Peter's Viewpoint

During our latest trip to Malta, I discussed alternate energy with an Australian in our group.

Through our discussion and comparison of what the electric company is doing in both Greece and Australia, it appears that electric companies may be in collusion.

The companies from both countries make consumers that want to use alternate energy pay for the investment of producing electricity from the sun.  Additionally, both strongly suggest that we use a bank loan for the investment that they say will have a return on investment in 10 years.

Out of curiosity using a calculator found on the Internet, I did the numbers for Maryland which is almost on the similar longitude with Athens, Greece and the results showed that using 50% of the solar energy in the home that uses about $200 per month (meaning that you would still be paying about $100 per month for electricity) would require about 18 years to make a profit with an initial cost of $57,000 for the 7.1 KW system.

The currently proposed system in Greece is that you buy 20,000 euros worth of solar equipment to produce energy but you are not allowed to use that energy directly, instead you must continue to utilize the electricity provided to you by your electric company and they will collect the energy produced by your equipment and give you a credit on your electric bill in an amount just about the same as what they are charging you.

As an alternate method oddly enough, the electric company will supposedly allow a consumer (in Greece) to use wind energy to directly power their home.

Why the difference?  Your guess is as good as mine.

While criticism about the abuse of energy in the United States continues, I have not seen any particular efforts by Greece or Europe to offer tax incentives for the promotion of using photovoltaic systems.  Currently, the federal government of the USA allows homeowners to take a tax credit of 30% of the purchase price up to $2,000.

Here is a link to calculate the return on your investment in solar panel photovoltaic systems:

Return on Investment for Solar Panels

and a pdf with more information:

Solar power, a guide to making money on your investment

I believe that the majority of sunlight areas should use solar energy but not giving money away to public electric companies.

I think that we might as well start our own community electric company!

Now here’s a story about fake watches with a bad ending!

Almost everyone knows how nice those extremely expensive watches from Vacheron Constantin, Blancpain, Girard-Perregaux, Parmigiani Fleurier, Omega, and others to Rolex are.  They decorate your arm nicely as “iced out gear or bling” jewelry.

So what do you do if you can’t afford to spend anywhere up to $1.5 million?

Simple, you look for the guy selling copies of them on the street, right.

The problem is that even counterfeit watches are made to look so much like the real thing that they even attract criminals like magnets.

A young man living in northern Greece found this out the hard way.  He was in an Internet café and while he was there two hoodlums spotted the bogus watch that he was wearing and mistook it for the real thing.  As soon as the victim departed the cafe, incognizant of the fact that he was being followed, he was soon attacked and killed for the fake watch on his arm.

What can be derived from this story is that:
You probably don't want to wear a fake watch or even fake jewelry anymore because criminal activity is at an all time high.
If you do wear it, then you had better be observant and keep an eye on who’s keep tabs on you!

While Greece attempts to eradicate the DNA of subversion that has become embedded in its system over a lifetime, the outlook is bleak as to how long it must endure while fighting an economic battle at the same time.

The United States of America is suffering both economically and psychologically from entering into multiple theaters of war in Iraq and Afghanistan, and is now contemplating the participation in a war against corruption.

The war against corruption is a degeneracy that ultimately has no end in sight because it is almost impossible to fight this kind opponent when the leaders of this war are actually the leadership of the country itself.

The U.S. Military Intelligence has seen the difficulties of eliminating Al Qaeda over the last decade, a war against corruption will drain its resources leaving the USA vulnerable to more aggression.

The current trend in Greece is to change the social network environment from devious and tax evasion to a people that are socially considerate about the needs of the country, one of the previous politicians bluntly declared the acceptance of a bribe by the Siemens.

Mr. T. Mantelis a former minister under the political party of Mr. Simitis declared his acceptance of bribery in the most contemptuous of ways, saying that what he accepted as a deposit into his Swiss bank account was a political donation to help cover the political expenses during his campaign.  Not only did he not declare the money back then, but he also claims that he did not know who deposited 450,000 Euros into his account.

While the people of Greece know that the majority of the political leaders from all of the parties are corrupt, it is the people that are paying the debts that were created by others as they would say “plironoun ta spasmena tou allinou” in Greek.

