MoU exchange between Sri Ramachandra University and CITI, University of Miami, USA at Indo-US CITI workshop at the University auditorium on Tuesday

 Melody Lin, deputy director of National Institutes of Health – Office for Human Research Protection, US, said that training research teams on basic ethical practices in research followed globally within the country will increase the world’s interest in India as a venue for clinical trials

India has become one of the key players in international biomedical research, with its IT capabilities, willingness of the government to start reforms and trained technicians, Melody Lin, deputy director, National Institutes of Health – Office for Human Research Protection, U.S., said.

Training research teams on basic ethical practices in research followed globally within the country will increase the world’s interest in India as a venue for clinical trials, she said. Dr. Lin was speaking at the inauguration of Indo-US CITI workshop on ‘Promoting Research Ethics Education in India’ organised at Sri Ramachandra University (SRU), here, on Tuesday.

Talking about the varsity’s partnership with University of Miami, U.S., its Pro-Chancellor (research) S.P. Thyagarajan said it was significant that these two institutions had come together to launch the ‘Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative (CITI)’ Research Ethics programme in the country. It will fulfil a great need, even as India emerges as a hot destination for clinical research involving human subjects and patients.

He added that clinical trials in India were growing at an annual aggregated growth ratio of 60 per cent. In 2004, the budget for clinical trials in India had crossed USD 100 million and it is being predicted that by 2010, the industry will spend USD 300 million or more. At present there are over 150 research organisations that are co-ordinating and conducting clinical trials on behalf of and in association with multinationals.

The reasons why India’s popularity in the circuit included a comparative cost advantage, the availability of a huge pool of trained manpower, a large population base with a diverse disease spectrum, he added. “While it is definitely an opportunity for India, we should be extremely careful to ensure that we do no harm,” Prof. Thyagarajan explained. It was in this context that an orientation on the ethics governing bio medical research would be timely.

SRU also hopes to emerge as a CITI centre of excellence, taking the training to other medical and research institutions. Paul Braunschweiger, director, Office of Research Education, University of Miami, said most funding for scientific research is being supported by public funding by the government. Therefore, without public trust, there will be no research on public health and consequently, no prosperity. Stressing on didactic training on ethics for the entire research team, he said that the CITI programme’s online modules would provide high quality of research ethics education.

V.Kumaraswami, director, Tuberculosis Research Centre and National Institute of Epidemiology, Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) institutions, said the ICMR has tried to address the issues relating to medical research as early as in the 1980’s. A more formal guide was published in 2000 and it was followed up by a revised set of guidelines in 2006. These guidelines govern social sciences research, stem cell research and animal research.

The ICMR was also interested in capacity building at all levels for medical research in partnership with the NIH. There was also a partnership with the Indira Gandhi National Open University for distance learning modules for ethics, he added.

V.K.Subburaj, Principal Secretary, Health, said the State government and its research institutions would be keen on participating in such training programmes for medical research ethics. S.Thanikachalam, chairman and director, Cardiac Care Centre, SRU, released the ethics education material on the occasion.

