GuidoWorld

Thanks Giving

 Thanks Giving

I feel very fortunate and thankful. I have a wonderful and generally fulfilling life. I have a loving and growth oriented marriage of 25 years, a son worthy of praise and admiration, and a life style fitted to my nature.

I’m in love with life. I am fortunate to have relatively good health, and find human experience to be amazing and captivating. Though I find much to be critical of, I more often than not see problems as an opportunity for growth rather than a death sentence.

I find we are as fond of ignoring the positives in life as we are in denying its limitations. I wish more of us would delight in our humanity and not view it as an obstacle to overcome. The following song addresses this concern as well as any other mode I can articulate today.

I fully realize that suffering is the reality of far too many people. I for one will continue to do my best to help make the world be a better place.

Take some time today and everyday and take a long soak in that Bath of Joy we call human experience.

Bath of Joy (lyrics/reveries)

Bath of Joy

Life’s like a game of hide and seek we’re winners when we find
The clues are there if we look, listen and divine
My heart is racing when I sense an answer is coming to light
Oh I do feel a surge of meaning as my spirit does takes flight
Who can say “I found my heart”, who will say it loud?
If you can say “I live my heart”, say it ever proud

Bathe yourself in your joy
Be a sun shining forth
Share your gift with everyone
Solve the puzzle make it fun

People say many things that protect them from the dark
Yet many times these very words push them off the mark
Life is life and not a haven, predestined or a lark
Seek not hide is the answer to help ignite the spark
We can feel many things but only one at a time
We can learn many things because we aren’t sublime

Don’t vilify uncertainty
Don’t demystify mystery
Come alive suddenly
Bathe yourself in your humanity

Can you feel my heart building steam?
Steeped in real life not in dream
Primed to realize all our joy
Life’s a prize a gift and a toy (so enjoy)

Sometimes freedom begets chaos throws me into fright
All I fashioned is torn and cut by irration’s knife
Yet my bleeding gets me going I focus on the light
Soon I heal from understanding life’s sensuous might

Can you feel my heart building steam?
Steeped in real life not in dream
Primed to realize all our joy
Life’s a prize a gift and a toy (so enjoy)

Bathe yourself in your joy
Be a sun shining forth
Share your gift with everyone
Solve the puzzle make it fun

Jim Guido

Derrick Rose

This week I got an opportunity to see the Chicago Bulls on TV. I was interested in seeing their new rookie who has been receiving rave reviews. Going in to the game I had my doubts of this young talent. I had heard concerns about his outside shot and his free throw shooting.

Yet, during the game I saw little to support those concerns. His form on his jumpers and free throws looked solid so repetition  and dedication should solve any problems regarding his shot, especially since his work ethic is quite impressive. His court vision and decision making were off the charts and his cool demeanor gave him a maturity beyond his years.

So I would like to offer up a nickname for the young man.

Derrick is very proud of playing for his hometown basketball team. So much so in fact that he is introduced as “from Chicago” as opposed to “from Memphis” which was the college he attended. Derrick grew up a Bulls fan and a Jordan fan. This link with Chicago may be the key for him carving out his own turf and getting out from the gigantic shadow of playing for Michael Jordan’s team.

Though Michael was the greatest Bull of all time, he let it be known many times that North Carolina was his home, and Chicago was his second home. With Derrick there is only one home and that is “Sweet Home Chicago”.

That is why I believe that Derrick’s nickname should include his home town. Now if you combine that with his initials you get DR Chicago or Dr. Chicago.

Dr. Chicago would be quite a handle for the young man. First it ties him with his home town forever, and is incentive for both him and the Bulls management to make him a Chicago Bull for his entire basketball career. Second the doctor tag is quite appropriate for a point guard.

As a doctor he carves up the defense, gives laser accurate passes and preserves the health of the team.

When pronounced Dr. Chicago sounds like you’re saying Dr. Zhivago. You could incorporate that image into Dr. Chicago by playing Lara’s theme when he’s got the ball or when he’s on a mission late in the game. The original Lara’s theme would be a surreal counterpoint to the usual bass thumping hip hop of most stadium music. This would echo Derrick’s personality in which he’s a humble quiet man in a sport of flash and ego. On the other hand one could easily make an electronic version of Lara’s theme which would boom with the best of them.

With the new president being from Chicago and the Olympics probably coming to Chicago, it makes total sense for the Bulls emerging star to be Dr. Chicago.

So how does one get a nickname popularized?

As they say Dr. Chicago is coming to a stadium near you, or Dr. Chicago is now playing everywhere. And if you see him play it does look like he is playing everywhere. He sees and uses the entire court, when he’s on the floor you can definitely say, “the doctor is in”.

Jim Guido

Fed Accountability?

When the Fed went before congress to ask for hundreds of billions of dollars to help our troubled economy they got the money under specific conditions. The major concern of congress was that the Fed use the money for specific purposes and gave full disclosure of how the money was being used. In fact congress gave deadlines for this information to be reported.

