Thursday, June 30, 2011

NATO's military mission is over

A short history

NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) was created in 1949 by President Truman and 11 other countries; England, Iceland, France, Luxemburg, Belgium, Canada, Portugal, Italy, Norway, Denmark and Netherlands. It was deemed necessary to prevent Russia from taking control of Europe. The overriding mission stated that an attack on one would be considered an attack on all.
Major bases were located in France. West Germany was allowed to join in 1955. Dissention led France to gradually separate. A complete break occurred in 1966. All bases in France were closed, most of which were re-located to West Germany. By 1979 Tactical Nuclear missiles were installed capable of destroying Russian tank formations. They included GLCM and Pershing II missiles. East Germany was re-united with the West in 1990. An agreement with Russia mandated reductions in forces on both sides. NATO forces were not to be deployed in East Germany. NATO did so anyway.
With the end of the Cold War in 1991 NATO was extended into Eastern Bloc countries, one at a time which caused unease with Russia. France rejoined NATO in 1995 and attained full membership by 2009. In the ensuing years more Eastern nations have joined. A missile base scheduled for installation in Poland under President Bush was halted by President Obama lessening the threat of military action by Russia against Poland.

Where NATO is today

In June 2011 Secretary of Defense Gates scolded the members for not contributing their full effort in the bombing of Libya. He threatened that this could be the end of NATO. Only eight of the 28 member States contributed forces to the Libya campaign. They were America, England, Canada, Germany, Poland, Spain, Netherlands and Turkey. Gates was critical of Poland, Spain, Norway, Turkey and Germany. Norway is ending operations August 1, 2011. The British Navy has stated operations are not sustainable and the Danes have run out of bombs. How ridiculous is this. What it means to me is that NATO is a hollow shell militarily, only held together by the might and treasure from America. I have felt from the beginning that the Libya campaign was doomed to failure.
It is the same old story repeated decade after decade with halfhearted efforts not capable of finishing successfully. Can you remember the American Air Campaign against the Serbs in Kosovo? The Serbs were systematically driving Muslims out of the country, killing many in the process. This should have been up to Europe to intervene if they felt compelled to do so. Instead President Clinton took on the responsibility using only air forces similar to the current campaign in Libya. Serbia was not a threat to European nations and certainly not to America. The point I am trying to make is that this was a regional conflict of a minor nature that Europe was incapable of resolving without the might of America. The concern about the USSR had diminished with the breakup on the Soviet Union. Russia while still powerful in and of itself had diminished as a concern. In actual fact around this time Russia had requested being included in NATO. The request was not approved.
The mighty coalition that had been NATO was now a shell of what it once had been. This would have been the time to re-evaluate the Alliance towards cooperation economically while reducing the American presence which even today is by far the largest contingent of NATO.
As I write this I understand that there are other nations ready to sign on to become members of NATO. There obviously is a need felt to join with others for the mutual good. Economic alliances are almost always beneficial. My concern is that the thought of overwhelming military force to combat Russia or some other major power does not exist without America.
We, as a country, are so deep in debt we are approaching a critical point where we won’t be able to continue being the hero. Now would be a good time to re-evaluate, while the debate is raging in Washington concerning the deficit. They won’t of course, as any retrenchment will be considered soft on defense. The horrendous cost of the current three wars plus maintaining bases throughout the world will continue. Our leaders will continue to muddle along until that fateful day not too many years from now when the rubber band snaps and fiscal reality sets in forcing drastic measures on Americans such as the people of Greece are now going thru.