Bija pienācis 18. novembris, sēdos vilcienā un devos uz Rīgu,  lai galvenokārt pafočētu gan starojošo Rīgu, gan arī svētku salūtu.
Sākumā devos uz Vērmanes dārzu. Īpaši gribēju nofotografēt vēlreiz Teslas elektrisko ierīci.  Tomēr ieejot iekšā pamanīju, ka jau gandrīz visas izgaismotās dekorācijas ir izslēgtas,  arī Teslas ierīce  .
Pēc tam devos uz Brīvības pieminekli, kur ap norobežojumu stāvēja divas rindas cilvēku. Piegāju un ieņēmu vietu. Cilvēki sāka nākt arvien vairāk.
Pēc stundas ilgas gaidīšanas sākās Prezidenta Valda Zatlera runa. Drīzāk gan to varētu saukt par lasījumu.  To visu varēja salīdzināt ar zibens fotografēšanu negaisa laikā – ilgi gaidi brīdi, kad būs zibens un tad nofočē. Tāpat bija runas laikā – gribēju nofotografēt Zatleru nelasām tekstu, bet gandrīz nevarēju. Vienīgā vieta, kur visi aplaudēja bija, kad Zatlers ieminējās par visu valsts izzadzēju sodīšanu. 
Pēc runas Zatlers devās prom no mikrofona un…   arvien vairāk uz pusi, kur stāvēju. Apstājies blakus man mēs dziedājām Latvijas himnu. 
Vēlāk pēc himnas vinam pievienojās Lilita. Tam visam sekoja skaists brīdis- gan Valdis, gan Lilita paspieda man roku, apsveicām viens otru svētkos,  un protams pasmaidījām.  Apkārt bija ducis fotogrāfu un pāris miesassargu. 
Tad nu devos uz krastmalu, ieņēmu labāko skata vietu un gaidīju salūtu. Salūts nebija pārāk garš, tomēr iespaidīgs bija.
Pēc salūta dodoties ar visām ļaužu massām atpakaļ, varēja redzēt un dzirdēt policijas pūliņus nodabūt cilvēkus no ielām. Policijas mašīnas tik brauca un pa skaļruņiem ziņoja: “Lūdzu atbrīvojiet brauktuvi! Lūdzu ejiet pa trotuāriem!”. Taču cilvēki tāpat neklausījās .
Visa Rīga bija pārpildīta ar cilvēkiem. Pat Origo Rimi veikalā bija gigantiskas rindas. Pateicoties dažiem labiem cilvēkiem, tiku palaists tuvāk kasēm. Paldies viņiem! 
Vilcienam biļeti nevarēja paspēt nopirkt- bija ļoti, ļoti garas rindas, konduktoram iemānīt darba dienu mēnešbiļeti arī nevarēja  , tādēļ vien bija jāšķirās no papildus naudas.

Kopumā 18. novembra svētki bija izdevušies. Cilvēku bija ļoti daudz, un pats svarīgākais visi bija laimīgi un smaidīja. 

The swine flu vaccine has been in short supply nationwide because of manufacturing delays, resulting in long lines at clinics and patients being turned away at doctor’s offices.

Goldman and Citi have the H1N1 flu vaccine amid a shortage.

Wall Street bankers once again are the target of populist outrage, this time over the news that Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, and others are receiving limited doses of the H1N1 swine flu vaccine.

Following a story on BusinessWeek.com, and its subsequent pickup on NBC’s Today Show and other media outlets, politicians, lobbyists, and bloggers launched blistering attacks against New York City health officials, the White House, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC), and, of course, the “fat cat bankers” themselves.

Other big New York City employers that have received doses of the vaccine include Columbia University, Time Inc., and the Federal Reserve Bank.

Citizens for Responsibility & Ethics in Washington, a D.C.-based watchdog, is asking Obama’s Health & Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to investigate why the CDC approved the distribution of the H1N1 vaccine to Wall Street firms. “In what world do Wall Street employees deserve to be vaccinated ahead of high-risk children, pregnant women, and health-care workers?” said executive director Melanie Sloan in a statement on Nov. 5. “Unfortunately, for the thousands being turned away in clinics across America, the CDC has decided to prioritize the millionaires over the masses.“

Representative Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) also criticized the Obama Administration’s distribution approach. “While many Missourians are still at risk, Wall Street bankers are at the head of the line for H1N1 vaccine,” said Blunt

Calgary Hockey Team And Players’ Families Privately Received H1N1 Vaccinations

An unidentified Alberta health care worker who allowed the Calgary Flames hockey team and players’ families to privately receive H1N1 vaccinations last week has been fired, Alberta Health Services announced this afternoon.

“The decision to allow preferential access to the Flames and their families was a serious error in judgment on the part of the staff involved,” Stephen Duckett, who is president and chief executive officer of the board that governs health delivery in the province, said in a statement.

(Fortune magazine) — Thanksgiving is upon us. That makes it a perfect time to contemplate turkeys — as in “What a turkey that deal was!”

Almost all of this year’s winners have some connection to the federal government, because the feds have been such a huge factor in the financial markets.

But have no fear: Rising stock prices and cheap money, combined with the greed that is beginning to displace fear, are producing plenty of private sector poults that will be tomorrow’s full-grown birds.

Cash for Clunkers. It was a well-intentioned plan that was supposed to increase consumer confidence, spur fuel efficiency, jump-start the auto industry, and help create American jobs.

