TECHNOLOGY

Why 2005 Cars were Better 

A while back I got a lift in a new Mini Cooper – in the front passenger seat. And every time the car hit a pothole or speed bump my head hit the roof. Literally! Fortunately, there was no damage to my neck or spine. 

 At 6'2" I had barely 2 " of headroom to start so I should have passed on the lift. 4" inches of headroom is what safety -- and keeping the roof liner grease/sweat-free -- requires.

The Mini is a subcompact so headroom problems for taller people can be expected, but I have found this to be a problem in recent, larger car designs as well -- except for those from Europe. 

Thanks to standard front adjustable bucket seats I, and anyone just over 6'2", can sit in a mid-size or larger front seat, but rear seating is another matter. 

Only 2 non-European vehicles allow this as all other sedans have switched to a sporty, inverted Nike swoosh roof line. The lower rear roof combined with high, fixed row seating makes all but two cars sold in North America Mini Cooper experiences: the decade old C300 full size luxury model from Chrysler and the flat roof Toyota Camry. 

The former can seat 3 taller people in the rear but the Camry only 2 -- as the bench's middle is for some bizarre reason raised higher so my head touches the top. Even the 2016 Chevy Impala and new Buick Lacrosse -- that seem to have minimal swooshing -- are not viable.

The roof liners drop some 2 " in the rear to allow for a sliding optional moon roof window. 

Yes, North Americans are getting taller and even the people in China, but car manufacturers outside Europe have let style replace substance and customer needs. 

Maybe this is part of the reason SUV sales are skyrocketing as these vehicles -- just like mini-vans -- offer plenty of headroom: front and back. 

So, when I finally replace my beloved  2005 GM sedan, I will have to make major compromises: only 2 front seats, reduced trunk space and tiny trunk opening, less roomy interior, no more place for a removable front waste basket (on the hump) -- and no tall passengers in the back. 

So, sorry Michael Jordan and even Alexander Ovechkin, Eli Manning and Maria Sharapova, and all the tall male friends of my daughter. 

You will be safer to walk. 

P.S. While I cannot sit in the rear of a 2016 Honda Accord or Hyundai Sonata, the older, 2005 Accord and Sonata are no problem. 

 Style over substance!!!

YOUR HEALTH

New obesity (and asthma) solution

New obesity (and asthma) solution

The ongoing war on obesity is reaching new levels. A new Canadian study shows 1 in 4  infants by age 18 months are now overweight or obese (National Post, Sept. 28, 2016, http://news.nationalpost.com/health/trend-in-childhood-obesity-extends-down-as-one-in-four-canadian-toddlers-too-fat-study). Fears that these children and ensuing generations will be  burdened with early onset type 2 diabetes and early heart attacks is grabbing headlines and creating paranoiac fear.

And, of course, sugar and fast food diets are being blamed. 

But since when are infants ever on such diets?  Breast milk or formula are not being 'sweetened' nor are traditional baby foods by Gerber and others. The standard and normal pattern of introducing vegetables and fruit and dairy, etc. in pureed and then small bit sizes and in limited quantities is not 'hazardous'.  (See baby diet info at http://www.babycenter.com/0_age-by-age-guide-to-feeding-your-baby_1400680.bc)

As I have argued before, the population of America (and Canada) is no longer monolithic European but people with African and Latino genetics are now large parts of the population - close to 35 % in the USA or 1 in 3. 

And larger, huskier body shapes are more often their ancestral norm.

Furthermore, recent research on the bacteria that inhabit our intestines and other body parts show that they play a major role is keeping us healthy -- though they can on rare occasions go amok.

