SEEBECK's VIEW

The Congress of the U.S. Needs to Reform Itself and Find a Backbone

2010-02-28T02:12:00.009-05:00

by Bill Seebeck

Every day it seems, the U.S. Senate fails to act on some measure because it needs 60 plus votes to pass anything. Like most citizens, I ask why? What happened to I have more than 50 votes and you win or lose?

In the U.S. Senate, the minority has the right to filibuster legislation. Ok, many of us saw Jimmy Stewart in "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington". Yet the filibuster was generally viewed as an extreme measure that could be employed, to draw public attention to legislation and a point of view that the minority believed wasn't being presented.

Today, it seems that the Senate views the need of 60 plus votes as an every day occurrence, fearing possible filibuster.

Now, I don't know about the rest of the citizenry, but I have had it with the House and the Senate. Who are you working for ladies and gentlemen? Us or the special interests? You have to choose!

We elected a new president, a new Congress and where are we? Nowhere different it seems to me.

We are still at war and every day losing very brave young men and women and tens of thousands are in harms way right now.

We are still in dire financial straits with more crises to come including, and as lawyers always say, but not limited to: Collapse of the Commercial Real Estate Market, more foreclosures in the spring since the Banks have not been processing Government programs to rewrite mortgages, and the collapse of the credit card asset backed derivative marketplace, the other shoe yet to fall.

We still have no new health care despite millions and millions of American workers out of work with no insurance or so under insured that they are hanging by their thumbs.

Our cities, towns, villages and our states are fast going bankrupt and with it our schools, police protection and social support systems.

Who is running this country?

My message to the Congress is this: Take off your $1,000 suits and golden cufflinks, put on a pair of jeans if you can fit into them and start working day and night to take the burden of the corporations and government off the backs of the American people.

If you don't, I don't care what political party you belong to, We, the people will throw you out of office next November. If you don't have a spine Mr. or Ms. elected official, FIND ONE!

There is not a fellow American that I speak to who doesn't have serious problems, families are in trouble, the gap between haves and have nots is now so wide that neither group can see one another. It is truly a great divide that if left widening will forever change this nation of ours, this great experiment in democracy. As Mr. Franklin said after the Constitutional Convention, when asked what kind of government had been decided upon, "You have a Republic, if you can keep it!"

We are now at that place where we have to decide that question once and for all.

US Out of Recession? Don't Believe It!

2009-10-29T15:42:00.018-04:00

by Bill Seebeck

The BBC just flashed a story that the US economy has come out of recession but warns that recovery will be slow.

I have written about this subject more than a few times over the last two years and very little has changed. People are out of work and are still out of work.

Do you think that because you want it to be over that it is over? Well, guess what? Think again. Look around you and just this morning there was another story of mounting new layoffs in the publishing industry.

I was in Walmart and Costco yesterday and what was clear to me was how many more people are buying their clothes there. Fashion for the general public is becoming more "dressed down" because it is cheaper. We can't afford to be "dressed up" anymore. Food prices are still high even though we have less money. Gas prices are near $3.00 per gallon on the east coast and we can't afford that either.

Is the general news media that stupid that they don't get it? We are in big trouble and it is NOT getting better. I hate to tell the TV & Cable NETWORKS, but there is NOTHING ENTERTAINING about how poor the American people are fast becoming. Wake Up!

The BBC story quotes Wells Fargo's chief economist John Silvia as saying that, "He sees disappointment ahead for US workers and consumers, with a long-term decline in living standards." He is right. It is so clear that living standards are already rapidly declining because they must. We don't have work and we don't have disposable income!

So then how do you build a new robust recovering economy on the backs of a general public who are on their knees?

Answer that question someone!

Health Care - What's the Story?

2009-08-29T12:15:00.006-04:00

Part I – How To Think About It & The Economics and Politics of It

By Bill Seebeck

My son Matt taught me a few things in an essay he wrote this week, when he asked the question, “Why do so many people know so very little about subjects that are so important to them?” Now he asked that question not about health care but about the defense of the nation.

In the essay, he said that in his quest to answer that question, he thought, “What kind of preconceived notions did people have and where did they come from? What is the reason for their knowing a half-truth or a true falsehood and was it a result of their education?”

He continued, “After long periods of study and introspection, I deduced that there are two types of knowledge people acquire often without acknowledging the disparity between the two. First, ‘perceived knowledge’ is a veritable brain dump, something learned or heard of, studied for a test but never examined or understood.”

“The second type, ‘actual learned knowledge’ is the opposite, instructed or read in a detailed manner and expressed in such a way that it is appreciated,” he opined. “The beauty of actual learned knowledge is that it incorporates a whole spectrum of topics. For example, history inherently requires economics, politics, and sociology to be more fully explained. It is a way to wisdom,” he wrote.

Thanks Matt for helping to focus on and shape how we think about the subjects that are so important to us. Thank you also for serving all of us this day in the uniform of our country.

Health Care

So, as we think about health care, let us also think about the fact that we also need to consider economics, politics, history, sociology, medicine, science, technology and how we value life, our lives and others.

Economics

Health care is one of the most expensive items in our personal budgets, state budgets and in the budget of the United States.

The cost to those budgets continues to rise. We (the citizens, our state governments and federal government) cannot afford the basic cost of health care, nor its continuing increases.

Therefore, we must change the system.

Politics

There are lots of politics wrapped up in health care. Why? In part because there is so much MONEY wrapped up in health care.

Corporations run health care. They make the drugs we take, operate the pharmacies that dispense the drugs, make the machines (CT-Scan, X-Rays, etc.) used for performing tests, blood testing services, they own the insurance companies and the hospitals that determine how much everything costs and who is going to pay for what.

Then we have the doctors, nurses, technicians, etc., and the colleges and universities that train them. It costs thousands and thousands of dollars to train these people who not only choose this profession but they are the people to whom we entrust our lives. They have a need to protect the quality of their educations, but they also need to pay off the cost of their educations while practicing medicine, paying the high cost of insurance required to practice medicine and living life with some quality.

The next group is ourselves. We always want something better. We also don’t want to pay a high cost for it.

We have our seniors, who since the 1960’s have had a medical system of their own that in tandem with Social Security provides at the very least a basic style of life that recognizes their dignity and life’s effort as working people, who because of age and the challenges of health that come with aging generally cannot afford a system without support.

Finally, we have our elected officials. They are after all politicians. They are influenced by each of the groups noted above and many more. The lobbyists that represent such groups contribute millions to politicians at election time. Such influence can cause an elected official to move from the right thing to do, to the thing to do in order to get elected the next time they run for public office.

A sub-group of the elected officials are governors, state governments and their legislative bodies. Most states require an annual BALANCED budget and the cost of health care to a state can be punishing, especially if the federal government doesn’t help fund what the state is required by law to provide its citizens. Then, if the state has to cut costs to balance their budget, then local governments (your town) will also have less money from the state and generally will have to make cuts as well.

It is the role of the President of course to lead the country as its chief executive officer. He or she must offer programs to Congress that balance the cost of health care in relation to other needs of the nation with in this case, the health care needs of its citizens.

The President knows that the health care system has to change because as we noted in the economic section, it costs too much for everyone. In the economic mess we are in, it absolutely must be addressed. Not later, but now because it represents such a large and growing percentage of the federal budget, state governments and our own budgets at home.

What we change to as the NEW HEALTH CARE SYSTEM is a battle between all of the groups noted above, the debate we are experiencing today, with all sorts of half-truths and falsehoods flying about, all because it is first ABOUT MONEY and only a distant second about our health.

As a result, at the end of the day, it does not mean that we will have a new system that will truly serve our health care needs in the future nor be as inexpensive as it could possibly be. What we will have will be what the lobbyists and elected officials bang together. Unfortunately, not a happy thought.

More tomorrow!

Let me know what you think.

Post Script: Responses to the Michael Jackson Article

2009-07-21T15:27:00.006-04:00

I have received a number of comments on the article I wrote about Michael Jackson last month. Unfortunately, only one of those scripts could be published. The others were written with words that were filled with hate and unpublishable language.

Everyone has the right to their opinion about any subject in this society, that's what free speech is all about. Yet, I am willing to say that not too many of us actually "knew" Michael Jackson. I know I didn't, never met the boy or the man. What I knew about him was his work, music and public performances as an entertainer. These are the only things that I can judge about him and yes, I believe that they were expressions of extraordinary gifts. He developed them and then shared them with us, the world around him.

It appeared to me also that he was a troubled person and had many conflicts in his life that only he and those actually in his life may ever truly understand. As a Christian, I give thanks for his shared gifts and pray for those things in his life that troubled him. I do not presume to be the judge of his soul. I believe that is the role of God.

And as for the peace of God, it is always present and offered to each of us, unconditionally.

-- Bill Seebeck

Happy Birthday USA

2009-07-04T12:01:00.002-04:00

I make a promise to work harder this coming year at being a better American.

-- Bill Seebeck

What's With All of This Age Discrimination? Whatever Happened to the Dignity of Labor?

2009-07-01T14:30:00.010-04:00

by Bill Seebeck

When I first went looking for a full-time job, I was greeted with the usual statement, "You have no experience." Of course, I knew that, but my answer was then and I am sure it is today for all of those young people starting out,"How am I going to get experience if you don't give me a chance to see what I can do!" Give me a chance.

In today's world, it is money that is the value that counts. If a company can hire you or even two of you at less money than it is paying one older, more "seasoned" person, they will do it in a heartbeat. Then on top of it, they will let the older person go --- laid off, fired, whatever you want to call it. The British call it being "made redundant".

Today, I have a bundle full of friends, as I am sure my readers have as well, that have lost their jobs. They are baby boomers, older than 50. They have had very good careers, degrees, yes, including from Harvard and now they have been made redundant and the worst part, they can't seem able to get another job.

I find this amazing. Why? Because as my old partner Hunter Grant used to say, it is counter intuitive. I mean we educate people, then they gain very valuable experience and insight and then when they hit 45 plus, instead of benefiting from their experience, employers are looking to get rid of them.

Why? Is it because they have become flawed? Are they somehow diseased? Have they acquired too much knowledge? No. No. The reason that employers don't want them around anymore is because they cost too much, their salaries have increased over time and so have their benefit packages. It has nothing to do with knowledge and experience, it has all to do with MONEY MONEY MONEY MONEY.

When the United States traded knowledge and experience for MONEY it fundamentally went the wrong way. What a surprise then that we are where we are right now as a nation, because chasing MONEY can lead to GREED and then you never, never have enough.

Yet another reason, other than MONEY, that these boomers can't get new jobs is because they are viewed as too OLD. Companies are constantly finding new ways to get around age discrimination laws. One popular way is online applications. These computerized resumes are then scanned by companies to create reports that can be ranked by "year college degree awarded". If you add 21 to the subtraction from the current year, generally that will give you the person's age (e.g. graduated 1971, therefore: 2009-1971=38+21=59).

How about the application question, "What is the salary or value of benefit package that would you accept for this position?" That question is asked without the company having provided the compensation range. The company attitude is, we don't have to tell you what the job pays, but you have to tell us what you will accept. This practice allows companies to rid themselves of lots of boomer resumes legally. Yes, there are lots of ways around in the age discrimination game. Is anyone with oversight looking into this?

So, is this a Seebeck Rant? You bet it is.

Another related subject should make me cry, but now I laugh when I hear our Congress people say in their absolute ignorance of reality, "You know Social Security costs are high, the same with other 'entitlement' programs, people will just have to work into their 70's". HAHAHA! or LOL! Mr./Ms. Congress Person, we know that we are going to have to work until we're in our 70's, because we have no money left.

The problem, Mr./Ms. Elected Official, is that after the age of 45, the employers are looking to rid themselves of us because it is easier to cut us to lower costs rather than to keep us boomers employed until we're 70 or 71 or 72. They would rather bring in a couple of 24 year olds, pay them very little and work them to the bone. So, who is going to hire us boomers when we are old? Dunkin Donuts? Wal-Mart? Fortunately, they do, but generally at minimum wage.

So, now here is where another term I dislike intensely usually pops up, "You should be glad you have a job".

No, I am NOT glad to have a job, especially when the employer takes away my health benefits, vacations, pensions and wants me to work six to seven days a week for not enough money to feed me or my family.

No, I'm not GLAD. You see EMPLOYER, it is my right as a citizen of this country to work and that means whenever and wherever I work to be able to work with DIGNITY. I'm sure there are companies out there that have never heard that word before or have forgotten, so let me say it again, DIGNITY.

The Oxford American Dictionary describes DIGNITY as "the state or quality of being worthy of honor or respect such as the dignity of labor."

In 1891, during the first Industrial Revolution, Pope Leo XIII wrote a major letter/statement (encyclical) entitled Rerum Novarum, which dealt with the dignity of the worker. If you haven't read this document before, it is worth the read because believe it or not, we face similar challenges today. In part, it states:

"[Employers] should not look upon their work people as their bondsmen, but to respect in every man his dignity as a person ennobled by Christian character. They are reminded that, according to natural reason and Christian philosophy, working for gain is creditable, not shameful, to a man, since it enables him to earn an honorable livelihood; but to misuse men as though they were things in the pursuit of gain, or to value them solely for their physical powers - that is truly shameful and inhuman."

"Again justice demands that, in dealing with the working man, religion and the good of his soul must be kept in mind. Hence, the employer is bound to see that the worker has time for his religious duties; that he be not exposed to corrupting influences and dangerous occasions; and that he be not led away to neglect his home and family, or to squander his earnings."

"Furthermore, the employer must never tax his work people beyond their strength, or employ them in work unsuited to their sex and age. His great and principal duty is to give every one what is just. Doubtless, before deciding whether wages are fair, many things have to be considered; but wealthy owners and all masters of labor should be mindful of this - that to exercise pressure upon the indigent and the destitute for the sake of gain, and to gather one's profit out of the need of another, is condemned by all laws, human and divine."