Instead it disproportionately benefited foreign car companies, which create fewer North American jobs per auto dollar than the Detroit Three do. And sales came mostly from inventory, doing little to increase production and jobs.

What’s more, by junking clunkers, the program removed many low-end vehicles from the used-car market, running up prices for the lower-income people who’d normally buy them. So we hurt the people most in need of help, while throwing taxpayer dollars down the drain.

As the saying goes, the road to hell is paved with good intentions.

Citi sells Phibro too cheap. Citigroup (C, Fortune 500) selling its energy-trading business to Occidental (OXY, Fortune 500) seems a prudent sale of a risky operation by a troubled company. In reality, it was a giveaway of taxpayer money because Citi, 34% owned by the U.S., got a crummy price.

Phibro fetched merely its book value — the amount by which its assets exceeded debts. That means no value was placed on the business itself, which had been churning out substantial annual profits.

Citi sold so that it wouldn’t have to deal with whether — or how — to pay Phibro’s top guy his contractual bonus of about $100 million. Alas, Citi’s politically expedient sale, designed to make the firm look good, shortchanged its creditors and shareholders. Another example of how optics can be so expensive.

Selling TARP warrants the wrong way. The smartest part of the Troubled Asset Relief Program, as far as taxpayers are concerned, was the Treasury’s getting stock purchase warrants from the institutions that borrowed TARP money.

The dumbest: Forcing the government to immediately sell back the warrants to institutions that repaid TARP loans and were willing to go through a complex pricing procedure.

Consequently the strongest borrowers, with the most attractive stocks, repaid the loans early and got their warrants back just as their stocks were rising. In the real world, the idea is to cut your losses short and let your profits ride. At TARP our gains were cut short.

The Treasury’s most desirable warrants, except for J.P. Morgan Chase (JPM, Fortune 500), have been sold, fetching $2.9 billion, according to SNL Financial. Even with $1.3 billion (my guesstimate) for J.P. Morgan, warrant proceeds won’t cover TARP’s $2.6 billion loss on bankrupt CIT and failed United Commercial Bank, and its likely losses on AIG (AIG, Fortune 500), GMAC (GJM), and about three dozen other borrowers who’ve missed payments on $2 billion of loans. Next time let’s remember: Take losses first, gains last.

Turkey of the decade. Now that Time Warner (TWX, Fortune 500), my employer, is finally dumping AOL, the old America Online, it’s time to close the books on the biggest takeover turkey ever that didn’t end in bankruptcy.

That was Time Warner’s swapping its shares, which represented real assets, for AOL’s bubble stock. The day the deal was announced, Jan. 10, 2000, Time Warner closed at the equivalent of $184.50 a share. After almost 10 years of travail, the $184.50 has shrunk to about $42.25, consisting of one Time Warner share and 0.25 of a Time Warner Cable (TWC) share. The 77% decline is triple the S&P 500’s decline over the same period.

But enough grousing. Let’s enjoy America’s quintessential holiday. May your turkeys be on your plate, not in your portfolio

The Times reports on a recently released audit which concludes, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that Timothy Geithner (now Treasury Secretary, then President of the New York Fed) voluntarily gave up vast negotiating powers when choosing to shower AIG with billions upon billions of dollars.

The article is written in standard Times-ese, which is to say that it seeks to relate truly scandalous information in such a way as to cause as little uproar as possible, but although it must be translated into standard English, some truly damning testimony emerges:

Just two days before the New York Fed paid A.I.G.’s partners 100 cents on the dollar to tear up their contracts with the insurance giant, one bank volunteered to take a modest haircut — but it never got the chance.

UBS, of Switzerland, alone offered to give a break to the New York Fed in the negotiations last November over how to keep A.I.G. from toppling and taking other banks down with it. It would have accepted 98 cents on the dollar.

The Fed “refused to use its considerable leverage,” Neil M. Barofsky, the special inspector general for the Troubled Asset Relief Program, wrote in a report to be officially released on Tuesday, examining the much-criticized decision to make A.I.G.’s trading partners whole when people and businesses were taking painful losses in the financial markets.

So this means: The New York Fed decided to print 100% of the value of AIG’s investors’ bad loans in order to get them to divest from AIG, and (hopefully) save the money-laundering giant. Realize, now, that the Fed was under no obligation whatsoever to guarantee these loans with taxpayer dollars, and certainly not guarantee them at full value. Given that these CDS loans were later revealed to be totally fraudulent, this decision makes even less sense.