Well, those dates have passed and the Fed has refused to tell congress what they have done with the money. No one knows who they’ve given money to, how much and for what specific purposes. To my knowledge congress has taken no action on this refusal to comply.

It would seem to me that the Fed’s act of defiance breaks at least one or two laws. First they lied to congress when they promised to give full disclosure as a condition of getting the stimulus package passed. And second they are in subordination by directly refusing to comply with congresses directive to keep them informed.

If a citizen were to refuse to live up to their promise under oath to congress I would imagine they would be sent to jail until they complied. How many times has a journalist been threatened with jail if they failed to disclose their sources? And these journalists never promised to provide full disclosure.

The avowed reason for the stimulus/bailout was to provide liquidity and restore confidence in the financial system. The concern over the subprime and credit fiasco has led to a concern over the health of banks and other financial institutions. Banks are afraid to do business with each other out of fear of each others finacial stability and ability to honor their obligations. The lack of Fed disclosure is keeping all interested parties in the dark. Investors, banks and financial institutions are being prevented from knowing who is in trouble, what assistance they are receiving and how the Fed’s actions are influencing the financial crisis and credit problem.

This lack of disclosure is only intensifying the culture of fear and mistrust which is freezing our financial system. Yet, I guess congress has no problem with this. I guess everyone is comfortable heading towards a global depression, and would consider honesty too dangerous of a precedent to set.

Some habits are tough to break. Yet, as I’ve mentioned in a number of my recent posts, the actions of the government and the Fed appear to be intentionally ushering in a deflationary depression. Of course, their words will say otherwise, but actions speak louder than words. And verbal deception is a vital tool in business and politics.

Jim Guido

Citizen McCain and Blazing Saddles

This is is a follow up to my post “Political Fall Guys” in which I stated my contention that both McCain and Obama were being set up to take the fall for the emerging economic depression. I felt that the Democrats and Obama in particular was the perfect dupe for the status quo power lords. Who better than an idealistic gifted mediator to take the blame for a capitalistic downfall?

Any social programs he devises which help the poor and ask the rich to take some cuts will be labeled blatant socialism, and Obama like FDR will be credited (blamed) by economists and historians for making the economic depression harsher and longer than it needed to be. The economist will claim that his policies handcuffed and punished the wealthy and prohibited them from investing in the future and in creating jobs. Yes, defenders of trickle down economics will be howling at the moon for quite some time.

My fear is that once again those who caused the economic debackle will be back in power in a few years after the populace grows tired of the length and severity of the coming depression. What we’ve seen so far is but a mild preview of what is to come. All a president will be able to do is offer solace and assistance to those in need as the entire long business cycle unwinds. Historically economic down periods last 3/8 as long as the preceding up period which means this down cycle should last until 2015 or so. These cycles are well known and Mr. Greenspan himself often referenced and talked about the economic “winter” we are now entering.

In four years politicians will be telling us all how the bad economy is being exaggerated by the anti free market social programs being peddled by Obama and the Democratic House and Senate. Things like taxes on the rich, will be told, are the cause of economic depression, not its solution. Though this is totally false, it will be convincing.

Most likely we will not see another Democrat in the White House for atleast 12 years or so, just like when Jimmy Carter was set up by the previous administrations loose fiscal policies which spawned the stagflation that he fought through. The status quo elitists who capitalized on the boom as well as the bust will come riding in to save the day, while convincing us to once again accept the expanding gap between the haves and have nots as the best way to fashion and maintain a healthy and prosperous economy.

Yet, maybe Obama can steal a page from Hollywood and beat the odds. Does anyone remember the story line of Blazing Saddles where a bunch of white guys make a black man sheriff right before the town is supposed to be raided and pillaged by a horde of bad guys. In the movie Cleavon Little plays the deft and resourceful black sheriff who outsmarts all the marauders and saves the town.

Maybe Barack can do the same. Maybe he can unite this country and have us trust his guidance through these coming hard times. Yet, history is not on is side. This multi-trillion dollar credit fiasco will take years to unwind, and no act of genius or motivation will be able to solve the problem in four years.

I was very impressed with both McCain’s concession speech and Obama’s acceptance speech. It’s a shame that candidates do not believe they can talk that way during a campaign. Instead of demonizing each other they were praising each other and talking positively about the country and the world.

McCain talked of the greater good and how winning the election is not as important as helping the nation and the world be a better place.

For me it is just another example of how corrupt our politial system is. Only in defeat can a candidate put being elected into perspective. Elections should not be about saying what people want to hear. It should be about saying what one believes will make the world a better place. If people don’t agree with your view than you should not win the election. Why would I want people to elect on words and positions I don’t really believe in? In  such a case I’m left with two alternatives.

One is to just to ignore what I said during my campaign and do what I think is right. In that case I got elected on lies and now I’m acting on lies.

The other option is to live up to my campaign promises and platform despite the fact that I do not believe in them. This is one of the reasons I view our political system as corrupt and in need of an overhaul. Currently are candidates are either dishonest or insincere or both. We can and need to do better than that.

Jim Guido