Daniel Lubetzky

Jon Stewart’s interview of Jim Cramer earlier tonight was a stunning indictment of the financial sector, the insider chicaneries of Wall Street, the complicity of financial networks like CNBC, and the overall sad state of affairs of corporate America.  See art.

It is scary that the best reporting out there comes from a comedy show, while regular networks and publications have effectively sold out to corporate sponsors.  One starts sounding like a conspiracy theorist or left wing radical, but when you listen to this stuff, it confirms some of the scarier theories!  Just like you are not paranoid if you really are being followed, so too is the case that you are not wrong to suspect Wall Street’s transparency and integrity and to assume insiders are rigging it against ordinary investors.

Here are a couple of samples of good reporting:

James F. Smith of the Boston Globe just did a story about a OneVoice Tour through New England that captured the essence of OneVoice rather well.  It also highlighted the importance of keeping the message and movement alive, now more than ever.

Roi Assaf of OneVoice Israel (left) and Nisreen Abdallah of OneVoice Palestine spoke this week at Harvard Divinity School, the first of several stops on a tour of New England schools. (Pat Greenhouse/Globe Staff)

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His face is so calm
Full of love and tranquility
How blessed we are
to have warm shelter and peace for him.

How hard and how painful
for the millions upon millions
who lack peace, or water or heat,
who may not have bread or milk to give their children.

How hard and how painful
for the parents who’d lose a baby to a missile
or the babies who’d lose a parent to a bomb
and the nations who’d lose their innocence along the way.

That juxtaposition gives me anxiety:
the peaceful nap of our little baby
against the horrors and hatred brewing around our world,
whether a few blocks up, or 7,000 miles away.

For my baby’s peace cannot be guaranteed
his Spring cannot be counted upon
so long as babies anywhere else in our globe
are suffering, being targeted or killed.

It is for our baby here
that peace must be waged there.

War and horror tend to shake us out of complacency, to force us all to confront ugly realities and say what needs to be said, poignantly, once and for all, even if it is not pretty and requires nuance in an otherwise partisan puddle.

And so The New York Times writers who have been following the Hamas-Israel war seem to have been at their best this weekend, when they poignantly summarized three core themes that are required understanding for those who truly wish to end the conflict:

• Take-away from Ethan Bronner (full article below): Partisan Absolutism will only protract the conflict; for far too long each side has been speaking past each other and does not even understand the meaning of the words from the other side, let alone what historical sacrifices it will take if they want to resolve this conflict and build a future based on co-existence and respect rather than on denial of the humanity of the other side; if each side continues to believe itself the absolute victim and the other side the absolute perpetrator, we will be condemned to eternal war.
• Take-away from Tom Friedman (full column below): Time is really running out for a two-state solution; all parties must be brought to the table for negotiations that will bring about a solution, lest militants from Hamas and militant settlers permanently destroy the prospects for peace.  And we are not far off from getting there.
• Take-away from Scott Atran and Jeremy Ginges (full opinion piece below): it is not just about the substance of what the solution will look like but about the dignity with which the negotiations are approached; the existentialist fears and existentialist rights of the Israelis and the honor and suffering of (and injustice towards) the Palestinians need to be acknowledged by each other if a peaceful solution is ever to be agreed upon.

For OneVoice, too, time is running out.  The Movement was born to propel a resolution of the conflict, not to manage it or endure it with niceties.  We should be bold about the final efforts to make an impact, and either succeed or fail for trying, but not fail because time ran out and we did not try hard enough for fear that we’d fail.

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I was very proud to support Obama’s Presidential campaign from the primaries all the way to his historic victory.

And like most of the nation and the world, I have high hopes for his leadership and administration.

It is from this vantage point that I am so enormously turned off by all the emails I keep getting from the Obama "campaign" asking me for more money!  What are they going to do with this money? 

I am sure I am not the only one getting these emails.  So many Americans are struggling to make ends meet during the recession and the Obama campaign is still asking them for more money?! After having exponentially surpassed all fund-raising records?

Isn’t there some financial-demagogic addiction going on here? I am sure it’s not Obama himself, but whoever ran the fundraising racket must still be getting some percentage points and is so inebriated with how much the campaign raised that he or she may want to stop.  Did they not get the memo?  The election is over.  Their guy won! It’s time to move on.

This aggressive fundraiser is relentless and resorts to the cheapest steps to continue.  You want to attend the inauguration? Send us $500.  You want to attend a ball? Send us $1,000.  You want to enter a drawing to see if you get tickets? Send us $25.  And buy all your commemorative materials today from us.  An Obama hat for $15, a sweat-shirt for $35 or a commemorative Obama plate made in China.

This is turning Obama the historical transformative figure into Obama the QVC late-night cheesy infomercial money-machine.

There is too much at stake.  Our world desperately needs real leadership.  Hope someone in the Obama team realizes it is high time to be a little dignified.

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Here is just one of a couple dozen emails I have received over the last month:

Dear Friend,

Over the next five days, hundreds of thousands of people will be coming to Washington, D.C. to celebrate this historic inauguration.
Once they arrive, our small supply of official Inaugural collectibles and memorabilia is going to go fast.
This is your last chance to secure your piece of history while items are guaranteed in stock.
Visit the official Inaugural Store today and get commemorative merchandise to celebrate the historic Inauguration of President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden.
Don’t miss your chance to get official collectibles bearing the Inaugural Seal, clothing and accessories from the Runway to Change line, or special Inaugural pieces by graphic artist Shepard Fairey.
These are limited edition items produced in small quantities — and as visitors begin to arrive in Washington, D.C. demand will grow rapidly.
Visit the official online Inaugural Store today:
http://www.pic2009.org/limitedsupply
Commemorate this once in a generation event with your own piece of history.
Thank you,
The Presidential Inaugural Committee

This gripping article from Michael Lewis (Liars’ Poker) and David Einhorn is a must-read:

THE END OF THE FINANCIAL WORLD AS WE KNOW IT

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Here is another good article on the misaligned incentives that came about when Wall Street went public.

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Something I’ve noticed this year about the irony of American Exceptionalism: Those who trumpet it most have it least.

American exceptionalism is about being a nation rooted not in shared backgrounds but in shared values: freedom, democracy, the rule of law, equality for all. We thrive because we recognize our diversity as a strength, and respect to each other as an imperative.

It is ironic that many who proclaim American Exceptionalism as their badge of honor tend to use it to foment divisions.

I have always admired Goldman Sachs as the smartest of the smart, as "the" Investment Banking firm.  When I haven’t gotten a chance to catch up with emails and reports, and I go back and notice "forecasts" and predictions from columnists or analysts, I love taking a look at how accurate they were.

From a report a friend of a friend shared from Goldman’s predictions late this spring/early summer, sent to prospective clients, a small sample:

We expect core inflation to be contained in a range of 2.5-3.0%.

[Instead we are witnessing deflation]

We expect that the Fed will continue easing in 2008 with the Fed Funds rate ultimately settling at 1.25% to 1.75%.

We anticipate 10-Year Treasury yields to range between 3.5-4.0% for 2008.

[We wish]

And the kicker:

Our central case scenarios for 2008 call for operating earnings of $75, respectively, and reported earnings $67. These estimates result in an S&P 500 price target of 1475-1540 for 2008 year end.

They also provided a "Bad case" scenario, where the S&P would end in 2008 at "1200." That was their bad case scenario.  Well, we are still a few weeks away from year-end, but so far it’s tanked far below, at 896 AFTER a nice rally (it hit a low of 752 on Nov 21).  Their "positive case" was S&P 500 hitting 1600.

So much for my thinking at least Goldman knows what’s going on.