If I convinced you to give me real dollars for Monopoly Money, and then you complained to the government that the Monopoly Money you received was actually worthless, would you expect them to just print 100% of the value and give it to you, no questions asked? Or would you expect them to give you nothing and tell you, in effect, to be smarter next time?

What’s truly astounding about this episode is that some of the banks offered to take less than 100% of the value of their worthless investments, but Geithner refused! He said to them, essentially, that “oh well, it doesn’t matter – it’s taxpayer dollars anyway! Go ahead, take the full value!”

This is the man who is now our Treasury Secretary.

Get off of my island: Porsche Cayman gets a little frisky.

This week’s product naming trademark war comes from the unlikely duo of Porsche and Crocs. The two companies have been sharing the product name Cayman for the past few years. Now, the German carmaker is suing the American clogmaker in a German court for alleged trademark infringement.

In honor of Sesame Street’s 40^th birthday, the City of New York temporarily renamed a portion of Columbus Avenue after the beloved children’s show. According to New York Magazine, creators originally considered naming the show “123 Avenue B” but decided against it for being too New York-ish.

Chrysler is getting ready to spread its new wings as part of its rebranding effort. The new wings logo will be featured on all upcoming Chrysler-branded vehicles. Some have noted that the size and shape of the logo make it very difficult to read the company’s wordmark.

Citigroup CEO Vikram Pandit is at a loss of what to rename the unit that oversees all of its hedge fund operations. Its current moniker, Citi Alternative Investments, has gotten a bad name after two years of underperformance.

The latest reincarnation of the search engine we all know and love goes by the name Google Caffeine. Two Google employees have said that the imminent introduction of this latest search architecture will push boundaries in size, speed, accuracy, and comprehensiveness. Hm…sounds just like regular caffeine.

Vermont’s Senator Bernie Sanders has introduced a bill that would attempt to tackle the “too big to fail” issue, which persists as a major systemic hazard; in his testimony to the JEC on last year’s financial meltdown, Simon Johnson observed:

Big banks enjoyed a level of prestige that allowed them to do what they liked, for example with regard to “risk management” systems that allowed them to book profits (and pay large bonuses) while taking risks that would be borne in the future- and by the rest of society. Regulators, legislators and academics almost all assumed the managers of these banks knew what they were doing. In retrospect, of course, they didn’t.

Little seems to have changed, with the big banks having only become bigger;  indeed, if you halved each of the three largest banks (by total assets), you would still end up with six of the seven largest banks in the US (in terms of assets). I don’t want to belabor the point, but the top four banks (BankAm, JPMC, Citi and Wells Fargo) are gargantuan in comparison to the rest, with Goldman not trailing too far behind. Courtesy Senator Sanders’ website:

Just five banks in America (JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, and Morgan Stanley) own a staggering 95% of the $290 trillion in derivatives held at commercial banks. Derivatives are risky side bets made by Wall Street gamblers that led to the $182 billion bailout of AIG, the $29 billion bailout that allowed JP Morgan Chase to acquire Bear Stearns, and the collapse of Lehman (sic) Brothers.

On the proposed bill:

Sanders’ legislation would give Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner 90 days to compile a list of commercial banks, investment banks, hedge funds and insurance companies that he deems too big to fail. The affected financial institutions would include “any entity that has grown so large that its failure would have a catastrophic effect on the stability of either the financial system or the United States economy without substantial Government assistance.” Within one year after the legislation became law, the Treasury Department would be required to break up those banks, insurance companies and other financial institutions.

I won’t bother recapping the ongoing debate over the relative merits- or rather, the possible necessity- of financial behemoths; those of you interested in this should check out Charles Calomiris and Simon Johnson for contrasting viewpoints. Lets just say that I’m far more inclined towards the Johnson “too big to fail is too big” camp.

