The Thundering Voice

Know how the banks provoked the financial crisis in 2009

Wed, 27 Oct 2010 21:14:25 -0500

The Banking Act of 1933 was a law that established the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) in the United States and introduced banking reforms, some of which were designed to control speculation. It is most commonly known as the Glass–Steagall Act, after its legislative sponsors, Carter Glass and Henry B. Steagall.

Some provisions of the Act, such as Regulation Q, which allowed the Federal Reserve to regulate interest rates in savings accounts, were repealed by the Depository Institutions Deregulation and Monetary Control Act of 1980. Provisions that prohibit a bank holding company from owning other financial companies were repealed on November 12, 1999, by the Gramm–Leach–Bliley Act.

The repeal of the Glass–Steagall Act of 1933 effectively removed the separation that previously existed between Wall Street investment banks and depository banks and has been blamed by some for exacerbating the damage caused by the collapse of the subprime mortgage market that led to the Financial crisis of 2007–2010. The potential to make enormous profits trading mortgage-backed securities with artificially high ratings encouraged banks to take on otherwise intolerable risk in the form of bad loans. The ease with which people were obtaining home loans contributed to an artificial housing boom and exacerbated the inevitable decline.

Why are people so shortsighted about INMIGRATION?Statistics...

Wed, 27 Oct 2010 21:17:28 -0500

Why are people so shortsighted about INMIGRATION?

Statistics of foreign born scientists and engineers in the United States:

55% of Ph.D. students in engineering in the United States are foreign born (2004).
45% of Ph.D. physicists working in the United States are foreign born (2004).
80% of total post-doctoral chemical and materials engineering in the United States are foreign-born (1988).
33% of all U.S. Ph.D.s in science and engineering are now awarded to foreign born graduate students (2004).
An astounding 60 percent of the top science students in the United States and 65 percent of the top math students are the children of immigrants. In addition, foreign-born high school students make up 50 percent of the 2004 U.S.Math Olympiad’s top scorers, 38 percent of the U.S. Physics Team, and 25 percent of the Intel Science Talent Search finalists—the United States’ most prestigious awards for young scientists and mathematicians.
Among 1985 foreign-born engineering doctorate holders, about 40% expected to work in the United States after graduating. An additional 17 percent planned to stay on as post-doctorates, and most of these are likely to remain permanently in the United States. Those, almost 60% of foreign-born engineering doctorate holders are likely to become part of the US engineering labor force within a few years after graduating. The other approximately 40% of foreign born engineering Phds mostly likely find employment working for Multinational corporations outside of the US.
In the 2004 Intel Science Talent Search, more children have parents who entered the country on H-1B (professional) visas than parents born in the United States. To place this finding in perspective, note that new H-1B visa holders each year represent less than 0.04 percent of the U.S. population.

Discrimination of Hispanic Executives in Corporate America

Mon, 19 Jul 2010 16:54:22 -0500

Thundering Voice, thank you for giving me the opportunity to talk about this issues. I would like to get in touch with other hispanic/latin business executives that have been discriminated by senior executives that have consistently deny promotions, assign unpaid responsibilities, abuse emotionally or any other type/way of form.

Please write in this blog.

Lo que no es justo, no es justo y ya esta bien que nos tomen el pelo en cada compañia que trabajamos.

Thank you

Minority representation in the USA Senate

Thu, 29 Apr 2010 18:44:00 -0500

Nestle in Zimbabwe

Wed, 23 Dec 2009 21:31:15 -0500

Nestle shuts Zimbabwe factory, citing intimidation

December 23, 2009 7:34 p.m. EST

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(CNN) -- Nestle, one of the world's largest food companies, has shut down a factory in Zimbabwe after a dispute with the government, it announced Wednesday.

The company came under pressure from the government to buy milk from suppliers not of its own choosing, it said.

The dairy at the center of the dispute is owned by the wife of President Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwean media reported.

Government officials and police paid an "unannounced visit" to the Nestle factory on Saturday, and a tanker of milk was "forced" upon the factory, the company said. Two company managers were questioned and released the same day, the company said.

"Since under such circumstances normal operations and the safety of employees are no longer guaranteed, Nestle decided to temporarily shut down the factory," the company said.

Nestle bought milk from the dairy reportedly owned by Mugabe's wife for most of the year, but in October it stopped the arrangement -- which it said was always intended to be a temporary response to the country's severe economic crisis.

Since it stopped buying milk from the Gushungo Dairy Estate and seven other farms on October 4, "Nestle Zimbabwe has faced pressure to purchase and process fresh milk from certain non-contracted suppliers, a request which the company has consistently refused," it said.

Mugabe deflected a question about the dispute in a news conference on Wednesday, the Zimbabwe Times reported.

"I don't know; have you any detail about that?" Mugabe said, apparently puzzled, looking first at Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and then at Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara for a response, the newspaper said.

Nestle, a Switzerland-based company, has been in Zimbabwe for 50 years, it said.

Mugabe has ruled Zimbabwe since it gained independence in 1980. During his tenure, the country has gone from being one of the breadbaskets of Africa to extreme poverty, out of control inflation and outbreaks of disease including cholera.

Tsvangirai, the leader of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, became prime minister under a power-sharing agreement this year.

TTV QUESTIONS:

1. What is Nestle's position regarding the economic sanctions against Robert Mugabe and the leading rulers of Zimbawe since 2002?

2. Why is nestle purchasing milk from a company owned by Mugabe's wife and family? Are the prices paid to final farmers fair?

3. Does Nestle's condition as a swiss corporation allow them to ignore european, american and UN sanctions?

4. What should be the response of responsible and concerned consumers to Nestle practices in Zimbabwe and other countries?

EU: Sanctions against Zimbabwe to remain

updated 1:31 p.m. EDT, Sun September 13, 2009

The European Union will not lift sanctions on Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and his allies until the country improves its human rights record and moves ahead on a power-sharing plan, an EU official said.

Not-for-profit business models

Tue, 29 Sep 2009 13:09:24 -0500

This is an incredible article I read in the "strategy+business" magazine while flying from Paris to Dallas this week. I asked Marjorie Kelly to let me reference it in this blog and I invite everybody to read it.

If you are looking for "praxis" and a realistic approach to social responsibility, this is the article to read.

You can find the full article in the following website:

http://www.strategy-business.com/press/enewsarticle/enews022609?pg=all

Welcome

Fri, 29 May 2009 20:15:00 -0500

Dear friends, welcome to the blog of "The Thundering Voice".

It is the intention of this blog to serve as a forum to openly and honestly discuss about social responsibility of people and enterprises.

We have the need to make this a better world, inhabited by better communities and societies that enable the integral development of every human being.

We must participate in God's creation. We must, with humility, let ourselves become tools in the hands of the creator to fulfill His final vision for humanity.

My approach ties corporate social responsibility with the social doctrine of the Catholic church. I am honest disclosing this. I want to hear from all of you that share same or different points of view.

Mine is reflected in the book that gives the title to this blog: "The Thundering Voice".

I thank you for your contribution and I am looking forward to having great interaction with all of you.

Pedro