Category: Richard De Graff

IT CAN’T HAPPEN TO ME. GUESS WHAT? IT WILL !!

IT CAN’T HAPPEN TO ME. GUESS WHAT? IT WILL!!

Chapter 13

QUANTITATIVE EASING: (QE) WAKE UP!

Quantitative easing one and two have sent us down the path the Japanese have trudged. It is well worn with no weeds or grass, just plain old dirt.

We had a depression right after WWI. Warren G. Harding was president. He said we could earn our way out. Harry Truman lost his men’s store and went to the library and read every book in it. Herbert Hoover tried the same thing, but when it came to his programs the democrats stalled his programs waiting for a new president. The new president (FDR) and his “New Deal” were working until he raised taxes in 1938. Someone had to pay.

My contention is this. The government is our parent or umpire. It sets the rules of “Fair Play”. They should be enforced and violators banned.

QE’s are a bureaucracy. This is how they started way back when.

When Marco Polo came back from China, he was imprisoned because the Chinese were so far ahead of the rest of the world. He wrote notes on toilet paper that were sneaked out and read by the public. He was eventually released and the rest is history.

So what happened to China? They had the wheel, gunpowder and paper before the rest of the people on earth- way before the year one.

I think it started in the Chi dynasty. They wanted the best and brightest of all of China to run the country. So they gave tests to every child all over the country and the winners were brought to the capital to learn and study. That they did. Then as they grew up they married. Their children were then sent to special schools so they could do better than the average Chinese child.

Guess what? The Chinese also invented bureaucracy! So the way we are going in the year 2012 we will be like China in 4025!

To jumpstart the economy we must institute a “FAIR PLAY” AND this will send 100,000’s of dollars to every citizen living in the United States of America. The proviso is that they must pay down all debts minus interest. Bring back the USURY Laws and spend the monies as they see fit while saving 10%.

Thus banks that are “TOO BIG TO FAIL” will all of a sudden be divesting themselves. Too many companies have over expanded and therefore they became protected by the government, because they were “TOO BIG TO FAIL”. BALDERDASH!!!!

If your neighbor borrowed money from you and was in trouble, would you not be happy to receive the principal BACK?

A BANK IS SUPOSSED TO BE THE PROTECTOR OF ONE’S MONEY. All those monstrous salaries could be used to pay dividends and interest on deposits. Banks who have honest earnings should then meet a standard where they qualify for salary increases based upon performance of the bank – not the stock price.

Our banking system needs reform from the bottom up. The Federal Reserve Act does not cover how banks are run internally. That is a positive.

We must self-regulate so that Congress is a happy bystander.

These chapters are “food for thought”. I try to keep them concise and swift in thought. It is up to you, dear reader, to embellish upon the themes.

June 11, 2012
It will not happen to me. Guess What? It Will !!!

Chapter 11

Chapter 11

It will not happen to Me. Guess What? It will!

Money Market Funds – The root of our problems.

When the money market funds started in the 1970’s they were greeted with great joy. One did not have to wait for a whole quarter to get interest. This was a neat deal. One could earn their monies on a daily basis, with no commissions either.

Brokerage firms loved them because they were able to keep all their customer funds in one firm.

All the funds sold for $1.00 there were some minimums, but when a large institution decided to withdraw their funds at one time everyone held their breath. The Partners of the firm put up the cash and the fund “never broke a buck”- until Lehman Brothers in 2008.

There was euphoria everywhere except at your local savings bank. Depositors were rushing to withdraw their monies from the banks to the new modern investment. This spelled the death knell for the savings bank industry.

The repercussions would be felt for decades to come. The savings banks were tightly regulated by archaic laws, which were passed thirty years before “for the common good”. The savings bank lobby was not as strong as the brokers’ lobby. Particularly, the congress did not think long term.

As the Savings Bank Industry started to fade, the government stepped forward with their socialist program of Fannie and Freddie Mae. So our local banks would file the paperwork to the government standards and dump it on the Washington GSE’s (GSE stands for Government Secured Enterprises- Implying they were protected by the US Government.)

As time went by, officers decided to go public and then they decided to issue stock options to themselves. Mind you, this is a government enterprise. The greed factor was working overtime at Fannie and Freddie Mae.

That was just one problem with the money market funds. In theory they would go out every day and buy 90-day commercial paper. 90 days from now that debt instrument would become due and would be rolled over so the funds were always liquid.

