Diplomatic Incident: Update

For those of you up for a good laugh, I submit myself for public humiliation by handing over the link to the interview at El Tiempo (The Times) in Bogota, Columbia. 

Since my Spanish is limited, I have no idea whether the statements that I made were accurately translated. I trust my translator for the week, the gentleman who did the interview Mauricio Romero, to have at least attempted to make me appear less foolish than I felt (and probably sounded).  

(For those of you who note the fine print, you will forgive my friends for noting that Toledo is in Michigan rather than Ohio. Then again historically speaking, it once was, wasn't it?)

Warning: Potential Diplomatic Incident

I was interviewed on video this evening by El Tiempo, one of the newspapers in Bogota, Columbia. (That is where I am working this week.) It seems as though my translator is also an editor for the Financial section of the newspaper, and that they thought it might be interesting to have the opinion of an American citizen on the American economy, the Bailout, and the future; since they had one at their disposal.  

I was asked whether I thought that the Bailout was necessary.  
I stated that it appeared that the market had been in need of a correction for some time, and that it appeared to have finally gotten one. Government precipitated this by pressuring the banking industry to loan money to people who couldn't pay it back, and that eventually the banking industry was proved right in their assessment. These loans, passed up the investment food chain by the unscrupulous part of the banking industry eventually caused business failure in many of those organizations. Those failures in turn created a good part of the financial crisis that in turn led to the market crisis. Interference by the government didn't change those facts, but might lengthen the time frame for the resolution of the situation.

I was asked whether the Bailout was successful. 
I stated that the bailout was designed to address the market and credit crisis, but recent market fluctuations have so far proved otherwise.  

I was asked if the Bailout was of concern to me. 
I stated that it very much was. I said that I felt that the entire US economy had been placed in the hands of the Secretary of the Treasury in the rush to a solution. Placing that power and 700 billion dollars in the hands of a bureaucrat who doesn't run for election and will be leaving in a couple of months is scary. Leaving that power behind for whomever may follow is even scarier.  

I was asked if I was doing anything different as a result of the crisis. 
I replied yes, making little or no luxury purchases and paying my debt down as quickly as I can. I also said that I was looking forward to working longer, as I had probably just lost 30% of my retirement money in the market plunge.

I was asked if I had any idea when the crisis would end. 
I replied that a lot of people who were smarter than me about money were asking themselves the same question, and not coming up with an answer; so how could I be expected to. As I was being escorted back to my hotel for the evening, I was informed that this would not be the background material that I had thought, but that instead it would be broadcast on TV and placed on the El Tiempo website (I may provide the link as a laugh for all if and when they send it to me). 

As a consequence of the use of this interview however, I now wish to state for the record that I deny any and all responsibility for anything said during it. I have been working long hours, have been oxygen deprived because of the altitude, had a rock in my shoe, the sun was in my eyes, I ran out of gas, I had to visit a sick friend.

IT'S NOT MY FAULT!

These were simple remarks made by an even more simple American citizen and should not be presumed to reflect the policies of the American government or those of anyone with an IQ in double digits (categories that are often mutually exclusive).

Jeez, I hope they let me back in the country ...

Off To Foreign Lands ... Again

As the title implies, I am once again leaving our fair shores on Sunday in the name of business, and as part of what I believe is a secret program to raise the national IQ (at least on a temporary basis). I suspect in fact, that this may some part of a larger international "sweeps week", and that forcing another country to take credit (or blame) for me is part of a program to improve a national reputation that has taken significant hits recently. 

I will once more be journeying south, this time to Bogota, Columbia. As with most of my previous foreign travel, I am completely ignorant of the city and country that I will be journeying to, deriving any information that I have from news reports over the years of the drugs that come from this country and of course the original "Romancing The Stone" movie. I am reasonably certain that I will be quickly disabused of all of my present stereotypes, since neither of these sources can be considered in any way credible (OK, maybe "Romancing The Stone" is). 

As I did with my travels to Trinidad (which I only discovered today is north of where I am going this time), I will attempt to post something from this foreign land, with pictures if I manage to take any worth sharing. While not looking forward to long hours in an airplane (a recognized form a torture which has been banned by the Geneva Convention), I will at least be able to escape for a few days the political nonsense that is winding up to a fever pitch in this country. While working long hours at the newspaper, I will at least be able to escape the endless political commercials, nonsensical pundits, and news reports filled with quotes of candidates saying the same things that they have said before when I return to my hotel and turn on the TV (of course I probably won't be able to understand the shows on TV, but that too may be a good thing). Basking in what I hope will be the relative peace and quiet of that setting, I hope to regain some perspective on life before immersing myself once again in the final stampede to election day. 

I have great faith that those remaining behind are more than up to the challenge of containing the madness and maintaining order in my absence. They may in fact be considering this a vacation for themselves. As the saying goes... "Absence makes the heart grow fonder, and the more he's absent, the fonder I become of it."