If you give a group of individuals 20 years to fix a problem and still unable to do so, what do you do?

This morning VOANews reports the Ethiopian Government is asking – for yet another food aid to feed 2.8million people.

We have been through several ‘5 year’ transformational plans – to no effect.

How about giving another group of individuals a crack at the problem? And doing it peacefully.

Republicans for Hillary

The Republicans can’t wait to go head to head with Hillary, as Romney said in the last debate. She probably be the only thing going for GOP to unite them, energize them around whoever will be their nominee.

It is amazing to hear Republican surrogates (talking heads) on TV supporting Bill Clinton of his recent rhetoric of attempting to cast Mr. Obama as a Blank Candidate – as suppose to a Democratic candidate, an inexperienced candidate although Mr. Obama is older than Mr. Clinton was when he was running for President back in ’92.

The Clintons and Republicans are on the same front; Republicans to get a uniting, energizing Democratic candidate, and for the Clintons a chance to grace the White House again.

I doubt that Obama stands a chance but then again, I didn’t think he would get this far either.

IMF and World Bank

Here is a radical idea…would the world be a better place without IMF and World Bank? Next to oil, are IMF and World Bank dictator saviours?

No clear answer to it, I suppose.

I’m of the position that, it is good to help, but in most cases, tough love is better, and more effective. Accountability, transparency is quite critical.

The kind of system that forces leaders (in order to keep their jobs) to perform and change peoples’ lives for the better, not buy more guns to silence their adversaries is what’s needed or something close to the cure of poverty . This is no brainer. But then again, that is what we’re suffering from.

Are IMF and World Bank in bed with the world’s dictators?

Let’s pray for democracy (as an end, not a means), performance based system, transparency, accountability.

Kicked out

I love bookstores. When I was back home in the states, I used to spend hours and hours in ’em. Earlier today, I was at schmitt and <forgot the other name> bookstore at the central train station here in Frankfurt, Germany. I was reading Fortune standing up by the exit area. I have been there for probably 20 minutes or so. Someone came and politely said something in Germany. I told the dude I don’t speak it. Then he said, ‘you have been here for too long’. I couldn’t believe it. I put the magazine back on the rack, said thank you and left.

I bought three books in this damn place. I will never go back again.

Some customer service it was.

Back to Europe

I was in Ethiopia for a few days, and shocked to hear how prices have gotten so very expensive. Teff, which is basic food most Ethiopians consume is over 5ETB per kilo (from 2 or 3ETB not long ago); Berbere is over 4ETB per kilo (from 1ETB), and goes on like that.

I don’t know how people are surviving. For someone who makes 500ETB per month, how is it possible to spend 20 or 30ETB per day just on food and still be able to live. It is just with God’s grace that people are managing in a such tough circumstance.

Online is the future

Shared networks, Internet, being online is definetly the future. No more going to the video storeor sign up for netflix or one of those mail order type companies to send you movies. Couple of clicks while being online on high speed network will get you all the stuff you need.

When I was back in the States, I don’t recall the last time I was at my bank to deposit or withdraw money. I do all that stuff online and been doing it for a long long time now. It is truely sweet!

In not so distant future, we all will be looking at some type of screens, small (PDAs, mostly Apple iphone 🙂 ), medium (laptops, desktops), and large (big screen LCDs TVs etc..) majority of our time in a day.

China the menace?

People’s Daily Online: “Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki met visiting Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing on Saturday and both voiced their readiness to further strengthen bilateral ties and China-Africa cooperation, according to sources from Asmara. ”

China, it seems to me, work with any administration, despite its records of repression, incompetence, and unjust cruelty, as long as it supports its policies and could be used to make a buck.

So China gets boat load of contracts to build roads, telecommunication networks, and a whole lot of other ventures that aren’t reported, and then turn around and do the same thing with Ethiopians arch enemy, the current Eritrean adminitration to do business, who knows, something that negates what they did and paid for in Ethiopia.

Ok, there were number of administartions, even US administrations that worked with unjust and repressive administrations. The thing that differs sparse US mistakes and the Chinese is that there isn’t much one can do to shame them. They are undemocratic.

I just don’t like governments that would give toys to dictators to lengthen their fetish grip on power. That just ain’t right. And just so shortsighted too.

Fleecing of the capital markets

Bob Nerdelli ,now former CEO of Home Depot, I read, got $220,000,000.00 for getting fired. What a deal!

And he has the nerve to tell us that the ‘board’ that granted him such a pay day as being, “… the most engaged board of any board in America.”

I see and read CEO’s making millions, per month, by selling options. And, they don’t even have to expense the cost. That wasn’t enough, some of them started backdating options so that they would get in when the stock was at the cheapest point. What a scandle! 

You know what all this shit is, legalized form of printing money.  Let’s say it, in the good ol’ U.S. of A public company CEOs are allowed to print money. They don’t even have to incure the printing cost, as the Fed would, they just take what has already been printed. What a bunch of thieves they are!

What a hassle!

This morning, I went to one of Deutsche Bank branches here in the Frankfurt area to open an account. Dude, a lady wearing glasses resembling bottom of a coke bottle, acting as nasty as she could get started interviewing me as if I was in a police station. I thought to myself, do I look like a drug dealer or something? Finally, I said, I don’t have to take this s*ht and walked out of there after depositing money into my attorney’s account. What a hassle!

Shameless Starbucks

TIME: ” U.K.-based charity Oxfam last week accused Seattle-based coffee giant Starbucks of blocking Ethiopian efforts to trademark three types of coffee beans in the U.S. Starbucks denies this, but the controversy continues to percolate.”