Conway #Sara INK.: 2010

Part II

Some books are worthy of mention and one of the books which deals with the ongoing issue on Redlining and how the Banks implicated the process is titled 'The Feds' written by Martin Mayer. The book concerns the evolution of the history of the FEDS organization in US and why the history is of great importance in redeeming the future of America through the success of the institution and the Banks. But my inspiration to extend any useful replay on the book comes from the nature by which he treated the issue of Redlining. I mean the whole inspiration to treat Redlining come from a book by Martin Mayer titled the 'Feds', published in 2001 by the Free Press of Simon and Shuster Inc New York. The author made serious arguments about the 'monstrous' acts of denial perpetrated by Banks which if Americans should per chance the record, it could lead to distrust of Banks. But this is just the 'if'. This Book called the 'Feds' deserves a longer review because it details out the whole measure of what the US House of Reps have been doing for some time especially the position of CRA - Congress for the Community Re-investment Act (CRA), where at least in "1991 Congress included the FDIC improvement Act a requirement that when 'CRA' find violations of equal credit opportunities Act, they must refer to the Department of Justice.

In the 'FEDS', the author who is not African American exposed what he called ''monstrous'' practice of this redlining which he argued was much more about Civil Justice, than anything else, and that it was instrumental in bedeviling African American business and businesses with some of them getting the same message of the so-called inadequacy of credit. Then those who could some Loans and financed Venture Funding, get serious punitive requirement owing to the history of the neighborhoods involved.

Martin Mayer in my view should be congratulated for necessarily highlighting the problems from a banker position, and relevant architects of monetary policy of the world, both of the Executive arm and the Legislative should do the same. Martin Mayer is credited with up to 30 books on Banking and in the 'The Feds' he challenged the State and US Feds to do more in terms of investigating the normalized bad manners of the Banks towards lending.

In short view, many blacks and in fact Africans and especially Nigerians looking for loans to do business will not likely get it in New York, except for Mortgage loans in slums where half of the buildings are likely to lose their value with time, and then the 're-possession' due to payment strangled by loss of Job.

But who are we kidding, it is seriously encouraging to make such inquiries into Banking since it mirrors the challenges of the US Feds in Today's market, and not only that, it allows us to have a Firsthand look at what is happening to our financial institutions, and its central question of survival. If the Sovereign Wealth on Euro is misplaced in business among the Africans, there is something

Yet, the attention of many people is not so much what the banks do in Mortgage industry, or the issue of Mortgage Obligation, but what is happening to small American businesses that are owned and managed by certain range of minorities. The language of open source committee does not infect with action on what happens in a trade situated condition when the world of that finance is like the very monetary 'machine that can go on itself', nor do we expect Composites that run other finance materials to explain it all since it goes beyond the reach of many average time investors.

Much more worrying is what happens in derivative market where international markets join heads with American company and groups, in a place where the gap is further widened by different levels of repos. Thus in doing this, the competition that take place during ins and outs of what now happens in our daily business where people who receive enough company incentive will literally deny such incentive to certain people to permit indulgence, will not allow a careful review of this serious problem of lending malpractice.

The attempt by the Federal Open Market Committee to investigate certain claims may do more harm than good while the authors who write about African American business and the role of Banks in America might choose to avoid this part of their service to enable a survival rope to continue in their career.

The malpractice of feeding only a particular group of Americans loans and offering credit expansion should however be investigated by Federal Bank Supervision and Federal Bank Agency (FBA) on day by day accounting and they should look into what actually cripple African American business, and why they are not seriously represented at any level of business practice available anywhere in the world.

The same should also be said of the 'Truth-in-Lending Act' enacted in 1969 which left the FEDS with some powers to essentially legislate through the three banking regulators among the Home loan Bank Board, the Bureau Credit Unions, the Interstate Commerce Commission, the Federal Trade Commission, the Civil aeronautics Board, the Agriculture Department, where power structures have the power to probe the activities of Banks and Financial institutions under their canopy.

It will be very difficult to make such thing happen given the extra ordinary impact of mid-income Americans in today's world. But Martin Mayer’s position is only worthy of re-investigation since it helps to widen the gap in knowing what happens in a society where Banks profile others according to their wish.

On the political side of the very state, Obama would not have learned that as much Spanish is almost an official language of lower houses of the State, the domination of New York by many other forces has carved a landscape between African Americans and the rest of the society. That It is up to Nigeria to

The more confounding problem in New York is that many Black neighborhoods have suffered seriously and very long.

There are at least 5000 banks and financial institutions in New York with long roots in the continent of US and barely a handful of these banks are majority owned by Blacks. I mean, we can count very less than nameless ten in number including Insurance companies and old foundations owned by African Americans. In many ways the problem will continue long after now, even as we hope against the facts that some studies should be done in this world of inquiry.

The African American business men and women are seriously suppressed except for proven talents, and so is their market. The major fulcrum in that whole engine is the banking sector of American finances, a fact that is so understated except for cases when Banks who 'wanna' look good will put a few black eagles in their teller services and in their front line. In many areas of New York, to be sure Queens, you don't have to show up if you are not like 'them'. So the condition that Nigerians have to deal in US is like a flash in the pan given the serious advantage of cheap Nigerian to Nigeria connection which black America do not really have and which if they venturesome, become protective and nearly anti each other. The Advent of Euro and the rise of Asia as a diorama giant

Yet nothing is done by the US congressional committee to micro-manage the problem, lout of option, and largely because they are to effectually conduct investigative study through FHA (Federal housing Authority) about such practices especially now that it has taken a very sophisticated form. That role of Bank in determining the first and last of what happens in our society may also lead away the stranger facts of determining the shocking lack of African Americans is senior management positions, not that the talent is not there but the Funds available and securities curve and other National and International Derivatives markets are only open to specialized units and fund managers with safety nets.

And speaking of safety nets, US trade Almanac allow us to view what happens to the so-called U.S Total Retirement Market where even rackets from Investment Company Institute, Federal Reserve Board, National Association of Government Defined Contribution Administration, American Council of Life Insurers, Internal Revenue Service provide a degree of funding for the general American, but such open tray of Funding never make it to the proper hands of African American Business who desperately need it.

It has in fact gotten much worse in the last decade following the rise of the Euro pretending as counterweight to common benchmarks and common markets and rise of immigrant populations of Asia. Obama's 700 Billion dollars spending and the spending done in hundreds of billions by Bush to the Americans may have been expected to filter through to the working ranks of American society, but in structure and in mocking jest, it will not reach the small business who needs it. For Blacks the only compensation is the very homeless shelters and Welfare systems that are quite their right. As more and more people appears from different parts of the world into US, more and more the issue for greater resolve in terms of the attitude of black businesses compound. The case is largely due to the fact that

This is likely the case and may well be, given the highly selective attitude of American banks towards lending, a selection that is entirely visible and hideaway the profiling status of these inner cities Americans which were once a haven for Americans. So the issue of LABOR REVOLUTION within the American society should include what the Africans and the Caribbean are willing to do in the US, in terms of Brokerages and in terms of Banks as Anchors for International Nigerian business society and so on. Without much foreign national foundation like Africa and Nigerian, there is not a whole lot Blacks can do. If they have no penetration what’s so ever, there will be a newer generation of bad business in the very US for African Americans and Africans as well. Nigerian Banking committee should drop the arrogance of the past and see how it can encourage Africans to participate in the very business of the society.

Need must be said of the problems of the civil rights era did not even highlight the role of Banks in creating financial inequality between Whites and Blacks in every part of United States and for lack oversight committee of the part of these African Americans, there is virtually no mention of this atrocity of profiled lending by Banks. Yet the bad lending acts of Banks in New York, the Bad lending acts of financial institutions associated with the world do not get a mention in several books of the world. Many people who have complained that this non-lending behavior of Banks is still evident are no longer with the banking industries, they got strategically isolated, and those who still complain make a case for themselves and may and may not point out the root of the problem, which is the Bank.