Here is the problem; there are more money market funds today than there is sand on a beach. So now everyone started buying any kind of short-term paper (debt). Consequently everyone started lending short and not long term. Banks would issue short-term debt (remember banks were supposed to be solvent and not borrow.) Governments would buy the debt to shore up the banks and then they would turn around and offer it to the money market funds.

Money market funds were delighted with the high rates and their high ratings. What could go wrong with a country? Everyone would have to back up the credit. Right? Wrong!

So here is the bottom line as I see it. Banks, world wide, saw easy money in selling their debt to the money market funds. As the situation became dire, different governments bought their debt in order to prop up their banks. They found it easier to resell the debt to the money market funds since these funds were clamoring for quality.

Now everyone was borrowing short, and the figures did not warrant long term lending despite the US Federal Reserve’s Operation Twist. That was an attempt to buy long-term bonds (20 to 30 year maturity).

So now we face a major test of the socialist state. When a nation announces a huge debt deal to liquefy their country and we wake up in the morning to discover no one bid on the bonds. Not even a throw away bid that could be thrown out as too high.

The possible solution is to bring back the usury laws and while those laws are in the process of being enacted worldwide, forgive interest payments.

If you had lent your neighbor money and he was in dire straits; wouldn’t you be delighted to receive your principal back? This would cut the enormous salaries that today’s bankers are making at our expense.

“Too big to fail?” If that is the case break them up. Socialism is when you are at the counter and the counterman tells the fellow ahead of you to order anything he likes because the guy behind you is going to pay. Or when NASA stopped the space shuttle and within two months a Dragon Spacecraft from California Exploration Technologies Corp, a private corporation, successfully docks at the International Space Station with supplies. That is American know how can-do spirit! Only the governments of Japan, China and Russia along with the United States have put vehicles into outer space. This is the first corporation using government seed money to get started. We now have a new private industry. Let us hope that the Congress enacts legislature that will encourage investment, but protect and encourage true investments and review the statues every nine years to insure honest competition. Our corporations can compete with foreign governments because we are free and not a bureaucracy. Our Congress should set the rules and then hire the “umpires” to enforce them. Just like pro sports. You hit the referee – you are banned for life!

When an industry like the money market funds have overstepped the boundaries of common sense the government must step in and run some and close some. When an industry fails at self-regulation it is time for our representatives to step in to protect public funds. We must limit funds to only quality and fee structure in competition for the common good for the general public. We as a country tend to overdo a good deal and in the long run bastardize it for all. When it comes to the almighty dollar greed will triumph over common sense unless we restrict their numbers.

There are too many market funds and not enough savings banks. We should simplify laws that will solve these problems without the aid of lobbyists. When tested in the court of law we will find out who passes muster.

These solutions might seem too drastic, but our backs are at the wall. Soon we will not have a choice.

May 31, 2012
It will not Happen To Me. Guess What? It Will!

It will not happen to me! Guess what? It Will! Chapter 10

THE GREEDY STIR UP CONFLICT, BUT THOSE WHJO TRUST IN THE LORD PROSPER.

Proverbs 28:25

Chapter 10 The Greedies- There are many.

Editor’s note: I write these chapters on the theory that my recommendations in Part One were not followed and the entire world is sinking into an abyss that is mentioned in Revelations. That is the last book in the Christian Bible. It would behoove the dear reader to pass these chapters along to your politicians who are supposed to represent you. All nations must have a better understanding of our problems.

YOUR FRIENDLY BANKER IS NOT YOUR FRIEND.

I remember reading the Wall Street Journal about how the “friendly banker was calling people and saying , “want to borrow some money?” That was in the mid-1960s. My how times have changed!

The 1929 crash was blamed on too much easy credit. Margin for stocks was 10%. That means if one wanted to buy $1,000 of stock ; all one had to do was put $100.00. If a stock r5ose 10% one would double their money. Conversely if a stock dropped 10% one’s investment was wiped out There is an old rule on the Wall Street. “Never meet a margin call with cash – the stock is telling you something- SELL!”

Today Margin for stocks is 50%. This means if you want to buy on margin then all you have to do is borrow some money in order to pay 50%. I have seen margin rates in the 1960’s as high as 90%. The Federal Reserve used to raise or lower margin rates to curb enthusiasm or dampen speculation.

