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| Thursday, August 28, 2008 |
A Federalist 57 Website |
D.
R. ZUKERMAN, proprietor |
The Beijing Olympics
AUGUST 19, 2008 -- The 2008 Summer Olympics opening ceremony was, actually, an extravaganza, cast of thousands, that, alas, included some unreal fireworks (literally unreal) and a young Chinese girl singing out of sight while a girl deemed prettier lip synched for the public. . Other sports not mentioned during the first week of prime time coverage, including the equestrian competition, fencing, cycling, rowing, were shown on tape over the weekend. (Track events were shown prime time Friday evening -- in the U.S., when they began.) In addition to commercials, NBC included promos for its fall schedule. One of the stars of a new program, Christian Slater, met Shana at the Heckscher softball fields, a few years ago.
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LPR also noticed, at the ceremony after the individual all-around women's gymnastics, that NBC did not show the flags of the countries of the top three women gymnasts, focussing exclusively on the very photogenic Nastia Liukin. LPR would have preferred a view of the flags, during the winning ceremonies than The continued diversity of the United States was indicated by a U.S. gymnastics coach who was born in China, and by Nastia Liukin whose father competed in gymnastics for the Soviet Union. Another aspect of diversity was indicated by Kirsty Coventry who won a swimming gold medal for Zimbabwe. Ms. Coventry is white. LPR seems to recall comments, a year ago or so, wondering if China would have the Olympics facilities completed on time. Indeed, they were. Except LPR would have to be there to determine if the new stadium -- "Bird's Nest" -- is an attractive structure. On television, to these eyes the outside looks like a large spool of casually-bound cables.
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Gas Prices |
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AUGUST 19, 2008 -- This writer is going through papers, photos, memorabilia as he prepares to get ready for a buyer for his apartment. It took 29 years, but the "oil men" have doubled their 1979 goal. As the price of gas has dropped in recent weeks, are the "oil men" counting on U.S. drivers to regard $3.60 as a low price? At last, however, it seems agreed that higher gas prices tend to push prices up throughout the economy. LPR regrets that due to gas prices, it was not able to get photos, this summer, of the delicious peaches the public can pick at Fix Brothers farm, near Hudson, N.Y., about 100 miles from New York City. And, the price has increased from 70 cents a pound, a few years ago, to 1.00 a pound. The peach in the accompanying photo was picked on August 5, 2007. |
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Still Much Too High |
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AUGUST 19, 2008 -- Gas prices continued to drop, but they are still much too high.
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Broadway Show League |
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AUGUST 19, 2008 -- Playoffs continued August 14 at the Heckscher softball fields in Central Park. LPR got an image of Little Mermaid's left fielder, Jeff Markowitz, just after he made a terrific running catch, and snapped a play at home plate involving Lion King (in white) and Gypsy (in blue). Is the Lion King player safe at home?
These softball fields are at the southwest corner of Central Park, in a midtown setting that is quite impressive. Some of the teams that played in the morning, including Mary Poppins and Lion King played a second game in the afternoon. For all BSL results, August 14, please click the LPR link to the league. Semi-finals are scheduled for August 21; the championship game, August 28. |
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Are Credit Card Practices "Compassionate"? |
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AUGUST 19, 2008 -- LPR was surprised to find that The New York Times, , in its lead editorial, August 6, calling on Congress to take action against "abusive credit card practices." The editorial reported that the banks have declared that 56,000 credit card complaints received by the Federal Reserve "are just 'anecdotal." LPR visitors should be aware that this website has been calling attention to predatory credit card interest rates for a long time. Here, for the banks, is LPR's anecdote. LPR was bringing books to the Sherman library because it must clear out the apartment it has lived in since 1983. LPR must sell the apartment to pay off the considerable debt it has accumulated, debt bloated in part by predatory, punitive thirty percent interest rates. LPR suggested earlier this year that the demoralizing impact of predatory practices by banks, combined with acceptance of these practices by government officials, could have a demoralizing impact that mght well lead to people living in HSBCvilles, WAMUvilles, and so forth. The Times editorial reported that a bill was introduced in the House Financial Services Committeee by Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D.-NY) to prevent banks from "raising rates on balances incurred under the old rate." |
The Times might have noted that these punitive increases give the banks a return far in excess of any damages that might have been incurred due to a late payment. This writer was informed by an agent for HSBC, recently, that he might be able to settle his debt but the settlement will be reported to credit bureaus and will prevent borrowing from 7 to 10 years. (Actually I don't expect to use credit cards anymore.) And so, in paying off my credit card interest rate, I must give HSBC a balance including the windfall predatory interest rates. In a sense, these predatory bank practices are a form of redistribution of money -- indeed, this might be called a welfare program for banks. The Times is to be commended for its editorial. A number of years ago, an editorial in the paper defended high credit card interest rates (then ranging from 18% to 24%) in part because this would make credit cards available to the poor. That explanation was puzzling, unless it meant that the poor would have credit cards and if they defaulted, losses could be made up from other cardholders. The August 6 editorial called the current credit card legislation "heartless" to "beleagured consumers" and noted that the Democrats, now in control of congress, have taken no action. LPR poses this question for Congress and President Bush: Would you describe thirty percent credit card interest rates as compassionate? |
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Photo Observations |
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AUGUST 19, 2008 -- These images of this rural scene were taken near Sherman, Connecticut, August 8.
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