The advent of Obama's nomination for the Nobel Peace prize as conferred on him by a collage of peoples representing the institution in Norway, had given new tension on the merits of his accomplishment. But the price may not have been for peace that is to come but for his effort in encouraging diplomacy in line with the likes of Bishop Desmond Tutu, Nelson Mandela, and late Martin Luther. The aforementioned group represents the era of civil struggle and how they sought to put away the divisive issues of their day through diplomacy.

The nomination of Obama forces a new era of that civil struggle to begin, that the likes of Obama as with other men and women of international repute, are now recognized for their effort is forcing changes in better life programs and in advancement of women's movement. From that angle of fighting poverty and poverty prevention, there is required necessity to remind ourselves of those who have made significant efforts in changing the attitudes of Banks towards other Americans and other citizens and towards the Continent of Africa.

That effort must now be made to include what is truly wrong with Banks and other financial institutions having to only extend loans to people who look like them and to a large extent enjoin the same religion.

Not many people will overlook the monstrosity of Indian financial industry in India, where people are turned down on loans for being a certain kind of Caste. Not only in India but in Korea, in South Africa, in Russia, and in Japan where people who do not belong to the 'family' or not among the numbered are to be ignored and should not even try to ask for loans. The relationship between Commerce and National Laws should in many ways educate our minds about the incidents of poor voting practices in these areas and no voting rights. In India, the monstrosity of Redlining continuous

In many ways what we know of ourselves in a larger society like USA explain what we know about the world at large.

But they can all pretend to be good people in world markets. In India, there is the monstrosity of voting rights where half of the population is not required to vote, they are not illegible to vote and then there is the women right issue which all carry into the banking and housing industry where the shame is fully unleashed. In many ways, the idea of Redlining which seem to be original to America in the years past, is a mere drop in the bucket concerning what goes on and around the world in terms of profiling and in terms of prejudice. These practices are still very evident USA, very much alive in New York

Friday, August 20, 2010

Redlining - Reverse Redlining in USA

By Sampson Iroabuchi Onwuka

Redlining

Redlining is a term we can avoid if we chose to. It concerns the act of putting a demarcation or Red mark on certain neighborhood, where Banks and other financially regulated institutions are supposed to avoid in terms of lending. The practice goes back to FDR and the Depression era, where Red marks were legally permitted to be placed on neighborhoods with long defaults. Initially, it was an attempt to sort out the problems of default in payment in the Depression era, but soon it became a weapon in the hands of Banks to destroy neighborhoods of their choosing. By the end of 1950's, Redlining has already become a hate tool for denying blacks access to Public loans and it forced price fluctuation between White and Black neighborhoods.

By 1968, such an act became highly prohibited in US following the inquiry made the US president into such affair. The issue of loan denials for Small Businesses owned by colored people has gone on for years that it now involves everything, from small businesses to predatory lending, from objection to Blacks moving to certain neighborhoods to complete withdrawal of Government projects in Black neighborhoods. Such claim is unlikely to get the attention it deserves but by such act, neighborhoods in US have risen and fallen, and real estate in such places with large default rate became a feast for Realtor. Banks can cripple just about any community in US and in the world, and for that reason, US Government does its part to invest or re-invest in areas with minimum wage problem.

The larger problem however is that US presidents in the last 200 years or so have always been of a certain a racial kind, many of them from trims of the very White, occupy many areas of US Judicial activity. This is reason why the activity of the Banks who retail out loans became so decisive. And such the ability of detecting such heinous act of denial become impossible since no one who enjoys the benefit of good lending will worry themselves about the ‘niggadly’ black neighborhoods. Banks farming out White neighborhoods to the detriment of Blacks become careful to hide the facts to the concerned institutions, and outsiders may not penetrate. All that, does not mean that Americans were not aware of such monstrous practice, nor did not care but there was nothing to care about such process.
It is however up to the rest of us to write in vivid forms about the existence of such practice in America since we can testify that such practice is alive and evident in the very place of all New York City.

The monstrous consequence of Redlining so evident in many parts of the State of New York is a microcosm of what is happening throughout US, and in many parts of the world such India, Japan, Korea, and China. Houses in Major Cities across the US faced all kinds of foreclosures by the end of last July 30th 2010. These Cities included the following (1) Las Vegas (2) Merced California (3) El Centro California (4) Port of Lucia, Florida (5) Fort Myers, Florida (6) Bend, Oregon (7) Ocala, Florida (8) Detroit, Michigan (9) Rockford, Illinois (10) Toledo, Ohio, among many others. These Cities have serious default rate going by April this year from a report by Luke Mullins of USnew.com. But as July 30th the fears were proven true by the default of houses in many Cities across America.

Analysts were quick to point out that these Cities were among the worst economically hit during the collapse of world economy. They also cited that these cities had little or no improvement in terms of employment since 2008. They also said that much of the money given to bail out many of these banks and corporation in US went into all kinds of routine process and therefore, these cities could not escape the long list of default in terms of Housing. But these allegations are not new, these allegations go back to the old times of American society and these allegations also include the much deeper aspersion on black for culpability towards financial irresponsibility.

In more recent history, sluices of such allegations, has also surfaced. Many Banks during the American Depression era of the 30’s put the blame on ghettos which were mainly and ultimately Black society. As much as these Bankers can make such comments without challenge, it must be remembered that these poor African American societies held falsely responsible for 100’s of billions of dollars, trapped in bad debt, are worth only so much in dollar terms. People should not forget so easily that much of African American Business communities are approximated in mere billions, as opposed to the overall US real estate market that come down to 985 trillion dollars. The bankruptcy of many big corporations based in US drove the rest of the world to billions of US dollars worth of losses in very recent in those thirties, and in recent times, the losses were in trillions, and some people estimated at some point that the losses were up to 20 trillion dollars.

This blame game for redlining must include the very meddling comments in February 2010 by Hans-Olaf Henkel from Germany that the reason for world economic collapse of 2008, was due to the fact that Bank of America was lending money to minorities and to blacks in USA. Of course, the man would not have known that the money was lent in the first place and above all, there was nothing to hold back in a business community that is bedraggled and saturated with unemployment. When there were cases of such lending, they were predatory and crippling at mercy sake. The allegations by Henkel could not really be the case given the greater fact that European strangling of much of the loans from America in the depression era and in the latest economic downfall in 2008, has not been fully exploited. The role that Europe played in bringing down Lehman and other Investment Banks has not been that discussed. Therefore such allegations about underperforming or nonperforming loans among Blacks or African Americans are incorrect.

The issue of bad stigma is so worrying that when many Nigerians of recent memory who are indiscriminately accused of swindle complain, they must be advised that such attack is a mere consequence of labeling and social stigma which African Americans suffer from, a bad breath in financing that go back to business relationship between Europe, American, and Africans Americans and the refusal to build these neighborhoods for other demonstration of race safety. But this issue of nonpayment is also affecting Nigerian businesses, in such a way that many of them enter corruptible negotiations whose ultimate end in their losses or pressed attempt to deliver within a short window. That some Nigerians may abscond after bamboozle does not betray the larger others that leave it to the billing. Addressing the incredulous damages of such practices to African American society and the rest of world, would require long deciding factors of history which US government can only provide. But such inquiry into the evolution of the problems with loans and financing and payment will only reveal the pathetic exploitations, but not heal the injury. The damaging ammunition of unemployment, the severe stigma in financing, the dilapidation of great black neighborhoods, the appearance of drug businesses, all began with a Red mark on certain neighborhoods where blacks were majority.

Now everyone is doing it, even Indians and others Asians in any business of the world, nowadays seethes with the same measure on these Africans Americans in deriding formula.

