Showing posts with label trust. Show all posts
Showing posts with label trust. Show all posts

PostHeaderIcon Credibility: a big factor in economic recovery

11/04/2009 | Posted by mesiamd | Edit Post


When Pres. Barack Obama was elected in November last year, Americans and the entire world were quick to embrace a charismatic man with a promise. Expectation was matched by soaring rhetoric and media support that made the prudent among us watchful.

There were quick infusions of capital to rescue the ailing banks, the collapsed housing market, and bankrupt auto industry---- as if the United States could buy its way out to prosperity. Short-lived jubilation came from cash-strapped Americans who believe that government entitlements would solve their money problems. They banked on Pres. Barack Obama who they thought could bring the Harvard magic and his talents to the realities of their household. At their peril, Americans suddenly learned their expectations couldn't be met as painted before the election.

A chorus of approval to Obama’s “changes” later degenerated into public insecurity. Trillions of dollars had to be paid by taxpayers on recovery plans riddled with questionable provisions. Interest groups, political allies, and large companies were direct beneficiaries while the people waited for some windfall that was hard to come by.

For instance, healthcare budget, comprising 16% of the US economy, had ominously ballooned from below $900 billion dollars to an astronomical $1.2 trillion. Many were not happy because this was not what they expected in the onset. The public saw moves to make Americans accept a plan that is very costly---a debatable proposal with hidden and confusing strings attached.

A year into Obama’s presidency, despite hopeful indications that the economy is recovering, millions of Americans are still jobless, the highest ever in 26 years. Financial experts say the recession is going away, but they are quick to qualify that the the future is uncertain and life ahead will be choppy. It's as if they don't want to be blamed if something far worse happens.

Unemployment rate has climbed to 10%. This breaks the psychological confidence of those who believe in the competence of the administration. The budget deficit has gone to the roof, worrying USA’s domestic and international business-partners. How will America be able to pay those trillions of debts from foreign lenders without mortgaging the people's future?

Despite rosy reports of improvements in US manufacturing, consumer spending has been sluggish. This causes markets to lose confidence. Investors have become panicky as the Christmas season is coming. They know tepid business will only delay the financial rebound everybody is wishing for.

“There seems to be lots of uncertainty in the markets," said Peter Lai, investment manager at DBS Vickers in Hong Kong. "I'm very cautious about the U.S. economic figures. It will be very damaging to sentiment if the U.S. unemployment rate crosses 10 percent."

Hong Kong's Hang Seng led Asia's losses, falling 380.13, or 1.8 percent, to 21,240.06 while South Korea's Kospi was down 0.6 percent at 1,549.92. Japan's market was closed for a holiday.

Elsewhere, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 closed down 0.2 percent and Taiwan's market lost 0.2 percent. China's Shanghai index bucked the trend, gaining 1.2 percent to 3,114.23 with sentiment still boosted by a weekend report manufacturing expanded for an eighth straight month in October.

As trading got under way in Europe, Britain's FTSE 100 was off 1.3 percent, Germany's DAX lost 1.4 percent and France's CAC 40 fell 1.5 percent. Stock futures pointed to losses Tuesday on Wall Street. Dow futures were down 49, or 0.5 percent, at 9,686 and S&P Futures dropped 5.9, or 0.6 percent, to 1,033.20." ----Philstar.com (11/02/09)

Aside from the economic front, there is doubt in how Untied States is dealing with the nuclear issue of North Korea and Iran which use deceitful diplomacy to proliferate weapons of mass destruction. With little options, USA is forced to deal with these rogue nations.

Lately, Obama has accepted the reinstatement of Pres. Hamid Karzai, known to have won in a rigged election which left his chief rival withdrawing in protest. Afghanistan, the center of the 911 disaster, is experiencing a resurgence of Taliban activity. Bomb attacks, killing soldiers and civilians are on the rise.

Pres. Barack Obama is ambivalent on his foreign policy in spite of the tough fight US military men are facing lately. He can only promise more US servicemen for troubled Kabul, but their number will be short of the 40,000 top US commander Gen. Stanley McChrystal is asking for to stablize the militant Islamists' lair.

Like in Afghanistan, the Al Qaeda and Taliban threats in Iraq and Pakistan continue to boil with no certainty of how to solve the terrorism problem which brazenly kills scores of innocent victims. Car bombs and suicide bombers continue to bring death and destruction the civilized world finds hard to comprehend.

If Pres. Obama can’t reverse this credibility problem, it will be hard for him to accomplish his election promises. As the public starts to know his liberal and socially progressive agenda with little laudable result, his approval rating (especially among conservatives) has gone low alienating many of the voters who supported his election early on.

His ardent supporters like US ex-president Jimmy Carter blames Obama's floundering support on race--- an assertion that many don't believe. If it is because the president is black that is a problem, how come so many Americans gave him overwhelming mandate in his election?