Today margin rates for US Treasuries are 10%. Many commodities are the same, but some are raised or lower in order to protect the players. When one is making a long term commitment in a commodity such as some precious metals they should pay cash and take delivery. Some firms provide storage space. This prevents the individual from getting whip sawed by professional traders.

So in 2012 the big problem has been in derivatives and collateralized mortgages or CMO’s. All these debt instruments are started off by buying a slug of treasuries at lowest possible margin rates and adding and mixing products with those moneys at enormous fees(all hidden of course). Then to add frosting on their cake they split it all up into several “tranches”( really layers) and pass some off to the unsuspecting public marked up even further.

There has been a feeble attempt for “transparency” which means the buyers want to know the commissions involved.

These so called debt instruments break another cardinal rule for brokers. If it is to complicated to explain to your potential buyer forget it. It is

called the KISS. KEEP IT SIMPLE STUPID!”

It is almost impossible to track each part of these instruments since record keeping is at the kindergarten level. But all future trades should be banned and existing one allowed to mature whenever that may be.

All these problems are result of the Glass-Stiegel Act in the 1930s and rescinded in the 1990’s. The problem was that the Congress did not review this act for almost 70 years and it became a hindrance to the banking industry and eventually the public. Times change and industries mature and acts like this one should be reviewed by a bipartisan commission every 12 to 15 years.

Congress should revisit the Federal Reserve Act and realign the Federal Reserve districts so that each one has equal dollar weighting.

Immediately, banks and brokerage firms should be segregated the old fashion way. Split from each other. It is the Volker rule with force. A banker is a banker and loves reserves. A broker is a broker and a risk taker. He loves to trade and take risks. A banker is not a broker and a broker is not a banker.

When a major player can disrupt the steady flow of income and earnings of a normal investment by using manipulating strategy that are unavailable to the general public – they should be banned.

The banking industry has to take a big hit in order to restore fairness and an even playing field for the public and long term growth.

The government must be in control of a financial system with hard and fast rules that must be enforced with a vengeance. They should be the umpires or referee’s that professional sports enjoy. Have you ever seen a professional hockey player take on the referees that are on the ice breaking up fights?

The only referees that I have seen step back were the ones working Wayne Gretzky games. He had an enforcer on his line that would go “ape” if anyone took a cheap shot at Hockey’s greatest star. I even saw a player he was after run off the ice and never came back on the ice

Business should have similar rules and then we should all prosper.

Our Congress is the body to make the laws to help for the common good. It is up to the Supreme Court to determine whether that law is valid. This is our check and balances that the founding fathers had faith in. The lobbyist have become to powerful force that denies the citizen his individual rights in favor of the larger corporations.

May 28, 2012
It Will Not Happen to Me! Guess What? It Wll! Chapter 9

Chapter 9

WHY SOCIALISM WILL FAIL OVER THE LONG TERM

“Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance and the gospel of envy. Its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery.” Winston Churchill

Socialism is a noble cause for those pure in heart. Franklin D Roosevelt (FDR) President of the United States from 1932- 1945 used it to try to pull the United States out of a depression.

His programs had universal appeal and once the economy started to recover he raised taxes to pay for the programs. The recovery would have been working at a slower speed until WWII changed the course of history.

Once a government starts giving entitlements to the public it becomes accustomed to them. The problem is how does one pay for these services?

One can raise taxes on the wealthiest, but they soon start looking to “tax shelters”. Raising taxes of any kind creates other avenues of avoidance.

The underground economy is where one provides a service or product for a credit. Then one uses those credits with another member. This will ultimately create more government debt as tax receipts fail. These deficits weaken an economy and encourage politicians to accumulate vast sums of “compensation” for running the country.

It also demoralizes the public in their desire to improve ones lot through hard work and effort. It is the individual that provides growth to an economy by wanting to earn more through an extra effort to succeed.

Countries with limited surplus or assets use a peaceful solution by hiring foreigners as cheap labor. Eventually these labor pools increase in size and start demanding more equal pay and benefits. They can appease them for a time, but the cinders will start burning the fires of resentment and hatred.

As time starts to diminish funds, the wealthy are the first to feel the pinch as their taxes are raised. “It is their civic duty and pride” to partake in this noble effort.

