Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Sandy - Which President Would Help ?

Sandy shows the difference in this Presidential choice.

In this corner you have the President, the guy who will help the ordinary Americans when the chips are down. Obama believes in the Feds like FEMA coming in to help when a big disaster hits. He's pushing for cleaner, greener free energy from things like wind and solar, which if put on houses would work when telephone lines are cut by storms like Sandy, Ike, Katrina, etc.

And then you have the challenger, Romney, who said in debates that he would let the states pay the entire burden. He would pass the costs of a "Sandy" on to those hit by it!  Romney's actions would hit States and local taxpayers the hardest because the loss isn't spread over 50 states...its all paid for the locals who take the hit, like the folks in Joplin who were hit by a killer tornado, or those in Houston during IKE or those hit in Louisiana by Katrina, or AnyWhere USA when it happens NEXT...(because there is ALWAYS a "next" when it comes to weather. Sooner or later, we all get hit).

With WEATHER GETTING MORE VIOLENT and storms BIGGER, voting for Romney is NOT a SMART MOVE -- unless you want your local tax authority passing the costs to YOU after the next storm! LOL.

My company Armor Glass protects people from this crap, but that doesn't mean that i support bigger storms and more violence to structures --its quite the OPPOSITE! That's a reason I write the Global American Series on these global issues that impact our future and prosperity.  The ongoing, building climate train wreck jeopardizes the lives of future generations -- not just Americans but people of all nations who share this little blue planet wit-- the only thing like it hin million of light years of space.

Do you have another planet in mind if we mess up this one?

We are in trouble as a planet -- and as a human race...!  Without action on global warming, we face dire consequences for ourselves and future generations.  If Earth loses its ice refrigeration system (ice in the poles and Greenland) folks, then we become a COOKED Planet, like frogs happily sitting in the gradually warming water  pot, frogs that never realize their fate until its too late. Ice cores show that we are breaching the normal heat patterns of the last 800,000 years!

We need to act NOW because  it will be YOUR grandkids enduring the consequences of our failure to act now.

Ever think about this - A dead planet is bad for business! Because there is none if you're dead, right?
Stay tuned Earthlings. "Subscribe' for updates...

Pass it on.

Your choice in 2012 will determine if we are frogs or humans reaching their potential in a high tech global space age economy that will shape the 21st century for America and the world...

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Last Time Wall Street Shut Down - 1888. Sandy and Climate Change Wake Up Call

The last time Wall Street was shut down was...1888.

"Sandy" - better known by its other name "Frankenstorm" - hit New York with the lowest barometic pressure on record - 940 millibars. Over 8 million are out of power. Sandy was fueled by a Gulf Stream that flows up the east coast that was 5 to 9 degrees ABOVE normal.

Think of it. New York has now been hit by three hundred year storms - in 3 years! First Earl, then Irene, now "Sandy."  All late season Hurricanes hitting an area not known for hurricanes - nor-easters, yes, not hurricanes.

Damages are now estimated at $40 BILLION!  This year Romney said that communities hit by storms like Sandy "are on their own."  Don't look to FEMA for help. Is this how we want to live? If IKE that hit Houston in 2008 was paid for only by Texas, we would have been SUNK locally.

More coming..."Subscribe" or "Follow" for updates as this progresses.

And HOW will it IMPACT the ELECTION?  NEVER BEFORE, just a week before election, have MILLIONS of people been out of electricity. Voting machines can't work. Could it swing the election?  Stay tuned....

Thursday, October 25, 2012

Speakers Topic: “Getting America to No. 1 in the Inescapable High-Tech, Space Age, Global Economy 21st Century”



If anyone needs a speaker, consider this one:

Michael Fjetland's Speakers Topic:  
“Getting America to No. 1 in the Inescapable 
High-Tech, Space Age, Global Economy 21st Century”

I just returned from China. I first went there 30 years ago for a Fortune 500 company on pollution control technology negotiations. I am putting together a presentation that compares China's advances in that 30 years vs the USA's position.

 One of my last things I did in China was ride their 265 mph MagLev - and I shot a 7 minute video of it. I also have photos from 1982 for comparison. When I first arrived in China 30 years ago for an American Fortune 500 company trying to sell pollution control technology, the bicycle was the main transport vehicle. Now it is the largest car market in the world. It's amazing.

As this Presidential race has shown, China will be the key major player in the 21st century - it is a high tech global 21st century where the best educated with the best technology will win.

I recently went to Louisiana on I-10, America’s primary East-West highway link in th southern U.S. –one of its weakest links is the 70 year old I-10 bridge at Lake Charles has been reduced from 4 to 2 lanes, and still the new light-bulbs break from the vibration. Yet Congress refused to provide funds to replace it before it collapses into the waters below. There are thousands more in the same condition. China is investing in High-Tech and Education; America’s Congress has not.