Enough said.

What do you think?

Michael Jackson: A Life of Great Creativity & Very Human Challenges

2009-06-27T14:26:00.001-04:00

by Bill Seebeck

I can still remember watching 40 years ago as Michael Jackson and his brothers went on the stage of the Ed Sullivan show, with Diana Ross, who discovered them, sitting in the audience.

What startled me that night was how Michael took the microphone, as if he had been doing it for a thousand years and with a voice that from the moment you heard it, knew it was special, began singing and dancing about the stage. He stopped you. You had to watch. You instantly fell in love with him and for quite some time afterward, he became known as "Little Michael Jackson".

Well, Michael Jackson and his brothers became famous overnight and they never looked back, everything was before them and we, the audiences throughout the world, were the beneficiaries of his amazing creativity.

I was in college when Michael first hit the scene and only saw him once in person, it was during the 1993 Super Bowl in Pasadena, California where he was the half-time show. Watching the video again today of that performance reminded me of his extraordinary gifts as one of the most exciting entertainers of all time.

We will always listen to Michael's music. We will also remember the songs he wrote for the world, including Black or White, Heal the World and We Are The World, the last, a song written for African relief and performed as a group by just about every major talent in the music business at the time.

Unless you have traveled the world, it is hard to appreciate the enormous impact American music has had on so many cultures. I remember sitting in a Fuddrucker's restaurant in Jeddah Saudi Arabia 10 years ago and watched as a group of Saudi high school boys entered the restaurant dressed not in their traditional garb but in cargo pants, Abercrombie & Fitch t-shirts, LA Laker hats worn backward and listening to the most popular radio station in the Kingdom back then -- U.S. Armed Forces radio. What were they listening to? Yes, American music and they all knew Michael Jackson.

However, the type of overnight success that fell upon Michael was both a great joy and a great burden. In our times, when you gain "your 15 minutes in the sun" as Andy Warhol used to say, your life is taken from you by the public. You're watched and followed twenty-four hours a day and someone always wants something from you for themselves. Now sometimes what they want is legitimate, yet more times than not, it is not. It feels at times that they are sucking the very marrow out of you and one of the things that you lose is the ability to trust others. It is a difficult life. You try very hard to create a life that you can trust, withdrawing into a type of cocoon. That space becomes your safety zone, the place you can always run to and survive the latest hurt or betrayal. That space became where Michael, despite all of his world fame, lived. It is no surprise then that this is where he was tempted by his demons, the same ones that tempt each of us in our lives of non-perfection.

So today, I remember Michael Jackson, the boy I first saw and heard, the man we all came to experience, the incredible entertainer that graced our lives and with whom he shared his truly extraordinary God given gifts. We are forever grateful.

May God's peace be upon you Michael.

Banks: The New Loan Sharks & Extortionists of the 21st Century?

2009-06-21T09:00:00.016-04:00

by Bill Seebeck

Well, here it is the 21st of June. It's Father's Day.

Yet today, millions of credit card holders that have received notices from their banks since June 1st, know this is the beginning of a new cycle in which the percentage of funds due monthly on their accounts has doubled. Instead of having to pay 3% of their total amounts due, they will now have to pay 6% and for some of them at an interest rate upwards of 29%.

You know, I bet there are still some guys in prison doing time for loansharking in this country. What's a loanshark? That's someone who charged greater than a rate considered just by the society. That rate before the banks and Congress changed it used to be 23%. It was called the usury rate.

The Catholic Encyclopedia states that usury is a sin and frankly is so in every major Abrahamic religion. "...Lending money at interest give us the opportunity to exploit the passions or necessities of other men by compelling them to submit to ruinous conditions...[Usury has been defined] as the abuse of a certain superiority at the expense of another man's necessity....It is in itself unjust extortion, or robbery."

So, who are the loansharks now? Who are the extortionists?

What's extortion? Findlaw states, "Most states define extortion as the gaining of property or money by almost any kind of force, or threat of (1) violence, (2) property damage, (3) harm to reputation, or (4) unfavorable government action. While usually viewed as a form of theft/larceny, extortion differs from robbery in that the threat in question does not pose an imminent physical danger to the victim..."

I think it is fair to say that demanding highly monthly minimums at interest rates up to 29.99% can be viewed by the "card holder" as threatening. Failure to pay can result in harm to their reputations in the form of credit scores and possible default, and in this world, "no credit" can put a person and their family on the street in a nano second.

So, if you think that the banks are ok and that everything has changed, you are living in a world of dreams. Take a look around your neighborhoods and see how many empty stores there are and how many people are out of work. In part, it is because of what some banks did and what some banks continue to do.

What they are doing is squeezing, you, the public for their own benefit.

Definitely actions that are not in the interest of the public good.

Who are their monitors? Where are their monitors? How do they continue to get away with this stuff?

I'm upset by this, are you?

By the way, Happy Father's Day!

I'm Back! After a Month of Celebration, New Struggles & Transitions

2009-06-15T11:01:00.024-04:00

by Bill Seebeck

Well, I'm back.

I've been quiet for the past month for lots of reasons, perhaps the most important was preparing for and witnessing my younger son's graduation from college. It was a beautiful New Hampshire day and there were lots of speeches and honorary degrees awarded, but perhaps the best speech of the day was by a representative of the St. Anselm College graduating class of 2009. She related what it meant to attend and graduate, as a Muslim woman, from a Catholic liberal arts college. Her name is Waqarun Rashid and her speech (audio), (text), entitled, " The Peaceful Struggle" was wonderful and enthusiastically received by all, especially her fellow graduates.

My son, Matt did honor to himself by not only graduating but received his degree with honors. Those members of his family in attendance (grand aunt & uncle, aunts, uncle, cousin, brother, niece, mom and dad), ages 81 to 11, were very proud of him and it was truly a joyous moment in a year of most difficult challenges for all of us in the world.

Seventy-two hours later with actual diploma in hand, we said goodbye to Matt as he left us once again, to begin yet another journey, his own new struggle, this one in service to his country. He left for Missouri to begin his basic combat training with the United States Army.

As a parent at moments like this, you have flashbacks to earlier days, like the first day you put him on a school bus at the age of six and hoped all would go well. This time, I had yet to catch my breath from watching him graduate from college and now he was off again, with the rank of Specialist, to join many other young American men and women in service to our nation. I am in prayer for him and them every day and unashamedly ask you to add yours to mine. On this one, we have common interests. He may be my son, but he is now one of my guardians and yours.

At this time in my life, with my own struggles far from over, I can't help but reflect on what an honor it is to be a parent. It is a most awesome responsibility that never ends and frankly, I wouldn't want it any other way.

Making phone calls during Basic Combat Training is a privilege and when they come, they're only for two or three minutes. Well, yesterday, Matt called from the base. His first words were, "Dad, is today Father's Day?" To which I responded, "Well, if it isn't, it is now".

Happy Father's Day!

Google: The Monolith

2009-05-08T12:45:00.001-04:00

by Bill Seebeck

Google, a household name. I use it everyday. I google this and google that and get a nice result. Google is my friend. I trust Google. Until...

Earlier this week, I needed to speak with someone at Google. You know like customer service. I wanted to ask them about some confusion I had about one of their online products that I use called AdSense. I had received some e-mail requesting very, very personal information for my AdSense account that those of us that are concerned about online privacy teach others never to respond to when they receive them. So, I was very confused when Google asked me for such data by e-mail. I needed to verify first that it was indeed Google that was making such inquiries and then why?

So, I went to the Google website and searched all over the place for information related to what I wanted and was unsuccessful. Then I was looking for a telephone number so I could call and ask my questions. No phone number. You could send an e-mail, but since I wouldn't give anyone the information they were requesting, I wanted to hear a human voice tell me what this was all about. All of a sudden, I realized that the Google website was designed to keep me and others away from the company.

So now, I check my BusinessWeek online, look up Google, it is after all a public company, get the local phone number, check the list of key employees, find the person in charge of products and services and give them a call.

The call goes something like this, "Hello, this is Google, how can I help you? May I have Mr. X please, says I. What is your business with Mr. X? I need to ask Mr. X about one of Google's products. If you have questions about Google products, you need to go to the website and use the e-mail. I don't want to use the e-mail, I need to speak with a person please. I'm sorry we don't do that. Well, let me speak with someone then in corporate communications. We don't have a corporate communications. Public relations then. Do you have a specific name in public relations? No. Well then I can't help you. Then, can you connect me to investor relations. Do you have a specific name in investor relations? No. Well then, I can't help you. Listen, this is crazy, are you saying that there is no one to talk to at Google? I have a very short list of people that people can speak with but if you don't know their specific names and can't tell me what specific business you are doing with them, then I'm sorry I can't connect you."

End of conversation.

The Oxford American Dictionary defines a monolith as, "a large and impersonal political, corporate or social structure regarded as intractably indivisible and uniform."

So, when you call Google, the monolith, it responds, "Welcome to Google. Go away".

Now I've been in the online business for 27 years and I have never experienced such behavior.

My next step took me to their most recent earnings press release and yes, I found a name of a person in corporate communications. I called but got their voice mail. I left a message and said I had two questions. First was why was Google making itself so unavailable to the public and second I needed to ask some serious questions about their product AdSense. Well, I have yet to hear from them.

I have to admit that Google is not alone in its Internet strategy. They and others use their websites to inform but also use it to block the public and as a way to control access.

Now, I am sure that Google or others that have such a strategy will say that thousands of people will call if they give out a phone number. Maybe that is true, and maybe that's good. How do you know what your marketplace is up to? What are people feeling? Are you satisfied that e-mails provide you with the true trends with which to gauge your business in the future?

Thirty years ago, my boss at the time, J. Peter Grace, ceo of W.R. Grace & Co., put out a memo to all employees (numbered in the thousands) and told us to answer our own phones. None of us, he said were too big to do that and in our humility, we might learn something about our business. He also said that some of the calls might not be pleasing, but then that was the way we took responsibility for our actions in the course of doing our work.

Now, I realize that many things have happened since those days, but what hasn't changed is that when you sell to the public, you are responsible to the public. When you think that you are better than the public you serve, then someday it comes back on you.

Take a look around Google, you can see the carnage of many companies that didn't think they needed to be responsible to the public.

What do the readers think about this? Let us know.

Bernanke Says Recession Over End of Year! NOT!

2009-05-06T13:45:00.001-04:00

by Bill Seebeck

It was reported yesterday that Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke believes that housing is bottoming out, that the recession should come to an end by the end of 2009 and while unemployment will be slow to rebound that, things will move over to the positive side, unless of course there is a further problem with the financial system.

Well, that's a stinging endorsement of Happy Days to come if I've ever heard it.

Little or No Credit Available

Perhaps the Fed Chairman hasn't noticed that in the last 90 days the banks have seriously contracted personal and small business credit by slashing credit lines, even to the most worthy. Net, net, sir, every day that goes by, there is less and less credit in the hands of the people.

Housing on a Rebound?

Perhaps, sir, you have not noticed that while banks are playing at handling the foreclosure crisis, they are just that playing, creating an illusion. In fact, they are handling lots of requests from people in need, but they are holding up finalizing new mortgages and promote only the fact that they are processing so very many. Processing but not completing. Foreclosures continue.

Banks Rebuffing Congressional Staffs

Perhaps Mr. Chairman, you should make inquiries of Congressional staffs and find out just how successful they have been in helping their constituents with mortgage problems. You will find that the banks have not been responsive to the staffs of our elected officials, the very people who have oversight of the banks and of you, sir.

Squeezing the People

Mr. Chairman, the people are being squeezed from every corner. Our cities and states all have budget deficits and are making serious cuts in services and trying to raise funds in every possible way, mainly on the backs of the people. People are losing their jobs each day. Self-employed folks are out of work also and the Fed doesn't count those people who never did qualify for unemployment insurance. The prices of food and services have not retreated, nor very little else, except the income of the people.

Where is all the money going to come from Mr. Bernanke to improve our economy?

Unemployment Still Rising

Unemployment is rising at a lower level but still rising at more than 600,000 per month and the government expects the national unemployment rate to hit 10% before the end of the year. I'd like to know where the new jobs are going to come from to create the income to fuel the economy and create growth because they are not being created right now.

So, Mr. Bernanke what's the story? What's the truth Mr. Bernanke?

I read the Wall Street Journal and the Financial Times every day and the whole world is in deep recession. How can this turn around Mr. Chairman in a little more than six months?

Please tell us sir, because we, the people, don't see it.

What do my fellow citizens think? Tell us.

SAVE THE RAIN FORESTS VIDEO

2009-05-05T17:22:00.004-04:00

NEW "SAVE THE RAINFORESTS" EFFORT LAUNCHED

2009-05-05T16:00:00.010-04:00

Online Video Raises Awareness & A Call to Action

Launched by Prince Charles

Features "Friends of Frogs"

by Bill Seebeck

What do Harrison Ford, Robin Williams, the Dalai Lama, Daniel Craig, Princes William and Harry have in common? They are "Friends of Frogs" as they joined other personalities and children around the world today in the release of a new public awareness campaign directed to preserving the world's rainforests. The effort is led by HRH Charles, the Prince of Wales as part of his effort, "to create a climate of awareness and public concern".

The center of the online campaign is a truly wonderful 90-second film (available for viewing above) that features, you guessed it, an animated frog. The frog appears alongside each of the individuals that are profiled in the film. The frog, created by Framestore, the Oscar-winning computer generated imagery (CGI) experts behind the film The Golden Compass, serves as a symbol of the rainforest.

To demonstrate their support for this effort, people around the world are asked to signup on the website, www.rainforestSOS.org .

In addition, in order to make the campaign truly interactive, a digital application enables supporters to create their very own "mash-up" of the film in which they can appear alongside the frog and other well known personalities.

In his webcast, broadcast online this morning before the showing of the film, The Prince of Wales said, "Our aim, with your help, is to build an online community to call, from the bottom up, for urgent action to protect the Rainforests, without which we will most certainly lose the battle against catastrophic climate change."