After that the sales taxes are imitated or increased. Now everyone feels poorer. The sales tax hurts the poor most. A 6% sales tax on dollar leaves only $.94. If a dollar is all one has – ouch. 6% of a hundred dollars amounts to $6.00, but one still has $94.00 left.

During this time the country has been borrowing, and at first their costs were low, but as the debt builds up the costs rise and suddenly the borrowing is to mainly pay the interest charges.

The next to get hit is foreign companies who have local plants that will have a tax on them. They will find all kinds of ways. If it is hard assets, then they will find a way to nationalize them.

Then as the situation becomes dire, the governments become bolder and greedy in ways to find moneys. Mind you, in the 13^th century the French monarchs had the habit of inviting domestic creditors to dinner and for desert they were beheaded. This was called “bloodletting”.

A better example of heavy debt load is when the credit-card companies start adding interest penalties to ones debit balance and there comes a point of no return. Socialism will self-destruct if you have assets because the government will want them to pay for various entitlement programs. The “poor” will now be in force to protect their entitlements so they can remain on the gravy train. The wealthy will soon become poor and the nouveau rich will be “our representatives” in Washington and various state capitols across our nation.

When the flow of funds ceases is when the riots would expand from the inner cities out to the suburbs.

If it is not too late, governments can slowly wean thy public off the welfare rolls by delisting people who are not legal citizens of the community and cannot speak the common language of the area. This makes the employers honest and also assures they are not using public funds for their corrupted earnings.

May 15, 2012
It Will not happen to me. Guess What? It Will! Chapter 8

It Will Not Happen to Me! Guess What? It Wll !!!