The last part of my presentation talks about how we WIN this tech race in a global economy, based on my experience from the Fortune 500 to being an entrepreneur in nearly 50 countries the past 30 plus years.
Contact Info:
Michael Fjetland
GlobalAmerican2020@yahoo.com
“Better Times Ahead: April Fool?”   (How to Survive a Layoff on a Global Scale)
Book info:  The author went from a farm to being one of the first business negotiators in China after Nixon opened the doors. He went from growing up milking cows to traveling first class for a Fortune 500 company --once giving up a room in the Nile Hilton for the first ever peace treaty between Israel and an Arab country in 1979 when President Carter successfully negotiated this historic peace treaty.

Then the author was laid off and became an entrepreneur --once going broke in Bangkok, and leading an international child kidnapping negotiation in Syria – one of the few to see it from the inside. The author became a 9/11 TV terrorism analyst… All this and other strange but true tales are in "Better Times Ahead: APril Fool? -- much of it based on old journals that give the reader a sense of old China in 1982, and what its like to have an aircraft failure and kidnapping attempt on the same day.

"Better Times Ahead"  finishes with SOLUTIONS in "Agenda for American Greatness" on fixing America’s fix it is in after a decade of madness that led to the greatest economic meltdown since the Great Depression  –FACTS on how we REALLY got into this mess AND (even more important now) HOW WE FIX IT.  

If anyone knows the answer “HOW TO GET AMERICA WINNING THE HIGH TECH SPACE AGE 21st Century" -- it is someone who has negotiated in nearly 50 countries the past 30 plus years from Fortune 500 to helping small business export more American products that create jobs in America -- and that is the speaker, Michael Fjetland..
Contact Info:
Michael Fjetland
GlobalAmerican2020@yahoo.com
“Better Times Ahead: April Fool?”   (How to Survive a Layoff on a Global Scale)

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Romney says Iran has no Sea Access? Gerald Ford Moment




Global American Series

Iran is probably the most critical issue we have regarding global security – yet Gov. Romney did something very much like Gerald Ford when he said in a debate with Jimmy Carter in 1976 that “East Europe was NOT dominated by Russia.”  But it was – big time. That misstatement cost Ford his office.

In the third and final Presidential debate, Governor Romney was making his case about Iran which showed he doesn’t even know the geography of the region. Romney stated that "Syria is Iran's only ally in the Arab world. It's their route to the sea…”  OOPS.  Look at a map Governor Romney (and fellow American voters).  

IRAN IS ON THE SEA! It has port cities -- I was once asked to work for a Fortune 500 company in Iran on a naval base at Chabahar on the Persian Gulf – just before the Mullah revolution in 1979.

Romney obviously hasn’t even looked at a map of Iran – or he would have known Iran lies on the Persian Gulf – THE major oil seaway that our ships patrol. It’s been in the news for decades, including when I was traveling in the area even back in the 70’s and 80’s! It hasn’t moved since then.

This is a bad sign of the worst kind for a potential commander in chief – just as serious as Ford’s blunder about Russia not dominating Eastern Europe.  Romney wants to be our President yet has so little knowledge of Iran that he doesn’t even have a grasp of its location?  This is gross negligence to be a President so ignorant of an area so important to American security that he doesn’t even know it is two countries removed from Syria?  This is the same Romney that has advocated on numerous occasions the U.S. attack Iran before it acquires a nuclear weapon.

We just wrapped up a war in Iraq where lack of knowledge of the President led to a hunt for non-existent weapons of mass destruction at a cost over $1 trillion dollars and thousands of lives of our soldiers. The lack of knowledge about differences between Sunni and Shia made it worse. Do we need to repeat that Bush mistake with Gov. Romney? That sounds like a suicide mission if voters take us back on that dark path. One U.S. war game on Iran cost us 16 ships and an aircraft carrier before it was suspended.

I was a TV Terrorism Advisor on 9/11 in Houston.  I have done international child kidnapping negotiations in Syria (I wrote about all of this and more in “Better Times Ahead: April Fool?” www.BetterTimesAheadAprilFool.com).  I have taught economic geography.  How can someone be qualified to be President if he hasn’t examined a map and is clueless that Iran is a seaport and doesn’t need Syria –two countries away—for sea access?   Here is the link to info on that port: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_of_Chabahar#Chabahar_port_history

The Persian Gulf is where our Navy ships patrol. President Obama knows this.  Gov. Romney’s Gerald Ford moment should be a warning to voters.  Obama knows the Middle East and its geography. Romney does not.  Obama took out OSAMA BIN LADEN. Romney said he opposed taking out bin Laden without Pakistan’s consent.  That never would have happened and shows how naïve and uninformed Romney is about complex international issues facing the President every day.