Reverse Redline

A case in point is Detroit, Michigan. There are nothing to describe what we find in the City of Detroit, a city that is now mainly Black and a city forbidden to the progress of Blacks. Detroit Auto Makers, from all the names in Automobile in the world, do not as a matter of mocking hire Blacks to work for them. In few cases where blacks work for these manufacturers, the Job is not a career. The greater denial is in the Insurance companies and Banks that were bailed out by Obama and Bush simultaneously. Detroit is hard case since Chicago is much more mature, very subtle in the Red business. Cities like New York City, Newark, Philadelphia…the much of the East Coast, are not that different from Detroit. These places with the disappearing face of Blacks and insignificance of their business are only subtler version of Detroit. However, Detroit has unique problems which go back to the end of slave trade and the hunger strikes of the Depression era.

Detroit is one of the few American Cities where we find House prices to have fallen beyond redemption, yet the Blacks who received some months of grace from Obama, still can’t meet obligation. Detroit was not that bad, in fact Detroit was an upscale Black majority city that did not suffer from the disastrous problems of the other states. But Detroit has been strategically reduced to several ghettos within the past four decades by Banks and Insurance companies and manufacturing companies who use ranks of police. These financial institutions forced good neighborhoods in Detroit into steady decline, and as a consequence, these neighborhoods became drug invested and then default began to climb in. One of the roots of American economy is the small businesses, whose funding is that necessary, and whose cities must continue to produce successful SBA in other to survive another day. At the absence of these businesses, the City lies empty and then violence becomes another matter.

Detroit in recent times have started to file claims and allegations about the denials of loans to many blacks, citing instances of objective refusal to lend and to refinance houses in many neighborhoods. And they were variously awarded certain due to help neighborhoods recover. Such action should be followed up by Blacks throughout US, and such action should include all forms of damages over the last 42 years. They should also cite that they were all kinds of investigative study done about Detroit case but all study led to the same conclusion that Banks do not lend to minorities because Blacks and the so called minority will not pay back the loans, a claim has been demonstrated as not entirely true, therefore false.

Just a few months ago, Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission received complains about discrimination in the wake of Housing crisis. Their prizing for neglect, go the distance of demonstrating what we find in many isolated housing areas of Philadelphia, but not just in Housing but in small business which are the roots of major societies in the world.

Philadelphia’ Board of Pension & Retirement and other active groups were also involved in that respect of claim, and the allegations. But this kind of Reverse Redlining becomes the only way out if the US Government would still ignore the side effects of dealing with Banks and Insurance Companies who will apply all kinds of measurements to deny certain neighborhoods loans for other reasons besides loans. Many of these banks can cripple neighborhoods in order to make them cheap and then force a default on the loans, and from such defaults, these Blacks lose their homes.

The problem is sometimes finding the real culprits since many of them hide under various shades in loan practice. The very bail out of banks explain just how badly these financial institutions have become in many years since parts of a place like New York awarded 8.2 billion dollars, has not received that major boost in terms of small businesses.

But need must be maintained on the very issue of Reverse Redlining since many of these neighborhoods in US are not that different from what is happening to black businesses in general and in many parts of the world. But the US Fair Housing Act of 1968, the Disclosure Act of 1975, and Community Re -investment Act of 1977, all emerged from requirement of US President’s National Advisory Panel on Insurance in Riots Affected Areas of 1968. The difficulty with such laws is actually getting to the culprits, since many of these Banks and corporation will deny you the access to relevant information and we will need forensic accountants to get to the rest of them.

But using parameters in terms of Hedge funding and funding activities of the market, we can exploit better holes in the whole question since many of these institutionalized lending societies, can only be possible through certain indexing, which reflect all kinds of activity in wilder world of lending, a form of pool where Banks and Insurance companies themselves cannot essentially hide from.

Using indexes such as Credit Suisse First Boston, Hedge Fund Research-HFR, Hennessey Group, Standard and Poor's S&P, and probably the Hedge index from Center for 'International Securities and Derivatives Markets' and other managed account Report over a given number of years - given the record of number of IPOs at all stock exchanges in the US, there is a possibility we can arrive at the conclusion. It is possible to illustrate how neglected the African American businesses and societies have been participations in the larger economy has completely become. The gap is that monstrous, so monstrous that the word ‘African American’ in American business and in Hedge Funds is almost nonexistent.

This idea of financial profiling - artificially racial among other sorts - is so serious in New York that Banks, regardless of what they preach are willing to employ anyone, even especially Asians and Asian Americans of certain stock, that never lend to you as African American. Except for occasional scattered few who may go that route of American lending practice, such exercise do not exist at all. But threat is a very rare treat and many of those lenders are leading at the ropes end.

If no one is willing to take the blame for the use and abuse of lending in New York, then attention should be made to those who will the Federal Banking Acts in New York and other Federal Reserves on the ground. Such persons will also include the former Federal Reserve secretary of Bank of America, Timothy Geithner, who is now the US secretary of Treasury, and former Associate of Federal Housing Authority, Andrew Cuomo, who is the so-called New York State attorney General. It is difficult to clarify how such acts could actually take place in a State like New York where much of the citizens are seriously struggling to earn a living and how it could go unnoticed for many decades.

Today's society of learners, especially among the African Americans who feel seriously disfranchised from everything, including Public Television and Television Rights, are not even concerned with this problem of the 'Redlining' and other loan malpractices in US and in New York. For several reasons, much more should be done to make public the facts that the monstrous practice of the last century leading to civil rights era is still a very present and threatening danger to American Urban life.

It should also be known that African Americans society and market is no more different from other world emerging economy which gravitate Billions of dollars every day from US and, and if enough attention is given to the African American market, there is a tendency to believe that America would likely be better off than much of its current performance. That this view is seriously mistaken as side effect of capitalism might have deceived the world into thinking that investigative inquiry into banking activities by third parties should not be taken seriously

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Redlining - Reverse Redlining in USA (II)

By

Sampson Iroabuchi Onwuka

It sounds strange that I should take the defense of African American Society in terms of the poverty of thier business in US, and in terms of the near absence of African American business men and women in global market. It is stange to play host to the litany of excuses about their non performing presence in financing and in range of available IPO's. No doubt that Oprah Wilfrey for instance in well celebrated as a product of an era, a queen in her own right in Television. Such high emphasis is more than clear to result from alternative options and business giants of Black descendant, yet besides the one thing she does well ( her television, her show) which is not force in public market and financing. To say that the US Real Estate market for instance was a 985 trillion dollar market in 2008, that by 2010, US real estate market exceeded 1000th barrier is to spook the shocking sense that the condition of African Americans may have actually deepened, gotten much worse in the past 10 years than the decades before. Yet we can take the defence that the myth of Black business which does not exit, which is now equal to the age of American economic struggle between two varying groups at the turn of the last century, now equal or comparable to the Age of African struggle for independence, may be due to serious regulatory laws and rules which has crippled the same people over a long period of time.

The question that does not arise is how and why blacks or African Americans have no businesses which can support their society and their labor force. The question we often confront is why the current real estate market can only support neighborhoods that offer the better lease of life. Yet it is relation to their level of business ownership in the World. In the last essay, there were several questions about African American business capabilities, why their general involvement in the general progress of businesses in the world. But some have argued that such failures had nothing to do with Redlining or financial apartheid. But such reactionary tendencies and commentaries are the very essence of the general discourses on Redlining and Reverse Redlining, for the issue may be considered very American and but it requires a general view to draw specific conclusions about the whole thing.

