hedge fund
noun
plural noun: hedge funds
a limited partnership of investors that uses high risk methods, such as investing with borrowed money, in hopes of realizing large capital gains.
This is a huge crisis in Puerto Rico now.
The Island is financially broke.
The help it’s receiving from the “master” isn’t really helping.
It’s just setting the stage for continued pillage.
This may sound good but it really isn’t.
~House approves Puerto Rico debt-relief legislation~
The House on Thursday passed a bill that would create a financial control board to help Puerto Rico handle its finances, and let the island restructure some of its $70 billion in debt. The bipartisan 297-127 vote marked a victory for House Speaker Paul Ryan, who had urged conservative fellow Republicans to help pass the bill to keep the crisis from deepening.
Puerto Rico is due to make a $2 billion debt payment in three weeks.
“The Puerto Rican people are our fellow Americans,” Ryan said. “They pay our taxes, they fight in our wars. We cannot allow this to happen.”
This “JUNTA’S” real purpose is to make sure that the debtors are paid.
No real interest in the benefits of progress of Puerto Rico and it’s people.
How Hedge Funds Deepen Puerto Rico’s Debt Crisis
Vulture investors have descended on the commonwealth, taking advantage of a debt crisis that has impoverished citizens and created massive unemployment.
By: David Dayen
In many ways, the Puerto Rico situation is sui generis, resulting from a patchwork of laws and obligations on an entity that is not really a country and not really a U.S. state. But looked at another way, Puerto Rico is just the latest battlefield for a phalanx of hedge funds called “vultures,” which pick at the withered sinews of troubled governments.
In Greece, Argentina, Detroit, and now Puerto Rico, vultures have bought distressed debt on the cheap, and then used coercion, threats, and legal action to secure a massive windfall, compounding the effects on millions of citizens.
The legal wrangling masks an irony: As creditors demand that Puerto Rico pay back everything it owes, hedge fund managers have used the island as a tax haven to avoid their own responsibilities. Wealthy investors don’t just want to make money in Puerto Rico; they want to use their leverage to effectively buy an island playground.
~Hedge Funds Bringing Poverty And Suffering To Places Like Puerto Rico~
Greed 101
~Published on Jun 10, 2016~
They’re called “vulture funds” and they make a killing off of places like Puerto Rico — sometimes literally.
ABOUT BRAVE NEW FILMS
Robert Greenwald and Brave New Films are at the forefront of the fight to create a just America. Using new media and internet video campaigns, Brave New Films has created a quick-strike capability that informs the public, challenges corporate media with the truth, and motivates people to take action on social issues nationwide. Brave New Films’ investigative films have scrutinized the impact of U.S. drone strikes; the prosecution if whistleblowers; and Wal Mart’s corporate practices.
As far as I know, Senator Sanders has been the only presidential candidate to address Puerto Rico’s financial crisis in a sensible way.
He has even made it a point to mention and discuss the topic.
For that alone, I tend to think he’d make a better president.
I’m thinking here about my country.
Evem if he isn’t the nominee and the final candidate, I still know who I am voting for.
Seems to be, Senator Sanders has an idea of where Puerto Rico is located and what the current financial crisis means to millions of American citizens living in the Island.
I wish the one other candidate would be as seemingly interested as “Bernie”.
The solution to Puerto Rico’s debt crisis is not more austerity. The solution is more economic development, more jobs, and less poverty. This will lead to more businesses, an expanded tax base, and, in the long-term, less debt.
Unlike a bipartisan House of Representatives bill that would establish a federal oversight board to renegotiate the massive debt with investors, Sanders’ bill would create a “Reconstruction Finance Corporation of Puerto Rico” that would protect public pensioners from cutbacks and “concentrate losses among vulture funds,” according to a summary.
“It is morally reprehensible that Wall Street vulture funds are demanding that Puerto Rico fire even more teachers, close more schools, cut pensions and slash the minimum wage so that they can reap huge profits off the misery of the people of Puerto Rico,” Sanders said in a statement.
The term vulture funds is a derogatory reference to specialized investing in deeply discounted or distressed assets, typically bonds, by buying them up on the cheap in hopes of profiting on the expectation of a credit restructuring
Born in 1941 in Brooklyn, Bernie was the younger of two sons in a modest-income family. After graduation from the University of Chicago in 1964, he moved to Vermont. Early in his career, Sanders was director of the American People’s Historical Society. Elected Mayor of Burlington by 10 votes in 1981, he served four terms.