Romney’s positions on issues have been a series of flips and flops to the point he appears to be a “shape shifter” with no inner core values other than saying whatever he thinks is necessary at the time to get elected  --he’s been a liberal, a moderate and “severely conservative” all in the same year.  He has provided no tax information or details on his economic “plan.”

With Obama, we know where he stands on a consistent basis. He inherited the worst economy in 70 years and has turned it around from losing 800,000 jobs a month to gaining over 5 million jobs – with millions more on the way in new industries. Obama’s plans are clear; Romney’s are hidden and what we know of them will increase the debt by trillions and will favor the rich over the Middle Class.

Therefore, based on my global experiences and as an entrepreneur of a small business, I endorse President Obama as the only candidate with the skills and knowledge of the Middle East to safely guide us through its troubled waters the next four years.

Michael Fjetland
Global American Series
Map photos at Global American blog:

You may not agree, but my “Agenda for American Greatness” lays out the FACTS how we got into this mess – and HOW we get out – and which President candidate is the best in 2012 for our future – and why it’s Obama.  It is based on my perceptions as an American involved in helping American companies in nearly 50 countries the past 30 plus years.

“Agenda for American Greatness” lays out the FACTS. Link:

http://bettertimesaheadaprilfool.com/Agenda_for_USA_Greatness.html



Monday, October 22, 2012

A Discovery 10+ Years Later....

AMAZING. Got a call today from a banker at CoAmerica, asking for me. I thought it was a sales call. WRONG. He said he looked me up on google - before sending my stuff to the State of Texas. It was in a safe deposit box I had back in the late 80's! They drilled it out in 2005 - when it was Sterling bank. I picked it up and found old Passports and gemstones...
THANK YOU Co-America! 
Too bad, my 600 carat Indian Star Ruby wasn't in there - that was the recession in which I lost it all. But this time I'm booming. Funny how it works...

Sunday, October 21, 2012

Congress vs CHINA on Technology - CHINA WINS

 Above Photo: Shot my me, Michael Fjetland, a little over a week ago at the Shanghai airport, after just getting off a 265 mph ride to Shanghai airport - the fastest train in the world.

Compare these images to a Congress that has not even repaired 70 year old bridges in America (like the I-10 bridge over Lake Charles, LA) much less invested in the technologies that will keep us leading the high tech 21st Century....

Above: The sign which is over the entrance from Shanghai airport to the Maglev - I came through that door a week ago today, after traveling at 265 mph on a 7 minute journey (video link here).

COMPARE that above (not to mention the BULLET TRAINS that passed us on the highway - so fast I couldn't get a photo)...to BELOW, America's Trains...


NOW TELL ME OUR GOP Congress is keeping us competitive in the world....? They have fought Obama's high tech initiatives such as high speed rail to keep us in the global technology race that will define this 21st century...

Friday, October 19, 2012

Here is a night shot of the IBM building in Beijing, China. Some call it the "Dragon Head"  - Notice the high tech video displays...
Neon buildings line China's biggest cities...along with thousands of cranes, which are as common as billboards in America -- and as active as LED bee hives.
Photo below is a shot from my room in Shanghai about a week ago...it doesn't capture a fraction of what your eyes see from the clogged freeways. China is 13 hours ahead of us - so its tomorrow there when it is still today here. confused yet?
In 30 years I have seen China's roads transform from a frenzy of bicycles in 1982 when I was a young 32 year old international attorney to a frenzy of cars
An apartment in the inner city of 300 s.f. costs $3 million U.S. (Oddly enough its cheaper to rent it, for as little as $1,000 a month!). Those apartments outside the third road ring around the city cost $1 million for a 300 s.f. apartment. You can get cheaper but you have to move to a city far away and ride the bullet train to work.
After two trips for the Fortune 500 in 1982 I went back to China in 1984 as an entrepreneur - then haven't been back until just this year, 2012. 
I found a transformed nation, a country already stuffed with cars that jam streets everywhere we went. I also found technology now surpassing our own in critical areas, like high speed rail. In 1982 they didn't even have high speed bicycles. Now the country is awash in cranes and construction, while hundreds of thousands of American bridges are like the I-10 bridge at Lake Charles - 70 years old, so shaky the light bulbs break from the vibration. They only allow two lanes of the four lane structure to be open. Do you want to be on it when it collapses like the one did in Minnesota on I-35? Yet Congress fails to invest.
China is now the largest car market in the world. It will add another 170 million MORE cars the next 5 years, even at $6 gallon for gas which is what I found out on this trip that they pay now.
Anyone believing in "$2 gas" is listening to someone passing a lot of gas - any "surplus" gas will be consumed by this growing nation of 1.4 BILLION people, along with India, Brazil, even Saudi Arabia consuming entirely its own national production in this declining resource.  
If we don't take this opportunity to develop electric cars running on wind and solar etc by the time it becomes $10 gas alot of us could be walking when the oil and gas do run out.  
P.S. it will only take another 200 million years to make more oil when its gone.
  We have to know, globally, what is going on to win in a GLOBAL ECONOMY, stupid.  Despite the Internet, I could not access Facebook in China, or Blogger. Or even my Go Daddy email account. Only yahoo and Gmail worked. Yet I could get the Houston Chronicle and my reading list of 20 some newspapers online.
You can have your fantasies but global money and power is based on strategic investment and results, not voodoo economics. Want to fly with a pilot who has never done it before?
Photo Above: Tiananmen Square, Beijing 2012. Compare that blur of 20 lanes of traffic behind Michael Fjetland (sorry, the light had faded by the time we got there) to the following photo.