I shall mention that it is only expected of many Nigerians and perhaps others, to see the financial shortfalls in African American society as a matter of laziness and perhaps a question of their failure to capitalize on US opportunity. Such reductionist view is largely true for people uninterested with the reasons behind such problems. Perhaps, Nigerians are not aware of how disappointing some African American leaders find the freaking ‘Giant of Africa’, for if Nigerians know how little other Africans take them, may be they will understand why American Blacks are more likely to align themselves with South African Blacks than the non performing Nigerians at anytime. Perhaps Nigerians may yet perhaps understand the great demands of informed inquiry into the left and right of African American society and the history behind them. Only then can they shade more light on very nature of Redlining.

The above categorization do not include Caribbean people, especially Haitians, who believe themselves much better have Nigerians, both in world history and in education. Haitians I know have hope that Nigerians may yet prove themselves in the world, but they were quick to remind me that Nigeria as a country had only independence to deal with in their relationship with Europeans. Haitians say that they have sacrificed more than any group of Africans outside the continent that they suffered from Whites in terms of slavery, savagery, rape of their men and women, statutory rape of 13 year old, leg and hand decapitation, evisceration of genitals parts, childhood castration, and public explosions of individuals stuck up with fire crackers in their anus. They also said that they were periods of diseases and long spells of epidemics without International attention, that they had poor International recognition including the full fledged war with Napoleon and his Army and prolonged US occupation. Haitian also managed to liberate their own country by arms, and not only that, they also liberated the entire Caribbean in the early 18th century.

They also mention that the brutal conflict with Europe forced Haiti into defense position and for a century they were to compete with Europe over some areas of business. That they were eventually other problems of racial competition between Caribbean people of dark African descent and the others from mixed parentage. In fact the issue of racial mix in dark society they say is such that Banks and financial institution played the card of financial apartheid quite well in Caribbean, decades before Redlining in the United States. Naturally in the course of the survival periods, Americans who ventured into the mix of financial heritage took the position of these others. That it was only a question of time that it reached other places starting from the end of the end of the World War I.

Then regarding other commentaries about people who should pull themselves up in a free society, it needs be said that such commentary is not unlike the issue of ‘Booth straps’ in Martin Luther King’s era. The statement that African Americans should pull themselves by their ‘booth straps’, was made by a distinguished African Statesman whose name Martin Luther King did not mention. The ‘Honorable African Statesman’ that Luther referred to was a certain Nigerian by name Nnamdi Azikiwe during his visit to New York. Azikiwe like many Nigerians was probably right in his judgment but it must be said that Azikiwe, who found the segregation of Blacks intolerable in his college years at Lincoln University, probably meant something else by the comments. Martin Luther King was talking about something else, and that is the issue of financial apartheid evident in the American society. There was very little blacks could do other than hope for a change in the attack which was all they prayed for.

Martin Luther’s spiteful nature misconstrued it as a mocking jest and went into the long elaborate deconstruction of the comment about someone pulling himself by ‘Booth Straps’, including the popular issue of Blacks without legs. Martin Luther tirade on Booth Straps may have completely alienated Africans leaders from the civil struggle of the Americans, and may have severed the relationship between African American leaders and Pan-African leaders of that era. It is probably right to say that he is responsible for short falls in relationship between African leaders and other Blacks leaders around the world, committed to the so called New Humanity.

But more than anything, we can suggest that Luther’s poor knowledge of the statement and the poorer knowledge of the implications of the statement may have choked the chicken on the very issue. But in terms of Redlining, all of these people, including Martin Luther King participated in its destruction in these United States. But that does not mean that Redlining has come to an end. It was different shades of its essence.

I shall say is that ‘perception’ as Galileo explicated, it’s that different from reality. The reality of financial apartheid is that many educated Nigerians and Ghanaians are now beneficiary of the system that was not readily available to African Americans from the very beginning. I stake a correction to all sorts of assumptions on this fact since what we know from history is that African Americans have been involved in setting the world free from a misconception on its limits to rights and freedom. It was the likes of Alexander Crummel, Martin Delany, and Marcus Garvey that began to seek means of industrial independence from White society.

They were others such as Frederick Douglass who believed that Black American dream was in American and in emancipation. There were still others that were mainly concerned with proper education and career opportunity for Blacks, either in US or in the world, among whom was a certain Booker T. Washington. They were yet other African American leaders in the very early years who where citing that a new world of labor was emerging at the turn of 19th century and African Americans needed to better position themselves academically. Yet many others were complaining about financial segregation, about the disadvantageous condition of been in any society of whites and blacks with many of the business in the hands of Whites. They could not go further than America which was expanding, were not that allowed to visit anywhere but America. But many of them continued in spite of the obstacles.

It was the defiance of these groups of Blacks who sought inclusion in the wilder world that ultimately began to shape the psychology of the world towards Africa. The above mentioned individuals influenced the like of Edward Blyden, a man born in St Thomas who ventured into African studies and began to write prolifically for African redemption. If there were no financial support from Whites or powerful Blacks among others, these people Edward Blyden and the likes of Booker T Washington would not have made it for such a long time. Many of these mentioned people, including the mighty Ralph Bunche would not have lasted that long where it not for public acceptance from Americans first which influenced the views of the world about him, and then the financial support.

But the wires that held many other Americans down about Blacks, and in fact the society, were matters of self preservation which if they had managed to overcome will naturally inspire or unleash their suppressed affection for others. In many ways, many underperforming Whites would rather find a way to disrupt the pattern of thinking of these people I mentioned than encourage the competition through very other means.

That Nigerians or other Africans in American are surviving at a better rate than African Americans does not mean that they are better in any way than they. Even at that, there is no way we can accept that such claims about African Americans are true since the few who are locked in the jam of competition are doing fairly well. I shall also indicate that all types of enhancement in the educational system of US, in the way we understand today, is in fact an outcome of the struggles of these Black brothers and sisters through the years and other Americans seeking better days for their children. But of course, everyone is taking part in the opportunity this society now offers, including Africans who paid their own prize and the Asians of all types.

Part II. Origins

It needs be said that when we talk about the handicapped position of African Americans, we are not dealing with people who are poorly educated or unable to accomplish a whole lot, we are referring to the sedentary position and process which the years of segregation and Redlining essentially proved.

What we need to mention is that America as a land of opportunity is so strikingly protective of privileges, that the only way to understand the society is through the prism of history. We also need to mention that there is necessity to come to grasp with the very geographical size of the continent of America and how powerful the country is likely to be in future. For it seems clear that that there is not enough knowledge about the very size of the country, a country with the geographical size three times that of the continent of Europe. America is about one and half times the size of China or India, and cover the highest repository of earth resources, from Aluminum to Zinc.

In fact, US proven oil Reserves is as much as Nigerian, and in terms of offshore crude like the Gulf of Mexico, Nigeria is probably not a higher pedestal. In very many sense, there is need to be very clear about the serious powerhouse called USA, whose potential is only beginning and whose problems are seriously human. The intimidating size of the country force all kinds of issues especially the issue of apprehension and then financial selection. My personal point my however count in terms like this.

My travels over the years across US and mainly Tri State; New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut, and sometimes Boston, led me to understand why Americans are seriously apprehensive of others. As some point, I had to cover over 183 thousand miles of driving in one year and in many other years, I covered well over 150 thousand of driving within the Continent of USA. Such lengthy travels offered me as it will cover any one, a small window into the evolution of the society from its underdeveloped country side to the Urban and to City limits.

Needless to say that US is full of underdeveloped villages and jungles, not unlike what you find in Nigeria. The only difference is that these places have functional water system and electricity. As some point in your travels around USA, either for business or pleasure, you are likely to drive for hours on the road without seeing a single human being and only cars, trucks, and so on, zooming on at least 90 miles per hour. I mean for hours no real human contact heading south. Even traveling to some parts of South Jersey, you might just keep driving and driving without even a contact and only vehicles. Then all of a sudden, cars begin to appear and then humans and then a small town leading to a bigger town.