Stomach ulcers are now quickly and cheaply cured by antibiotics as their cause is no long misdiagnosed as 'stress and anxiety' but rather stomach bacteria gone overboard (i.e., Helicobacter pylori). This discovery won the Nobel Prize in 2005. (Messy by Tim Harford, 2016, , p. 207)

Also, the horrible bacterial infection commonly called 'flesh eating disease' -- that usually requires surgery and even limb amputation - is the result of standard body bacteria gone astray - usually strep bacteria that are normally harmless in our throat or at most cause strep throat. (See https://www.healthlinkbc.ca/health-topics/hw140405 and https://www.healthlinkbc.ca/health-topics/hw140405.)

However, to remove or eradicate Helicobacter pylori from the human body, it turns out, would result in mass asthma AND  mass obesity.

According to studies at the New York University of Medicine people (and experimental mice) with reduced levels of H. pylori have higher incidence of asthma and H. pylori is also found to regulate the stomach enzyme ghrelin - involved in absorption of food energy and its storage as body fat. (Messy, p. 208).

What new research is saying, is that the simplistic association of ingested sugar and calories with body weight and body fat is not so simple, and metabolism and gut bacteria are probably more important factors.

If the newest and most effective treatment for that scourge of nursing homes for the aged - C. difficile, which attacks intestines with weakened normal bacteria and immune systems, is quickly cured by introducing 'transplanted' healthy bacteria from a donor via an enema, (Messy, 209-10) then maybe soon there will be on the market a similar or ingested version of H. pylori -- or some other bacteria -- as a treatment for real obesity.

YOUR MONEY
  
Is there no end to 2008?

The US sub-prime housing bubble that burst in 2008 and lead to a massive, world wide financial crisis, is still not over some 8 years later. 

Deutsche Bank, Germany's largest, is now in the final stages of settling with the US Department of Justice and is being asked to pay fines of US $14 billion because it was a key player in the 2008 financial fiasco. 

As worded in the National Post (Oct. 1, 2016, FP 6) the bank has acknowledged "misselling mortgage-backed securities before the financial crisis". 

Such wording is overly polite and highly misleading. 

Firstly,"misselling" is a very polite way of saying: you did not do your due diligence and sold your customers investments that were 'crap' and you knew it -- or should have known it. 

Secondly, the world wide financial crisis was the end result of these bad securities as they spread the fallout from the US sub-prime housing to banks and investors all around the world. 

If it is required to settle at US $14 billion, Deutsche Bank may well go bankruptcy as the German government has refused to bail it out. 

 In fact, the bank is facing some 7000 lawsuits on this issue and others around the world (G&M, Sept.27, B6). 

So, we are not yet free of fallout from the financial crisis and stupid -- read greedy - decisions of a decade ago. 

Justice has been slow in using her sword, but it is happening. 

As the film, The Big Short, noted at its end, not a single company, CEO or trader was ever charged or convicted for the massive abuse that was the sub-prime mortgage market and the dubious securities that were created on its foundation. 

Maybe this time there will be real consequences. 

As recently noted in Time magazine re: Wells Fargo fraud (see earlier blog), only when CEOs go to jail will Wall Street and its European and Asian equivalents wake up and stop trying to make "money out of nothing".

YOUR MONEY

Lament for Canada Savings Bonds

Rumour has it that the federal government is considering ending the 70 year run of Canada Savings Bonds as sales have plummeted in recent years.

At one point my parents and I were avid and regular Canada Savings Bond buyers.  

CSB interest rates were very good and bonds backed by the federal government  was a 'safe' choice. 

But well over a decade ago  provincial governments entered the field with somewhat higher rates, and similar bonds issued by banks as GICs -- insured up to $100,000.00 per account - with even higher yields, simply blew away Canada Savings Bonds. 

Put simply, CSBs are no longer competitive and anyone can easily do better. The rates for 2016 now posted are: Premium Bonds for 3 years at 1.0%!!;  and traditional bonds at 0.5%!!

So the end of the CSB program will be missed on nostalgic grounds; killed off by the federal government with its cheapskate approach.