BELOW Photo: The empty of cars Tiananmen Square in Beijing China that Michael found in 1982 as a young Fortune 500 legal negotiator) (Below right), Notice on the left another 2012 shot of logged traffic shot.

 
Note: EVERY road in China is a TOLL Road.
During my first mission 30 years ago, I found a poor China where everyone made $30 month and wore a blue suit.
Thirty years later that China caterpillar  has become a butterfly. a rich, high tech manufacturing country of 1.4 billion people dressed in the latest fashions. Its population outnumbers the total population of the United States by 1 billion people. It has a Great Wall and a 5,000 year old cultural history.
 Above Photo: Chinese we met in a Starbucks in Shanghai last week...a lot like us.
Bullet trains blew past our bus crawling along the freeways. I rode the fastest train in the world, a Maglev, at 265 mph that runs from a Shanghai suburb to its airport. We have nothing like it in the United States. Why not? Why doesn't the USA have the fastest train in the world? And the best healthcare, etc?
Here is a link to a 7 minute video of what its like going 265 miles per hour, so smooth water would not jiggle in a glass of water...(Click "back" to return)
Photo Above: China's MAGLEV, fastest train in the world - Hovers on magnets. China also has Bullet Trains which passed our slow bus...
China has trillions in cash reserves and is heavily invested in U.S. debt.  
They have pursued solar and wind technology and production - enough to drive even American companies out of business, while our Congress under-cuts the key investments we need to wind this global economic face off that determines who is really the No. 1 superpower in the 21st century.
China is run by a few old men at the top who can do whatever they choose can make investments in infrastructure like members of a corporate board meeting. They can buy aircraft carriers even though they don't have the aircraft or pilots that can land on them. 
But they can't guarantee that the common person's yearning for a vote will never blew up in their face, especially if their economy dives after 8-10% yearly growth rates of the past 30 years.
The Chinese could be our best friends or worst enemies in the coming years -- depending on how our government handles them, or mishandle them, in the future.  
The trick is how to outplay them in the global chess game. I have spent time negotiating across from the Chinese starting 30 years ago.  
do you know anyone else with that insight? Does Rush Limbaugh have that personal insight? He hasn't a clue, because he's never done that. 
Does Glenn Beck have that personal insight? He's never done that either, so Glenn Beck hasn't a clue
None (that I know of) of the "Talking Heads" on TV have dealt with economies worldwide in as much depth, in the real world - starting with the Fortune 500 but also doing and seeing it as the little guy with barely enough money to make his '84 trip as an entrepreneur to China...
How does America win with China in the 21st century? How does America deal with the Middle East to avoid another war and revive our role as the No. 1 superpower in brains and technology?
And most important! In election 2012:
WHICH President would help America succeed in dealing with China and our high stakes relationship?  
I have a recommendation. You think that someone who has been doing high stake negotiations in the Middle East, China, South America, Europe etc MIGHT have some helpful skills in making that call? LOL
  Answer and Details coming before Nov. 6 at Global American Values blog..http://globalamericanvalues.blogspot.com/
If you don't want to miss it, click "Subsribe" or "Follow" at the link
China is the key to our future - good or bad. Few have been there starting 30 years ago. I have.  
I am willing to share that experience and knowledge if you want that insight in making one of the most important decisions the American public in Election 2012, which will impact us for decades yet to come.
  Michael Fjetland....
ebook of experiences, chapter titles "Toto, This Sure Ain't Kansas" etc
 : "Better Times Ahead: April Fool?"
Final Chapter (Free on website) "Agenda for American Greatness"