What am driving at is that the size of the geography under the allocation of the Americans can create a sense of uncertainty about everything including the individuals, and that sense of uncertainty, sometimes lead to the unnecessary lack of trust among the PRIMARY colors. That lack of trust lead to competition, a competition that give, or gave Whites upper hand from the beginning, and even as the fear is long gone, many White Americans will still act as they will lose their minds if they unconscionable allow a progress of blacks.

I mean the current strength of whites in America and their untried and reserved ability to ride others is either based on their economic advantage over much of others or because of US military ability. It must be said that White strength also evolved in America by keeping Blacks at a minimum perform grade by force or by crook. You will notice that when some African Americans, actually believe that financial progress is only possible with White folks. So they can’t imagine a world that is free whites when they can survive. When any African American is however able to get away from that oppression – which is mainly financial and self serving – these Blacks become in matter of years, multi millionaires. Why? The best answer is in the history leading to the mindset of many Whites, many of whom are children of the years of African Scramble and the late Victorian age, some of whom are grand and great children of the Civil war era in USA - who saw the emancipation of Blacks from slavery and quasi slaves to full citizenship.

Before the advent of this Civil war and emancipation, there was the issue of slaves doing it all. During the slave era, African Americans were the constant house keeper, the constant gardener, the shoe makers, the trained and untrained doctors, the cook, the laborers and house builders, for a fact, the US White House was built by so called slaves under a certain White man who was the Architect and contractor. African American in those slave years acquired unusual skills in just about everything from wine making to plantation, to trade, to lantern production, to making candle wax, to painting and carving, etc. Of course, some of these artworks were mastered from the Whites themselves, but majority of it was a reaction to the necessity in those years.

But after the American Civil war of 1861-1865 and end of slavery or forced labor without pay and rights, these Black men or women began to make waves in the society with their new skills and labor. There was need for skilled laborers and artisans in the era of reconstruction following the Civil War, and the Whites suddenly found themselves in competition for Jobs in those early years of the new republic. The many, many, long lines of US rail road during the reconstruction era, the building of industries and management of their cotton and weaving technology, the road construction and wire fixing, the mining and blast furnace, the local use of men and women were all the work of ex-slaves seeking new lives. But the tide began to turn when Whites entered into the labor market. They began to demand the same Job as held by Blacks and from there, the issue of who holds what and who holds who began to create boundaries, and from these boundaries the issue of survival re-entered American society and then apartheid. The world was also seriously mechanized, so were Americans.

The financial matter of natural selection took on added weight that by 1900, much of the occupations once dominated by Blacks were now in grips of White. Newer hostility arose as vicious White communities attacked burgeoning Black society and openly shot many of their wealthy. There was also the influence of European views on those in America, and with Darwinian view taken hold of much of that Victorian generation, there was also the views of Charles A Conant, J.A Hobson, Rudolf Hilterding, Otto Bauer Rudolf, the wars in many parts of Africa and great slaughter of Black Africans by Arabs, French, Germans, English, and even Spaniards, in the Epic of 19th century scramble. So Americans were also feeding off on the sociology craps of Darwin, Huxley, Rosebury, Chamberlain, Rhodes, and there was no way blacks in America could survive the whole gangrene.

Then Jim Crow began to show up some time later, then the hate groups like KKK also started, and the law was an added advantage. Then there was the twenties frenzies about White biological superiority which divided the society into Blacks and Whites, a separation that continues even up today. Whites sometimes blamed everything in the neighborhood on Blacks and that behavior continues today among the children of American from that era. Then there the collective psychology of mass murder and collective public psychology of beating accused blacks – however untrue the allegations – from the court of condemnation to the hanging. Sometimes, they are so beaten that the eyes pop out and their hands twist and dangle and then disfigure, then their faces lose their color and teeth will all be missing enroot to the hanging. These were only the strange fruit of a society divided by color types and lived apart.

So, many people who visit America like Asians of all types feed into the White clouds as if Darwin was right about his view on evolution and then the contamination of Hindu.

Sunday, August 15, 2010

Redlining - Reverse Redlining in USA (III)

Part I

Given the very correct outline about the American economic society, given the much bigger fact that the society is that large in just about everything, it is in many ways wise to conclude that the only way to have done anything that significant in US was through its inner Cities and Urban areas. That is to say that the role American Banks and Insurance companies in determining the longevity of many American businesses was essentially possible, and many important areas of America were set according to their design. The other option for understanding America is through its Cities and inner cities, especially the nature of Redlining is through. These areas were to attract people from different parts of the world over a very long period of time before

If the effect of Redlining is proven by poverty of the American Black society, it is hardly the subject of many American studies on economics at any time. There are no real indications that Nigerians themselves have taken the subject very seriously, or has many doctorate students of Black studies and US Commercial laws made significant point about the effects of Redlining and origins of poverty in African American society. The usual pattern of thinking has always being the one that deals on the impact of Welfare system. It is not to be missed that such economic view hardly disappoints when it narrows down to the very end of the Black society and how they are doing.

If that does not take the place of these opinions about the people in question, it is because our views are largely clouded by other attention manifest in several parts of the world on what is now the US. It is largely forgotten, that if Blacks had an opportunity to make the necessary amends in terms of their pursuit of business and happiness, they would have done it. But they just couldn’t because the money for the ‘American Dream’ now as well then follows a pattern that set blacks up against the vulnerable to caprices of the other.

In a new book by Jason De Parle 'American Dream', the author tried to discuss the reason behind the deepening poverty of African American society in the light of the American Dream. And once more he retracted the evolution of these poor migrants from the South of US to the North in search of better life. Many of them in the South were not allowed to school together with others, and in the North, there was the issue of separation by means of financing. The financial apartheid in the North was however a far cry from the South where it was an open hostility. In the South, it was a matter of survival between Black and Whites. In places like Mississippi, the question of hate led to the departure of many people.

Jason De Parle narrated a long view investiture of the Milwaukie as the ‘Epicenter of Welfare Reform’, where the pregnancy of a certain Angie was a matter of concern in the whole debate. There was the issue of Jewell and Opal, who were tainted in drug. Jason De Parle who has covered the welfare business for a decade before the 1996 signature of Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of the Bill Clinton Era. He discovered that “Black families were more than six times s like as Whites to a welfare check. Among long-term recipients were African American”, that it was a situation that began long ego from among the competing Americans that Blacks themselves were barred by law from much ado with American society.

De Parle also cited the comments of Powder Maker that “Because the Whites are so seriously outnumbered special means must be taken to keep the Negro in his place….”, that they may be “good” niggers and bad “niggers” but a “nigger” is a “nigger” and cannot escape the taint. Such talk may just be a salesman bluffing, but of course the product taint of Powder Maker was the whiter. De Parle cited a statement by a certain Hattie Mae that “Men back then didn’t allow girls to have much a childhood” that migration to the North in the Civil rights era, left a lot of families without the father – hence the plan for Health care under Roosevelt administration was a welcome gesture and with many of these uneducated black moving from the plantation to the City had to rely on what the Banks had to offer.

De Parle continued that between 1940 and 1970, there was no fewer than 5 million forcing many American Cities to have the problem of Housing in the country. These Plantation migrates sometimes brought the world of drugs from the South to the North. It was a question of time when the trafficking became perpetuated. And these people now turn to cheaper avenues of drugs, and from then, the syndrome sets in. The lives of these African Americans forever tainted with blood, especially the lives of these black women moving in and out of Health Care services, forced a sort of complacency about the society in terms of the reaction to overall American lives that those in many other places formed their own opinions about themselves.

The nature of businesses in places like New York forced people from different parts of the world to be present and that was also a comforting issue. The formal point of Welfare in terms of such matters was very secondary since it was an outcome of the 1935 Social Security for American poor of the great depression.