YOUR MONEY

Wells Fargo and Chrysler manipulations

This week a major U.S. bank and Fiat Chrysler have been ‘reprimanded’ for encouraging local branches and staff to cook the books and inflate new orders.

Fiat Chrysler, which suddenly became Canada’s top car company based on sales, was caught inflating its sales numbers by offering bonuses to dealerships who increased sales year or year or month to month.  To achieve this, the company stopped using as its sales criteria the moment when a customer takes ownership of a vehicle; instead allowing the figure for dealer ‘orders’ and similar dubious ‘sales’ to be used.

Dealerships could reap significant bonuses with higher car numbers, while company prestige as the top car manufacturer in Canada was a goal, and one that would increase the stock’s share price.

And so the game began across the land at Fiat Chrysler locations.

As for Wells Fargo, its CEO, in the rush to increase customer accounts (both bank account and credit card accounts), instituted a quota system and heaven help the branch manager or lowly teller who did not get extra business for the firm.  Under such constant pressure and threat of being fired, local branch managers and tellers fraudently, i.e., without the prior knowledge or consent of clients, created ‘ghost’ bank accounts and added new credit cards to their existing services – all with, of course, additional monthly fees.

According to Time magazine, this program between 2011 and 2015 – some 4 years until whistle blowers came forth – created over 2,000,000 ‘ghost’ accounts and credit cards and earned the bank $2.6 million in additional, fraudulent fees (Time, Oct,. 3, 2016 p. 14).

Under pressure from government authorities, both Fiat Chrysler and Wells Fargo CEOs have proclaimed their ‘mea culpa’ and are taking ‘remedial action’ under government threat.

So what do we learn from these 2 events in radically different economic sectors?

Simply, that to get ahead of the competition CEOs are willing to use carrots or sticks as motivators for their employees, and, in the end, those on the battlefront will be tempted -- and often fall prey-- to these pressures and break the law.

MEDIA and YOUR MONEY

are pumpkins no longer sacred?

 

Outside of Christmas, Halloween is the largest celebratory event of the year for children of all ages.

Front lawns are decorated with RIP headstones, skeletons, witches and children dress up to walk the streets in weird dress as they go to collect free candy and treats under the old threat of "Trick or treat." - i. e., give me treats or I will do something nasty to you or your home.

And, off course, scooping out pumpkins and carving out eyes and mouths with sharp or oddly shaped  teeth is a hallowed Halloween tradition.

What would this celebration of a pagan night of the living dead - --renamed and commemorated by the Catholic  Church as All Saints' Day - be without such carved and illuminated glowing orange pumpkins?

But that is soon to change in the name of commerce and mass marketing.  Home Depot, and others I am sure, are now selling  pumpkin decorative plastic add-ons with the body parts of Disney and Marvel movie characters. 

You can add Mickey's 3D plastic head, arms, body and legs to the side of a pumpkin thanks to plastic spikes.

In theory,  since pumpkins have 4 sides, up to 4 such Hollywood characters could be added -- creating an ongoing cavalcade parade.

If people are eager to buy USB thumb drives made to look like Mickey Mouse or Spiderman or Olaf from Frozen or some Peanuts or Warner Brother cartoon character -- I confess that I  have bought Marvin the Martian, Tweety and Sylvester thumb drives for our family --

does adding such characters to Halloween Jack O Lanterns cross some ethical and moral line?

As a traditionalist,  I say yes.  People may still hollow out pumpkins for roasting seeds and making pumpkin pie and soup, but without those spooky and individualized, carved faces --  and openings for a candle or L.E.D. light to eerily illuminate the dark--  it will not be the same!

Hollywood has gone too far and I hope the buying public and children will draw the line and say NO to such purchases. 

Otherwise, expect Santa Claus to add Disney or Marvel or Peanuts character logos on the front or back - or both sides -- of his red suit and cap.

And maybe some company will pay him millions to do so with his plain, boring white beard.