"One of the Internet's strengths, continued Prince Charles, "is that it can enable diverse communities to come together to ensure that everybody's views and actions can really be made to count. It provides the potential to create global determination for change on a vitally important issue," he said.

His Royal Highness, Charles, Prince of Wales is the heir to the throne of England. He has nearly all his life been a most dedicated environmentalist and a catalyst for change in the way in which we view and treat the planet.

The unique technology for this campaign was developed by Moonshine Media and appears on a website created by Blue State Digital, the company that provided the proprietary software, as well as the online engagement strategies, for President Barack Obama during the U.S. elections in 2008.

There's a Hole in our Universe Today: Jack Kemp has Died

2009-05-03T06:00:00.020-04:00

by Bill Seebeck

There is a hole in our universe today. One of our nation's leaders, Jack Kemp, has died.

We used to call him "the Republican JFK". He was youthful, handsome, athletic and a very inspiring speaker. He was also different from his more conservative Republicans. I think it was because he worked on farms and drove trucks in his youth and played college and professional football becoming a championship quarterback despite his 5'11'' height. He was the co-founder of the AFL Players Union and led it for a number of years. He was a working man, yet was probably its best dressed, always "well turned out".

He was also a decent man who cared about the people, not only in his district in Buffalo, but around the country. He was an advocate for major reforms in housing and urban affairs working within a political party that didn't want to go in that direction until they had to and then he was there, as he had always been.

I first met him at a dinner in the mid-1970's, during which we talked about social issues, especially about the plight of the cities which were then in crisis. He was a very good listener, patient and also engaging. At the time, I was on the board of the National Urban Coalition. In 1978, when serving as chairman of the Coalition's Corporate Urban Affairs Advisory Committee (CUAAC), I invited Congressman Kemp to speak at our annual meeting. I remember the Coalition's president, Carl Holman, was skeptical, asking whether Kemp could be responsive to such pressing urban needs given his place in the political spectrum. As a result of our earlier conversations, I felt Jack Kemp was a person that we should engage, that he had a different slant on things and shared my previous conversations with Carl. We met with Jack that spring.

(The first picture above shows Carl Holman describing some of the difficult social issues pressuring minorities and the deteriorating conditions of our cities. Kemp was always a patient listener. The second picture shows Jack Kemp, N. Carl Holman and the author.)

Carl called me the day after the meeting pictured here and said that he was surprised by how much common ground there was between the Congressman and the objectives of the Coalition. He told me, Kemp said that his door was always open to Carl. In fact, after that, they had regular meetings and members of the Coalition board testified on behalf of Kemp when he was nominated to be Secretary of Housing & Urban Development under President George Herbert Walker Bush in 1988. Although that Bush administration did not move on many of the projects Kemp sought as Secretary, the successor Clinton administration did.

Jack Kemp was a great leader. He was also a very nice man, who genuinely seemed to care about each person he met and about his fellow countrymen and women. Let's not forget the smile. It could break across his face and light him up and all of those around him. It was infectious. You were ready to follow him forward. If you ever wanted an example of a compassionate leader, he was it. That's why today, we have alot of work to do to stitch up that hole in our universe. May we begin by using his life as an example of the compassion we need to show one another. It will help fill the emptiness that we are experiencing today.

Chris Meagher - Artist, Poet, Footballer, Friend

2009-05-01T00:01:00.005-04:00

We remember his birthday today -- May 1, 1947.

He would have been 62.

He died at age 21, in service to his country at Quang Ngai, Vietnam, protecting the lives of the other young men in his unit, D Company, 4th Battalion, 3rd Infantry Regiment, 11th Infantry Brigade, U.S. Army.

Lest we forget.

The Nixon Factor: How War Can Impact a Nation

2009-04-26T01:00:00.060-04:00

by Bill Seebeck

In February 1971, I met with then President Richard Nixon to discuss a report co-authored by me on the Progress of Vietnamization.

This was the name given to a program, begun by this President, that provided American styled basic military training to young Vietnamese men who became members of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN). Once trained, new ARVN units would replace American units that would then be brought home. In a sense it is similar to the training provided by U.S. forces right now in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Yes, that is a picture of the author (above) with the President and then Assistant National Security Advisor, General Alexander M. Haig, Jr., in the Oval Office.

During the meeting, the President addressed criticism he had received over prolonging the war. He said that he was trying to extract U.S. troops in a way that would give the South Vietnamese a better chance to defend themselves and made the point that he was not a warmonger. The President then turned and asked Press Secretary Ron Ziegler how many men were killed that week. Ziegler said 32. Mr. Nixon then said, "It's always a number. When I came here the number was in the hundreds, always a number." "Yet, I'm a politician," the President continued, "and if there is one thing I know is that they are not numbers, they are men."

The President went on to say that he had a theory that by the time a man is 18, 19, 20, he has touched the lives of at least 2,000 people --- his elementary and high school classmates, cub scouts, boy scouts, little league, family, friends, neighbors, church members, they all add up. So while 32 men may have died in Vietnam that week, the President said, 64,000 Americans have been personally and painfully impacted by the war.

Ever since that meeting I have called this observation, the Nixon factor of how war can impact a nation. When you apply it to the War in Vietnam with 211,501 casualties (58,198 dead and 153,303 wounded), the Nixon factor indicates that 423,002,000 Americans were personally impacted, some more than once. Since that number exceeded the population at that time, it is fair to say that most every citizen was personally touched by the war.

When you apply the Nixon factor to the War in Iraq and Afghanistan with 38,960 casualties (4,953 dead and 34,007 wounded as of 4/24/2009), the results find that some 77,920,000 Americans have been personally impacted.

Something to ponder when those in power consider sending young American men and women in harms way.

The Stress of It All is Becoming Dangerous

2009-04-23T15:00:00.009-04:00

by Bill Seebeck

It seems that not a day goes by during these most difficult financial times when we don't hear a story about people "losing it". Just this week, a young man apparently took his life. He was the acting chief financial officer of Freddie Mac whose stated mission is to help stabilize residential mortgage markets in the United States. The Treasury Department took over the company last September. He was only 41.

That story was followed up by another in which it was reported that a lawyer mother ordered her two daughters out of the car because they were yelling too much and wouldn't quiet down. I checked up on the mother and found that she is a skilled senior attorney whose specialty is law that governs banking and other lending institutions with particular emphasis on the very issues being faced by, we the people, and our Treasury Department.

No matter what else was going on in the lives of these two individuals, I recognized in them, one of the real threats to the health and welfare of the American people.

STRESS.

Every day, in addition to whatever we've had to previously bear, we are now faced with losing our jobs, keeping our homes, feeding ourselves and our children not to mention the loss of dreams of retirement, college education and just a plain better life. This folks results in stress and it has a profound impact on us.

According to a 1996 article in Psychology Today, "When stresses become routine, the constant biochemical pounding takes its toll on the body; the system starts to wear out at an accelerated rate. By responding to the stress of everyday life with the same surge of biochemicals released during major threats, the body is slowly killing itself. The biochemical onslaught chips away at the immune system, opening the way to cancer, infection, and disease. Hormones unleashed by stress eat at the digestive tract and lungs, promoting ulcers and asthma. Or they may weaken the heart, leading to strokes and heart disease." "Chronic stress is like slow poison," [Jean] King [Ph.D. of the University of Massachusetts Medical School] observes. "It is a fact of modern life that even people who are not sensitized to stress are adversely affected by everything that can go wrong in the day."

This is another reason why I have been so worried about the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. I am not concerned about the professionalism of our armed forces but I am concerned about the constant stress that four or five years of combat, four, five, six 12 and 15 month deployments have had on our service people and their families. And don't think that bravado will overcome it, it will not. Examine the increasing suicide rate among the military and you will find that we have a problem that can't be swept under a rug.

Watch the way people drive these days, listen to the concerns we share with one another, we as a nation are worried and stressed. Our institutions have failed us and our social contract has been broken. Now we can fix it, but there must be more relief given directly to the people in order that the stress of it all doesn't endanger us in ways we have never yet experienced as a society.

What do you think?

Mr. President: Train Afghan Police Forces in U.S.

2009-03-21T10:57:00.006-04:00

This morning, Reuters reported out of Brussels, Belgium that President Obama plans to significantly increase the size of the Afghan police force. The story was attributed to U.S. special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke.

The usual plan was described in the article which was to send over hundreds of U.S. specialists, etc., etc. to train the candidates in country.

I say, if there are police or army personnel to be trained let's bring them here to the U.S. for their training. It is a safer, much more efficient method and we can rotate classes at a faster rate. It would also give these individuals a picture of the U.S. and its people. We would not have to deal with insurgent attacks and many other issues related to training personnel in country.

In addition, for a period of time, it will create jobs in areas once served by U.S. military training facilities that can be reopened and utilized. Good for the Afghans, good for the U.S.

Mr. President, this is change for the better. We should have done it with the Iraqi army, let's do it with the Afghans.

Please sir.

No Russian Presence in Cuba or Venezuela!

2009-03-16T16:19:00.005-04:00

Let there be no mistake, if we don't stand on our heels and growl as Teddy Roosevelt's bear did back in the early 20th century, the Russians will establish air and later naval bases in Cuba and Venezuela.

The Russian government has already held joint naval operations in the Caribbean with these nations and just announced their intention to stage bombers in these two countries. This is totally unacceptable to the United States.

We trust that President Obama will stand and publicly state that the presence of Russian offensive weapons in our hemisphere is unacceptable and a threat to the national security of the United States.

Those of us who lived through the Cuban missile crisis and other similar encounters with the Soviet Union and now Putin's Russia know that their intentions are not honorable.

Beware Oil Prices! Speculation May Be in Play Again!

2009-03-05T12:55:00.005-05:00

Today, on CNBC, an analyst claimed that the oil market had "bottomed out" and that there was an increase in demand. As a result, he believed that oil might quickly rise to $60.00 per barrel. If this CNBC guest analyst is to be believed, we are about to enter another period of dramatic increases in oil prices. If you read my February 11th article on oil, you would know two things: One, such increases are based on speculation rather than reality or demand and second, that any price over $50.00 per barrel will cause untold hardship on the American consumer and economy at a time when we can least handle it.

If You Have A Credit Card: Beware the Ides of March!

2009-02-20T13:18:00.004-05:00

Banks to Up Rates; Other Shoe to Drop?

While the government and the Congress have been propping up the banks with billions of dollars, the banks have not been spending all their time figuring out how to begin lending again, they have been using some of that money to contract rather than expand with drastic impact to consumers and the economy.

The banks have assigned just enough staff to create the illusion that they are lending, but in fact, they have been hiring hundreds of collection agents, reducing lines of credit, increasing rates for bank charges and in the credit card realm, dumping accounts that always pay on time in favor of accounts that they can push over the edge with more fees and increased debt in an effort to gain more income.

It is fast becoming known in the credit card world, that in March the banks will increase rates on millions of customers. The annual percent rates (APR) will change and the consumer once again will take it on the chin, big time.

These predatory actions are helping to make it very clear that there is another shoe yet to drop in the banking industry and that is the credit card business.

With the collapse of the asset-backed securities marketplace, the banks took a big hit. First, it was with mortgages and now it will be with credit cards. Yes, just like with mortgages, since 1987, banks have been packaging credit card debt and receivables into what is called credit card asset-backed securities.

How Does it Work?

Over the past 12 months, we have come to know about how mortgages were turned into securities (mortgaged backed securities). The same can pretty much be said for turning credit card debt and receivables into a security (credit card backed securities).

In the credit card model, the bank that issues the credit card bunches up groups of accounts or receivables usually into the form of a bond "backed" by these accounts or receivables and sells them to a trust. In turn, the trust issues securities backed by those receivables.

Now, here is where I believe the process becomes risky. The bank that issued the card and "sold" the account or receivables still services the account BUT, the assets that were "sold" have been removed from the bank's balance sheet.

Why is that important?

It's important because since the assets are no longer on the bank's balance sheet, the bank can reduce its capital requirements and seek new accounts to make for the ones "removed" from the balance sheet. Capital requirements are the reserves that banks must put aside by law to essentially protect the bank's business. These funds can't be tampered with and must remain on deposit, just in case.

What happens next?

When you, as a credit cardholder pay your bill each month, that money goes into the trust. Those funds are used to pay those that have bought the Credit Card backed securities.

So what happens, if there is a slowdown in people paying on their balances?

Well, as you can imagine, the bank's are in trouble, not only because you owe them money on the balance they have lent you via the card, but also because they have already sold your debt/receivables and there is less money in the trust to pay the investors. Also, when your balances increase, it means that the banks can't add as many new accounts and must maintain larger capital reserves. Not good for them or you.

The Banks and Your Card

Banks want you to use your credit card because it creates more debt/receivables for the bank to use as noted above. The banks do not like cardholders that pay their balances off in full each month because then the bank doesn't get to assess finance charges or to have reason to raise their APR rates.

When the growth of the banks portfolios of card users slows down, the bank looks for other ways to still get what it needs from the card accounts that remain in its portfolio.

One of the ways of doing that is by raising the basic Annual Percentage Rate they are charging on all accounts and then increase all kinds of fees across the board. That is what I believe they will do in March. Further, I believe that the banks will also seek to close accounts that are not producing an ever-increasing amount of fees. It will tell the customer that their basic rate is being raised and give them an opportunity to close their accounts and move elsewhere.

Not a pretty picture folks, but neither was it on March 15, 44 BC, when Julius Caesar went to the Senate.