De Parle book presented the impact of that struggle against Welfare program, where the lives of three women and children became the central fix in the whole debate about US Welfare system. The author made out the case in their favor, tracing the evolution and movement of blacks from several parts of the South, and other variously segregated former plantation areas in the South to search for better life in the North. The North was a passage since the Cities were up and going in the years leading to the Great Depression, and the immigrant population tempered the tension between Blacks and Whites.

But De Parle never quite discussed the root of the problem leading to Welfare and why Welfare serves as the last hope on these African Americans and other minorities without Insurance of just about any kind. The much of financial apartheid and loan denials and guarantee strangled over the years much of African American businesses in America.

But the quest however continues, irrespective of the difficulty with African American audience in doing their bit in promoting the right manners in Banking. It is my hope that enough would be done in this department, to raise awareness of the issue of Redlining and the role Africa and Africans are likely to play in the future. Americans have also failed in the effort in the whole process as well and is never that much of the Commercial studies in the United States. In realty there is nothing quite possible about that study given the origins of the American commercial industry and US legal system.

In Virginia where it all began, there was a battle ground for the very place we call America between English and Dutch Americans over the Commercial Territory. The war between English, France, and Netherlands started over the control of the sea. Such war forced the British to acquire lands owned by the Dutch, and the gluttony led them to parts of Virginia. So began the ‘Scramble for America’ which latter led to other Scramble for other places such as Africa, Asia, North and South America, Oceanic. That also means that the evolution of American legal system began from commercial laws with overlay of English laws eventually. The Common Wealth of Massachusetts did much better in terms of forming better opinions about the society and that includes what it must do in terms of business in relation to the country. Pennsylvania with New York containing

But the Apostles of that system in terms of what it became in later years were among the Whites, and by the time the curtain of Redlining fell in the 1930’s, it was too difficult for the Society to attempt a reverse. The Societies of the African Americans were degenerating and the high default rate in terms of business increased by day, offering more reasons to make that the Banking and Commercial laws that permanent. And banking was a different world in those years.

In the book 'Universal Banking', where the layout of the facts are made the book reflected the history of banking in United States through the eyes of senior lecturers and in terms of 'efficiency' and 'growth'. The book highlighted several question of banks 'should banks be in the securities business and insurance, and where and not universal banks should be regulated given it perform relationship to 'specialist firms' and Hedge Funds in Global markets. The book 'Universal Banking' also highlighted the abuses of Banking Industries in taxes, especially the CHASE national bank and Chase Securities and Income involving Albert Wiggin to the Glass - Seagull Act in 1933.

Yet no mention at any time was made in the Book about the need and necessity to trace some of the troubles, abuses, and prejudices of 'Redlining' in Banking industry to inner cities of American society. It is up to many blacks to do same as a way to widen the studies on the very subject. What African Americans must do is allow the changes that have taken place to continue and provide effective studies on the very issue at hand and why it’s important.

In many ways there is a serious connection of the likes of I, who get slammed every else and the young and older African Americans who have lost hope in the Banking industry. The question of who know what is really happening to Banks? And who can widen that challenge by asking Barack Obama and his compeers to look at the serious problems of denial of loans and services to minority African Americans.

For black business studies, the book 'Black Business and Economic Power' concerns business in African American society did not at any time treat the problem, saving for one mention of the history of Banking in Africa in the article 'Money, Credit, and Banking in Colonial and Post Colonial West Africa' by Adanmu G. Adebayo, where highlights of ABC-African Banking Corporation, West African Currency Board, SAP, ECOWAS and so on was made, and nothing that serious was ever said about African American businesses in the last 20th Century. It is up to the current generation of people and men to make the case for the evolution of the society and that include the changes that has taken place in Black and minority society and how it has helped to make the necessary changes. It is the experts who can make the difference.

Part II

My inspiration to extend any useful review of this whole thing come from a book by Martin Mayer titled the 'Feds', published in 2001 by the Free Press of Simon and Shuster Inc New York. The author made serious arguments about the 'monstrous' acts of denial perpetrated by Banks which if Americans should per chance the record, it could lead to distrust of Banks. But this is just the 'if'. This Book called the 'Feds' deserves a longer review because it details out the whole measure of what the US House of Reps have been doing for some time especially the position of CRA - Congress for the Community Re-investment Act (CRA), where at least in "1991 Congress included the FDIC improvement Act a requirement that when 'CRA' find violations of equal credit opportunities Act, they must refer to the Department of Justice.

In the 'FEDS', the author who is not African American exposed what he called ''monstrous'' practice of this redlining which he argued was much more about Civil Justice, than anything else, and that it was instrumental in bedeviling African American business and businesses with some of them getting the same message of the so-called inadequacy of credit. Then those who could some Loans and financed Venture Funding, get serious punitive requirement owing to the history of the neighborhoods involved.

Martin Mayer in my view should be congratulated for necessarily highlighting the problems from a banker position, and relevant architects of monetary policy of the world, both of the Executive arm and the Legislative should do the same. Martin Mayer is credited with up to 30 books on Banking and in the 'The Feds' he challenged the State and US Feds to do more in terms of investigating the normalized bad manners of the Banks towards lending.

In short view, many blacks and in fact Africans and especially Nigerians looking for loans to do business will not likely get it in New York, except for Mortgage loans in slums where half of the buildings are likely to lose their value with time, and then the 're-possession' due to payment strangled by loss of Job.

But who are we kidding, it is seriously encouraging to make such inquiries into Banking since it mirrors the challenges of the US Feds in Today's market, and not only that, it allows us to have a Firsthand look at what is happening to our financial institutions, and its central question of survival. If the Sovereign Wealth on Euro is misplaced in business among the Africans, there is something

Yet, the attention of many people is not so much what the banks do in Mortgage industry, or the issue of Mortgage Obligation, but what is happening to small American businesses that are owned and managed by certain range of minorities. The language of open source committee does not infect with action on what happens in a trade situated condition when the world of that finance is like the very monetary 'machine that can go on itself', nor do we expect Composites that run other finance materials to explain it all since it goes beyond the reach of many average time investors.

Much more worrying is what happens in derivative market where international markets join heads with American company and groups, in a place where the gap is further widened by different levels of repos. Thus in doing this, the competition that take place during ins and outs of what now happens in our daily business where people who receive enough company incentive will literally deny such incentive to certain people to permit indulgence, will not allow a careful review of this serious problem of lending malpractice.

The attempt by the Federal Open Market Committee to investigate certain claims may do more harm than good while the authors who write about African American business and the role of Banks in America might choose to avoid this part of their service to enable a survival rope to continue in their career.

The malpractice of feeding only a particular group of Americans loans and offering credit expansion should however be investigated by Federal Bank Supervision and Federal Bank Agency (FBA) on day by day accounting and they should look into what actually cripple African American business, and why they are not seriously represented at any level of business practice available anywhere in the world.

The same should also be said of the 'Truth-in-Lending Act' enacted in 1969 which left the FEDS with some powers to essentially legislate through the three banking regulators among the Home loan Bank Board, the Bureau Credit Unions, the Interstate Commerce Commission, the Federal Trade Commission, the Civil aeronautics Board, the Agriculture Department, where power structures have the power to probe the activities of Banks and Financial institutions under their canopy.

It will be very difficult to make such thing happen given the extra ordinary impact of mid-income Americans in today's world. But Martin Mayer’s position is only worthy of re-investigation since it helps to widen the gap in knowing what happens in a society where Banks profile others according to their wish.

On the political side of the very state, Obama would not have learnt that as much Spanish is almost an official language of lower houses of the State, the domination of New York by many other forces has carved a landscape between African Americans and the rest of the society. That It is up to Nigeria to

The more confounding problem in New York is that many Black neighborhoods have suffered seriously and very long.