Returning to the quote above, the problem today isn’t quite that managers may not know what they are doing (although that remains an ever-present possibility)- on the contrary, if anything, they have been given the license to wantonly engage in risky practices, given the implicit taxpayer guarantee that they have come to expect. Even setting aside consciously risky decisions, there always remains the possibility that a big bank could get into the deep kimchi unintentionally (a reprisal of the narrative that Johnson sketches out)- inevitably, taxpayers would have to bail said bank out. In a word: moral hazard. Couching the issue in terms of excessive systemic interconnectedness obscures the real problem in mere semantics. The debate over what precisely constitutes an institution posing “major systemic risk” is a separate- albeit important- one; acknowledging this should not preclude a discussion of the legislation at hand. Definitional issues do not constitute a major objection- tackling them first runs the risk of putting the cart before the horse.

I think the bill being brought by Senator Sanders is hugely important, even though it runs the risk of being completely overshadowed by issues like health care reform and climate change. The cries of Socialism will perhaps be even more vehement now (fueled, no doubt, by the banking lobby and its significant influence), especially since Sanders is a self-avowed Socialist. We can all do our part though, by signing Sanders’ petition to Tim Geithner. It takes but a few seconds and I assure you, constitutes an important part of your democratic duties. Nemo makes a more impassioned appeal to that effect, while James Kwak also has his take on the new bill.

NB: Two interesting perspectives: one, from a professor of mine who notes, “Bernie is a personal hero — the only self-avowed Socialist in the Senate. The Bill makes sense.” Refreshing to see someone use the epithet “socialist” in a non-pejorative context. The second, comes from one of my friends, who works at JP Morgan Chase, noting that “Jamie Dimon is one of the few CEOs who has emerged from the maelstrom with his reputation enhanced.” I am still trying to recover from the apoplectic fit that those words provoked.

Pandit: What's wrong with our name?

The gall of some people (I’m talking to you, John Dorfman, Jim O’Brien and John Havens).

Henny Sender and Francesco Guerrera reported in today’s FT that Mssrs. Dorfman, O’Brien and Havens are “poised to relaunch its troubled hedge fund operations after nearly two years of poor performance, internal strife and investor unrest.”  The story notes that the trio are so despairing of the Citi name, they wanted to brand the hedge fund unit after their prior firm, Carlton Hill.

Inexplicably, their superiors decided to continue to brandish their Scarlet Letter by changing the unit’s name ever-so-slightly from “Citi Alternative Investments” to “Citi Capital Advisors.”  Not sure they’ll be able to make a dent in their $2.5 billion asset-raising goal (they’re only $2.4 billion away!  Maybe the federal government could help…) with that catchy title.

From the tone of the article, Sender and Guerrera can’t believe their ears.  I can’t either.

In the off chance that you are planning to formalize your current taxpayer/bailed-out-bank relationship with Citi by investing in its newly branded hedge fund unit, I humbly present the following document for your reading pleasure.  It is a complaint lodged with the State of New York against Citi Alternative Investments and John Havens by an investor in one of Citi’s credit hedge funds.  It makes for interesting reading, weaving a tale of incompetence, lies and self-serving behavior by ex-Morgan Stanley execs over the interests of their clients.  Enjoy, and just like the SEC, you won’t be able to say that you weren’t warned.

CSO complaint_PDF

Gasparino on "The Sellout"

Courtesy of Jesse’s Café Américain

We vote because we believe it changes things, we vote because we have FAITH in the system. We vote because it’s the only control we feel we have. We use voting much like charity work in America. We do it so we feel good about ourselves.

But voting in a Democracy doesn’t matter. It only works for the majority, the minority are left unheard. You only need 51% of the public to agree with you, to have total control. That’s why we were not founded as a democracy, our founding fathers laid the frame work for a constitutional republic. a society of self-government, self-reliability, and self-accountability.

All the talk on the news is we need to vote out every member of congress. The media’s job is to make you think your vote matters.  Why you ask? Because it’s the only way to make the system keep going. As long as people feel they can change our country by voting, the duopoly of Democrat and Republic lead decisions continue. We are presented with two options for the mere sake of making it look like we have choices. It’s a formality really, if they thought the public would go for only one choice trust me they would do it.

That’s why Goldman Sach’s and JP Morgan give money to both Democrats and Republicans. THEY DON”T CARE WHO WINS. As long as you don’t realize they don’t care. That’s why the media marginalized candidates who were anti-war and anti-big government. Ever heard of Mike Gravel? I would hope not, other wise the media hasn’t done a good job.