Reengineering US Government, Lou Gerstner and John Madden

2009-02-15T12:56:00.016-05:00

Shortly after the Super Bowl, I was speaking with a life-long friend, Mike Siani, NFL scout, coach and former Oakland Raider wide receiver. I said, "You know Mike, I always loved when John Madden was your coach. On first downs, he would use three wide receivers (Fred Biletnikoff, Siani and Cliff Branch) and send you all down field for a big gain pass play from QB Ken Stabler." (In Mike's 9-year playing career alone, he averaged some 17 yards after each catch)." "Today, most teams are so predictable. They run on the first two downs and then they try the pass on the third down." I can still hear it in Madden's voice today, when he says, I'd pass on first down, you've got to be more aggressive right out of the box. Go for it!

Another person, who liked "going for it" in business is Lou Gerstner, the former CEO of IBM. There are at least two things Lou is known for, the first is being bold and the second being successful.

If you are holding an American Express card, chances are it's because of the way Lou Gerstner changed their card business between 1978 and 1989. If you enjoyed a Nabisco cracker during the Super Bowl, chances are you can thank Lou Gerstner and the fact that IBM is still one of the most successful American companies is definitely because of Mr. G.

His efforts at IBM are well known to me, in part because my former business partner Hunter Grant and I were hired as outside consultants to review and second-guess their Internet strategy in the mid-90's. During that time, we looked at quite a number of projects and found them wanting, not because they didn't have great people, but because they weren't current with the rapid changes occurring in the information technology marketplace at the time. In addition, the organization had become so large, that it was getting in its own way in creating products. Gerstner changed that, but only after instilling in the company a belief that change and a willingness to accept ongoing examination and criticism were good things that could help drive new growth.

It was no surprise to me then when I received my September 18, 2008 edition of BusinessWeek and found that Lou Gerstner had written a great column entitled, "It's Time To Reengineer US Government".

In this now five-month old article, Gerstner says, "Amid the ongoing turmoil, it seems obvious we must reinvent our government and create an efficient system that can anticipate and avoid major crises. Despite many opportunities, however, this is not a lesson we have taken to heart. Whether the task is fixing health care, upgrading K-12 education, bolstering national security, or a host of other missions, the U.S. is better at patching problems than fixing them. Part of the reason is that we have two parties lacking comity and a sense of shared national responsibility. But beyond the partisan divide, I would argue that the processes of government are broken, preventing us from taking responsible actions."

In the article, he invites readers to visit USA.gov and there he says, "You'll find thousands of directorates, agencies, boards, offices and services replete with overlapping responsibilities, ancient priorities, and divided accountability."

He continues, "We do not need Departments of Commerce, Labor and Education; we need a single Department of Skills that will promote an integrated approach to global competitiveness. Our military should be trained and structured around missions, not the elements of air, water, and land. That requires fundamental change, but instead, the Defense Dept. has established an overlay of "commands" to compensate for organizational deficiencies. Does it make sense, in 2008, even to have a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives? If so, why is it part of the Treasury Dept?"

When it gets to the financial sector, Mr. Gerstner states, "...the regulatory processes in place are ad hoc and depend on leaders undertaking risky initiatives. Now more than ever, we need a single federal organization to oversee all of our financial institutions..."

In addition to calling for bipartisan action and business cooperation, he suggests the creation of a commission similar to the one established by President Reagan in 1982, that became known as the Grace Commission (named after its chairman and my former boss, the late J. Peter Grace, Jr.). It was this commission that uncovered great government waste. In its final report, the Commission concluded that nearly one-third of all taxes collected by the federal government were squandered through inefficiency. Although, as Mr. Gerstner states in his article, 2,478 recommendations were made, few were ever tried.

I agree with Lou Gerstner. A government reengineering team should be created, reporting directly to the President. It should be vigorous in its effort to create change, not for change sake, but because we know that government no longer works. It is a broken system. We are much better off defining new requirements and creating a new government structure that we can migrate to, one that is lean, flexible and powerful enough to efficiently meet the needs of tomorrow's citizens.

Come on, don't be afraid, you've got to be more aggressive out of the box. Go for it!

Oil, Oil, Oil: What Should the Price Be?

2009-02-11T15:37:00.004-05:00

Before we begin, remember that before there was the cost of oil, there was coal, before coal it was wood and somewhere in between there was gas, not to mention electricity and who knows in the future, we may be complaining about windmill rates.

The reality is that there is some purpose to almost every form of energy, although the man made one -- nuclear seems to always be a problem because it can also be used to breed a weapon and we don't know how to protect ourselves and our environment from its most toxic waste.

Back to oil. Well, we, the public, have been dealing with the price of oil in one way or another for the last eight years and it hasn't been pleasant. If we didn't know it before, we now know that it can wreck a home budget overnight, can do the same to the travel and hotel industry, not to mention the cost of good, and every other product, goods or services we consume. Yes, no having a fix on oil will keep us rocking as we begin the hard work of putting the economy back in balance.

So, what should be the real price of oil?

Well, news agencies are reporting that OPEC wants a price of $75 a barrel. That would mean that the price at the pump would be closer to $3 per gallon. For those nations that are listening, I can tell you that $3 is too much and won't work here in America. Sounds like I'm negotiating a price? Well, I am and I think we can negotiate a price or a price range that is acceptable to our economy and to OPEC.

Last year, the chairman of the National Bank of Kuwait suggested that the price range might be in the $35-$50 range. At the pump, that would mean a price not higher than around $2.25 per gallon. Even that is high but closer to reasonable given our current situation. What would work is around where the price has been over the last 60 days, somewhere between $30 and $45 per barrel. That would keep the pump cost below $2.00. The price needs to be kept below two dollars per gallon.

Now at that price, do the OPEC countries make money? Yes, they do. In a variety of interviews at the close of 2008, it was reported that the cost of oil at the wellhead in the Gulf was still around $2,00, which it has been for some time. When you add costs, expense is around $18-$20 a barrel, OPEC will still be a profit margin of 50-100%. That is more than fair.

What I learned from my time in Saudi Arabia, working with a company that had a major American oil concession, was that the companies make a profit, but collectively, it might not be enough to meet their own government's budget needs. That to me is a whole other situation. I think that it is important that our government actively work to seek some level of stability in oil prices, so that we can better plan our lives in an effort to make a more predictable economic recovery.

War! What is it good for? Absolutely Nothing!

2009-02-02T16:54:00.004-05:00

I think Ed Starr was on to something when he sang out the words of this popular anti-war song in 1970.

This was confirmed by my college economics professor, Dr. Emily Sun, who observed that no nation could sustain itself for long periods of time on a wartime economy. Simply put, Dr. Sun would say, when you invest in war, there is no economic return. I mean if you buy chickens, you will have eggs for breakfast and ultimately, roast chicken for dinner. When you buy bullets, you get spent cartridges.

It seems that President Reagan understood this concept as it is generally acknowledged that his administration engaged in a military spending competition with the Soviet Union, such that their economy could not sustain the effort against the U.S. and ultimately collapsed taking communism with it.

However, the war in Iraq has been close to the longest engagement in daily combat by the United States in its history. It has also cost the American people close to two trillion ($2,000,000,000,000) dollars, the lives of thousands on both sides and helped wreck our economy.

Somehow, we didn't understand the implications of the Reagan plan well enough.

So, here we are deep in the deepest financial crisis in our history and at the same time, we cannot ignore the great challenge that confronts us, as a result of our strategic, foreign and military policies.

Economics alone dictates that we disengage as soon as possible. Military sense dictates that our forces have been "punished" by continuous deployments with most serious long-range implications as to the type of force available to us for the future.

So, what do we do?

Experience in the region tells me that we should acknowledge that we are willing to maintain supportive relationships with governments that are not religiously driven. We should further acknowledge that many countries that are ruled by religious bodies have a poor view of the west and as long as they make no designs on the United States, we should have no designs or interest in them.

With regard to Iraq, I believe that as long as civilians run their government, we will support their efforts to further modernity and that would include a joint military assistance program. As for Afghanistan, I believe that unless and until we have a very broad, disciplined and honest relationship with Pakistan, that we should forgo further interests in a country long dominated by war-lords with an agricultural economy focused around one product - heroin.

In the short term, we should remove our troops from both Iraq and Afghanistan. In our own self interest, we should make sure that the pipelines of oil that fuel our economies in the west are maintained without interruption through whatever needs required. As for the terrorists that attacked us, they should never have rest from our vigilance.

Thoughts & Questions About the Universe on a Beautiful Day!

2009-02-01T09:58:00.002-05:00

A couple of years ago, I followed Einstein's belief that more is discovered about the universe by laying on a blanket under a tree on a beautiful day than ever was discovered in a laboratory.

Now, let me rush to say that this article is not about factually defending what is contained in the previous statement. Rather, it is about considering the world around us.

Here are the questions I wrote down on that beautiful day:

If we see planets in their past, are we not seeing the past in our present?
When other planets see us (assuming life out there someplace) are they not also seeing us in the past? If so, is our past always alive in the universe?
What role does distance play in the universe or in how we see the past, present and future?
If space is a void, why can it be seen?
Is space the representation of the decrease in magnetism and gravity?
Is matter only present in the presence of other matter?
Are we always present in the past?
Do we die in part because our magnetic/gravitational presence changes over time and our matter in the presence of other matter decreases and we fail to maintain our "space" and proportional representation in the magnetic state?

Let me know what you think and if you know of answers to these questions, please send them along.

Have a beautiful day!

The OTHER Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King and President-elect Obama

2009-01-19T09:00:00.005-05:00

When I walked in on them one late winter morning in 1974, Dr. King Sr. and his dear wife Alberta were sitting at a table doing what one does at a Church every week, putting the parish bulletin together by hand and getting things ready for the Sunday service. It was just the two of them, no pomp or circumstance, two servants of God doing His work.

Dr. Albert Manley, president of Spelman College was kind enough to set up my visit that day to Ebenezer Baptist Church to meet the King's. I was already so grateful. Mrs. King mentioned that people were always coming by from seemly everywhere just to say hi. They found that surprising in a way. We spoke for a few more minutes. I offered to help with the bulletin but they were just finishing up. Dr. King said, "Well, why don't we take a walk, I believe you will be wanting to visit Martin's grave." He put on his coat and we left the church.

He tucked his arm in mine for balance and I believe had a walking stick in the other. On the way, he told me that things had been hard since Martin's death six years before. He said that his other boy Alfred, who was helping out at the Church had drowned and they were missing both of them very much. "With Coretta having to travel around a lot", he said, "Mrs. King and I often look after the children." He wasn't sure that at his age, he was much good to them.

We arrived at what I remember was a sort of parking lot area where Martin's eternal flame was blazing. Dr. King said that they had plans to build a whole Center within which the grave would be contained.

We stood silently in prayer. As we did, I couldn't help but remember standing before another eternal flame in April 1964 at Arlington. The spring thaw had started and the graveside of President Kennedy was muddied. Plywood boards surrounded it so people could walk up to it. I was with my Catholic Youth Organization group that day and we stood and prayed beside Senator Robert Kennedy, who had accompanied us.

On the walk back to the Church, Dr. King asked me what denomination I belonged to. I told him I was a Catholic and he said that he was so surprised by the Catholics and how supportive they were of the civil rights movement and of Martin's work. The King's were such humble people. I told him that being there was one of the greatest moments of my life, he smiled and gave me a double take. I took leave of them a few minutes later. I had a book on Martin and asked if Dr. King would autograph it. He said, "Why would you want my signature?" Whatever my answer was I remember stumbling over my words and feeling totally stupid. They just laughed, and patted me on the back as we said goodbye. It was a wondrous moment for me.

In the summer of that year, the man who was most respectfully called, "Daddy King" was to suffer yet again, when a crazy gunman entered the Church and shot Mrs. King to death while she sat at the church organ. Dr. King Sr. stayed with us another 10 years and had great influence on many more people, as President Carter often held him up for praise.

I think of Dr. King, Sr. today because he was a great leader too, born in another century, the son of a sharecropper, a shepherd to his flock in Atlanta and many more of us around the country and yes, father to a man of peace who dreamed that "one day my four little children will grow up in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character."

That dream has come true today. Alleluia, Alleluia. That dream has come true today.

Keeping An Eye on the Bank's Computer

2009-01-16T16:07:00.003-05:00

It's been around 39 years since computers have been keeping the books at banks in America. I say that because the bank I was working for in 1970, now the third largest in the world or maybe number two now, it was in that year that they began computerizing accounts.

At the end of the bank day, each bank employee, save the ceo, was given a stack of account files and a stack of data entry forms. We would fill in the data entry form from the account file. Once completed, the forms were collected and sent to the key-punch department, which was operating 24 hours per day on three shifts and did so for some three months until all the bank's accounts were entered into the system.

Once the data was entered and the system working, calculations could be brought to bear on different types of accounts and the bank could for the first time evaluate the profitability of its accounts and the cost of its services.

Well, we have come a long way in 39 years. Today, computers do everything at banks and its in real time, near instantaneously. While generally that is a good thing. It can also create temptations for squeezing just a bit more from an account then the bank should.

Here is an example. Your checking account has $100.00 available. You are expecting a charge of $150.00 to be made against your account, so you transfer $200.00 from your Money Market account to your checking account. However, you make your transfer at 12:30 pm and the bank has a rule, that you're unaware of, that holds post noon transfers until 3:30 pm or until the next morning. In the mean time, your charge hits. Now you get charged for a returned item and an overdrawn account. Today, depending on the Bank, such charges can be as much as $200.00.

The computer has been programmed to notice such things and can manipulate it to the bank's advantage.

Bank computers are also great at changing payment cycles. Many of us think that our bills are representative of 30 days of activity. That's not true anymore. The cycle may have been changed to 20 days and unless you're reading those little brochures with tiny little print that they send in the mail, you won't know that something has changed. Yet, when you pay your bill, you find that you are late, other charges are attached and perhaps your interest rate has been boosted. When you make your call to find out why, you are told that you have to pay your bill sooner than last month, because your cycle has changed. A bank's computer system can make a cycle change for millions of customers in seconds.

