What Was that Bang? Ship Internet 40 cents/minute!

Second full day at sea. Unlike air travel, ship travel is a whole different experience. No ‘rush rush’ – you spend X number of days going at the same steady pace – about 18 knots (__ mph). No hair-raising take offs or landings – just slow rolls over the waves as we make progress like the tortoise.

In other words it’s perfect as a way to finally relax. You can’t hang on the Internet all day while at sea because the cheapest rate is 40 cents a minute (up to 75 cents/minute if you don’t choose a plan).

News takes on a different perspective from out in the water also. Today we got the CNN International channel, which is far superior to CNN domestic for providing news you never hear back in the USA (which is all the same!) There is also a Fox and a Denver local news channel – how weird that looks when you are hundreds of miles out in the Gulf of Mexico…

From out here the tax “deal” looks like the story about the boy who traded the family cow for a ‘magic bean.’ Only in this case the millionaires got the cow and the unemployed got a sterile bean that runs out a full year before the rich guys have to pony up – and the deficit just grew by another $800 billion. Where is the deficit reduction by either party in this deal? On CNN International today it was reported that Ireland will not only be cutting its budget to get help from Europe, but will also be RAISING taxes to meet fiscal reality. Is there any such fiscal reality in the USA?

We are living the reverse of JFK’s famous moon speech, saying “We must do these things not because they are easy but because they are hard.” Now, our leaders “avoid things because they are hard, and do only if they are EASY, even if that means more ‘voodoo economics’ that puts us even more in the hole.

The message is clear from the new Congress. We continue to ‘borrow-and-spend’ to give millionaires at the top 2% another $700 billion paid for by the other 98% -- which is worse than ‘tax and spend’ because you then OWE the money. We continue to pass the debt to our own kids and grandkids. At least with tax and spend the budget is paid for. Our leaders continue avoid doing what is right because it is hard. No one wants to eat their vegetables, only the cake and ice cream.

Next stop – Nassau. I’ve been in over 50 countries but have never been to Nassau, Freeport or even Key West. I once spent about two or three hours on Eluthera Island, Bahamas – back in the late 70’s I was a young, newly-hired attorney for Brown & Root. One day the General Counsel gave me a thick contract and told me one of their small private jets would fly me and the contract to a place I had never seen before – the Bahamas -- for signature from Mrs. R.E. “Bob” Smith. It was for the sale of something like 20,000 acres, which became the B&R west side operation. It was the first and only time I met the widow of the famous Houston typhoon R.E. “Bob” Smith, who was already deceased at that time. Only she and a man were present when I arrived on their large yacht. She quickly let me know that the hull “had been imported from England.”

I remember at the time she laughed as she signed the sales contract, saying “Oh, Mr so-and-so will really be mad when he finds out.” I didn’t know if Mr. so-and-so was. My guess it was another advisor but who knows. I was a young kid, my mission was accomplished. We had lunch of “conch” (my Iowa farm boy’s first experience with seafood) and we flew back to Houston the same day. The entire time on the ground was not more than three hours. I was just the messenger but what an experience.

Later, they (B&R) wanted to put me as contract attorney on a naval base they were building at the time for the Shah of Iran –just before Khomeini’s revolution swept out the Shah -- and all the Brown & Root construction workers working on that naval base on the Persian Gulf (not long before Saddam’s war with Iran). What happened next is in the book I’m finishing.

It’s based in part on old travel journals I wrote while I was in places like Nicaragua just before President Reagan and the Contra revolution. I did the same when I was sent on missions for Fortune 500 business to early China, India, Pakistan, etc. -- before all the big changes occurred. I am one of the few who have seen first-hand what these countries were like when they had nothing, and how they have changed –and how that will impact our own future in the years ahead.

I stayed at the Oberoi and Taj Mahal hotels in (then) Bombay, now Mumbai, India – before they were targeted in a terrorist attack in 2007 -- that attack came out of next-door Pakistan, where I spent time in port city Karachi (HOT as hell, like Houston) –where four American workers were shot some years later and Al Qaida hangs out today -- and capital city Islamabad in the mountainous middle. And like many Americans today, I was laid off and faced years of unemployment for being “overqualified.” That experience lead me to a prosperous career today, but only after discovering that sometimes the only way to get a job is to create a job for yourself.

All of these changes in the world around us will impact Americans’ future and America’s future…

In coming years America will need 120 million high tech jobs but only 50 million American workers will have the skills needed to fill them. Because our education system is failing, those jobs will have to go to foreign workers until and unless we upgrade our education system. But today Texas ranks 49^th out of 50 in the percentage of our citizens getting a high school degree – not to mention a college or post-grad degree required for these future jobs! And we are CUTTING funding for education. What does that bode for our future in a space-age 21^st century?