YOUR MONEY

How to avoid Destroying the World Economy

It is now exactly 8 years since the Financial Crisis due to earthquake-like disasters in U.S. subprime housing market, leveraged and over-extended (bankrupt) Lehmann Brothers and forced, worldwide bank write offs of billions of dollars as stupid, leveraged certificates (based on those U.S. bad housing loans) all collapsed as the bubble burst.

Since then, ‘emergency aid’ of previously unheard levels -- of trillions of dollars --- Central Banks has continued for close to a decade:  Growth and GDP and China-- the world's second largest economy and till now the world’s unending maw for raw materials -- have never recopvered and  leveled off at under 2% in the developed world and to well below Chinese government's inflated figures of 7% to 9 %.

The new normal has been very modest growth of 1% to 2% across the developed world -- and even China.

Consequently Central bankstried and continue to kick start growth to well above 3% with cheap money and negative interest rates (as a penalty for saving) but these strategies have proven dismal failures in Japan (for some 30 years), America and Europe with no  impact on manufacturing and corporate investment and expansion.

Instead, almost free money has fostered more and more reckless speculation and high risk ‘gambling’ by the super rich, sovereignty funds, derivatives funds, international bank stock brokerages and even pension plans. 

Making things worse has been the vacillation and hollow warnings of upcoming interest rate hikes from Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen. In September, 2015,-- a full year ago -- she warned one and all that the Fed would soon start to raise rates at ¼% every few month so as to return to ‘historic normal’ levels of 4% to 5%.

But she has been more like the Boy-who-cried-wolf as rate hikes have not materialized whatsoever and the pronouncement this past Tuesday was that no increase will occur until December at the earliest.

Surprise, surprise!!!  With a close Presidential and Congress elections just over a month away, would anyone in their right mind 'rock the boat' after a full year of delay? 

Who would have guessed.

So we all must wait for another 3 months -- or more -- for any start to a return to 'economic normalcy'.

The Fed., put simply, continues to  created uncertainty and toys with the financial plans of all concerned: those who benefit from almost-free money and those who are facing destitution and ruin on fixed incomes.

Everyone is left dangling.

And as any student of the world stock markets know, we are in the 8^th year of the recovery and a recession may be around the corner – based on historical cycles.

But the new normal of the last few years defies old thinking.  Stocks in the U.S. are at highly inflated valuations compared to earnings – some 23 to 1 rather than the standard, safe risk factor of 17 to 1.

And exchange volumes are down and relatively few players are in the game and calling the shots.

Q: So what would revive the world economy and normalcy - or at least the developed world?   

A:  RAISING INTEREST RATES! 

Starting with an automatic increase in December , 2016 – we have already lost a full year to dithering and hypocrisy and cowardice – and announcing a fixed schedule for further regular increases in 2016 and 2017 that must be set in stone!


Yes, expect a stock market swoon for at least a few days or more, and gold will do its usual piroet, but the economy is NOT the stock market or the price of gold,; it is main street and the fileds of farmers and ranchers of middle America and Canada.

Put simply, a 1/4 % rate hike is not the end of the world when prime rates are close to zero instead of historic post-WWII norms of U.S 4% to 5%.

And the above would send clear messages and have immediate impact:

1. no more rampant speculation with free government money

2. No more housing market free for all as totally unqualified buyers get stuck with huge mortgages they will not be able to pay at 3% interest let alone the historic house mortgage  norms ranging from 6% to 7%.

3. Companies still sitting on trillions of dollars will expand and invest in their businesses immediately before interest rates rise to the above mentioned normal levels.

Kindness and cheap money has not worked..

Penalizing savings with below inflation returns and negative interest rates has not worked either.

 Pension plans and seniors and insurance companies have all suffered as a result and face insolvency.

Capitalism and logic demand that Central banks raise rates and do so on a fixed, written-in-stone schedule: to end uncertainty and rtoller coaster stock market volatility. 

Only this will save the world economy.