Now, I'm not suggesting that banks are out there doing these things, but it has been done and unless we keep our eyes on the Bank's computers via our monthly statements and report such activities to our elected officials, we will become new victims of banks' greed.

Rent Parties

2009-01-16T14:00:00.007-05:00

When I was a young boy in the late 1950's, we had a number of recessions. I can't compare them to the one we're experiencing today, but as they say, "When your friend is out of work, it's a recession and when you are out of work, it's a depression.

Back in those days, when a man lost his job, it was a true tragedy for the whole family, as in post-World War II America; generally the woman worked in the home caring for the children. The news of a job loss in my neighborhood on New York's Staten Island spread quickly and quietly. So did the response. You'd see the parish priest visiting the home. "Father Anglin's visiting the D. family, what do you think is wrong?" You'd find out later that he was with the family offering whatever help the Church could extend, usually food, money or contacts for other jobs. To a young child, whatever was happening, it was serious business when the priest visited a home other than someone dying or the annual visit.

Yet, that was just the beginning of a neighborhood response. Most people back then rented their homes. They weren't apartments but small houses. When people ran out of money and couldn't pay the rent, their friends and neighbors would "throw" a rent party.

What's a rent party?

Well, for those that don't know, it works this way. Neighbors would announce that there would be a party at the home of the family in need. As people had a great deal of pride and to save them any level of embarrassment, it was just a party. Everyone would bring food to the party, some would bring music and decorations, and they all would dress up. At the front door would be a basket and as each person came into the house, money would be dropped into that basket "for the rent". The party would go all night and people would come and go, saying hello, dancing, singing, having a good time and filling the basket.

At the end of the night, the family in need would be left with food for the family, and money for the rent and other bills. They also were left in a joyous and uplifted mood, given hope by their friends and neighbors, enough hope to face the problems before them. They knew they were not alone.

Each day, we hear of more and more of our friends and neighbors losing their jobs, and some their homes. Let us reach out to them. Revive the rent parties! Let them know you care and they are not alone in their tribulations.

My 2009 America

2009-01-11T00:36:00.005-05:00

I ran out of food and money today. It's a Sunday and I thank God for the many things that I do have that can't be measured by a scale or calculator. My two wonderful sons, three beautiful grandchildren are the best, as well as the rest of my family and friends that are spread across the country.

My medicine begins to run out on Wednesday and I don't know what I'm going to do about that. My energy level seems better the last couple of days and I'm trying not to let the COPD get the best of me. It's really the stress that gets you each and every day but I give thanks that I still have my sense of humor left. Yesterday, I had some hearty soup from a can but had to be careful of the sodium that was around 700 mg. You see when you have diabetes, asthma, high blood pressure, you can also get CHF when the sodium causes you to retain water and that's definitely not good. Almost glad I ran out of soup.

My first job was the summer of my 13th birthday. My grandmother, who raised us while my mother worked, sent me off to the rich man's country club to caddy for the golfers. I would leave before sunrise and walk a few miles to the course. I wasn't afraid of the early dark mornings. Every winter, beginning with my eighth birthday, I was an altar boy at the 6:00 am mass. Believe me, it's very cold and dark at 5:40 am in January in New York.

When I got to the golf course, I sat apart from the caddies. Almost to a man, they were in their 30's and 40's, had their own language it seemed and a way about them. What I very quickly realized was that when the golfers came in, the older caddies went out first. By nearly 1:00 pm, I was still waiting, while some of the older caddies had already gone out twice. When the sun was at its highest and warmest, I was finally chosen and walked the course until just before four. I reached home around five, the same number as my pay for the day.

That was the beginning of my work career and I don't ever remember a time I didn't work at something, until now.

There's less than a tank of gas left in the car, so I have to plan my outings. I've got 130,000 miles on the Camry and I need an oil change. It's going to have to wait.

My first hard time was a recession in the early 70's. I was just starting out after college and had the additional responsibility of a wife and child. Every interview I went on seemed the same. Do you have work experience in that area? No, but I was the editor of my high school and college newspapers and I did some freelance writing. Sorry, when you get some real experience, come back to us. That's when I learned the meaning of Catch-22. Can't have the experience if someone doesn't give you a job to get the experience.

Well, I never gave up and one day I went for an interview and found that the person who met with me was an old neighbor and he gave me a job at the employment agency. Eventually, I placed myself (Yankee ingenuity). The rest, as they say, is history.

As a boy, I dreamt about the future. What would I do? What would I be? One day, I decided I would be either the Pope or the President of the United States. Also, I wanted to travel and meet people from other countries and see their worlds. My grandfather had traveled as a "man Friday" to his employer who owned a steamship company and my uncle was an Air Force major and if they could do, so could I.

Well, I didn't make it to be President, but I was active in politics and had a chance to meet and speak with three of them directly. I didn't become Pope, but I was ordained a deacon 19 years ago. As for traveling, well I got to visit and at times work for periods of time in Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean, Europe and the Middle East. I've flown in helicopters, single, twin and four-engine planes both piston and jet and flew the Concorde, twice the speed of sound, four times. Not bad in my book of dreams.

As for experience, I now have plenty. Yet, there doesn't seem to be much call for my work anymore. For the last 30 years, it has primarily been in information technology. Since the 1980's, I have thought about and developed processes, methodologies and systems that deal with how information technology can positively change companies, industries and societies.

Yet, here I am in 2009 America. No work, no money, no food, no medicine and an uncertain future.

Do I still have hope? Yes, I have hope. After all, one of the things I did in my life was write the song, "Roll Up Your Sleeves America".

Can you eat that?

Caroline Kennedy - Privacy Rights Advocate

2009-01-05T09:05:00.003-05:00

The 17th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States allows a governor of a state to appoint an individual to the U.S. Senate when the sitting Senator has resigned, died or is unable to continue to serve. This appointed person is temporary and will serve out the remainder of an unexpired term. When the term expires, the seat will become vacant and an election will be held for it.

This has been going on since the amendment was ratified by the states in 1913. It has become news in 2009, because a large number of senators, in addition to the president and vice president-elect, have been chosen to work in the Obama administration.

One of the states where a new senator will be named is New York. Governor Paterson will name a replacement for Senator Clinton who has been nominated by the President-elect to be U.S. Secretary of State.

One of the individuals who might be named and has publicly expressed interest in the job and met with the Governor is Caroline Kennedy, daughter of the late President John F. Kennedy. Some say that Caroline, 51 does not have enough qualifications. I say, not only does she have enough qualifications, but also has a specialty that I believe must be front and center today and that is our right to privacy.

In addition to seven other books she has written, Caroline along with Ellen Alderman wrote two books on the subject, one in 1991, entitled, "In Our Defense: The Bill of Rights in Action" and in 1995, "Right to Privacy".

I bought "Right to Privacy" when it came out, as I was very concerned about privacy issues in the expanding online industry of the mid-90's. It was a fantastic book and as far as I am concerned one of the best on the subject. The content covered privacy in all aspects of our daily lives and it was eye-opening.

So, when I heard that Caroline Kennedy was interested in serving as a U.S. Senator, I thought, well, we now have someone who understands the privacy issue and will have the clout to be the people's advocate on the national stage. Lucky us!

I should also point out that in addition to being the daughter of the late President and an author, she is a graduate of Radcliffe College and Columbia University Law School. She is a member of the bar associations in New York and Washington, DC. Ms. Kennedy serves on the board of directors of the Commission on Presidential Debates and the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund. President-elect Obama named her co-chair of his Vice Presidential Search Committee that recommended then Senator Joseph Biden.

I'm sure my old squash opponent, Al Franken would agree, she's qualified.

Willie's Rant - "Cows"

2009-01-02T10:00:00.007-05:00

Hi! This morning, I opened my New York TImes to find that there's another crisis requiring the attention of the government of the people, by the people and for the people.

This time it wasn’t banking, Wall Street, autos or the housing industry with their hands out. No, the industry du jour wanting to feast at the public trough was Milk Cows.

We also heard a story about how things are not going well with the steel industry. Well folks, sorry to say, but get in line. Steel has come a long way in the U.S. over the last 40 years. That’s when it was decided that steel mills were causing Night to occur 24 hours a day in some major cities of the east and that might not be good for folks and after also losing business to the French, Germans, Japanese and Russians, closed them.

Today, the U.S. still imports 30% of its steel and cars are increasingly being made of new forms of plastic, such as the GM Saturn line. American steel companies have been left to make structured steel, stainless and custom stuff including recycled steel. The hope is that the Obama administration will help them write new orders.

Oh yes, about the cows.

Turns out, according to the story that folks around the world aren’t buying milk products like they had been when the world economy was booming. However, cows, well you know, still need to be milked every day, so there is an overabundance of milk. What’s to do? Well according to the story, milk is still being produced at the same rate, turned to powder, housed in government warehouses and paid by, guess who? Yes the American taxpayer.

The cow story also points out that the price of milk has only come down a few cents but that’s probably because it costs too much to reduce the size of the herds over the long term.

So, let’s see if I understand this. People aren’t buying milk products around the world like they were doing, mainly because the price went so high and then the global economy went south. However, instead of reducing the prices and some costs along the way, they have kept the prices at virtually the same level and got Uncle Sam to subsidize it all. As sportscaster Mel Allen used to say, “How about that!”

What a place, America!

Why Does First Data Know So Much About Consumers?

2008-08-08T18:06:00.008-04:00

I'm sure that it is true, as Mr. Capellas states, that he knows more about what we (the American public) are likely to do next than we do ourselves.

However, I hope that Mr. Capellas also knows that he and First Data Corporation hold a special trust as the guardians of that information as it represents the most private of American consumer information.

Why does First Data know so much?

In part it is because First Data Corporation, now a private corporation, represents both sides of most electronic transactions. It represents more than 50% of the banks and other financial institutions that issue credit/debit cards and other electronic instruments. It also represents more than 50% of all merchants that accept credit cards at their stores, restaurants on the streets of America's towns and cities and also on the electronic highway that transits our internet community. First Data also represents more than 50% of all the ATM's that Americans use every day.

This means that First Data Corporation has knowledge of your bank accounts, credit activity, purchasing data, and much, much more.

I think that most Americans would agree Mr. Capellas, that as a result of the role your company plays in all aspects of financial transactions, that you and your company are in a very unique and most singular position. You hold a sacred trust it seems to guard the privacy of such transactions rather than thinking up new ways to monetarily benefit from the use or sale of this most private information.

Those of us who are pioneers in the use of electronic information and e-payment services believe that companies like First Data should be much more transparent. It is bad enough that America's consumers feel held hostage by the credit reporting agencies, it doesn't need another company to exploit them.

Mr. Capellas, most Americans don't know that you have access to their bank accounts, their store accounts, their phone records and their Internet activity. I strongly suggest that you keep what you and your company know about what is in those accounts to yourself. Show the people of America what it mean to keep a sacred trust.

Speech: Connecticut Press Club: May 19, 2005

2005-05-19T18:00:00.012-04:00

Remarks by

William B. Seebeck

Managing Director, Universal E-Brands

The Connecticut Press Club

Thursday, May 19, 2005 at 6:00 PM

Sornatale's Restaurant, Norwalk, Connecticut USA

"A popular government without popular information or the means of acquiring it is but a prologue to a farce or a tragedy or perhaps both," warned President James Madison. "Knowledge will forever govern ignorance, and a people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power knowledge gives."

Knowledge will forever govern ignorance. What a great quote and from a president who could not have ever envisioned our world of technology and possibility today.

In 1977, when I was offered the opportunity to take a turn into technology, it was because I believe that not only did it represent the future, but because it would change the world in which we lived. I wanted to be a part of that.

In 1982, I worked on the acquisition of the New York Times Information Service (NYTIS) by then Mead Data Central, now LEXIS/NEXIS and fell in love with the possibility of online.

To me, online represents the possibility of sharing information around the world and that eventually everyone can access it. I believed then and I believe now that information is knowledge and that knowledge is truth and truth can set people free.

Sounds very idealistic doesn't it? Well, I'm a true product of my generation. The first president that mattered to me was JFK and the part of his inaugural address that called out to me was, "My fellow citizens of the world, ask not what America can do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of mankind."

To me then and to me now, this represents the possibility of always something new. The understanding that what was yesterday is not what is today, nor what will be tomorrow. Always the possibility of......

Bobby Kennedy used to say that, "Some people dreams dreams and ask why but I dream dreams and ask, why not?"

In my world, my friends, I operate out of abundance rather than scarcity because I believe that if you operate out of abundance, you get abundance and if you operate out of scarcity, you get scarcity.

And, always this is about the possibility of.....

Now, you may be asking yourselves, that sounds great Bill, but what are you talking about?

Tonight, my friends, I am talking about the possibility of the emergence of an entirely new society to replace the one that exists today.

It is in part the society I was hoping my own work over the last 25 years would help create and so I can tell you that I see it emerging.

It is very wild and confusing and unruly and also ordered and caring and brazen and like the technology that helped form it -- it can't be harnessed. It is coming forth whether we want it to or not.

Again, we ask you Bill, what are you talking about?

My friends, I ask you to open your minds and consider what I am saying to you tonight. You are all one way or another journalists, as I was once. While you maybe skeptics, you are always open to a good story.

Tonight, I ask you to be open to the possibility of ....... a new emerging society!

In 1994, when the Internet went commercial, it rang in the dawn of a new form of human communication, because the Internet is a medium of communication.

In 1994, the demographics of the Internet were 70 percent male, 30 percent female, ages 18-25 with a skew to 33. It was primarily American.

Over the last 11 years, it has grown more rapidly than any other achievement in human history. Yet, everyone around the world didn't get access at the same time. In Saudi Arabia, for example, access didn't come until August of 1999 and even then it was not widely available.

Today, however, millions and millions are connected in one form or another to this network of human communication.

Knowledge now flows through it. Other things do as well.

And Yes, it is a very open society.

So, now you may say, yes Bill, we know all of that, so what is the big deal?

