I Love Sports More than Money – Honest!

The use of performance enhancing drugs by athletes is not news.  The Associated Press thinks otherwise.  I know this because they keep providing stories revealing the latest users.  They are not telling us something most people don’t already know.  The really sad fact is that large numbers of people are still attending sports events.  They support and even honor people who are known drug users.  In Los Angeles, Manny Ramirez is idolized as like a rock star despite the repeated revelations about his drug use.    

Public support for athletics knows no bounds.  Next to the main front section of every newspaper the sports section is the largest part.  In school system, both public and private, literature and art might be eliminated due to budget issues but never sports. 

The privately owned sports teams are in this business for the money.  It’s the money the teams earn and the players on those teams.  Thinking they are playing for the glory and exultation is naive.

OK, you will say sports are healthy.  Are they healthy if the players are taking drugs?

Here is a list of Last year’s Earnings of sports successes as listed by Forbes magazine.  I hope not all of them are on drugs.

 

 

1. Tiger Woods	$100	million
2. Kobe Bryant	$45	million
2. Michael Jordan	$45	million
2. Kimi Raikkonen	$45	million
5. David Beckham	$42	million
6. LeBron James	$40	million
6. Phil Mickelson	$40	million
6. Manny Pacquiao	$40	million
9. Valentino Rossi	$35	million
10. Dale Earnhardt Jr.	$34	million
11. Roger Federer	$33	million
11. Shaquille O’Nea	$33	million
13. Oscar de la Hoya	$32	million
13. Alex Rodriguez	$32	million
13. Lewis Hamilton	$32	million
16. Vijay Singh	$31	million
17. Kevin Garnett	$30	million
17. Jeff Gordon	$30	million
17. Derek Jeter	$30	million
17. Ronaldinho	$30	million

Freedom of Speech

In the United States we have the right to call people names.  That includes calling the president of the United States a name.  Fox News Channel commentator Glenn Beck said he believes President Barack Obama is a racist.  He went on to say Obama has “a deep-seated hatred for white people or the white culture.”

 

The president’s mother was white.  His white grandparents from Kansas were primary in his upbringing.  They were the people who gave him the direction that ultimately helped him to excel in college.  It’s not likely that he would hate white people.

   

I am so very white but I did not know there is a white culture in America.  Is a white culture a religious thing or is it an ancestral thing?  My grandparents came from Eastern Europe and I was born in Canada.  What culture would that be?

 

Not to worry, the item titled “Fox’s Glenn Beck: President Obama is a racist” was under the heading Entertainment News.  Glenn Beck will say almost anything to get attention.  Beck’s hatred for white people or the white culture remark sounds racist to me.  We do protect freedom of speech in America. 

High Surf In Southern California

Waves of warm water have entered Southern California from the South Pacific.  A surfer was killed in Newport Beach when a very high wave slammed him against the rocks.  That beach is south facing and is more inclined to experience the higher waves.  Western facing beaches have had waves that are somewhat smaller but are still quite significant.  This situation has brought many surf board riders to many beaches.  Malibu Beach is western facing but it is the closest to my home. The drive is about 17 miles.  The surfers were everywhere.   The colors were enhanced using Photoshop.  Some shading did not work out as I had expected. 

Swine Flu Panic

Mexico calmly addressed the issue of a spreading disease with actions that would have had American businesses and the Republicans in a state of fury.  Mexico had essentially shut down their most major city to contain the disease.  Can you imagine telling everyone in New York, Los Angeles, or Chicago to stay home?  There are over 22 million people living in the Mexico City metropolitan area making it is one of the largest cities in the world.  Depending on the area included that would be even larger than metropolitan New York.

 

This past week we all read that trials on Swine Flu vaccines would be starting very shortly throughout the United States.  Strangely we then read that there is the possibility that 40% of the American population could become ill from this disease.  Today European nations are on a fast track to start the use of the new vaccine as early as next month despite possible side effects.

 

The CDC (Center for Disease Control) reported that of 21,449 cases that the number of deaths has nearly doubled to 87.  That is a small number when you consider that thousands of people die each year from flu.  CDC reports that annual flu deaths (excluding Swine Flu) average 36,000 have been challenged but clearly annual deaths from various flu strains is in the thousands.

 

So why the panic?  It is not clear to me that the accelerated and possibly dangerous vaccination process is the right thing to do.

A Visit to Santa Monica Pier

We Need A Real Health Plan

Kathleen Sebelius, secretary of Health and Human Services, was not prepared for her appearance on Meet the Press yesterday.  David Gregory ate her alive.  David used the interview techniques that proved so valuable to his predecessor, Tim Russert.  He simply used her own words in questioning the administration’s plan for health care.

 

President Obama’s objectives were repeated by Mrs. Sebelius in an NPR interview.  She did not disavow those goals. 

 

1. lower costs
2. cover all Americans
3. drive quality
4. and be paid for (without impacting the federal budget)

She was unable to explain where there are any consequential savings in the Obama health plan.  Then she went on to admit that coverage for all Americans isn’t a priority but it is one “of the goals.”  As to quality of care she admits there will be limits but argued, fairly well, that limits exist now in currently available insurance plans.  Finally Mrs. Sebelius told viewers that the president has not taken a position on taxing the wealthy to pay for the federally sponsored plan.  He has not offered any ideas on how to pay for his plan.

 

All in all, the secretary’s appearance gave me no assurance that any part of this plan has been well researched.  I agree with those that say health care should be available to everyone just like police and fire department services.  The problem is that 85% of the population has health insurance through their employers.  The second problem is the current cost is too high.

 

If all of the above goals are equally important congress will have to devise an alternate plan.  Mrs. Sebelius confirmed that the cost of health care has reached 16% of GDP.  That should be enough of a motivator to make this happen.