Gravel was a Democratic candidate for President in 2008. Gravel is firmly against war, I don’t mean he’s anti-war like Obama who said he would bring our troops home, and then continued the wars, explained the wars, hired private contractors to replace soldiers, and then sent more troops to Afghanistan. Not that kind of anti-war. gravel is a point your finger  in the face of the corporations anti-war.

Wonder why you never saw him in a debate? He says he was purposely kept out of the early debates because he’s anti-war, and when he asked why he wasn’t allowed to debate. They told him someone at GE didn’t approve of his views.

See the illusion is you have a choice. You can vote for any of the candidates we have pre-approved.

Diebold who is one of the largest electronic voting machine operators in the US, who was used for the Presidential election, has 5 developers that are convicted felons, including Senior Vice President Jeff Dean, topping the list are his twenty-three counts of felony. Don’t forget the two people convicted of voter fraud in Ohio for the 2004 elections. doesn’t that smell like democracy, placing a vote on a Diebold machine, that doesn’t spit out a voter receipt and doesn’t make the voting record public?

Don’t believe me that it’s a stacked house, can you name an Independent politician? Do you know the name of the only truly independent senator in the house? out of 100 senators there is only one Independent! And no I don’t count Lieberman as Independent in my eyes.

Our country faces a great threat, but it is not a Democratic Problem, it is not a Republican problem, it is a corruption problem. You can vote every member of congress out, every senator, replace every aid in the white house, we can protest against every bill that hurts small town Americans and at best we will create stagnation.

We have made honesty a liability in Washington instead of a virtue. We need to remove the revolving door of corporate influence in private government, we need to remove the lobbyist, we need to remove politically correct speech, we need a public that is more informed about government and liberty then they are about fantasy football stats and fall tv schedules.

We are losing an informed pubic to the self indulged, narcissistic entertainment industry of “ME”. I can hardly have a intelligent political discussion at work or in public with out someone bringing in the “he said/ she said” argument of democrat vs republicans. The republicans always think it’s the democrats fault, the democrats always think it’s the republicans fault. It’s never going to change. You know why, because at the end of the day republicans and democrats are forced to support party lines, they have to put food on the table too.

I think people who believe voting changes things are good intentioned patriots. I also think they are naive not to see the tyranny closing in. voting may work in a republic, it doesn’t not work in our current state of affairs. Protesting may work when government is scared of the people, it does not work when government owns the guns. Is it any wonder that the number one industry in the United States has become the Military industrial complex of war, security, and surveillance. Is it any wonder we are busy spreading DEMOCRACY in the middle east and not a Constitutional Republic?

Our government has become fat, bloated, complacent, and corrupt. We have public officials who don’t pay taxes and get appoint secretary of treasury, we have congressmen charged in money laundry that sit on the board of financial oversight, we have governors of states profiting from political decisions,We have Chris Dodd who is the Chairman of the Senate Banking Committee receiving contributions from Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, and JP Morgan! How is that even possible? Not to mention the fact that we can’t ignore the moral failures of our elected officials. It’s become common place to find out a politician is having an affair, of using tax payers money for personal vacations, or over paying for services to companies that profit their friends and families.

Voting is much like choosing the Prom King & Queen. In the end it comes down to who do you think you can live with hearing about and see on every magazine for the next 4 years. Think about this, what would make more change in our government. If 100% of people voted, or if 0% voted? The system only works if we comply.

But what happens when the feds start suing people for garage sales? and swat teaming families that sell eggs? Or get this what happens when  the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service feels like they have to have their very own SWAT team? Did we vote for this? Did we vote for Obama to head the UN Security Council? Did anyone ask you? Did the New York Times even mention it’s a violation of section 9 of the US Constitution?

You may say local politics are more important. Local issues affect your life before national issues do.

In Ohio for example our big issues was “issues 3″ should we build casinos in Ohio, after all it would create 34,000 jobs and we need jobs were in a recession. It would keep a billions dollars in state and we need revenue, after all were in a recession. But there is no talk about the fact that this was the 5th time Ohioans have voted on this issue. See voting doesn’t work …. because if an issues fails, it just comes back next year, and the year after, until they finally get it passed. the best we can hope for is a stalemate, to drag things out.