Chapter 8

We as concerned citizens must rescue our governments from the privileged few or we will find ourselves as their slaves. Freedom of religion and Bilingualism: Please remember that these chapters are being written because the solutions written in Part One have not been implemented, or worse yet the world economies have collapsed. We are now in the 21st century and moving very fast as far as the standard of living has progressed. The problem is that we citizens must also change to survive. We must welcome change in order to improve on our freedoms. The shock of changing our life styles will be minor versus revisiting the dark ages. Even though those who are able are already dependent upon government assistance and suffer. Rebellion in various ways, individually and as motley groups, should be discouraged. The United States has been a good example of Freedom of Religion until the US Supreme Court banned the use of the word GOD and public prayer in schools. A better example is Turkey after WW II, which had as its First President, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, who is now recognized as on the great men of the 20th century. Turkey has always allowed freedom of religion and many historical events and places are there. One of the main reasons Turkey is a noble and superb nation today is because of this man his freedoms. Just compare Turkey with its neighbors to the south. Another one of the major reasons for Turkey’s success as a nation is the separation of church and state. Arrafat’s statement “anyone wearing a fez tomorrow will lose their head.” The very next day one was wearing a fez. Religions that prophesy harmony and love should be respected. Ones that use force should not be. An individual has the right to choose one’s own beliefs. A Persian Rug made in Turkey has an “error” or mistake woven in it. They believe only God is perfect, so they purposely sew an error in it. If you cannot find an error, it probably was not made in Turkey. There is a lesson for the whole world to learn from Turkey. A nation must unite under one banner that allows freedom of expressions and feelings of the individual of his own rights. Bilingualism is another problem. Right now the United States is facing this problem. It had a similar problem with the South after the civil war and right into the 1930’s with the southern accent. Radio and television stopped that game. When a person came on national television and started speaking he became the butt of jokes. No one likes being laughed at and it soon changed to the normal language. A more serious problem is with the Spanish speaking population. Almost everything has become bi lingual. You make a telephone call to a business and the operator tells you to press one for Spanish. This slows a country’s growth down because a certain percentage of the population will refuse to learn the other’s language and barriers are built, both socially and economically. This is a self-defeatist attitude that can cause long-term problems. When I was a kid in the 1940’s and 50’s I had friends that were German, French, Greek, Italian, and Polish. When I was in their homes they would speak in their native tongue, especially when they were scolding my friend. I could tell by the look on his face or the tone of their voice. In public everyone spoke excellent English! A perfect example how bilingualism can slow down a nation is the Province of Quebec in Canada. It is a beautiful province with all kinds of natural resources. The Bank of Montreal was a major bank nationally. The Montreal Stock Exchange was a major exchange for the whole nation. The Quebec Hydro provided cheap power and they had people. In Canada people are important, for the farther north one goes the less people. The United States and Canadian border has to be the friendliest one in the world. Underneath all this prosperity the French citizens were simmering with anger. They felt they were probably being treated as second-class citizens. In some cases this was true because many of the schools were French only. In a major English speaking country this paved a road to poverty. If your education is not in the main stream of the nation that you live in then ones earning power becomes limited. Outside influences tend to be shunned and the power of wage earnings slips by. Exchange of ideas is of the uppermost importance for a thriving community. At first they wanted to secede and become a separate country. To make their point they started bombing mailboxes. The net result of this was that the wealthy middle and upper classes of society moved out of the province. The Bank of Montreal is just a regular bank and the Montreal exchange has been overpowered by the Toronto exchange. Statistically it rated 2nd behind the province of Ontario where the State Capital is located, but other provinces are growing faster. Who would want to locate a business in a province that spoke French when the rest of the nation is English speaking? A sad fact and tale was when Charles De Gaulle was president of France he saw an opportunity to come to Canada and promote France. He came to Montreal to speak and over a million Frenchman came to hear their legendary person. The problem was there was not a Frenchman around that understood a word he was saying. He was speaking proper French while over decades their slang French and become a language of its own. So Turkey is a positive example for nations to follow while Quebec is a sad example. Here is an example when one portion of society closes its cultural barriers to outsiders, or worse yet, refuses to blend in. If 10 percent speaks a foreign language in the nation it resides in, then it misses the opportunities that the 90 percent have or enjoy. Economically it is like swimming upstream just before the waterfall. The survivors that are able to grab a branch of freedom will soon meld into the “common good” of the nation. That majority that succumbs or tries to please the minority will find itself standing on a pile of cow manure. A nation should have a common language. Computers today can translate easily. A segment of a population that demands dual languages is hurting itself by not being able to exchange ideas freely. The free exchange of ideas is very important. While Adolf Hitler held book-burning celebrations in Nazi Germany, he could not kill the ideas gotten from those books. Even today in some parts of the world, the Bible has been memorized whereby services are held for worship. A STRONG NATION WILL LISTEN TO THE MINORITY, AND THE MINORITY WILL APPRECIATE THAT IT WAS HEARD, BUT THE MAJORITY MUST RULE FOR THE COMMON GOOD FOR ALL. This means that as in the case of the United States, it became the melting pot for all citizens to enjoy the fruits of everyone’s labor. This is what Senator Arthur Vandenberg did 1945 for the good of the country and the world. He backed the President of the United States on foreign policy while he was a member of the minority party. William O’Neil, ‘INVESTOR’S BUSINESS DAILY’ Chairman and founder, wrote an article for the Paper on April 25, 2012 on page B5 on ‘How to Find & Own America’s Greatest Opportunities’. He is referring to stock investments, but his opening paragraphs are a superb summary for this chapter. “ We live in the greatest country in the world. How did it evolve? The U.S. system, that is how. It’s your freedom of speech, religion and the press. You are free to own property and keep arms. Every citizen over 18 is free to vote in elections every two and four years, and replace weak or failed leaders. You are free to work, learn, create, innovate and invent because of our way of life. We are a nation of innovators because of these freedoms. Our GDP per person is larger than any other country. That is why millions of people continue to come here to participate in our exceptional freedom and opportunity. Nothing can hold you back except your own attitude or level of determination.” Those three freedoms are most important. Freedom of speech, religion and the press go along way in building a healthy nation.

May 4, 2012
IT WILL NOT HAPPEN TO ME! GUESSWHAT? IT WILL!!!

IT WILL NOT HAPPEN TO ME! GUESS WHAT? IT WILL!!

*****

PART TWO:

OUR FUTURE

Chapter Seven

Arthur H. Vandenberg Senator – Republican, Michigan

Because I was born and raised in the United States this book is written from the perspective of this country. However, the problems today do not only apply to the United States, but the whole planet earth. Therefore my solutions apply to every nation.

Thomas Edison invented electricity and Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone towards the end of the 19^th century. Those two inventions have led us to leap frog over centuries of advancement in just a few decades. Our health and standard of living has blossomed as each decade ends and we begin a new one. We have progressed in every area, but one. Our Politicians! They are still the same as they were in George Washington’s time.

The first and foremost idea to our self-help resurrection is to promote a better standard of choosing our representatives. Without leadership for the “Common Good” we are doomed as a free capitalistic society.