Most Americans haven’t traveled enough to personally see the great changes happening around us. Therefore they assume we are still in the “cat-bird’s seat.” They have no idea that we are losing ground unless we change our ways and our priorities. Asian kids are studying harder than our kids. European kids get more language training then our kids – which is an advantage in a global economy. Mexico is losing its war with the narco-terrorists. It is the linchpin for not just drugs but human trafficking into America.

My book will share the insight of “having been there/done that” globally with the American public -- so the public knows the truth about what is really going on in the world and how we can stay competitive in it -- instead of what Americans are being told by a Congress in which over half of the members do not even possess Passports!

Not having a passport means that they have never been outside our country. That means their experience with the world is zero –and I can tell you that all the books I read about China before I went was nothing like the China I found when I got there. Nor is it the same China today. Having leaders that don’t know the world we are competing with leads to “the blind trying to lead the blind” about the countries they are making decisions about! While China builds 300 mph trains systems we can’t even built a tunnel between New Jersey and New York to alleviate the traffic between the two cities.

Would you feel comfortable flying with a pilot to a place where he had never been to –like the Alaskan bush? Would you choose an African safari guide who was brought in from New York or L.A. and had never before experienced the bush? (Hint: You can, but the results will not be pretty).

So why would you pick a Congressional representative -- or President -- who had never been to Europe or Asia, the Middle East or South America --yet they think they have the global skills and knowledge necessary to represent the American people in the high tech global economy we are part of? Party political slogans don’t mean a thing when negotiating with the real world.

“Seeing Russia from Alaska” is nothing like having been there working business deals in Russia, (China, India, etc.) I can tell you that. As a celebrity or President you don’t see the “real” country, only what they want you to see. You never really get to know the people or how the country works. In India, we had to negotiate twice – once with the company we wanted to do business with (they were buying our pollution control equipment), and a second time with the government who had to approve the deal. I heard about companies whose legal counsel left nothing to negotiate with the government –so they never got their deal done. The smart negotiator left something on the table to give up at the Ministry so that they could show they had “done their job.” The people who really know the truth are the business people who have to negotiate deals in these countries – and experience their laws, customs, etc.

We went into the Iraq war not knowing the difference between Muslim Sunni’s and Shiites. We had forgotten that Iraq was part of the U.S. policy in the Reagan years as a counterweight for Iran, which kept it from being able to pursue a nuclear program. How many Americans know that during the Reagan years, the U.S. supplied Saddam with military know-how including satellite images of Iran?

Not knowing the differences, like how much the anti-religious Saddam and the overly-religious Osama bin laden hated each other, lead to a lot of mistakes on our part that got a lot of people being killed. Toppling Saddam, who had no WMD’s – gave Iran the freedom to pursue its nuclear weapons program once the U.S. had eliminated Iraq as a counterweight. Yet under Saddam, Christians in Iraq were protected and had been since the first days.

Now, since the Iraq War begin in 2003, few Christians remain in Iraq. Sunni’s and Shiites are killing each other and Christians too. Iraq’s new Prime Ministry Al Malaki is close to Iran and is removing professional intelligence officers and replacing them with political loyalists, undermining its intelligence and our future.

A few minutes ago the ship shuddered and I heard a bang of some kind, out in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico. Cuba is somewhere off the right side – not more than 50 miles away. What was that? We are still moving.

Stay tuned…

Our Third War: North Korea?

Will North Korea become our third war? Or is the recent shelling of South Korea, sinking of a South Korean warship and other hostile acts by North Korea meant to be something else?

A reading of North Korea’s history will make you dizzy. It’s a history of deals made and deals broken. At one moment, Pres. George W Bush called it part of the “axis of evil.” Then on June 26, 2008, following the D.P.R.K.'s submission of its nuclear declaration and progress on disablement, “President George W. Bush announced that the United States would no longer apply the Trading with the Enemy Act to North Korea. Additionally, on October 11, the Secretary of State rescinded the United States’ designation of North Korea as a state sponsor of terrorism.”

But then things change again. In May 2010, (under the Obama administration) the United States re-certified North Korea as “not cooperating fully” with U.S. counterterrorism efforts under Section 40A of the Arms Export and Control Act, as amended. “Pursuant to this certification, defense articles and services could not be sold or licensed for export to North Korea from October 1, 2009 to September 30, 2010.”

So, are we facing a war with a hostile Communist country that possesses nukes and missiles? If you look at a history of North Korea you will see that every few years North Korea has taken hostile action against South Korea, from trying to assassinate South Korean leader Park to the bombing of a South Korean airliner. This year a South Korean ship was torpedoed and, for the first time, a civilian target was shelled. It is part of a decades-old schizophrenic pattern of hostile actions coupled with shaking down the west for more food and fuel aid to stave off starvation of North Korea’s population.