Jack B. Walters
June 30, 2011

Monday, June 27, 2011

TOO BIG TO FAIL - a book report

By Andrew Ross Sorkin

I am always astounded after reading a book like this. The research involved and the time consumed appear monumental to me. I purchased the book and read it during my plane rides to visit family and friends. The author describes in incredible detail the events and conversations of the principal participants during the financial crisis during the Fall of 2008 which led to Congress approving $700 Billion in aid to the major financial institutions in what was referred to as TARP (Trouble Asset Relief Program).
This is not a book highly recommended to read except for people like me who seem to enjoy delving into issues. It is 555 pages of financial topics way over my head. I cannot even conceive of the magnitude of dollars involved.
The Cast of Characters is located at the beginning. It takes eight pages to list them all, a who’s who of those at or near the top of the largest Corporations in the world. During the book the incredible sums of money are disclosed, again in amounts unimaginable to people like me.
The root cause was the irresponsible bundling together of mortgages, millions of which were given to people without the means to pay, many without a down payment of any kind. The underlining reason was the idea that housing would always increase in value. In my opinion this was idiotic. When values started dropping in 2006, people started walking away from their homes when the market value became less than the mortgage. Also during these years, good paying jobs were lost. Mortgage payments could not be made. As all of this started accelerating, the losses to the financial institutions built to unsustainable levels. Out of concern investors demanded the return of their capital. The value of bank stocks plummeted. Before the carnage was stopped by TARP, Lehman Brothers went bankrupt and was put out of business. Others like Bear Sterns, Wachovia and Merrill lynch were absorbed by larger firms. AIG was so far gone that it took $185 Billion to keep them from failing before it was all over.
“Hank” Paulson was Secretary of the Treasury; Tim Geithner was President of the Federal Reserve System. These were the two most important persons responsible for rescuing the banks. As the drama unfolded they tried to have the institutions themselves solve the problem by supporting their competitors. When it became obvious that this could not be accomplished then they pushed for government money, referred to by people like me as “bailout”. TARP was originally meant to be used to purchase toxic assets. In the end all the major companies agreed to accept government funds while granting stock as collateral. The following was not in the book, but from sources available to me all loans have been paid back with interest. That would seem to give credit to those involved. My concern is that nothing substantial has been done to lessen the threat of another crisis. Legislation put forth has been watered down to where meaningful safeguards have not been enacted. Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont introduced a bill entitled “Too Big to Fail, Too Big to Exist”. Senators Maria Cantrell of Washington and John McCain of Arizona introduced a bill to re-instate Glass-Steagall. Neither passed based on the argument that we would be less competitive in the global marketplace. There just has to be a way to keep foreign banks from absorbing American owned, while still putting safeguards into the system.
The last sentence states “This generation of Wall Street CEOs could be the ones to forfeit America’s trust. When the history of the Great Depression is written, they can be singled out as the bonus babies who were so shortsighted that they put the economy at risk and contributed to the destruction of their own companies”.



Jack B. Walters
June 27, 2011

TOO BIG TO FAIL - a book report

By Andrew Ross Sorkin

I am always astounded after reading a book like this. The research involved and the time consumed appear monumental to me. I purchased the book and read it during my plane rides to visit family and friends. The author describes in incredible detail the events and conversations of the principal participants during the financial crisis of the Fall of 2008 which led to Congress approving $700 Billion in aid to the major financial institutions in what was referred to as TARP (Trouble Asset Relief Program).
This is not a book highly recommended to read except for people like me who seem to enjoy delving into issues. It is 555 pages of financial topics way over my head. I cannot even conceive of the magnitude of dollars involved.
The Cast of Characters is located at the beginning. It takes eight pages to list them all, a who’s who of those at or near the top of the largest Corporations in the world. During the book the incredible sums of money are disclosed, again in amounts unimaginable to people like me.
The root cause was the irresponsible bundling together of mortgages, millions of which were given to people without the means to pay, many without a down payment of any kind. The underlining reason was the idea that housing would always increase in value. In my opinion this was idiotic. When values started dropping in 2006, people started walking away from their homes when the market value became less than the mortgage. Also during these years, good paying jobs were lost. Mortgage payments could not be made. As all of this started accelerating, the losses to the financial institutions built to unsustainable levels. Out of concern investors demanded the return of their capital. The value of bank stocks plummeted. Before the carnage was stopped by TARP, Lehman Brothers went bankrupt and was put out of business. Others like Bear Sterns, Wachovia and Merrill lynch were absorbed by larger firms. AIG was so far gone that it took $185 Billion to keep them from failing before it was all over.
“Hank” Paulson was Secretary of the Treasury; Tim Geithner was President of the Federal Reserve System. These were the two most important persons responsible for rescuing the banks. As the drama unfolded they tried to have the institutions themselves solve the problem by supporting their competitors. When it became obvious that this could not be accomplished then they pushed for government money, referred to by people like me as “bailout”. TARP was originally meant to be used to purchase toxic assets. In the end all the major companies agreed to accept government funds while granting stock as collateral. The following was not in the book, but from sources available to me all loans have been paid back with interest. That would seem to give credit to those involved. My concern is that nothing substantial has been done to lessen the threat of another crisis. Legislation put forth has been watered down to where meaningful safeguards have not been enacted. Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont introduced a bill entitled “Too Big to Fail, Too Big to Exist”. Senators Maria Cantrell of Washington and John McCain of Arizona introduced a bill to re-instate Glass-Steagall. Neither passed based on the argument that we would be less competitive in the global marketplace. There just has to be a way to keep foreign banks from absorbing American owned, while still putting safeguards into the system.
The last sentence states “This generation of Wall Street CEOs could be the ones to forfeit America’s trust. When the history of the Great Depression is written, they can be singled out as the bonus babies who were so shortsighted that they put the economy at risk and contributed to the destruction of their own companies”.



Jack B. Walters
June 27, 2011

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Forest fire- letter to the editor

Coronado Forest Closing

Because of fire hazards all activity has been banned, even including our own very special Sabino Canyon. While it may be true that careless campers were responsible for some of the fires what is basically true is that average citizens who venture forth to enjoy our spectacular forest scenery are respectful of the forests.
The reality is that Arizona citizens will obey the order and stay out not because of fines but because of concern. Those entering our State illegally whether looking for work or bringing in drugs will not pay heed to this order.
The article in the headlines only suggested this at the very end of the report as if it was merely a slight possibility. Wake up, this is the problem. The closure notice will not decrease the ongoing invasion.
There I said it. Sure be nice if the Star editorial staff would identify the real problem.