Obama's style of governance is creating more political divisions that make a bipartisan cooperative work difficult. Many observe the president has the tendency to blame problems on others without facing them squarely. His assistants in Washington seem out of touch with the people they serve. In the meantime, some say the president has become scrawny and fast losing weight. =0=

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PostHeaderIcon Breach of trust in medical practice: perfume canister incident, MD’s sexual escapades & GMA's breast implant repair

7/15/2009 | Posted by mesiamd | Edit Post
A Sick Child Brought into the Temple of Aesculapius
Oil on canvas, c.1877 by John William Waterhouse (1849-1917)



We have learned a whole lot of errors in the medical profession. Once we read of the hideous perfume canister incident that was videotaped by doctors and nurses in Cebu to humiliate a suffering patient with a foreign body in his butt. Then we heard of that poorly trained plastic surgeon who brandished his bedtime sexual escapades with movie starlets in the You Tube, shocking the entire medical community. Now we have no less than the medical records of Pres. Gloria M. Arroyo (GMA) being pilfered and exposed by unauthorized personnel in the Asian Hospital.

All these are worrisome and paint a picture of an awful trend which tells that the privacy and ethics of the medical profession must be guarded and respected. Pres. Arroyo isn’t so popular, but there is no reason for anyone to break into her privacy. It is embarrassing to learn that in the Philippines, confidential data of the president’s health is easily laid bare by people who have nothing to do with her treatment.

If it were true that a certain Dr. Maria Niza Bermudez-Reyes, a resident trainee in OB-Gyn of Asian Center instructed three medical staff to access Arroyo’s records for reasons outside her line of duty, she violated professional confidentiality.

It could have been tempting and salacious for others like her to know if indeed, Arroyo had breast augmentation and implants decades ago. It could be a source of loose talk if they had them repaired in a hospital in Manila. Information like this could be leaked to make fun, humiliate, and extort money from anyone including the president.

But wherever the truth rests in this alleged violation of patient trust, a stronger safeguard to keep-out unqualified medical personnel must be done. Any wrong-doing must be meted with apt punishment. With the growing use of computers to keep medical records, one can imagine how fast data can travel on the wrong hands.

On the ethical and moral side, healthcare workers must be doubly conscious of the duty they have for those who seek their help and confidence. They have to remember, they too will one day be patients. (Photo Credit: www.mlahanas.de) =0=

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PostHeaderIcon World Bank opens a can of worms & Sen. Miriam D. Santiago investigates

2/13/2009 | Posted by mesiamd | Edit Post
Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago is hotly agitated by the World Bank (WB) scandal. The corruption charges by the international lending body implicate Jose Miguel Arroyo, the palace's “first gentleman” and husband of Pres. Gloria Arroyo. The accusations of unlawful transactions inflame the pompous side of the flighty woman-senator who acts like a straight and unbending arrow.

Santiago has displayed irritation over the non-appearance of WB representative Bert Hofman in the January 27, 2008 senate hearing in which he is expected to clarify the allegations against government officials, influence peddlers, and road contractors. With the characteristic loquacious bravado that the lady-lawmaker is known for, Santiago blared:

““Mr. Hofman must come here in person or else we will cite him for contempt. Let this cause trouble (between the WB and the Senate) that would even lead to the Supreme Court or even the International Court of Justice. This is good because we will be able to test who between the World Bank and the Filipinos are the kings here.” ----Philstar (02/13/09, Calica, A)

Sen. Santiago’s incendiary words don’t fail to befuddle observers who think her thunderous tirades are nothing but another episode of “entertainment” in the corruption-riddled government. She effectively distracts the public from the sordid corruption charge in the WB-funded projects which has been "institutionalized" for at least a decade. While she seems urgently intent to pursue truth and punish wrong-doers in her ranks, many believe all the fury will die down before anyone will ever be proven accountable. She focuses wrongly on the messenger of bad news---the WB, instead of the rapacious perpetrators of the crime.



From whichever angle people look at the Santiago, her demeanor is a source of both pride and dishonor. She poses as a feisty defender of truth ready to uphold the dignity of the nation, something rarely seen in the slow-mo senate. But there are those who question her truthfulness and motive. From past experience, it is unlikely her noisy declarations will ever amount to anything beyond the exercise of words. At a time when the world suspects how deeply the country is mired in dishonesty, Santiago won’t probably go farther than mere investigations.

Even as the controversy goes on, Finance secretary Margarito Teves is already banking on the WB to increase its lending to the Philippines to a tune of $1 billion for the next few years. Keeping a warlike stance (instead of being conciliatory) is distracting. Sen. Santiago brushes aside the reality that the foreign bank isn’t obligated to humor the Philippines so that it can enjoy the “honor” of granting loans to the country. As a government official representing the country, there are those who think she is rude and crude---a loose cannon who blames the foreign bank for its "incomplete" disclosure, effectively deflecting the issue from the real crime.

It is said the leads pointing to fraud in the WB-financed project biddings have been passed on to Filipino authorities as early as 2007, but it’s only now (after the lid of corruption was blown open) that they see the urgency of investigating. Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez has been criticized and threatened with dismissal for negligently sitting on the case.