Before his 1990 election as Vermont’s at-large member in Congress, Sanders lectured at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard and at Hamilton College in upstate New York.
~Sanders Slams Vulture Funds Ripping Off Puerto Rico~
~~Published on Oct 22, 2015~~
Sen. Bernie Sanders said today Puerto Rico should be allowed to restructure its debt in a way that protects residents, ordinary investors and pension funds in the United States.
a time of balancing – completing old business and welcoming in the New
Why Google has given the shortest day of the year a doodle?
Google has marked the shortest day of the year with an animated Doodle on its homepage.
The Doodle depicts a cartoon Father Christmas helping two children to build a snowman before the children’s mother appears and produces a carrot from her shopping bag to use as the snowman’s nose.
The winter solstice occurs when the sun’s daily maximum elevation in the sky is at its lowest and the North Pole is tilted furthest away from the sun. This results in the least number of daylight hours and the longest night of the year. This astronomical phenomenon occurs in December in the Northern Hemisphere and in June in the Southern Hemisphere.
The event has been marked by many cultures throughout history with festivals, rituals, celebrations and the mating of animals, and even today people gather at Stonehenge to watch the sunrise and sunset. The ancient stones are carefully aligned on a sight-line that points to the winter solstice sunset, and it is thought that this event was actually more important to those who constructed the site than the summer equivalent.
Stamatis Spanoudakis (born December 11, 1948 in Athens, Greece) is a modern Greek classical composer. Early on he studied classical guitar. He went through a rock music phase, but then continued classical studies at the Würzburg State Conservatory with Bertold Hummel and later in Athens with Konstantinos Kydoniatis. Later on he studied Byzantine music.
“Stamatis Spanoudakis is widely regarded as the most prolific Greek composer of his age. Versatile in his music for film, television, records and concerts, he uses a rich and original musical palette that conjures up different perceptions in the sphere of musical imagery.
He explores both tragic and dramatic experiences with an eye and an ear for the musical representation of the perennial dilemmas and joys faced by mankind both in the past and present. To date, Stamatis has written concert works for rock groups, string orchestra, soloists and chorus. Future plans include compositions for wind, brass, tympani and percussion, adding to his fulsome output.
Concerts, including those at the George Enescu Hall (Bucharest), the Royal Albert Hall (London), and Beijin in China have proven his international reputation and set the seal on this remarkable artist’s achievement in bringing his unique brand of Greek music to the widest possible audience.
Today is a day where positive thoughts, bright light and healing energy are needed in this household.
Music has always been a refuge and a comfort for me. It’s played a very important part in my life. Once again, I rely on music …. to make it through some rough spots.
This is a meaningful, triumphal, lyrical song that touches the heart and soothes the soul. There are a few versions of this song and they are all inspiring!
Yanni’s “Aria” (from Yanni Live at the Acropoplis) is based on The Flower Duet, from the Léo Delibes opera Lakmé, and popularized by various British Airways TV commercials.
Lakmé is an opera in three acts by Léo Delibes to a French libretto by Edmond Gondinet and Philippe Gille, based on the 1880 novel Rarahu ou Le Mariage de Loti by Pierre Loti.
The subject of the opera was suggested by Gondinet as a vehicle for the American soprano Marie van Zandt. Delibes wrote the score during 1881-82. Like other French operas of the period, Lakmé captures the ambience of the Orient that was in vogue during the latter part of the nineteenth century; Bizet’s The Pearl Fishers and Massenet’s Le roi de Lahore being two other examples.
As noted above, this beautiful song was popularized by various British Airways TV commercials.
~~1989 British Airways Commercial~~
~~Uploaded on Jul 3, 2006~~
The British Airways face commercial.
Yanni Live at the Acropolis is the name of both an album and video by Greek composer Yanni, recorded live at the Herodes Atticus Theatre, Athens, Greece, on September 25, 1993, and released in 1994.
