So as the new year starts, where do we stand? It seems like things are poised to stay about the same or get worse. Nothing on the horizon suggests that the economy will start moving again on its own. All of the long-term factors and components of a changed structural economy are in place and will remain in place for a long time, mimicking an economy in recession. What is true this week was true last week. And with Congress dithering on the payroll tax cut extension and undecided on continuing aid to the long-term unemployed, the signs are not encouraging. Add to that the presidential campaign that officially starts tomorrow in Iowa and that will not be resolved for another 11 months – tempting businesses in and outside the United States to hold back from investing in their own growth. Hard to make a new year’s resolution to remain optimistic. However: Continue reading
A Very Chávez Christmas, and it’s not Hugo Boss
Another gift from Hugo Chávez to the United States and the rest of the countries of the Americas. How touching. Just in time for Christmas. Not just any kind of gift, but one with long-term strategic complications: His announcement that the Chinese have loaned Venezuela another $4 billion in loans on top of the $26 billion already outstanding. The loans, secured by future sales of Venezuelan oil, ordinarily would be a normal transaction between sovereign nations, but, of course, it isn’t. The Chinese also have pledged to invest another $40 billion in other energy-related projects. Continue reading
Etched in Stone: The Mayan End of Time
A year from today on Dec. 21, 2012, time in our world is going to end. This is attributed to the Mayan astronomers and priests who are not around to explain themselves, much less to defend their letting us in on the secret of an attendant possible demise. What a really nasty thing to do, letting people know months ahead that the end is near. Like knowing that your beloved pooch is going to get run over by a car next year. Hurtful and insensitive.
Newt: Not America’s BFF
When writing, it takes effort and discipline to not hurl labels at people. By now, though, Newt Gingrich has revealed himself for what he is: Aside from being labelled as unstable by people who worked with him, he has all the makings of a budding fascist. Gingrich’s attacks on the judiciary are nothing less than breath-taking. His suggestions that judges be hauled before legislative committees by police to explain their decisions speaks to a time and place that the History Channel deals with every day.
From the ashes of war perhaps light
The images of U.S. troops leaving Iraq after a senseless, tragic waste of lives and money that left America nearly bankrupt is a blunt and brutal lesson for HispanicLatinos. Except for the families who suffered the direct loss of loved ones, few individuals should walk away more sobered than HispanicLatino men and women in charge of businesses. Business owners intuitively understand the impact of an $800-billion war debt to a struggling economy.
Demean Sports? No Longer Cricket.
Last week I was one of the 500 million viewers who watched a global megaevent. I do not know how many of those viewers were in a bar, but that is where I found myself, among a pack of well-mannered sports fans enthusiastically enjoying the competition between Real Madrid and Barcelona, two European soccer – that is to say – football powerhouses whose clash goes by the name of el clásico. Half a billion viewers would make anything a classic. The Super Bowl draws about a quarter of that size of an audience if it is lucky. Of course, the Olympics and the World Cup eclipse everything else.
But this post is not about the relative irrelevancy of American football, which I also follow religiously, on a global stage. That is a tedious subject. Rather it is about sport itself and its new relevancy.
LBJ: An Eternal Gift to DOJ
What was it worth to me, those many years ago, as a young teenager watching President Johnson give his memorable speech in support of the 1965 Voting Rights Act to a joint session to Congress? When U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder spoke Tuesday at the LBJ Library on the very matter that made Lyndon B. Johnson a hero in American history, my mind went back through time, and I was left pondering the void of leadership that has formed since.
HispanicLatinos at a Crossroads
HispanicLatinos are living through a nationally decisive moment. The pressure is building on HispanicLatino leaders – elected, appointed, self-proclaimed and otherwise – to step up to a point in history as important as any since the mid-1960’s. In but a few months, the Supreme Court could waylay the progress HispanicLatinos have made over five decades to achieve social, economic a political parity with mainstream society – and in the process the Court could jeopardize America’s very future.
The Supreme Court Disrupting the Future
Redistricting and immigration are difficult and complex subjects and are easily and simply intertwined for one reason: They relate directly to the power of the two political parties in the country since most HispanicLatinos vote Democratic.
Given the expanding number of HispanicLatinos in the nation relative to the rest of the population, any fair handling of redistricting going forward should favor HispanicLatinos and, therefore, Democrats. And given that immigration is the lifeblood a country, any mishandling of it could be catastrophic for the long term. That seems natural and reasonable enough, though the U.S. Supreme Court seems poised to confirm the unfairness and outright hostility that state legislatures and other political entities are visiting upon their HispanicLatino populations.
A Niche to be Filled
It should be fairly evident by now that HispanicLatino population growth can create new markets for smart business owners who are on top of and can interpret demographic change. HispanicLatino population growth also creates new ways for corporations and businesses – HispanicLatino and non-HispanicLatino alike – to reach those new markets.