The big deal, the possibility that I wanted you to consider tonight was the fact that new generations of our people have put this communications medium at the center of their lives. As a result, their world's revolve around it and the way in which they live is dependent upon it. It and the technology that has grown from it is now -- the WHAT IS -- of their society.

My friends, think of what has already changed;

The method of making and selling music is now forever changed. It is electronic.

The method of viewing video (movies, etc.) will in the next 48 months be changed forever. It will be wholly electronic.

The method of communicating is by voice, text, or video and via any kind of electronic device you can think of is now wholly electronic.

The way people meet and test relationships and yes, marry is now electronic and it is changed forever.

The way we are educated is increasingly becoming electronic and we are not going back, we are going forward.

The way in which we pay for things is almost wholly electronic and paper money and coinage is fast becoming extinct.

The way in which we elect officials and raise campaign funds, etc., is electronic.

And, my friends, for the generations that have grown up since 1994, with this electronic world at the center of their lives, it is the way they live their lives each day. It is not a learned experience.

If you were six years old in 1994, and beginning school, you are ready for college today. If you were 18 in 1994, you are 29 today. The Internet and electronic media is your norm and fills many of your life expectations.

Very quickly, our world is becoming their world.

They have their own vision of politics, we learned that in 2004. They have their own rules about everything. It is a world created within this medium of communication. They can discuss politics or religion or life with their peers in Norway or China, Australia or Japan. They see no barriers to human interchange.

They see only the possibility of .....

What are YOU doing to understand their world? Trust me, it is theirs and not yours or mine.

Monday night, I was at a restaurant having dinner and watched a 20-something couple holding up their video phones and looking at each other through each others phones and laughing.

On Tuesday, it was announced that about 125 million consumers will be watching television on their mobile phones within five years.

Trials of mobile television have been carried out around the world, and consumers are expected to be able to pick up the first of 130,000 TV phones that will be made by the end of this year. By 2010, that number will be 83.5 million.

Mobile TV signals will be handled by special chips that sit alongside the chips that process the mobile phone's calls, music and streaming video clips.

Are you ready for the possibility of that?

Do you think that what you put on a 29-inch screen will make sense for a screen that fits in the palm of your hand? What kind of content will you be creating for this medium?

If you have phones with streaming video, what kind of applications or content will you or your companies, newspapers or clients be creating if a doctor wants to use the video part of the phone to show the condition of a patient in his/her office cross town or from another part of the world?

Are you ready for the possibility of that?

If you can talk with anyone via this medium, why not have the best teachers in the world speak to millions or to one on their subjects for broadcast to desktops, laptops, phones, PDA's or in a theatre?

If the world is changing with this generation and the ones to come after it, should we be looking at changing the way education is delivered?

Are there new possibilities? Are we ready to change to meet those possibilities?

Today, Palm introduced its new Lifestyle handheld that fits in the palm of your hand. It has a 4 GB hard drive built by Hitachi and can play video, music and do everything but act as a phone, and you know that's coming. You see technology doesn't wait for anyone. It has a life of its own.

You can be a little company in Finland that one day makes a mobile phone and the next day starts a revolution and changes the way we all do things and that's Nokia. Who or what is the next Nokia? And are you, my friends, ready for the possibility of a new Nokia?

Are you ready for weddings to be electronic?

Are you ready for court hearings to be electronic?

Are you ready to see your doctor electronically?

Are you ready to have your medical tests via links in your home or on the road?

And

What about the poor? What will technology do for them?

What about the millions without health care? How will technology help them?

What about the elderly? What will technology do for them?

Are you ready for the possibility of creating new systems to help the poor?

Are you ready for the possibility of using technology to re-build doctor's offices, change the way diagnostics, etc., are performed, have your doctor make an e-call?

Are you ready to let go of what was and give way to what is emerging?

Are you?

Always the possibility of .....

These are things that are coming. Yet what is coming quicker than anything, I believe is the new society that has been created by our young people and some of us older folks. It is very different. It was created out of necessity and because the e-world made it possible.

I for one am not afraid of it, but it will change our world forever.

As communicators, a whole room of them here tonight, you carry a great burden in this new emerging society. You can help inform and teach and arm them with the knowledge necessary to help in the evolution/revolution.

Remember what President Madison said, "A people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power knowledge gives.

Knowledge has given us this new power and it is clear to me that the generations that have made it their own ARE about to take the reigns of our society and govern with it.

Are YOU ready for that possibility? I believe you are.

Thank you.

Speech: COMDEX Saudi Arabia, April 10, 2000

2000-04-10T10:26:00.006-04:00

"Vision of the future in Information Technology & E-Commerce"

Remarks by

William B. Seebeck

Vice President & Managing Director, Technology & Media Group

The Dabbagh Group, Ltd.

At COMDEX Saudi Arabia 2000

E-Commerce in Action Conference

Le Meridien Hotel

Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

10 April 2000

Thank you for your kind introduction.

Mr. Casey, the management and staff of SBM/IBM, special guests, my brothers and sisters in technology.

"Visions of the Future in Information Technology and E-Commerce!" Sounds like looking into a crystal ball to try and see the future. Yet, visioning is part of what I have been doing in this industry for some 25 years. What I like about doing it is that it is about possibilities -- challenges to existing structures and systems and to the human spirit.

More than being a visionary, in the online industry, I have put my own resources into developing ideas and new advances that I believed could happen. One of those was in 1991, when I developed a system and methodology that today we call Intranets. I called my system, Information Interchange Networks. That was more than a year before the Internet became commercially available. Then in 1996, I introduced what I called Affinity IntraNets. Creating direct point-to-point links by a corporation to vendors, customers, bank and accounting firm, industry analysts -- any institution with whom they had an affinity relationship. Today, those links are called extranets.

So I say to you, it is not enough to vision, you must also DO!

The late U.S. Senator Robert Kennedy used to say, "Some people dream dreams and ask why?But I dream dreams and ask why not?

Eighteen years ago, when I started in the online industry, I found that there was a small core of believers that shared the vision of the possibility of online. Most of the print publishers did not agree with them, did not share the vision. I remember in 1983, standing before the publisher's board of then Time-Life, trying to convince them that there was a business future in electronic information, that they could make money from it. Most disagreed. It took the leadership of their chairman back then Andrew Heiskell who believed that it was a possibility. Today, that company is Time-Warner, soon to be AOL/Time Warner.

What I thought about online information back in 1982 was the possibility that information about peoples and their commerce shared worldwide would reduce ignorance and foster peace. I viewed online as a powerful catalyst for change; that knowledge shared creates the possibility of peace and human advancement. I still firmly believe this.

This electronic revolution we are all apart of knows no national borders, we need only reach out through the Internet and the world can be there for us. Whether we are seeking information on a company or a university; medical research or building contracts; or in just linking through the power of e-mail with groups of people for business purposes; or with friends or family for pure fun. With the creation of e-mail, we collapsed the information float that once divided us by geography and politics and religious beliefs. We created a virtual world that allows us to educate, explore, conduct business, etc. all at the same time, in the same way, almost without risk. The possibilities are endless.

So, you may say, Bill, what does this have to do with us here today? We have heard much of this before from other people.

I have told you about these things because right now there is another possibility. It is a vision of the future that I want to share with you right now. It is a vision that I challenge you, each of you to embrace. It is a dream that begs the answer of "Why not?"

My friends, the electronic revolution is moving quickly across the globe. It is more than an industry, it is a movement. Advances in technology each day change systems and structures and impact societies and their peoples. No one nation can put a halt to it, for technological change no longer rests in the hands of institutions but rests in the hands of each user, wherever they are around the globe.

Yet for this movement to root itself firmly in commerce, it needs to regionalize. For language is not the same. Selling is not the same from one country to another. Buying is not the same from one nation to another. Who does the buying and how they do the buying is not the same from one nation to another. Herein lies the power and the possibility for the Middle East.

In order for this region to take its rightful place in the networks and technology of the future, it is now time for the Arab world to exert itself and create a regional representation of itself on the electronic global stage. In this way, the nations and peoples of the Arab world can properly promote their history, culture, language and beliefs equally to the world. Only in this way, can we create a global medium that looks like the peoples of the world, rather than that of only one nation.

To achieve this vision and possibility, you must DO!

How?

Here in the Middle East, the number of children 0-15 years of age represents some 43% of the total population. This tells us that education is the foundation of the future of the region. This education must include a strong technological base and should be funded heavily with this future in mind. What are the institutions of higher education in the region doing electronically? Why are they not key elements in the development of new uses of technology linked to venture capital funds that help precipitate new Internet companies? How many universities have incubator sites? My friends, it is time to DO!

Second, the Middle East is the birthplace of successful commerce! You need to reclaim this by moving more quickly into electronic commerce. Why should some other region of the world have a de facto claim on the way commerce -- electronic or otherwise look or be conducted? DO!

Third, I have always said that there are three components to online -- communications, content and method of payment. So, what about communications? It is critical that the nations of the region rapidly open broadband data access as wide as possible. One of the reasons that this is so critical is because wireless and satellite, which are already here in one form or another, will very soon render some land line options obsolete - therefore you will be holding onto nothing. DO!

Fourth, what about content? Why has the region been speaking only to itself? Where is the content that tells the world who you are? Where is the content that tells the world about the history of each of the countries? Where is the content that tells the story of your achievements in mathematics, science and technology? Where is the content that tells the world about the life of an Arab family? How can the world do business with the region if it does not know who you are and what you believe?

DO!

Fifth, what about the methods of payment? The Arab world has some of the most advanced banks in the world. It was here in this region that such methods of finance were first created. Why have the institutions not created online banking systems for all? Where are the online credit card systems? Where are the smart card systems? Where is corporate electronic interchange? DO!

My friends, my vision of what the electronic world looks like is representative of the world and its peoples. Discord in the electronic world will come about when peoples of regions and nations feel left out of the process and the progress. We must avoid this from happening. We can only stop that from happening by DOing!

Please do not think that you can control technology, because technology has a life of its own and it is global. Once you have chosen to be a part of the technology revolution, you have to be willing to "Ride the Tiger" and move with the change.

Yet, if you answer my call today; If you meet the possibility of regionalization with great strength and effort and leadership, then technology will be your companion and not your foe. It will open up new vistas and a much broader element of interchange and communication amongst peoples of the earth. DO this for your people and the future of the culture you cherish and revere and are passing on to your children.

One of the reasons, as I mentioned before, that this is so critical, is because in the technology revolution, what was yesterday is not what is today and what was today is not what it will be tomorrow.

For tomorrow, what I see is that wireless is about to come of age globally. Issues relating to incompatibility and pricing have or are being resolved. Investment is pouring into every wireless venture conceivable and so it should. It is only through wireless that we achieve success in e-commerce. It is only through wireless that we can achieve true mobility. It is only through wireless that we are not confined by the enormous capital investment of land line infrastructure.

What will drive wireless even faster is the advent of sub-orbital satellite systems. These platforms will begin to exchange content next year. Further, existing U.S. satellite systems that were previously used for military purposes, the so-called C3 (Command, Control, Communications) will go commercial. This will accelerate the process as two of the companies involved in sub-orbital broadband wireless communications -- Hughes and Loral were the original contractors for these C3 communications systems. The other player in the mix -- Teledesic -- originally a partnership of Bill Gates and Craig McCaw personally, now joined by Boeing, has broad links to the traditional wireless and Internet based online services.

So, the cycle is that within 18 months, the world will begin to move its broadband transmission to wireless. Will the Arab world and the countries of the Middle East be prepared to be part of this effort at the outset? When we meet again this time next year, what will the region have accomplished to be an equal player in this effort?

This is the challenge. It is not enough to vision. It is not enough to dream. You must DO! You must embrace the possibility and make it happen.

May goodness and its teacher, and meeting the possibility of achievement in all your endeavors be your daily companion.

Thank you.

Speech: GITEX Dubai, U.A.E., October 30, 1999

1999-10-30T20:00:00.021-04:00

Remarks

William B. Seebeck

Vice President & Managing Director, Technology Portfolio

The Dabbagh Group Ltd.

GITEX Dubai

at Dabbagh Information Technology's (DIT's)

Fifth Annual Information Technology Awards Dinner

Crown Plaza Hotel

Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Saturday, 30 October 1999

Thank you Walid [Akwai] for that very kind introduction.

Excellencies, Special guests, Award Nominees, my brothers and sisters in technology.

I am also very pleased to welcome you to DIT’s Annual Awards Dinner. On behalf of Amr Dabbagh and the employees of the worldwide operations of the Dabbagh Group, we thank you for coming here tonight and sharing this great meal and celebration.

For the last five years, our company – Dabbagh Information Technology (DIT), the publishers of PC Magazine Middle East & Africa and DIT.Net have been privileged to host this dinner at GITEX. It is an Awards Dinner, put forth to honor those companies and their many bright, innovative and at times most courageous employees who create new products and services and bring them to market. We recognize them because they should receive this honor from all of us -- their peers in the technology industry.

However, those of us here and the many that we represent back in our offices around the world are more than just employees of companies. We are, each of us, partners in a technology revolution that changes all of the time, even as we share this great meal tonight.

Like you, I am a participant in that revolution and have been for 25 years, 18 of them in online. Like you, I have explored, invented, created, developed, risked, lost and won, but rarely have I done it alone. To create such a time-intensive technology revolution, you need colleagues and partners and alliances. You or I may think in a vacuum, but you can’t bring your visions and dreams to life alone. In many ways, it has always been this way.

When my ancestor, Thomas Johann Seebeck discovered thermoelectricity in 1821, he did it in an environment where he daily shared ideas with such people as Goethe, Schiller, Volta and others that lived in or visited the University town of Jena, Germany. They also met regularly at gatherings of the French Academy of Sciences, gatherings much like the sessions we are holding here at GITEX. There, they heard Benjamin Franklin of America and Peltier of France and others describe their work. From such sessions, new creations were put forth and advances made at a greater pace. Today, history calls that particular technology revolution -- The Age of Electricity.