The saddest and most significantly obvious psychological parameter of all of this is that the corrupt politicians have trained themselves into believing that they are morally correct and that the illegal payments that they have received are justly due to them for the work that they perform.

At the same time, the German international company Siemens, that has been brought to court in Germany and has received nothing more than a smack on the hand for bribery charges of government officials in Greece and abroad, has been betrayed by the blunder of Mr. T. Mantelis.  His confession will now re-open the case against Siemens by the Greek government.

It is time for the current government to prove it’s worthiness to the people of Greece.

Prosecute and punish Mr. T. Mantelis now!

Then continue to weed out all of the others without regard to which party they belong to.

I personally believe that all of the politicians and their staff should undergo polygraph tests and that no politicians should have accounts in banks outside of Greece.

Who are those responsible for the destruction of earth’s natural resources?

Oil and electric companies place the blame on the consumer.  After all while the profit in the billions giving us the gas, oil, and electricity to make our lives more comfortable, they keep the economy going through production.

History is supposed to teach us that we should not repeat the same mistakes of the past but it appears that the energy companies may have construed that to mean not having a sinking ship destroy the coastline.  We as consumers began the campaign to reduce the use of oil and electricity back in the 70’s when we were awakened by the blackmail of the same companies.  Then the Valdez came to remind us again that we should be more conservative and respectful in the use of energy.  We may have managed to decrease the usage but then we were victimized by the vicious circle of the auto companies offering super powered larger cars with engines that increased the consumption of oil and gas, coalesced with air conditioning that spread world wide requiring enormous amounts of electricity.

Solar energy is now available but we are still not seeing the technology used as much as it can to develop an entire industry that can increase jobs while at the same time reduce demands on energy.

In Greece, the electric company has finally created a solution that is totally in their favor.  The government and the government owned electric company have delayed the use of solar energy until now.  The reason being is that they designed their business plan so that the consumer will fund the investment that will provide the government with the opportunity to resell the energy to northern European countries.

With an investment of starting at 20,000 Euros and a payback period of 10 to 20 years, the consumer is NOT allowed to use the photovoltaic energy that is generated from the solar cells and power regulators that will be installed on their homes nor is the amount to be offset against the energy bill.  Instead consumers are required to continue to pay their electric bills and wait for their money and return on investment that the electric company will pay based on a price that is set by the electric company.  In addition to that, they suggest that the consumer use a loan from a bank and they do not indicate what if any tax deductions will be made or whether income tax will be paid by the consumer.

So we have to ask ourselves, is it really their fault or ours?

Damned is we do, damned if we don’t.

Living in the limbo of European decision makers gives one a wide perspective to the realities of world economics.

The current unpleasant financial environment that both the American and European people undergo everyday proves that the simplistic thoughts of our fore fathers are essentially similar to that of a classical Greek saying “Pan Metron Ariston” which basically translates to “everything in moderation”.

From the massive rush into globalization that opened the locks of the canal to the east without regulation, to the pedagogy of illiteracy, have provoked undesired social consequences of the loss of work to people world wide in the areas of services and manufacturing.  As a result, the instability of the western countries became the hornet’s nest of the financial players in the category of extremist capitalists to play the tables of fortunes with the livelihoods of millions at stake.

Even while Mr. Obama and Mr. Bernanke attempt to stabilize a destabilized market; their efforts are hindered by the multitude of ongoing parameters that have the effect of walking on a pane of glass that cracks with every step that they take.

The EU at the same time has failed because they did not take the steps necessary to build their internal market and structure the basic market functions in the same manner that exists in the United States.  The exportation of manufacturing and services to countries outside of Europe forces Europeans to increase their importation of products and services to disseminate money externally.

From a micro economic perspective to the whole of Europe, the events that led Greece to it’s dysfunctional state of affairs are now the basis for the creation of solutions that continue to fail in lieu of the high trends of importation combined with minimal exportation of goods and services, and should not be continued if the country wishes to reduce the need to borrow from foreign sources because it cannot offset monetary needs.

One possible solution in the past would have been to assess high import taxes on all goods and services that are produced outside the American and European continents, however as most manufacturing is now devoid due to outsourcing that would be undesirable to the general market.  The efforts to increase cash flow by the countries of Europe through increased direct taxation on the sale of goods and services may become directly responsible for the domino effect due to the lack of morals, geopolitics and political ideology as ingredients that were prerequisites to Keynesian theories of the previous century.