I believe what we are seeing is this -- the process by which North Korea transfers power. When Kim Jung il took power from his father, it was accompanied by military aggression. Now Kim Jung il is dying. He has three sons. The oldest son lost favor when he tried to sneak into Japan with a fake passport to visit its Disneyland, the second son was considered “too effeminate,” so that left the third and youngest son – who went to school in Switzerland and, at age 26, looks like a baby-faced kid who hasn’t got a clue what to do.

So, strategically, igniting a conflict with the South is part of an intentional strategy by North Korea to generate loyalty of the North Korean military to Jung il’s third son, Jung un, so the country will “rally around” him. How far will it go?

Probably not too far, if they follow history, but that is a big “if.” North Korea has twice the number of troops as South Korea. Seoul, the capital of South Korea, is within 25 miles of the DMZ – within artillery range of North Korea. The city could be leveled just by North Korean artillery fire in one day.

But North Korea didn’t attack Seoul -- the artillery fire was directed at a small island only 7 miles off N. Korea’s coast. It is part of a border dispute – there isn’t much on the island but fishermen and S. Korean military.

The hope, of course, is to provoke a counter attack that would rally the downtrodden North Korean people to support its new leader-apparent, baby dictator-to-be Jung-un. These attacks have always been accompanied by a North Korean demand for more fuel and food. It’s a dangerous game in which the stakes keep rising as North Korea expands its missile and nuclear programs, while its economy remains on life support. (Nothing like a war, or threat of it, to take peoples’ minds off food shortages).

Solution? There may not be one. If Kim Jung il dies, his son could remain in power -- or be replaced by the military hardliners. If the North Korean people find out how much better off South Koreans live, it could collapse the military’s support, so don’t expect the military to want reunification or reconciliation. China is the only country with leverage over North Korea, but even they fear a collapse of North Korea would lead to mass migration of hungry North Koreans into China.

A third war? Let’s hope not. The one hope is that the oldest son, who disputes dad giving power to the youngest son, somehow wins out. A North Korean leader who likes Disneyland might be someone we can deal with!

If you want to see how North Korea looked to American tourists as recently as last August, check out my podcast interview with one of those tourists at www.GlobalAmerican.org (click on ‘favorite programs’ – it is at the top). It will also demonstrate what a schizophrenic country we are dealing with.

For the Good of America, Let ALL the Tax Cuts Expire

For the good of America, we the people should really let ALL the tax cuts that got us into this mess expire. Because the only other choice is cutting favorite programs from medicare to the Pentagon.

There is a role model - it was the first President Bush, as in George H.W. Bush. The Reagan cuts in the 80's (coupled with increased defense spending - the 'supply side economics' the first President Bush called 'voodoo economics') had savaged our budget and the deficits were soaring - just like today.

Bush did the right thing and let the rates go up. It cost him the election but it resulted in Pres. Clinton's balanced budget - the first one in decades. Clinton controlled spending and handed George W Bush a $200 billion surplus in 2000. Remember?

That $200+ billion surplus became an immediate $1.6 TRILLION deficit on the day the second Bush tax cuts were made in 2001. We have been in the hole since.

Let's face it - it is the citizens of this country who believed in voodoo economics that let us get into this hole. We added to it by starting two wars and for the first time in history didn't pay for either of them - and still aren't. Never in American history did we fight a war and not have a tax to pay for it.

So we taxpayers need to grow up and be mature and decide to let the rates rise (it's only 3% - nothing!) and avoid painful cuts, or insist on giving millionaires a tax cut that adds another $1 trillion to our total debt. How crazy is that?

And we should also have a "war tax" to finally pay the cost of being in Iraq and Afghanistan all these years. You don't have a free war. You don't have free health care.

Education is not free but it is the key to our future success. We are about to sabotage our own future success by cutting that too. Remember Rome? Careless acts on their part lead to their demise, just as the same will diminish our leadership in higher learning, technology, etc.

Time to make a mature decision, America. Time for voters to have more guts because our leaders won't do the right thing without public support. And its time for the public to stop believing in fairy tales and voodoo economics and do the right thing that makes our economic future sustainable.

It's our future that depends on letting these ill-advised cuts disappear, to return us to fiscal sanity and a better future. It’s time for Americans to do this, as JFK said, “not because it is easy, but because it is hard.” We wouldn’t be space pioneers today if it had been easy… We won’t be pioneers tomorrow if we don’t make the hard decisions today.

Michael Fjetland

Michael Fjetland

Global American Series

www.GlobalAmerican.org

How about a "Civil Party"? (it could be part of the Cocktail Party!).

The conversation should be about SOLUTIONS for America, based on real facts not the disrespect and lack of civility that seems to be the rage (as well as voodoo economics).