In a three-year television deal with PBS, the live television special was one of the top fundraising subjects for PBS, raising $13 million, with more than 750,000 home videos and more than 7 million albums sold worldwide. It has been seen in 65 countries by half a billion people, has almost continuously remained on the charts since its release, and is the second best-selling music video of all time.
This album peaked at #1 on “Billboard’s “Top New Age Albums” chart and at #5 on the “Billboard 200” chart in the same year. The film received an Emmy nomination in 1994 for “Outstanding Individual Achievement in Lighting Direction (Electronic) for a Drama Series, Variety Series, Miniseries or a Special“. The corresponding concert tour of the year was “Yanni Live, The Symphony Concerts 1994“.
~~Aria~~
(Live at the Acropolis)
~~Uploaded on Oct 4, 2007~~
“ARIA ” is loosely based upon a short, but beautiful part of the 19th century French opera, lakme, by Leo Delibes. Yanni has revived ARIA with a lot of passion in this wonderful super production in Acropolis. Watch it , you will never forget it!
~~LYRICS~~
Sous le dome epais Ou le blanc jasmin A la rose s’assemble Sur la rive en fleurs Riant au matin
Viens, descendons ensemble. Doucement glissons De son flot charmant Suivons le courant Fuyant, dans
L’onde fremissante D’une main nonchalante Viens, gagnons le bord Ou la souree dort
Et l’oiseau L’oiseau chante Sous le dome epais Sous le blanc jasmin Ah, descendons ensemble
This is a very special one for me. Yanni played in Puerto Rico, my country. The concert took place at the Castillo San Felipe del Morro also known as Fort San Felipe del Morro or Morro Castle, is a 16th-century citadel located in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Taj Mahal, the iconic white marble mausoleum and one of the most photographed historical monuments in the world, is located in the city of Agra in Uttar Pradesh, India. Mughal emperor Shah Jahan promised Mumtaz Mahal, his third wife and soul mate, that he would build a magnificent monument for her and Taj Mahal was the result, still bearing the mark of their true love.
The construction of Taj Mahal, literally meaning the “crown of palaces”, began around the year 1632 and completed in around 1653.
Ustad Ahmad Lahauri, the renowned architect of the Mughal Empire is considered the principal designer while the whole project was handled by an architectural board, comprising of the likes of Abd ul-Karim Ma’mur Khan and Makramat Khanunder, under imperial supervision.
I have been a huge fan of Yanni’s work and music. I started following him since his first appearance with Linda Evans on the Oprah TV show. It was love at first sight.
I have followed his career since then and have been able to see him perform live several times.
I was looking for a video to use in the last post of the day and ran into Yanni performing at the Taj Mahal. I selected the video presented here mainly because of the introduction given by him.
~~ALBUM: TRIBUTE~~
Tribute pays musical homage to India on several songs; Greek-born composer and keyboardist Yanni describes the album as a tribute to the builders of the Taj and the Forbidden City, as well as to the people of India and China. Yanni’s ethereal keyboard work is backed by orchestra, vocalists, a choir, and various world instruments including didgeridoo, duduk, charango, and bamboo saxophone.
~~Some Interesting Facts About Yanni’s India Tour in 1997~~
Yanni performed live for three consecutive nights from 20 to 22 March 1997 at India’s iconic monument Taj Mahal located at the heart of the city of Agra (State -Uttar Pradesh). The spectacular concerts which were staged at the back-side of the monument Taj Mahal on the bank of the river Yamuna took almost two years of meticulous planning and painstaking efforts by Yanni and his team.
Yanni became the First Western Artist to be permitted to perform at the Taj Mahal. The event also marked the artificial illumination of the Taj Mahal during night for the first time in history.
Yanni’s team comprising of almost 300 members successfully accomplished the task of building a stage and seating arrangement in the middle of the river Yamuna on a sandbar that periodically became visible when the river dried up between November and late March.
Indian Army’s help was sought to build two pontoon bridges to get across the river and also for building the roads leading to the pontoon bridges. The bridges were built in record time.
Almost 130 tons of video and audio equipment were imported from United Kingdom brought in around 50 trucks and a plane.
Four towers were built with some of them over 60 feet high for housing the lighting equipment.
A stage was also built spanning 100 feet to 80 feet, 6 feet high and tiered to hold the orchestra and the band.
Seating was created for 7200 people.