The foreboding and undesirable thoughts of bankruptcy in the near future will become reality show of punishment.

Failure of the market's self-healing power

When we think and speak about Europe many think back to the days of old and bold, castles, sea battles, royalty, and gallant soldiers on horses with lances.

Europe has moved into the 21st century exchanging royalty with pompous do nothing politicians, horses and lances with Lamborghini, Bugatti, Ferrari, Porche parading with money, castles with condominiums and skyscraping office buildings.

So what is it that separates the United States from the de-united states of Europe?

America constructs theme parks and separates them from daily life.

While living in Europe the one thing that Europeans can be sure of is that they have been paying taxes to the state of Brussels since their inception to see that nothing has been accomplished except for the establishment of a single currency.

Europe shows no signs of any unity or continuity except for collecting taxes as in the days of kings and queens.

While the world turns it is obvious that economies are worsening in the western nations.

The Financial Times provides articles that summarize the failures of Europe while at the same time American cities are starting to display signs of bankruptcy.

Once again we are all becoming entangled in the web of financial abuse that is the delayed failure of the Bush administration.  Governments must end the illegal acts of financial terrorism that are bringing world economies to the brink of disaster.

Its time to take the bull by the horns!

Ban all CDS and hedge fund transactions now the same way that stock markets can place into effect an immediate shutdown!

I think that the latest uproar regarding the change of strategy on the payment for use of Facebook displays a failure by the originators to see the fault in their logic.

If they thought of this beforehand, then it is obvious that they simply wanted to take the money and run before investors changed their minds.

Just about everyone has registered on a social website.  They offer an easy alternative to having a personal page that you can load pictures, music, and video.  Most of all they give you the advantage, or disadvantage depending on how one looks at it, of being connected with friends and business colleagues.

Funny how everyone fights for privacy laws and yet at the same time will go to one of these social sites and write anything on the “wall” of their own page or of someone else’s.
What most people do not consider is that the social sites are the owners of the very same data that you put on your page.

Today’s digital age not only offers the opportunity to be connected with people and businesses but also provides an incredible amount of sensitive information by those of you who do not consider the possibility of future shock.

It doesn’t take a sleuth to understand what kind of life one lives or to follow a chain of friends to discover the where and when people are and what they do, just some common sense logic and social websites.

As a consultant, business development is always a primary thought after all we all need to eat but shouldn’t social websites be broken into personal and business?

As I see it, the main motive of a personal social website should be completely limited to you and your friends and family and completely closed off to the rest of the world.

In contrast, a business networking site, I dislike the term social in this use, has a main motive to reach out and make money.  There is nothing really social about that.

Here is a good example of what kind of market analysis is deduced from participants of social websites that provide interesting information for businesses and individuals.

A blog by the Brand Strategist Valeria Maltoni

Diaspora, the name of those Greeks who immigrated to other countries to save themselves and their families from poverty and famine has been called upon numerous times to help save Greece.  They have helped Greece many times but like a doctor administering the wrong medical treatment, they only manage to prolong and strengthen the disease that continues to proliferate.

Today’s financial crisis and problems in Greece are not something that happened overnight.

Greeks are not thieves by nature; it is the Greek government that forces them to become tax evaders because of the mismanagement of the country.

If you had civil employees that worked have a day but collected full salaries, tremendous benefits, and higher pensions that those working in the private sector, would you mind paying taxes?

Would you mind paying taxes to gov’t agencies that strike every chance they get to add extra days to the holiday weekends?

When you build a home, do you have to do it illegally because the government does not advocate land laws on purpose so that you will build it illegally to provide a constant circle of illegal penalties?

If a government employee of any status or level were to commit a crime, accept graft or Baksheesh, how would you feel if they never go to jail?

There are too many stories to be told by both the locals as well as the foreigners who live and survive battles with government bureaucracy everyday in Greece.  These are the conditions that modern Greeks have to endure due to the form of democracy that is in effect.

I received an excellent video that explains what various forms of government are about and what role democracy plays within them.

Someone from the Greek government should watch this to learn the differences.

If you are one of the Diaspora, it’s time you convey your disappointment to the Greek government, otherwise feel free to continue supporting the leeches.