The World Bank has already provided vital information to work on. Many wonder the aptness of the senate demanding more information from the foreign entity without the Philippines taking exhaustive effort to gather truth from its own backyard. As if to lamely cover up for glaring shortcomings and the embarrassments which go with incompetence and hypocrisy, Santiago’s blistering words have been set into play for the public to guess and digest. (Photo Credit: Neofinoy.info; ButchokoyD; Arenamontanus) =0=



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PostHeaderIcon Iceland’s government fails as the economic crisis worsens

1/27/2009 | Posted by mesiamd | Edit Post


After attempts to reverse Iceland's financial crisis since October last year, Reykjavik's government has collapsed amid street protests from citizens who set fires and hold noise barrages with pots and saucepans. Having lost trust in government, angry Icelanders protest a mismanaged economy, worsening joblessness, and rising cost of goods.

Prime Minister Geir Haarde couldn’t quell the public’s disappointment after Iceland’s currency lost its value and banks failed that mirrored the financial troubles in Wall Street and many countries in Europe.

“The IMF announced in November it would pump about $827 million into the Icelandic economy immediately, with another $1.3 billion coming in eight installments. Iceland's Nordic neighbors -- the governments of Finland, Norway, Denmark and Sweden -- announced they would lend Iceland another $2.5 billion.”---CNN.com/europe (01/25/09, Nyeberg, P)

Calling for an earlier election in May, Haarde, who had been afflicted with cancer, resigned and announced he wouldn’t run for another election. Fearing national bankruptcy, he dissolved the coalition government he headed--- formed by the Social Democrat party and Independence party.

With the government’s future uncertain, the island-country’s figurehead President Olafur Ragnar Grimsson said he would consult with Iceland's four main political parties before asking that an interim government is formed.

Similar economic and political troubles are happening in many parts of the world as well. Hard hit are the economies of the United States (USA) and Great Britain which have embarked on their respective financial remedies. The outlook of the crisis at this time is grim even if economic bail-out packages at the expense of taxpayers have been laid out. Nobody seems to know how and when the financial mess will end. Ordinary citizens are left confused and fearful of what next will happen. (Photo Credit: Nele en Jan; Jon Palma)=0=



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PostHeaderIcon Premature attrition of confidence

12/09/2008 | Posted by mesiamd | Edit Post


Even before Pres. Elect Barack Obama gets inaugurated on January 20, 2009, there are troubling signs in the horizon. The “Yes we can,” slogan of his campaign during the election seems dampened by the herculean task ahead. His mesmerizing words which don’t synch well with truth have started to show their cracks. From his camp, liberal supporters have started to show impatience.

“Liberals are growing increasingly nervous – and some just flat-out angry – that President-elect Barack Obama seems to be stiffing them on Cabinet jobs and policy choices. Obama has reversed pledges to immediately repeal tax cuts for the wealthy and take on Big Oil. He’s hedged his call for a quick drawdown in Iraq. And he’s stocking his White House with anything but stalwarts of the left. Now some are shedding a reluctance to puncture the liberal euphoria at being rid of President George W. Bush to say, in effect, that the new boss looks like the old boss.”---YahooNews (12/08/08, Lee,C; Henderson, NM)

President George Bush must be smiling with relief. Obama's new administration promises a 2.5 million job generation program which may cost taxpayers 500 billion to finance. To raise optimism, the upcoming president dangles Harvard technocrats to keep his magic in place. But many believe experts can only be as good as the results they can produce.

What the Obama team plans to accomplish is something that the public can’t take bait, hook and sinker. Americans have seen enough of the promises, ineptness, greed, corruption, and extravagance of their leaders. And they know intelligence and smartness aren’t guarantees for success.

This early, liberals from Obama’s party have raised concerns. The messianic black president who has been heavily supported by the partisan media is telling his people that economic hardship is on the way. The financial mess will get worse, he said---a let down on the expectation of the people. It makes his supporters start thinking whether their man is up for the job.

The $700 billion bailout package earlier forged by the government isn’t enough. The beleaguered American auto industry is asking for a rescue package of $36 billion dollars in the wake of more than half a million unemployed have been reported this month. More workers fear that they’ll be laid off from their jobs or they'll lose their homes from forfeitures. Saddled by about $10.7 trillion debts, USA's economic picture isn't pretty. Americans face the worst economic uncertainty since 1974.

Economists Ben Shalom Bernanke and Henry Paulson aren’t sure if what they are doing will work. They are just as confused as the senators and congressmen in Capitol Hill regarding the economy. Their expertise hardly guarantees that things will get better. The heroics they display are dubiously too little too late, after private finances have been ruined.

Americans are nervously watching their investments wear away and go down the drain. The burnished promises they heard during the presidential election frustrate them. They realize consumer confidence isn't easy to keep when things don't do well. Stretching more patience, they need to wait and see what will happen. Uncertainty has started chipping on their trust. Many feel the economy is far from being fixed. (Photo credits: Cody Kiffen; M Dumlao98) =0=.



RELATED BLOGS: "Longer recession blues as more jobs are lost in USA" Posted by mesiamd at 12/05/2008; "Mr. Fix & the tall challenge to keep USA & the world to believe that we can quickly come out of the financial mess" Posted by mesiamd at 11/22/2008; "Like Filipinos, Americans Have Money Troubles Too!" Posted by mesiamd at 7/16/2008.

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