Pretty good OP ED by Warren Buffet NYT 11/16/10

I thought you would like to know that Warren Buffet one of the richest man and most outspoken Billionaire ,who has made, now plan to giveaway most of his wealth wrote a letter addressed to Uncle Sam( US Government)

Language is quite humorous. The points made are some what technical.The style is down to earth. He quotes mother to write of thanks promptly.His ending is quite beautiful.
your nephew. Here is the letter.


DEAR Uncle Sam,

My mother told me to send thank-you notes promptly. I’ve been remiss.

Let me remind you why I’m writing. Just over two years ago, in September 2008, our country faced an economic meltdown. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the pillars that supported our mortgage system, had been forced into conservatorship. Several of our largest commercial banks were teetering. One of Wall Street’s giant investment banks had gone bankrupt, and the remaining three were poised to follow. A.I.G., the world’s most famous insurer, was at death’s door.

Many of our largest industrial companies, dependent on commercial paper financing that had disappeared, were weeks away from exhausting their cash resources. Indeed, all of corporate America’s dominoes were lined up, ready to topple at lightning speed. My own company, Berkshire Hathaway, might have been the last to fall, but that distinction provided little solace.

Nor was it just business that was in peril: 300 million Americans were in the domino line as well. Just days before, the jobs, income, 401(k)’s and money-market funds of these citizens had seemed secure. Then, virtually overnight, everything began to turn into pumpkins and mice. There was no hiding place. A destructive economic force unlike any seen for generations had been unleashed.

Only one counterforce was available, and that was you, Uncle Sam. Yes, you are often clumsy, even inept. But when businesses and people worldwide race to get liquid, you are the only party with the resources to take the other side of the transaction. And when our citizens are losing trust by the hour in institutions they once revered, only you can restore calm.

When the crisis struck, I felt you would understand the role you had to play. But you’ve never been known for speed, and in a meltdown minutes matter. I worried whether the barrage of shattering surprises would disorient you. You would have to improvise solutions on the run, stretch legal boundaries and avoid slowdowns, like Congressional hearings and studies. You would also need to get turf-conscious departments to work together in mounting your counterattack. The challenge was huge, and many people thought you were not up to it.

Well, Uncle Sam, you delivered. People will second-guess your specific decisions; you can always count on that. But just as there is a fog of war, there is a fog of panic — and, overall, your actions were remarkably effective.

I don’t know precisely how you orchestrated these. But I did have a pretty good seat as events unfolded, and I would like to commend a few of your troops. In the darkest of days, Ben Bernanke, Hank Paulson, Tim Geithner and Sheila Bair grasped the gravity of the situation and acted with courage and dispatch. And though I never voted for George W. Bush, I give him great credit for leading, even as Congress postured and squabbled.

You have been criticized, Uncle Sam, for some of the earlier decisions that got us in this mess — most prominently, for not battling the rot building up in the housing market. But then few of your critics saw matters clearly either. In truth, almost all of the country became possessed by the idea that home prices could never fall significantly.

That was a mass delusion, reinforced by rapidly rising prices that discredited the few skeptics who warned of trouble. Delusions, whether about tulips or Internet stocks, produce bubbles. And when bubbles pop, they can generate waves of trouble that hit shores far from their origin. This bubble was a doozy and its pop was felt around the world.

So, again, Uncle Sam, thanks to you and your aides. Often you are wasteful, and sometimes you are bullying. On occasion, you are downright maddening. But in this extraordinary emergency, you came through — and the world would look far different now if you had not.

Your grateful nephew,

Warren

(Thank you Uncle Warren for the lessons.
bush)

Hispanics have longer life expectancy overturning the assuption .

Elizabeth Arias of the National Center for Health Statistics, speculated that the longer life expectancy might have to do with cultural factors, including close social and family networks and low rates of smoking.

“One hypothesis,” Dr. Arias said, “is that these serve as protective factors that mitigate the negative effects of poverty or underemployment or lack of health care.”

This is a unique finding as it is mostly believed that life expectancy depends on (other than genetic factors) education,income, availability of health care ,moderate weight and diebities control.

All the above factors are lacking in the hispanic community in United states.So we should study if these other factors help other communities with closer family ties and conectedness with the larger community.

Question is can the community at large benefit from the traites of the Hispanic and bring logivity at lower cost for the larger society.

I guess this study raises more questions than answers and we are better for it.

Lessons from Ted's life

From his life it seemed that he was not thinking and contemplating result of his reckless behaviour. May be i am being too harsh. As he was the father figure of a large family it was important for him to show a face of strength.

Now i think that one thing he represented that no matter the flaws, no matter the adversity one can continue to pursue the dream and do the best with the life given to us. For that reason he was much loved by his family and friends.