Yanni also flew in the revolutionary V-DOSC sound system that cancelled the sound reflecting from the rear of the speaker cabinets completely. During the concerts the sound reaching the Taj Mahal was as low as two people talking.
Apart from adhering to strict sound emission and lighting norms, no motorized vehicles were brought in upto 500 meters of the monument.
Yanni wrote the songs “Deliverance” and “Love is All” specifically for the Taj Mahal.
Yanni says: “This album was conceived and recorded during a tumultuous and wonderful period in my life. It was inspired, in part, by the possibility that I might perform new works at Taj Mahal and the Forbidden City, two of the greatest man-made structures on earth. That this came to be, that I had the privilege of performing my music in India and China in the midst of national treasures, is a tribute to so many who believed in project that seemed always at the edge of reason.
For me, the Taj and the Forbidden City remain essential because they remind us all of our own potential for greatness. The spirit of their builders remains incredibly vibrant. For the members of my band and the orchestra, the nights spent in the shadows of these monuments provoked inspired work and often, tears. I hope, in a small way, we have been able to pay tribute to those many souls, many years ago, the nameless artisans, and laborers, who created these incredible structures.
This album is also meant to be a tribute to the dynamic, warm India and China, to the many, many people who embraced us with their kindness, smiles and applause. Finally, like all I’ve done since leaving, Kalamata, Greece, this is also a tribute to my parents, Sotiris and Felitsa, who taught their little boy a long time ago that …. love is all“
~~Love Is All~~
~~Uploaded on Sep 15, 2007~~
This a magnificent song especially written for the Taj Mahal by Yanni. This is in fact his very first song with lyrics. Solos are by Pedro Eustace on the ancient Armenian Duduk, Ramon Stagnaro on the guitar, and voice by Vann Johnson.
“As the population increases, the planet becomes smaller and smaller. We need to learn to accept and tolerate one another. I am a human being just like all. There is more than one way to live life. Socrates once said: The perfect human being is all human beings put together. As a collective, as a “we”. All of us together make perfection.
Sending a message to all the world of love and unity, acceptance and tolerance.
~~PARTIAL LYRICS~~
“Love will keep me believing Through the dark, can you hear me calling? Holding on when I’m dreaming Love is all, love is all, love is all
Like a tempest to the sea, I’m standin’ Love is all, love is all, love is all Love is all, love is all, love is all Like a tempest to the sea I’m standin’, I’m standin’ [Incomprehensible] Love, love, love , love is all
The Normandy invasion began with overnight parachute and glider landings, massive air attacks and naval bombardments. In the early morning, amphibious landings on five beaches codenamed Juno, Gold,Omaha, Utah, and Sword began and during the evening the remaining elements of the parachute divisions landed. Land forces used on D-Day deployed from bases along the south coast of England, the most important of these being Portsmouth.
U.S. soldiers march through Weymouth, Dorset en route to board landing ships for the invasion of France.
Allied forces rehearsed their roles for D-Day months before the invasion. On 28 April 1944, in south Devon on the English coast, 638 U.S. soldiers and sailors were killed when German torpedo boats surprised one of these landing exercises, Exercise Tiger.
In the months leading up to the invasion, the Allied forces conducted a deception operation, Operation Fortitude, aimed at misleading the Germans with respect to the date and place of the invasion.
There were several leaks prior to or on D-Day. Through the Cicero affair, the Germans obtained documents containing references to Overlord, but these documents lacked all detail. Double Cross agents, such as the Spaniard Joan Pujol (code named Garbo), played an important role in convincing the German High Command that Normandy was at best a diversionary attack. U.S. Major General Henry Miller, chief supply officer of the US 9th Air Force, during a party at Claridge’s Hotel in London complained to guests of the supply problems he was having but that after the invasion, which he told them would be before 15 June, supply would be easier. After being told, Eisenhower reduced Miller to lieutenant colonel [Associated Press, June 10, 1944] and sent him back to the U.S. where he retired. Another such leak was General Charles de Gaulle‘s radio message after D-Day. He, unlike all the other leaders, stated that this invasion was the real invasion. This had the potential to ruin the Allied deceptions Fortitude North and Fortitude South. For example, Gen. Eisenhower referred to the landings as the initial invasion.
It Is What It Is 