Walter Cronkite

The legendary CBS News Correspondent Walter Cronkite lived in everyone’s living room every weekday night.  He told us everything we needed to know about the world.  From D Day to JFK’s assassination, to landing on the moon, and the Vietnam War; he told us the way it was.  We all trusted his reporting.  He will be remembered as the total embodiment of the best news reporter that could exist in the 20^th century.  I will never forget Walter Cronkite.

Buy and Hope

I heard this expression just the other day.  It describes the behavior suggested by many stock brokers to their clients.  They frequently tell their clients that they shouldn’t panic just because the market has experienced a significant drop.  Their reassurance is that the long term market averages are high.

 

What’s wrong with this strategy?  The S&P 500 was at 1282.71 on July 1, 1999.  It’s been a roller coaster ride ever since.  So if you were 55 years old back then and your broker said stick with your plan and you will be far better off in 2009, you just might hate that broker.

 

The problem is most people don’t want to take responsibility for their own future.  The brokers did not know what would happen but they did know that a loss of clients would not be good for their bottom line.  So the “buy and hold” idea was born.  It really was a “buy and hope” plan.  If you didn’t learn anything from the tech bubble of 2000 then maybe you deserve this result.

 

My philosophy is trust no broker.  Research every buy before it is completed. Watch your stocks and bonds carefully.  Do not follow the crowd thinking about what constitutes a “bear market.”  It’s your money and you cannot re-save it easily.  If you have the suspicion the market is heading down; sell while the market is high.  Put those sold dollars into a savings account and re-buy when you are convinced the market is near it’s bottom.  You may not time it precisely but you can most certainly do at least as well as the brokers.

 

At least once a year UCLA Anderson Business and the Los Angeles Economic Development Corporation provide their forecasts for Southern California.  Those mainstream predictions never provide any worth while insights on things that could significantly impact business in either a positive or negative way.  They may be great for economic students to develop their skills but have no useful purpose.   

 

The guests appearing on CNBC and Fox Business Channel are all qualified individuals but their take on the current situation or their forecasts are too vague in detail.  They might be valid but how many of us will do the homework on those individuals?  I listen in to learn about the economist who did not follow the pack.

 

As to our federal government financial leaders, well look at the recession we are now experiencing.  Where was Henry Paulson, Ben Bernanke, Larry Summers, or Timothy  Geithner?  None were visible until after the economic collapse.

     

I am listening and watching for the individuals who do not run with the herd.  That has brought me to Nouriel Roubini, an economics professor at New York University, who stood before an audience of economists, in 2006, at the International Monetary Fund and announced that a crisis was brewing.  It was reported in the New York Times Magazine in August of 2008.  The article is titled Dr. Doom.  Nouriel Roubini has predicted that the recession will be over this year. Correction: Roubini says at the end of the year.

 

Of course this was unknown to me and even if I was a subscriber of the New York Times would I have understood the significance of the presentation?  Probably not.

 

My solution?  You can’t read too much.

FYI

Just thought I would answer the question, what has the author of this web site written that has attracted the most attention?  Of the six most read articles posted to this BLOG, I wrote five. The sixth was written by another person.  Listed in order of number of views they are:

Why are most Mexicans in Mexico so poor?

The Countdown to January 20, 2013

An Israeli Beauty – Reason Enough to Send Help

A Tired Old Man For President

English Should be the Official Language of the United States

The First Hispanic Supreme Court Justice

The United States Does Not Provide the Best Medical Care

When I grew up in the United States I was taught that this country is the greatest in the world. Furthermore the rest of the world was far behind the United States in every way from technology to literacy to whatever.  I soon understood that the teachers were either misinformed or were intentionally misinforming the students.  You see up until the age of nine my family visited their home town, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada every summer.  That city looked like most cities in the United States (i.e. street cars, tall buildings, telephones, radio, etc.).

The teacher in my 4^th and 5^th grade classes told us that Winnipeg still had farmers bring in their crops in horse drawn wagons.  I tried, in vain, to correct this ridiculous image.  I realized that the students were probably being given incorrect information about many other things.  It was my first understanding that teachers were not infallible.  When my own mother became a teacher, as I entered college, I knew my earlier suspicions had been confirmed.

Now I find that another “fact” about the United States is called into question.  Conservative talk radio show hosts keep telling us that we have the best health care in the world.  The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) of the United States government has a web site that provides mortality table for every country in the world.  Our country is in 50^th place out of a total of 224.  Macau is in first place and Japan is in 3^rd.  Canada is in 8^th place.  Isn’t Canada the country most criticized for its “socialized” medicine?  Oh yes, that’s the country that still uses horse drawn wagons to bring their crops into the towns to sell at markets.

Oh, wait minute those CIA figures are all estimates.  President Obama has probably influenced the results of that survey.  The problem is that every other web site places the United States well below Canada and below many other countries in 36^th to 50^th place.

The reality is that 45 million Americans are not covered by any health plan.  Arguments that no one is turned away from an emergency room, does not mean they are covered by a plan.  No plan means that you only go to the doctor when it is an emergency.  The consequence is the individual pays the full fee for every visit and those visits are more likely than not to an ER.   

Have you gone to an ER when you are covered by a plan?  My daughter had chest pains that lasted for half a day.  She thought she was having a heart attack.  She has Blue Cross medical insurance.  It’s a plan that requires her to pay 100% of the first $3,500 of annual medical fees.  Her cost for that visit was over $1,100.00.  If you do not have any insurance plan the ER will charge you an even higher rate and payment is due immediately.

Do I support abandoning our employer provided insurance system? NO!  The objective is to provide coverage for every American.  That probably means some type of Medicaid system.  How will that be accomplished without destroying the employer based system?  That’s the trillion dollar question.