But the real issue isn’t even talked about. If your economy is so desperate for jobs and money that the only way you can create that is by people gambling, what kind society are you left with? Instead of cutting the budget, deflating government and state payrolls. We encourage people to gamble what little money they have. Why is it that answer is never making tough decisions and cutting programs, it’s always raising taxes, selling bonds, and finding new ways to con money out of tax payers.

I believe we are far past voting for change. We didn’t vote ourselves away from King George. We didn’t protest with clever slogans on poster board for England to leave us alone. When we get to the point of people having nothing left to lose, that’s when we will see real change in our country. When people stop feeling entitled to the profits of tax payers production. When we start creating and producing instead of consuming and plagiarizing. When blogs are filled with original content instead of re-posting mainstream news.

When kids start looking up to Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin as role models instead of athletes and rock stars. When people start reading history and living in reality instead of fantasize about hitting the lottery. When kids decide to learn how to play a real guitar instead of playing Rock Band …. that’s when change will come to America.

This blog entry doesn’t fall under my normal gaming reviews or suggestions, it falls under my random rants. And if your reading this you are probably torqued just like me and my blog hit your google/bing search when you searched for answers.

So what’s my beef this week?

Citibank and their corrupt mayhem and utter disregard for just simply operating as atleast a mediocre business. If you have any business with Citibank and possibly have a bonus credit card with them and/or are still confused of what’s happening to you, please read on. Just recently Citibank has made a large effort to close down “unwanted” gas bonus credti card accounts. By “unwanted”, not so much that they are overdue accounts as they are ones that the company is not making money off of. Here is some basic background to share on my experience with this. 

I had a Exxon Mobil Card through Citibank which was the best and top of the pile card in my wallet. 15 cents on every gallon and 1% on all purchases. I never spent more than I had, and their was never a point in which I had a balance. When you commute 30K a year, the benefits of this card go without saying.

But without warning, literally about a week ago, my favorite credit card is being denied, everywhere. Embarrassing, yes. Cause for concern, yes. I used this card for everything. I’m not even close to my limit. I go and check online, everything seems normal. I even call the hotline and I am told that “nothing seems wrong.” So I take my car in for some repairs and there again, the card gets denied. So I call again, and NOW I am told that my account has been closed due to negative credit history on a recent inquiry to Equifax. They didn’t care that they never informed me formally or that they lied to me just a day before, or did they share what this bad history was. I would “have to speak with Equifax.” Oh that’s cute. You ever just called and spoke to a Credit Bureau before? It is not possible. So in a worry that I am in the middle of a credit scam and my identity has been stolen, I purchase all 3 of my credit reports. I do keep an open membership with Experian and monitor my credit monthly as they send me e-mails, but I wanted to know what Equifax knew.

Surprise! Nothing’s different. Nothing negative and nothing has changed. I call back Citi and same response, I push harder to speak with someone else or a manager and got hung up on. So I shredded my card and paid my balance. Meanwhile I waited for my formal letter from Citi. The reason they shutdown my card … (drum roll please) … “Lack of Credit History.”

To quote the interwebs “WTF.” Well obviously that’s bulltards. I’m twenty seven. I never had a checking balance over $2K, let alone paid for something in cash. I’ve had 3 cars, student loans and dozens of credit cards. I’m lucky to not be over my head in debt. But lack of history? I don’t know what counts as credit history then. I’ve been an active card holder just with you guys for over a year. That’s a stupid excuse you could give me when I was 18 when I apply for the card, not at 27 and after a year as a card holder. Really … WTF.

But here is the real twist that you should all care about. Because Citibank closes the account this way, the report goes to all 3 bureaus stating that I have a negligent, I’ll repeat myself, it goes as a Negative Closing of an account that had to be forcibly closed by the loaner. So though Citibank didn’t actually have any  negative history before, they will be happy as clams to create it for you.

So to all those that haven’t yet opened that letter to see why, or maybe are just wondering what’s happening, or just want to know you are not alone. You are not, read and beware. And you are further getting bent over. This isn’t just a loss of a bonus card this is negative credit hitting your history.

For those that still get to keep your card and haven’t been shut down, you may like to know that you haven’t received this letter yet:

http://www.businessinsider.com/citi-customers-reach-out-to-us-2009-10

Enjoy your secret 29.99% interest increase that has taken effect, they just don’t feel the need to tell you, yet.