But who are our partners today? Where are they located?

As this dinner and the GITEX show illustrates, our partners today are based in countries around the world – in America, in Britain, Germany, Holland, Australia, India, Italy, China, and yes, also in all of the countries of the Middle East. We can partner with anyone in a virtual world and in an evolving global economy.

Yes, this electronic revolution knows no national borders, we need only reach out and through the Internet, the world can be there for us. Whether we are seeking information on a company or a university; or medical research or building contracts; or in just linking through the power of e-mail with groups of people for business purposes or with friends or family for pure fun. With the creation of e-mail, we collapsed the information float that once divided us by geography and politics and religious beliefs. We created a virtual world that allows us educate, explore, conduct business, etc., all at the same time, in the same way, almost without risk.

The power of this medium is unlike any other in history. Yet, like anything else, it also has limitations. The Internet is finite because is defined as being available only to those who have credit cards. Yet, less than 3% of the world has credit cards (in the U.S., some 65% have credit cards but 35% don’t have bank accounts; less than 15% of the Germans use credit cards in what has traditionally been a cash society, etc.). The Internet is still a man’s domain, not being used widely by women, who are the predominant purchasers of soft goods in the Western countries. The Internet’s users are still defined as ranging from age 18-29, skewing to 33 years of age and finally, the Internet is still viewed as an "American thing".

So create we must, partner we must, alliance we must, promote we must, yet, understand that there are risks. The Internet without filters can offend and challenge the morality and beliefs of people as it has done in Belgium and Germany and here in some areas of our region; the Internet can also be used by some as the sole source of your children’s amusement – the virtual baby sitter.

Finally, the Internet is a powerful medium and while it was born in the U.S., the Internet must continue to aggressively evolve so that it becomes an acceptable member of the family of each nation, not just America’s.

We have plotted an aggressive future for ourselves on behalf of the countries of the Middle East, and in that vain, we celebrate the announcement by His Royal Highness yesterday concerning the creation of the world’s first Internet City.

As the leading online and information technology media company in the region, we at Dabbagh are committed to opening the Middle East to every other region of the world so that so that we can attract and offer a wide variety of partnerships and alliances to businesses in our region.

We at Dabbagh are committed to providing an Internet based IntraNet for every company and individual in the world that has an interest in or does business with the Arab world. Through this Arabic/English portal, we will offer business-to-business services, consumer services, educational activities and a fun but safe environment for the children of the region.

We at Dabbagh are committed to provide television and wireless services in the region that support Internet or other broadcast services.

To show that we are quite serious about these efforts, we at Dabbagh have created DIT Fund, an investment fund that in strategic alliance with Masayoshi Son, the president and ceo of Softbank Corp. has made and will continue to make select investments in pre-IPO Internet ventures. Many of these ventures can be applicable to our region as well and when appropriate, we will aggressively assist them in that effort as well.

In doing all of these things our company will be making, we believe, a major contribution to the development of this information and communication revolution in this region. We look forward to working with all of you and your companies as we work together in this, the Age of the Internet.

Now, let us celebrate and honor those companies that have made important contributions to our industry during the past year.

Thank you very much.

Press Report: Expert Claims MasterCard to Pocket SmartCard Technology

1996-11-28T09:00:00.006-05:00

Specialists skeptical of Mondex purchase...

"Some smartcard specialists fear Mastercard could hold back the electronic purse technology developed by Mondex International, following its agreement to buy the UK firm last week. Concerns were prompted by a teleconference last week in which Mastercard president Eugene Lockhart estimated it could take up to 10 years to roll out an infrastructure for the Mondex cards. 'It is going to take us quite a bit of time to come up with the right terminal policy," he said.

Bill Seebeck, specialist in global electronic currency and managing director of consultancy Grant/Seebeck International, warned: 'While Mondex International hopes to gain brand distribution with Mastercard, Mastercard takes the biggest threat to its business out of the game." Seebeck claimed the Mondex card would have been rolled out within the next couple of years...."

Computer Weekly (U.K.), November 28, 1996

Speech: The World Bank, November 9, 1996

1996-11-09T13:00:00.012-05:00

Remarks

William B. Seebeck

Managing Director

Grant/Seebeck International, LLC

The World Bank

Fund Staff Federal Credit Union

1996 Strategic Planning Conference

The Embassy of New Zealand

Washington, DC

Saturday, November 9, 1996

It has been 25 years since I helped draft a speech for David Rockefeller, then chairman of the Chase Manhattan Bank on “Where Banking would be going in the 1970’s”. Much has happened since 1971, in every institution including banking.

In 1971, when that speech was given by Mr. Rockefeller, Chase was considered a cutting edge bank. Yet, in 1971, it had just begun the computerization of the bank’s accounts. Until 1970, commercial accounts were still being hand-posted. I remember being at a meeting where the positives of computerization were discussed with the bank’s then vice chairman, George Roeder. The case was made that computerization would make it possible for the Bank to collect and post all the costs associated with the maintenance of a commercial account, so that we could for the first time review the profitability of an account. Imagine that.

In the area of communications, the Bank was still using rotary dial phones and international calls were still made by our operators. However, we had begun exploring a move from operator-driven plug boards to a Centrex system.

In credit cards, Chase, one of the pioneers of that industry, was then reviewing the possibility of instituting a new program in alliance with the Bank of America – The Bank Americard. Chase had a hundred or more branches in the New York City area. It also prided itself as being #1 in institutional banking. Chase also maintained “on the ground” representation all over the world. Chase, with the experienced David Rockefeller at the helm, a true internationalist, was a picture of what a modern commercial bank should look like.

In some ways, the fundamental structure of banking as it was in 1971, has not changed a great deal, it has only upgraded its operation. However, 25 years later, I am here to tell you that Banking as it was then and Banking as it is now will be altered completely in the next 10 years. Why?

Because technology born of the revolution that is changing all of our institutions is also driving fundamental changes both in the operation of banking and in what will be expected of banks for the future.

Let us understand that banking is the process of moving, storing and the using funds for a fee, for the broad purpose of promoting commerce within a capitalist society. Funds are what the society has decided represents value. In the 16th century, dyes for coloring textiles and the like had real value and were exchangeable for gold which also had real value in a society whose commerce was run primarily by barter. Later, it became acceptable to use paper currency to represent funds backed by gold.

In the year 2005, we believe that it will no longer be necessary to represent funds by paper currency. We believe that funds or the representation of value will evolve over the next 10 years to become electronic currency.

Fundamentally, we believe this because, with the advent of electronic mail, technology collapsed the information float – the time in which it takes for us to communicate. It has reduced our words to data and made it possible to compress that data in packets small enough to be sent in nanoseconds via communication networks. This action alone has fundamentally changed, virtually overnight, the way business operates, and we human beings, communicate with one another on this planet earth.

Now, once technology collapsed the information float with e-mail, the money float was also collapsed, since moving money is nothing more than moving data. Yet while e-mail has been growing exponentially for the last five years, e-moneys growth has been snailish at best. As a result, real electronic commerce is not broadly available, despite lots of bravado in the press. In large part, this is because the new banking system necessary to support this new evolving world of commerce is yet to be created.

Why?

I think because it is such a fundamental change for banks and for their customers, including us. For after all, electronic money means the end of float. We have all enjoyed float whether as an individual, as a company or as a bank. It also means the end of the archaic 1-5 day bank clearing structure. Why do you need it if you can move money from one place to another in nanoseconds? Electronic money also means the beginning of the end for checks. You won’t need them anymore. Electronic money also levels the field of competition with banks because it is a great equalizer. In the electronic age, you may not need a global bank if your local bank can download value to your electronic Smart Card. More on Smart Cards later.

Yet, despite our initial resistance to electronic money, let us remember that in some respects, electronic money has been with us in one form or another for 25 years. The electronic money we have been successfully using is known as the credit card or the ATM/Debit Card. The credit card replaced personal loans and the ATM card has replaced checks. Yet, the actual value of what we charge our credit account or direct deposit account is not found on the credit or debit card. The credit card and the debit card are not funds in and of themselves, rather, they represent promises to pay by our banks in an intricate settlement process that occurs within 48 hours of our actual transaction.

Like paper currency and checks, we believe that credit and debit cards as we know them now will be seriously on the wane at the beginning of the next century. They will evolve into a much simpler system of Smart Cards that can communicate directly with our banks allowing for the exchange of funds to take place instantaneously, either through direct communication via a phone or through the stored value represented on the card.

Now, you may ask, “Does this mean that we will still have a need for MasterCard and VISA and other bank cards?” Our answer is no, we will no longer have a need for MasterCard or VISA as a mechanism, although they may remain as brands. We believe that these bank associations will no longer be relevant to the banks of the future.

The Mondex card issued in June 1995, by NatWest in association with British Telecom and Midlands Bank has already proved that you need only the Smart Card and a communications company to exact a transaction. With electronic currency and Smart Cards, you won’t need the cost of an intermediate organization between the consumer, the merchant and the bank, since the “open to buy” will be on the Smart Card itself.

When these bank associations were born 25 years ago, they represented a mechanism for profit for banks unable to handle massive transactions. Essentially, MasterCard and VISA are telecommunications switches that link the merchant to a card issuant bank requesting an authorization covering payment of goods and services. They also exist to protect their brands. Smart Cards hold value and/or the authorization on the card – there is no need to contact the bank for approval on every transaction. Therefore, you don’t need the telecom switch anymore. Technology has changed the requirement for that transaction.

Someone asked me recently when I thought we would go to Smart Cards. Well, in part, our target date was established in September of this year, when President Clinton signed the Welfare Reform Bill into law. This bill mandates that states introduce Smart Cards by 1999 for recipients of welfare benefits. The result is therefore, that we will have access to Smart Cards by 1999.

Last month, Microsoft announced that it will support, via its software, Smart Cards and hopes that personal computer manufacturers will install Smart Card readers beginning in 1997, in their computers much like CD-ROM’s are installed in most desktop machines manufactured today.

What does a bank issued Smart Cards look like? Well, it has a flexible silicon chip embedded in it and represents technology that has been around since 1972. When the U.S. starts using Smart Cards, we will be joining millions of other people around the world that have been using them for more than a decade, primarily as a medical identification cards.

We believe that Smart Cards by 2005, will have our basic identification on it, including drivers license, medical history, medical insurance, photograph, signature sample, a biometric identifier like a fingerprint, face or retinal scan that can’t be altered and will represent at least one level of security. It will have on it credit lines from a variety of institutions like department stores or banks that represent actual value, i.e., the credit lines can be drawn down from the card without additional approval from the creditor. It will contain a direct link to your bank and the ability to store value or currency on the card for exchange with merchants or other consumers.

What else changes for banks?

Banks will no longer require local branches. Branches will be closed and replaced by ATM-like machines necessary for an individual to add value to their Smart Cards when they are away from home or when they don’t have access to PC’s or smart phones at home or in the office. For PC’s and smart-phones or even cell phones, you will be able to slide your Smart Card into the device and download value directly from the bank. Banks will also set up regional centers, as many already have and also offer videoconference facilities in areas frequented by the general public, such as malls and grocery stores. In addition, you will be able to videoconference with your bank directly via your personal computer.

Commercial and institutional banking will continue along the same route with the movement of money occurring via the use of Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) and dial-up links to the bank. EDI will speed up international letters-of-credit and general purchasing, processing and collection. Digital signatures, fast becoming legal in most states, will serve to help confirm the many number of legal instruments necessary in commercial transaction and critical to the banking process.

International banking will change dramatically. Already, Smart Cards such as Mondex can store value in more than one currency (Mondex can store five). As a result, an individual can move from place to place on the globe with stored value in that nation’s currency. In inter-country exchanges, already many nations are creating internal SWIFT (Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications) compatible service networks that can link with SWIFT inter-bank telecom switch in Amsterdam. Acceptance and availability of technology in countries is critical to worldwide acceptance.

So what have we done to banking so far?

Acceptance of Electronic Currency as a form of universal exchange.

• Introduction of Smart Cards to replace:

• Cash

• Checks

• ATM Cards

• Credit Cards

• Medical ID Cards

• Drivers License

• SmartCard can contain:

• ID information

• Photographs

• Biometric security, i.e., signature, fingerprint, facial or retinal scan

• Direct Deposit Account (DDA) Access and Cash stored value

• Credit card line store value (“open to buy”)

• Drivers license

• Health insurance authorizations

• Health information

• End of the requirement for MasterCard, VISA or any other credit card organization or acquiring bank.

• End of the existing U.S. bank clearing structure.

• End of local branch banking

• Introduction of video-banking centers in malls, shopping centers, or other places in which people gather.

• Introduction of regional banking centers for commercial banking requirements.

• Use of SmartPhones, PC’s, cell phones, POS (point of sale) and electronic wallet devices for SmartCards. It should be noted that companies have already made such devices.

• Changes in U.S. banking law, where required, to allow for the growth of this relationship.

Sounds like a lot doesn’t it?

Well think about it though. How will we expand global electronic commerce via the Internet or Intranets when:

• Most bank issued credit cards, today, don’t allow electronic payment transfers from your bank account unless your account is in collection.

• Most banks do not have electronic banking services available via either phone or personal computer.

• Only 2% of the world’s population have credit cards.

• Only credit cards are accepted for payment on the Internet or Intranets.

• Less than 12% of the Germans use credit cards.

There is no mechanism for the consumer to move money around the world electronically.

• There is a limited ability to settle payments for electronic services in multiple currencies in multiple countries.

• 35% of the American people do not have bank accounts.

The answer is, if the banking industry doesn’t begin changing radically soon, electronic commerce advances made by scores of new companies like Netscape, Connect, Open Market, Yahoo!, Alta Vista and many others including Microsoft and IBM will slow dramatically.