In the US Capital, in the Senate Reception Room, there were busts of the Famous Five. On March 12, 1959 the Senate chose five men whose careers helped shape this nation. They were Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, John C Calhoun, Robert M Lafollette Sr. and Robert A Taft

Then on September 14, 2004 the Senate added two more distinguished names. Senator Robert F Wagner – D NY and Arthur H Vandenberg R- MI were the two senators singled out as superb leaders when our nation needed them most. Both men were 1930’s and 1940’ vintage.

Senator Wagner’s achievements are mind boggling on the domestic front. Almost every piece of legislation had his fingerprints all over it.

Senator Vandenberg had a more interesting career in my humble opinion. He came to the Senate in 1928 and he was a strict isolationist and conservative. In the beginning he started out voting against some of FDR’s programs. He was becoming a swing vote. He was voting on the issues and not the party line.

When he ran for reelection in 1934 he had the distinction of losing his home district, but winning the state by over 52,000 votes.

He served on the Foreign Relation committees and as time went on he backed FDR on foreign policies and so did his fellow republicans. His great achievement came with what is called “the speech heard around the world” in the US Senate.

Harry Truman had yet to become President. FDR’s death and victory was still months into our future. This led to “the victors belong the spoils” and he sensed mayhem on the foreign fronts.

So on January 10, 1945 he gave the speech in the US Senate that was “heard around the world”. It let the whole world know that as far as foreign policy was concerned the Republican Party, currently the minority party, would back the President of the United States of America. The President, duly elected by the entire nation, was the only individual that could gather and collect the necessary information from any source that he deemed significant in making decisions.

Here is part of his speech:

“I wholeheartedly agree with President Roosevelt when he says: “We must not let such differences divide us and blind us to our more important common and continuing interests in winning the war and building the peace.

On the other hand, I hold the deep belief that honest candor, devoid of prejudice or ire, is our greatest hope and our greatest necessity; above all others, is called at long last to exercise this honest candor not only with its allies but also with its own faithful people.”

That speech, dear reader, let everyone know that when the President of the United States spoke on international affairs he had the backing of the whole nation. No more failed peace treaties of WW I, or international organizations like the League of Nations.

All the momentous decisions that were made after WW II were due in part because the president knew that he had the support of congress and foreign entities knew he had a “big stick” that he could use.

Senator Vandenberg died in office in 1951, but his example lived on for a few more years.

Majority leader of the US Senate, Lyndon Johnson, would do the same in his support for President Eisenhower. He would be known as one of the great majority leaders, but sadly a flop as President.

Our political system is now decaying because we lack the leadership that Senator Vandenberg displayed.

This applies to every nation that holds free elections when the end comes. This will be the true test of free capitalism.

When the governments provide all, the incentive to excel is left in the bedroom. We could slip back into a new computer form of the dark ages or worse yet “1984”.

We must choose carefully who we elect because that process is breaking down with the use of television “sound bites” instead of substance. We are making progress with the “debates”, but the media still carries the sword.

Possible Solutions

At the end of each chapter, I will offer a possible solution to our problems. Upon contemplating my ideas, a bell might go off in your brain with better ideas. One idea can lead to another and the final pieces of the puzzle can make it look like a mature model.

As long as there are free elections it does not matter what country one resides in, because in the long run we will all have to work together just as FDR and Senator Vandenberg expressed.

So lets us begin:

Each community should form an election counsel made up of concerned citizens of every stripe or persuasion.

Their mandate is to interview potential candidates for local offices and determine whether they will represent the entire community fairly if elected. Their own political views should not be known. They should be concerned with whether the person is running because he needs a job, or is trying to make a living off the public. It is not an endorsement of a political party, but of a Candidate, if elected, which will govern for the common good of all. The perfect situation would be when there would be a primary and 3 of the 4 candidates had received the seal of approval.

Ideally this counsel should be able to act favorably of all candidates running for the same office.

What we are looking for are persons that have a strong moral background, who are ethically honest, and who consider it an honor and privilege to serve their community.

Depending upon the size of the community there should be at least 11 persons on the counsel. This should insure that unbiased selections are made.

Then for county and larger areas, the committee should be made up of 3 or more persons from the communities in that area.

Next: Bilingualism and education.

IT WILL NOT HAPPEN TO ME! GUESS WHAT? IT WILL!!

*****

April 19, 2012