For Citibank, this won’t go unremembered, this isn’t water under a bridge. You didn’t close an account because you were having problems and needed to and do it in a decent manner. You cut cost at the expense of unsuspecting customers. You are everything we fear and hate about large banks. Forever, any affiliation that a company has with Citibank, is a company I won’t ever deal with.

Furthermore as per the letters I sent to Exxon/Mobil, it is also your responsibility to help your customers when an affiliate does something like this. Your inaction and lack of care does not go without notice. I will never ever, ever so help me from a life or death situation ever buy anything in affiliation to your company, Exxon Mobil. The card was to help ensure my spending means at your stations, now it ensures that you never receive so much as a penny from me for a lifetime. Not that I am that influential, but I hope it effects you in some way and any future problems that your company may befall will be a lifting joy to my betrayed heart.

Citibank, go *!$%#&$* yourself. I hope your company fails and your decisions to make horrible business practices are met with everlasting disdain and retaliation from everyone you screwed over. Your pathetic and needless actions does not go unnoticed and will not be forgiven or forgotten.

Signed,

http://cbn.globoradio.globo.com/comentaristas/max-gehringer/2009/10/13/AS-PESSOAS-NASCEM-LIDERES-OU-TORNAM-SE.htm

NOMURA is building its Australian investment bank, after poaching Peter Meurer from Citi to head its domestic banking operations.

Recruiting: Nomura has hired Peter Meurer from Citi to be chariman of its Australian investment banking operations. Picture: Bloomberg

Nov 2, 2009

See previous post http://tomnoyes.wordpress.com/2009/10/13/nokia-moneyobopay/

Also See post on 11/12 Obopay India – Another Failure?

Just recieved notice today that the Citi/Obopay “pilot” is over… am I suprised? No, at least not with the service termination.  From a Citi perspective, this was a 3+ year pilot without a business owner or business case and only 2,000 cusotmers (this is not a typo.. I’m not missing any 0’s). The original plan was to gain customer insight.  Once Citi invested…. the pilot dragged.. as Citi’s participation provided “value” to Obopay. Key learnings for banks:

• do this ”payments stuff” in your own environment, or manage pilots with a very well defined end date (less then 6 months).
• Once capital investment is made, heavily involve the supporting Line of business  (note to innovation teams)
• Set clear metrics for success, and don’t be afraid to pull the plug
• Ensure customers are aware that service is a  ”pilot”. Take a look at this notice below.. move your money out of here in next 2 months. 4 years… not much customer communication on this one.
• Re: Payments. Banks should think long and hard before they enable the next Visa/MC. Do you really want to outsource payments? (Next week’s paypal conference will lead to some very disruptive stuff.)
• Fat clients on mobile phones have been a global bust over last 6 years. Sorry Apple (See Apple’s Payment Patent Here).  This fat client failure has extended from mobile payment (Obopay) to mobile banking (see Firethorn is dead). iPhone is potential as a game changer, but Apple (the manufacturer) is trying to create a closed system without banks (Perhaps their brand is strong enough to make everyone ditch their exsting relationships… naa). The best hope for rich applications (FAT CLIENTS) may be NFC, but the MNOs and handset manufacturers are strategically delaying (subject of a future post).

So while the Citi-Obopay service termination is not a suprise, the ability for Obopay to attract new capital (without customers or much due dilligence) is amazing. Carol must be capable of selling sand in the desert. Given my interaction with “some very large” MNO/FSI mbanking heads in US, India, Asia, EMEA, … Obopay’s focus and “success” is much of a mystery (and not much concern). On the positive side they have an excellent marketing/alliance team.

Os alunos Daker Fernandes Pinheiro, Paulo Borges, Rafael Lima, Sara Carvalho e Luiz Sotero integraram a equipe do CIn que foi à final estadual. A cerimônia de premiação ocorreu 20/10/2009 e a equipe do Centro de Informática ficou entre as dez melhores do estado de Pernambuco. Foram mais de 4000 alunos inscritos. Luiz Sotero, que também é Diretor Comercial do CITi, disse que a experiência é muito boa e dá uma idéia de como funciona uma indústria de grande porte.