Unlike 1971, my friends, we, you and I, along with businesses and governments are now part of a truly global electronic economy. The Internet has proven its ability to perform and it has captured the imagination and garnered the involvement of millions of people in every part of the globe. The banking industry must move with speed to support this new commerce market with advanced payment systems and relevant electronic banking structures. Your challenge as bankers is to be open to understanding the evolving nature of this technology and to be willing to make changes that are both fundamental and revolutionary. Are you up to this challenge?

I think you are.

Thank you very much.

Press Report: Apple Plan No Help to Firm's Stock

1996-05-14T12:15:00.007-04:00

“…Prove it. That was Wall Street’s reaction yesterday to Apple Computer Co.’s new grand plan to save itself. Apple stock, which has fallen more than half from a high of 49 3/8 last June, barely moved, closing down 1/8 at 27 1/8. ‘Is it too late, is really the question,’ said William B. Seebeck, managing director of Grant/Seebeck International of Wilton, Conn., ‘Apple has just had losses that have been so gigantic. It makes people gun-shy of where the company’s going to go. Does it come too late? That’s the issue..."

New York Post, May 14, 1996

Press Report: is There A Future for Prodigy?

1996-05-09T12:15:00.003-04:00

Wall Street stumped by Prodigy MBO…

“…’I think there’s a future [for Prodigy] – there’s a base of subscribers and an evolving product line and it could work for another player who understands the business,’ opined William B. Seebeck of Grant/Seebeck International…”

New York Post, May 9, 1996

Press Report: Online Services Experience Static

1996-04-24T09:00:00.001-04:00

“…Online services, however, have realized they must counter the threat from the Web. In the past year, AOL, CompuServe and Prodigy have started offering Internet access as part of their service. AOL and CompuServe also have hedged their bets by launching their own Internet-access provider services separate from their online services. ‘The online services are not going away,’ says William B. Seebeck, managing director of Grant/Seebeck International, a market research firm. ‘But they will continue to need to adapt.’…”

USA Today, February 22, 1996

Speech: SIMBA Online Conference, November 6, 1995

1995-12-04T09:00:00.006-05:00

Online Expert Rips Unprofitable Internet, Offers Solutions…

“…At a recent online conference, one of the leading experts in global electronic commerce, took the Net to task for its serious deficiencies as a place to conduct commerce. Even suggesting that other networks may some day replace it – unless the Internet gets its act together. Participating on a panel at the SIMBA Online Conference called Transforming the Web: From Hyperplace to Marketplace, William B. Seebeck, managing director of Grant/Seebeck International, said what was undoubtedly on many people’s minds: ‘Clients want to know, ‘When am I going to get my money back?’ The answer, Seebeck said, is that “it’s not going to be easy.” Most of the revenue in global electronic commerce is concentrated currently in business-to-business online services, such as LEXIS/NEXIS, Dow Jones, NewsNet, Reuters, Financial Times Profile, and Dun & Bradstreet, Seebeck pointed out, which account for 93 percent of the market right now, or $18 billion annually. ‘Until or unless these services move to the Internet,’ Seebeck said, ‘we don’t expect to see a large return for any company on the Internet.’…Seebeck did offer solutions, the actions he believed were required for the Internet to become profitable. (See p. 6 for Seebeck’s “Top 10” List)….Seebeck said that ad agencies viewed the Internet as another communications medium, and more and more companies are offering information on it…’The result is that the Internet is becoming more of an advertising medium than an interactive sales transaction mecca,’ he said. ‘The three companies to watch in the future are the three satellite networks – CyberStar (Loral Corporation), Spaceway (Hughes/GM) and Teledesic (Bill Gates/Craig McCaw),’ Seebeck said. ‘They in fact may become the real interactive network.’

Interactive PR, December 4-20, 1995

Speech: Top 10 Actions Needed for the Internet to Become Profitable

1995-11-06T11:00:00.006-05:00

Seebeck's Top 10 Actions Needed

for the Internet to become Profitable

As presented at The SIMBA Online Conference held at the J.W. Marriott Hotel in Washington, D.C. on November 6, 1995.

1. To become truly universal, it must become less American in its “management”.

2. The Internet network infrastructure must improve so that it degradates less and becomes more efficient.

3. Financial and other “private” transactions must be made secure to everyone’s satisfaction.

4. The U.S. government must allow for the foreign export of the encryption technology necessary to protect Internet transactions.

5. More users with a broader representation of the buying population (i.e., more women) must be present on the Internet.

6. It must become possible to search for information on the Internet across databases or sites rather than one at a time.

7. Payment for services must be electronic and be other than by credit card while at the same time remaining secure.

8. Payments to buyers and sellers on the Internet must be in multiple currencies.

9. PC’s must become more like appliances in order to dramatically grow the Internet user base.

10. More business-to-business services must move to the Internet.

- * -

Press Report: Online Service Gourmet Bill Seebeck

1995-03-16T14:10:00.003-05:00

“…Confused over the different online services available? Well, I can’t say I blame you. After all, how do you differentiate between an array of services such as America Online, the Microsoft Network, CompuServe, and LEXIS/NEXIS or Knight-Ridder? Things became clearer to me after conversations I had with online gourmet Bill Seebeck…”

Computer Weekly (U.K.), March 16, 1995

Speech: International Online Information Meeting, London, December 8, 1994

1994-12-08T11:00:00.003-05:00

U.S. Press Embargo: December 8, 1994, 11:00 A.M. EST

Remarks by

William B. Seebeck,

Managing Director of Grant/Seebeck International, L.L.C.

and Chairperson

Panel on Electronic Payment Services

The 18th International Online Information Meeting, Olympia Center

London, England

Thursday, December 8, 1994

I would like to begin my remarks today by thanking Jean Mulligan of Learned Information and David Raitt of the European Space Agency, Chairperson of the Conference, for supporting me, and this panel, in our quest to bring to the fore of the public debate, what we think is a critical question to the success or failure of global online services, including the Internet. That question is, “How are you going to get paid for what you sell?”

Before we examine this critical issue though, I want to go back in time with you. History, I believe helps to provide us with a perspective of the present and the future.

Last week, I was having a conversation with my Italian baker about technology. He was reflecting on having told his children about what technology was like for him when he was growing up in the early 1950’s. He told his children about how he used to “watch radio”. His children, laughing at him, he said, asked Papa, how can you watch radio? I don’t know, he said, but we just sat there in front of the radio and focused on the light of the dial and the speaker, as if it was a person.

Well, since the introduction of online information services in the mid-70’s, we too have been staring at our monitors, very much like in the radio days of the early 50’s.

Today, however, we are now beginning to see into our online services, going beyond text into graphics, sound, video, and to directly interacting with the other people, like us, connected to the service. We are as a result, networking with one another.

Networking is something that we humans do naturally, we are after all social beings, born to interact. It is why, I believe, that the Internet has taken off so quickly, creating a life form of its own, because the most common person can understand what it is about -- it is about human networking.

But the Internet and other global online services have done more than provide a place for us to buy a variety of goods and services. Unknowingly, I believe, they have created a network where people have created a new global society, with its own rules, understandings, politics, communications and commerce.

This new society has burst forth out of necessity. Not just because we are offering great products and services, but because we collapsed the information float. What do I mean by that? Well, as an example, it used to be if you mailed a letter, it would take three to five days for a person to receive it. So, you ordered your life accordingly. You had time. Today, if I send you a letter, via E-Mail, you will receive it in seconds. As a result, there is no more time -- no information float. You are also expected to respond instantaneously. In order to manage this rapid change and to help control your life, you reach out for the new world -- the net.

It follows that if you’ve collapsed the information float, then you can do the same with money, much like the shift from barter to currency 300 years ago. The shift we are considering today is away from physical currency, as we know it, to electronic currency. Further, to meet the demands of commerce for this new society, banking or the business of money becomes information in motion able to be moved around the world in nano-seconds.

Now it is at this point where we fall down dramatically.

The Internet has captured the attention of the world. People everywhere on the globe want to connect to it. In fact, a study of Americans published last week in Interactive Age shows that 60.9% of those surveyed believed that it was important that, “everyone, regardless of income, have universal access to the Information Highway.” The Internet is for everyone and soon most people will be able to connect to it. However, what they all can’t do is buy goods and services easily on it.

Why?

Because the whole Internet world of commerce is predicated on people using credit cards.

And that is our first problem.

Why?

Because it is estimated that only 2% percent of the world’s population have credit cards.

Let’s get even more specific. If the only way you're going to pay for global online services, including the Internet is by credit card, then the interactive world is a finite one not infinite, it’s very definition drawn by the number of world’s credit card holders.

Amazingly, to date, the debate about payment for services has focused around the encryption or non-encryption of, yes, an individuals credit card transaction.

But what of the millions and millions of people around the world that don’t have credit cards? You may believe that group is small, yet the fact is that it is much greater than you realize. We have a representative of GENIOS with us today to talk about what it’s like to operate an online service without credit cards. Why doesn’t GENIOS use credit cards? Mainly because, as of right now, only nine million Germans have credit cards compared to here in the United Kingdom where some 37 million have cards. Think about it, Germany, one of the world’s economic giants with a great consumer market for goods and services and no credit cards -- hard for Americans to picture a world without credit cards.

But, if you are a global online service or a merchant on the Internet, you want to sell information and goods and services to the Germans. Yet, how do you do it they don’t have credit cards?

One immediate answer to that question is to accept checks.

Now, that presents us with our second problem.

You can accept checks, but how do you do that economically?

Let me give you an example of what I mean: As an American traveling internationally, I have accumulated a desk draw filled with uncashed V.A.T. refund checks that are as worthless to me as wallpaper.

Why? Because, if my American bank processes my foreign currency V.A.T. check, they will charge me 10 to 20 times the face value of the check to do it.

And the reason for these high charges is because our banking system does not have sufficient volume in international personal checks to justify the $.50 per check charged for processing a U.S. check, instead they charge anywhere from $20 to $50 per check. We won’t even touch on the concerns for check fraud. In 1993, 1.6 million U.S. checks processed were fraudulent.

The fact is that our financial system has not anticipated a market, like the Internet, where an individual will buy and sell goods and services from another individual or company anywhere in the world on a regular basis.

Up until now, the norm was that importing and exporting companies bought and sold goods and services via the letters of credit structure and then resold the products to us in department and specialty stores within the confines of our own national borders.

With the collapse of the information float and the existence of global networks, particularly the Internet, this old thinking must be changed.

NOW!

If the world banking system does not move quickly to change this structure and these assumptions about individual commerce, then I say that commerce on the Internet will not be a profitable marketplace for goods and services for some time to come.

Now, with all of that said, let me take a breath and step back for a moment.

Anyone who knows me also knows that I have not raised up these problems without having considered a host of possible solutions.

In fact, our panel today deals with some of those solution opportunities including making electronic debit and credit payments via a very unique device that plugs into your telephone and can be afforded by most individuals.

But if the Internet is to be truly universal and most people in the world don’t have credit cards, then we must accept the premise that most people will not use credit cards to pay for their goods and services. Yet if they don’t use credit, can they use debit cards? And if they don’t use debit or credit cards, can they use checks?

Well, yes, some of them can use checks, but even in the U.S. only 66% of Americans have bank accounts. And if they use checks, banks need to create a must more timely and economical way to process and clear foreign checks.

Now if they don’t use credit or debit cards and they don’t use checks, what can they do? Well, they can still use other methods. One might be using non-bank financial service companies like Western Union, which operates in 100 countries. There anyone can go directly to a Western Union office and using their own national currency pay bills or buy values of exchange.

What should be clear to traditional merchants who want to sell products and services on “the Net” is that we still have a long way to go before the reality of the net catches up to the “buzz” or the noise of the net.

What should be clear to the world’s financial community is that the Internet offers them a great new opportunity. In fact, it is unlike they have experienced since the Medici’s and Fugger’s ruled the banking world 300-500 years ago.

There is a need for a new financial system and possibly a new medium of exchange. We call on them to move quickly to offer up new systems compatible with this new society. If they answer the call, electronic commerce will thrive, if they fail to respond, then the Internet will be limited to a relatively small group of credit cardholders.

This I believe is the biggest challenge to universal expansion of the Internet and therefore to the success of one of the greatest opportunities in human history.

Press Report: Expert Calls for Cross Border Payment System for Internet

1994-12-08T09:00:00.005-05:00

Money transfer threat to growth of Internet

David Bicknell

A US online services specialist has warned that unless banks develop new cross-border payment systems many Internet users worldwide will be unable to pay for forthcoming services. It is widely assumed that everyone wanting to use the Internet and online services provided by companies such as Compuserve Prodigy and the new Microsoft Network have credit cards or belong to companies.

But in many developing nations and even some developed countries such as Germany only a fraction of the population use credit cards. It is estimated that only 8% of Europeans have credit cards so paying for goods from another country involves having to wire money or use instruments such as International Money Orders.

William Seebeck managing director of Connecticut online services consultancy Grant/Seebeck International said the explosion in demand for services must persuade banks to reconsider their payment charges.

"It can cost from $20 to $50 to process a cheque from another country because banks claim the demand is not there " he said. Interest in the Internet will create an explosion of cross-border payments but there is no way of meeting that demand without wide access to the use of credit cards.

Seebeck made a presentation on electronic payment services at the International Online Show at Olympia [London] this week. Seebeck claimed that even in the US the provision of banking services can be chaotic with no facility for US customers - unlike their UK counterparts - to cash a cheque in a bank other than their own. He said providers of worldwide money transfer services such as Western Union have seen the Internet business opportunities better than the banks.

Seebeck believes the banks now need either to reconsider their pricing structure recognising future demand for cross-border payment or develop new systems to facilitate it. If not then companies considering using the Internet to provide shopping services will baulk at the payment systems. One way forward he believes would be for a consortium of leading European and US financial institutions to consider setting up an "Internet Bank" to facilitate Internet cross-border payments. Without a credit card your international relations could be limited.

Computer Weekly, December 8, 1994