There are at least 5000 banks and financial institutions in New York with long roots in the continent of US and barely a handful of these banks are majority owned by Blacks. I mean, we can count very less than nameless ten in number including Insurance companies and old foundations owned by African Americans. In many ways the problem will continue long after now, even as we hope against the facts that some studies should be done in this world of inquiry.

The African American business men and women are seriously suppressed except for proven talents, and so is their market. The major fulcrum in that whole engine is the banking sector of American finances, a fact that is so understated except for cases when Banks who 'wanna' look good will put a few black eagles in their teller services and in their front line. In many areas of New York, to be sure Queens, you don't have to show up if you are not like 'them'. So the condition that Nigerians have to deal in US is like a flash in the pan given the serious advantage of cheap Nigerian to Nigeria connection which black America do not really have and which if they venturesome, become protective and nearly anti each other. The Advent of Euro and the rise of Asia as a diorama giant

Yet nothing is done by the US congressional committee to micro-manage the problem, lout of option, and largely because they are to effectually conduct investigative study through FHA (Federal housing Authority) about such practices especially now that it has taken a very sophisticated form. That role of Bank in determining the first and last of what happens in our society may also lead away the stranger facts of determining the shocking lack of African Americans is senior management positions, not that the talent is not there but the Funds available and securities curve and other National and International Derivatives markets are only open to specialized units and fund managers with safety nets.

And speaking of safety nets, US trade Almanac allow us to view what happens to the so-called U.S Total Retirement Market where even rackets from Investment Company Institute, Federal Reserve Board, National Association of Government Defined Contribution Administration, American Council of Life Insurers, Internal Revenue Service provide a degree of funding for the general American, but such open tray of Funding never make it to the proper hands of African American Business who desperately need it.

It has in fact gotten much worse in the last decade following the rise of the Euro pretending as counterweight to common benchmarks and common markets and rise of immigrant populations of Asia. Obama's 700 Billion dollars spending and the spending done in hundreds of billions by Bush to the Americans may have been expected to filter through to the working ranks of American society, but in structure and in mocking jest, it will not reach the small business who needs it. For Blacks the only compensation is the very homeless shelters and Welfare systems that are quite their right. As more and more people appears from different parts of the world into US, more and more the issue for greater resolve in terms of the attitude of black businesses compound. The case is largely due to the fact that

This is likely the case and may well be, given the highly selective attitude of American banks towards lending, a selection that is entirely visible and hideaway the profiling status of these inner cities Americans which were once a haven for Americans. So the issue of LABOR REVOLUTION within the American society should include what the Africans and the Caribbean are willing to do in the US, in terms of Brokerages and in terms of Banks as Anchors for International Nigerian business society and so on. Without much foreign national foundation like Africa and Nigerian, there is not a whole lot Blacks can do. If they have no penetration what’s so ever, there will be a newer generation of bad business in the very US for African Americans and Africans as well. Nigerian Banking committee should drop the arrogance of the past and see how it can encourage Africans to participate in the very business of the society.

Need must be said of the problems of the civil rights era did not even highlight the role of Banks in creating financial inequality between Whites and Blacks in every part of United States and for lack oversight committee of the part of these African Americans, there is virtually no mention of this atrocity of profiled lending by Banks. Yet the bad lending acts of Banks in New York, the Bad lending acts of financial institutions associated with the world do not get a mention in several books of the world. Many people who have complained that this non-lending behavior of Banks is still evident are no longer with the banking industries, they got strategically isolated, and those who still complain make a case for themselves and may and may not point out the root of the problem, which is the Bank.

The advent of Obama's nomination for the Nobel Peace prize as conferred on him by a collage of peoples representing the institution in Norway, had given new tension on the merits of his accomplishment. But the price may not have been for peace that is to come but for his effort in encouraging diplomacy in line with the likes of Bishop Desmond Tutu, Nelson Mandela, and late Martin Luther. The aforementioned group represents the era of civil struggle and how they sought to put away the divisive issues of their day through diplomacy.

The nomination of Obama forces a new era of that civil struggle to begin, that the likes of Obama as with other men and women of international repute, are now recognized for their effort is forcing changes in better life programs and in advancement of women's movement. From that angle of fighting poverty and poverty prevention, there is required necessity to remind ourselves of those who have made significant efforts in changing the attitudes of Banks towards other Americans and other citizens and towards the Continent of Africa.

That effort must now be made to include what is truly wrong with Banks and other financial institutions having to only extend loans to people who look like them and to a large extent enjoin the same religion.

Not many people will overlook the monstrosity of Indian financial industry in India, where people are turned down on loans for being a certain kind of Caste. Not only in India but in Korea, in South Africa, in Russia, and in Japan where people who do not belong to the 'family' or not among the numbered are to be ignored and should not even try to ask for loans. The relationship between Commerce and National Laws should in many ways educate our minds about the incidents of poor voting practices in these areas and no voting rights. In India, the monstrosity of Redlining continuous

In many ways what we know of ourselves in a larger society like USA explain what we know about the world at large.

But they can all pretend to be good people in world markets. In India, there is the monstrosity of voting rights where half of the population is not required to vote, they are not illegible to vote and then there is the women's right issue which all carry into the banking and housing industry where the shame is fully unleashed. In many ways, the idea of Redlining which seem to be original to America in the years past, is a mere drop in the bucket concerning what goes on and around the world in terms of profiling and in terms of prejudice. These practices are still very evident USA, very much alive in New York

Saturday, August 14, 2010

A forward and a response to Gerd Muller 'Nigeria is Not Rich! Far from it'

By
Sampson Iroabuchi Onwuka

I think your MOTION is right - Nigeria is a poor country (both in what is actually obtainable now and in terms of resources), but I encourage better argument in future with just as clear and concise argument.

There is that wholesale dependance on Crude Oil and above all, there is the general lack of DEFINITION on what Nigeria truly is as a people and a culture. The definition await the right President and the right attitude.

Some of founding fathers of the country...Obafemi Awolowo, Alhaji Ahmadu Bello, Alhaji Tafawa Balewa, and by default Odumegwu Ojukwu didn't quit believe in the country and all of them made acidic arguments about the no entity which they describe as Nigeria. Many of them have long left the stage but the seeds of failure and of dividion which they planted are growing and may yet be harvested in 'grapes of wrath'.

The puzzle is on the question of poverty in Nigeria and beyond..."To Whom Does The Bell Toll"? in West Africa. It tolls on We the Nigerians and our failures.

But the price of such failure on the fragile union had never been doubted and never greater in these days. But like syndrome, it darkens the very clouds of the younger generation many of them hoping to escape from what some one described an era of 'political failures'.

Yet they stagger or perhaps stumble from their own lack of faith, for we know that our faith in a country driven purely and ultimately by merit could not have possible in Nigeria given the 'malignant cancer of tribalism' from its early.

That cancer is a bi - product of people full of uncertainty, a people who did not know who they are and were they came from. Such cancerous edifies has been made more becoming by the insecurity of poverty from false progress.

Such talk may now seem idle, and it is perhaps idle to count such possibility of change or court it, for it seems clear that our people were not expected by others to have done otherwise as a country.

But nothing in this God given land called Africa and very own Nigeria, has ever being won or accomplished without struggle, nothing was won without endeavour and without a devotion to the higher calling. If these same virtues mentioned above are known through history to have exceded the demands of poverty - it cannot all of a sudden fade or fail for these Nigerians. These were the product of faith.

That faith now compels us to face to the facts of our poverty and irrelevance as a new round of scramble begin for Africa. That faith must therefore be proved among these Nigerians by those who their sons and daughters look up and call fathers and mothers. That country was never that different from the rest of them and their love for their Children were not fake, and not a lie.

That Faith must be kept alive that by our efforts and struggles, that by those virtues which onced consumed the rest of us in Nigeria, would by its undying demand prove that its rewards higher than all the tribes combined. Only then can Nigeria prove its meaning in the world and redeem itself from sinking downwards.