People are making up stuff and acting like the airline steward who screamed at his passengers, grabbed a couple beers and slid out the escape chute.

Let's start acting mature and having civil conversations about real SOLUTIONS for America's economy instead of the pseudo patriot stuff passing as intelligent conversation these days...(like suggesting you can cut the deficit and hand out tax breaks to the wealthy and not add another $1 trillion to our debt! Like waging two wars and still not paying for them. Like spending more on defense than the next 45 countries defense budgets COMBINED, and not consider it bloated. The math doesn't add up folks.

Even when the gov't drops its stake in GM from majority to minority, people bitch - even when it favors private control. I've had enough of the negativity and false facts masquerading as truth.

Now people are demanding security and yet screaming about the new body scanners even though the underwear bomber and shoe bomber eluded the old screening techniques. Logic and common sense have flown out the window - which doesn't bode well for our future if we make decisions bases on false facts, voodoo economics and gridlock in the midst of the biggest economic downturn in 70 years.

But we can't fix any of this without civility and leadership instead of political grandstanding when the economy is in the tank.

What say?

Today at 9 am hear about the Iranians and N Koreans who like Americans.

Today at 9 am hear about the Iranians and N Koreans who like Americans.

Hear what Iranians on the streets told American tourists in October -- they couldn't stand their own government!

On Global AMerican radio, Houston Business 1110 AM, steamed on www.Business1110KTEK.com and, if you miss it, Podcast 24/7 on www.GlobalAmerican.org (Click on 'Favorite Programs').

An American Who Went to North Korea and Iran in 2010 – And Lived to Tell

An American Who Went to North Korea and Iran in 2010 –
And Lived to Tell

Ever wonder how ordinary North Koreans and Iranians would treat an American they discovered in their own country? Couldn’t be good, right?

Would you be surprised to discover that American tourists have been to Iran THIS year – and were neither tossed into prison, water-boarded nor killed? And what about North Korea? Death? Prison for sure, right? Wrong, to my total surprise. I didn’t even know Americans were allowed into these two isolated countries.

This week on Global American radio I interview a retired insurance agent who was one of fewer than 200 Americans who have visited North Korea this year. Then in October he went to Iran! (Not Iraq). He found some big differences and some big surprises he didn’t expect. And he wasn’t thrown into prison or killed. How can that be?

You’ll be surprised what Iranians he met on the street told him about their government! How did ordinary Koreans and Iranians treat the Americans? And what about the odd ritual he and the other tourists had to agree to do to even be allowed into North Korea?

Listen in Saturday at 9 am Central time on Houston’s Business 1110 AM which is streamed on www.Business1110KTEK.com and carried as a podcast 24/7 on www.GlobalAmerican.org

North Korea and Iran each have huge potential to impact our future, yet we know almost nothing about them. One has nuclear weapons and one is close to having them. Both countries have missiles and are international outcasts. Both have faced sanctions for decades. Few people ever get to travel there. Three American hikers in Iraq were put in prison by Iran a year ago (one has been released). Bill Clinton recently secured the release of two journalists held in North Korea after they crossed the Chinese border.

So how can it be that ordinary Americans can show up in these countries and not face the same treatment?

Tune in Saturday and find out. Americans will be surprised by what they hear, especially about how Americans were treated in each country (and which one kept them away from normal people and which did not!).

Michael Fjetland
Global American Series
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/GlobalAmerican/
www.GlobalAmerican.org

The Rise of Extremism on Both Sides Doesn't Help Us Compete

The problem is that each party has swing to the extreme left and right - and the sensible moderates in the middle have lost out. Both Democrats and Republicans seem to foam at the mouth at the mention of "moderate."

That is what we have to get back because neither extreme has the answer. In fact each extreme is the problem. If neither Nancy Pelosi or John Boehner can talk to one another or hash things out over a dinner after work like Tip O'Neil and Reagan did, then how do we solve the problems that 80% of Americans want the two parties working on to solve?

I see the same extreme trend expanding beyond Islam and into Christian and Jewish (even Hindu) sects also - the unwillingness to talk to others different from them.

This extremism is nothing but trouble for all of us and our future. Our ship of state is in serious trouble and the refusal of both sides to work towards common ground bodes ill for America - we are playing in our own fishbowl.

We have to compete with a global, high tech world after digging ourselves into the deepest financial hole of our nation's history. We can't do it with politicians refusing to give an inch on either side.

How does refusing to enact an arms agreement with Russia help Americans? How do tax cuts that add to the deficit help bring it down, when the same cuts have only doubled our national debt in the last decade?

We need to find solutions and they will only be found by moderates on both sides working together to shut out the extremists who only want to throw Molotov cocktails, verbal or otherwise.