to look into Building and Safety, never worked there but knew people who did. Do you really think that the Pimpernel does not bring up such things, I write such things.

Lets be very clear, if I had first hand knowledge, I would send people to jail. As it is, I can only link to news sources. I can only tell you how I believe it is systemic in Southern California and many other places. I can only link to sources that show that the CRA, the unions, the politicians and the developers are all working together while using public pensions to fund their political agendas.

So who should watch the people who change zoning, award permits and approve what the City will look like? This is a good question for any city, county or state. As it is, the system is controlled by politicians that write one law and promote another, a law of privilege. When do they get arrested or is this all one big joke?

No Post Tonight

Hah, I was kidding and if all you do is read the titles then you shall not see this post, pitiful thing that it be. I had dinner with a dear friend and one of my favorite places, no, not the heart attack grille, I didn't like their burgers. It was a deli and the best ever been too. Nice waitress, old school and lots of service. I will eat the rest of the sandwich tomorrow.

We talked about birds and bees and many things. I am always happy when I am with my friends and family. I am very simple creature in the real world. I love my quiet time, just reading and thinking. I asked myself what I wanted today, out of life, you know. I couldn't come up with much, what I did come up with was really for others rather than me. Everything ends, heck, Jimmy cracks corn and I don't care, I mean I think I have done more than has been asked for me, what is worthwhile now, is there anything for me in the mixture?

I have been trying to decide what I might like, what might bring me pleasure. My friend said that maybe I should write a book; but, I don't feel like the restrictions that I would be on me in writing a book, it would be like work. I thought that I might just like to wander and meet people and write about it in my blog. That would take a lot of stuff, I would have to get an RV and a small car to tow. Lots of things would be involved and I feel lazy, I don't want to plan for anything, God will provide what I need, it says so and he has.

I like where I am, I am totally good with dying here, I will take a two bedroom if I can get it; but, it doesn't really matter. I am happy where I am and need nothing more than to pay my bills and eat. Nope, I am as happy as I have ever been, owning nothing and owing little. LOL. Life is just fine. I cannot think what would make it better except the dead one, the one that loved me. I guess I shall remain alone or learn more. Peace.