Jack B. Walters
June 7, 2011

Friday, June 3, 2011

Freedom from Fear- a book report

The American people in Depression and War,
1929-1945
By David M. Kennedy

My friend Jim Terlep lent me this book to read as he knows my interest in history, particularly American history, 858 pages later I have finally completed reading. It is an outstanding effort. It is the most complete and thorough report of the circumstances and the people involved during those critical decades. It is so monumental that trying to report on any one aspect would not do justice to the author.
There have been many books written about FDR, some favorable and some negative. This author tried to expose the events and in particular the New Deal Legislation enacted as to whether positive or negative. Chapter 12 puts it all in perspective as to whether it was positive or not. In my opinion it was. People’s bank deposits were protected where before they had lost everything when the banks fell. The Glass-Steagall Banking act separated investing from commercial banks. (President Clinton allowed this to be repealed which started the banks on their reckless behavior with devastating consequences. To this date our current President and Congress have not seen fit to re-enact.). Social Security was created to provide funds necessary to help the elders to live decent lives. Unions were allowed to grow to provide security and improve the lot of workers. Child labor was abolished. Many roads, bridges, dams, hiking trails, clinics, and schools were built by Americans working for the CCC or WPA.
In all the history of America up until then the Federal Government was not a factor in the economy of the country. The States had the most power but even there the free market system had nearly total control. There were many factors at play which resulted in the Depression, mostly from overproduction of farms, the dust bowl and irresponsible speculation in the markets. Over half of America lived of small farms. When the prices for agriculture products fell the suffering began. President Hoover attempted to stabilize market prices with limited success. It was FDR’s New Deal that really got the Federal Government into the process of correcting imbalances when the market place proved inadequate to the challenge. Were there programs that failed, yes, but then again there were programs that worked. Most important of all was the positive effect of FDR’s communication with the people. In spite of their hardship they believed their President was doing all he possibly could to relieve their suffering.
Columnist Dorothy Thompson summed up FDR’s achievements in 1940 with these words, “WE have behind us eight terrible years of a crisis we have shared with all countries. Here we are, and our basic institutions are still intact, our people are relatively prosperous and most important of all, our society is relatively affectionate. No rift has been made an unbridgeable schism between us. The working classes are not clamoring for communism. No country is so well off”.
The author takes us step by step in the buildup to WWII. He is convinced that the Versailles Treaty written after WWI planted the seeds that resulted in the Second World War. In it Germany was made to accept full responsibility for the conflict and onerous reparations demanded to compensate the Allies for their costs. This created great hardship for the German people and created an atmosphere where a radical like Adolf Hitler could come to power. He brought them out of their Depression by ignoring the treaty and beginning his military buildup. The comment is made that had we rearmed as they did we could have risen out of the Depression faster than we did. Certainly the results of building the “Arsenal of Democracy”, the Depression was over.
There is a chapter on the buildup and the genius of American Industry leaders to switch overnight from peacetime manufacturing to military. Henry Ford and Henry Kaiser were in that group. Ford created a factory from the ground up to produce B-24s. He produced 18,000 B-24s in four years. At its peak a B-24 rolled off the line every sixty-three minutes. Kaiser built twenty-seven hundred Liberty Ships. By 1943 a ship was launched every forty-0ne days. These were remarkable achievements and were representative of all of American industry. By war’s end we had produced 5,777 merchant ships, 1,556 naval vessels, 299,293 aircraft, 634,569 jeeps, 88,410 tanks, 11,000 chain saws, 2,283,311 trucks, 6.5 million rifles and 40 billion bullets.
He takes us thru the war years capturing the important events including battles and leadership conferences. I will not attempt to list them. You should read for yourself. He is quite thorough.
See page 857 for his conclusion as follows;
An astounding fact is that the United States at the end of the war commanded fully half of the entire planet’s manufacturing capacity and generated more than half of the world’s electricity. America owned two-thirds of the world’s gold stocks and half of its monetary reserves. The United States produced two times more petroleum than the rest of the world combined; it had the world’s largest merchant fleet, a near monopoly on the emerging growth industries of aerospace and electronics, and, for a season at least, an absolute monopoly on the disquieting new technology of atomic power.
By wars end unemployment was negligible. In the ensuing quarter century the American economy would create twenty million new jobs. Within less than a generation the middle class more than doubled. By 1960 the middle class included almost two-thirds of all Americans. As he concludes, small wonder that Americans chose to think of it as the good war. It was a war that had brought them as far as imagination could reach, and beyond, from the ordeal of the Great Depression and had opened apparently infinite vistas to the future.



Jack B. Walters
June 3, 2011