Only then can the 'evidence of things not seen' - the creed of returnee African Slaves and the hope of 18th century Black leaders-whose influence on Ajayi Crowther, Edward Blyden, Johnson, Herbert Macualay, W.E.D Dubois, George Padmore, Paul Robeson, Kwame Nkruma and above all, Nnamdi Azikiwe, for the independent Africa capable of retaining the unbroken chain of endeavor, of the old torching the new, be fulfilled in their dream nation; Nigeria.

Such endeavor should lead us to believe that poeverty can be defeated in West Africa.

That 'evidence of things not seen' which connect the Old to the New - that invisible bond which has held this Nigeria -this West Africa country together so long - CANNOT now untie.

'Nigeria is not Rich! Far from It' By Gerd Muller

By Gerf Muller of Nigerian Village Square

"Nigeria is not rich! Far from it.

(Let’s get serious!)

The other day I came across a graph in Germany’s biggest, best, because most serious daily newspaper, the ‚Süddeutsche Zeitung. The mere figures talk like a 24-volume encyclopedia. Take only the figures for OIL for Nigeria and Saudi Arabia- tonnage-wise. Those figures already prove that Nigeria is only a minor producer or owner of oil deposits. But those two comparative figures are rather un-important, when you add some other figures and facts.

1.Population:
Let’s assume that Nigeria has a population of 150 million – and WHO really knows the exact figure? and that population will double within the next 23 years, whereas Saudi Arabia had 27 mio in 2006. (meaning Nigeria has six times the population of Saudi Arabia, so the ‘cake’ has to be shared by so many more people…)

2. Known Deposits:
4.9 billion barrels for Nigeria; whereas Saudi Arabia has 36,3 billion, and all that on land, which means to get that oil is a much cheaper technique.

But what is much more important…

The Saudis like so many other oil-exporting countries on the Gulf have over the last 3 to 4 decades invested huge dollar sums in western PRODUCING companies: take for example KUWEIT which owns not only a large number of shares in Mercedes and other German, French, British and what-have-you companies.

Whereas Nigeria’s lootocrats, both in uniform and agbada have stored their money in Western bank, ‘invested’ their money in mostly dubious ventures or in outright luxury, like Abacha did in Indian whores…

Well, at one time when your very own Julius Berger Nigeria had some cash problems, several dozen Alhajis were flown to Germany, and bought Bilfinger and Berger shares… that at least!

Let me add just one more fact: many of the Gulf states have high-quality universities, for which they even recruit highly qualified Nigerian professors. (I do know some personally!) Their students are all on scholarship, be it for the local universities or the best schools abroad. (That some of those students then plan how to blow up the N.Y. World Trade Centre Centre, well… Nigeria has produced at least one such student, who tried his own ‘thing’, and fortunately did NOT make it…)

Meaning:

1.Those states have more oil,
2.They have much smaller populations, (Kuweit has virtually none…)
3.They have invested into the Future with a capital F, also for the days when there will be no more oil – just like the European oil giant Norway is doing. And they are investing in the future by investing massively in eduation.

Now compare this all with Nigeria’s case and you cannot but agree with me that Nigeria’s future in just one or two generations looks rather bleak.

This is the deciding reason why I – but does it really matter, the author being a ‘Caucasian foreigner’, as some ‘simple- thinkers’ like to state – as a journalist do NOT want to read EVER again on NVS about ‘Nigeria’s abundant, endless resources…’ because this is simply wishful thinking and a bloody lie. It is also highly irresponsible vis-avis already the very next generation . The one that will not see a single penny of those 400 billion dollars which the lootocrats have taken abroad.

PS 1: I tried to be brief and concise, but this could naturally be developed with more facts and figures to prove…

PS 2: As far as the education aspect is concerned, I can only advise you to read Moses Ochonu’s piece on Book People and …on NVS…

PS 3: Nigeria is not rich but has enriched numerous countries, by the lootocarts having ‘their’ (the Nigerian people’s money!) in foreign banks, and by exporting tens of thousands of highly trained people to Great, Britain, Germany, the Neutherlands and, above all, to the US of A.

I am NOT supposed to say so, but NVS editorial board members are just one but a very good example."

Confronting China on Nigerian Crude oil (I)c

....that Chinese corporation and the people of China has been drilling for the longest and the money is already earned over these periods, if not, there is need to rehearse the tenets of the deal before 2005, which is not part of other licenses confiscated in 2008 and over the consequent period of Obasanjo’s administration. If NNPC that engineered a 4 billion contract development of the so-called Agbami field of Niger from 2005 is open to China, then Chinese companies can be questioned on their activity over these five years in the area. It is from here can we begin to come to grasp with they have done in these area and in Nigeria over the period and what they are doing now.

China’s ominous information shadow boxing about their operation in Nigeria is quite amazing. I have not been privy to Chinese Crude oil activity in Nigeria and there are only assumptions about their supposed good intentions in Nigeria, which now with extra package of trust and free hands of the FRN. There is trust on these guys given their status as near redeemers of Nigeria from Shell and company. But if crude oil derivatives are placed weekly, or biweekly for traders, it is common demand to find out what happens to Crude oil in many direct source areas of the vital economy, at least have a fact box about their capacity status.

Nigeria therefore, should not relent in attempting to come terms with China and their new found significance in the world. It will seem to appear that they have not even reached their full capacity yet, which does not mean that their overall economic performance is ahead of most economy in the world. This new madness for African Crude oil by China would seem in my view to indicate that there is a version of their exploitation of Africa or in Africa that may exist, since business is that easy or manipulation of information that common.

China has no open source information about their activity in Nigeria and there is no way we can grasp the overall activity of Chinese companies who are vilified in much of Africa without concise bits of information. But the complaining in several parts of Africa is not without reasons, that as much the world has taken a turn over Chinese interest on Zimbabwean Crude oil and as much they feel stymied for siding one group over the issue in Sudan, there is very little they have done to directly assuage public suspicion over their interest in Africa, or its problems saving bags of rice.

But in Nigeria, the case is not bags of rice and beans, or forcing farmers to work for Chinese consumption, or is it endless miles of lands acquired in Senegal, Siere-leone, Liberia by China, rather it is a problem of information mishmash about Chinese activities in Nigeria and who they really dealing on. We wanna know what their real interest short term, long term, and so on is in Nigeria, and what is in it for Nigeria besides paper

Naira Depression and What Sanusi Can Do (III)d

We are aware of the fact that credit spread in many ways does have negative impact on convertibility arbitrage funds. That investment Put option require additional loading which for future sake lead to expectation of lower returns. At continuous time depreciation, predictability of Naira decline becomes a mean variance property subject to all sorts of ravaging and manipulation.

By injecting a redemptive 420 billion Nigeria into Nigeria country, you create additional problem of inflation. Money injection has never been the solution to any economy in the world long terms but it a way to break a certain cycle short term. Its proven that you can eliminate uncertainty by providing a soft padding for credit challenged banks through bail out, but that does not mean the economy is doing very well of a sudden. And such money may go the distance to provide a market direction and eschew the issue of international valuation which nose dive world economy.

But the economic question has always been how to form equilibrium for these extreme of the market. In essence, money injection confronts us with two problems which are money velocity and rate of money in any economy. The main course of equilibrium is not how to arbitrarily demote certain currencies of the world like Chinese and Brazilians do, but how to discover and permit a fair dealing that can accommodate both sides of the market with a near intent on equilibrium.

Of course equilibrium stagnate the market when achieved, and in ordinary market condition demand and supply never quite meet, and inflation is also wage and price rising simultaneously.

Price at least in market is ever rising, always a tendency to be bullish and the real curve ball for any CBN or Federal Reserve is to protect real income, fixed incomes, and wage. Wage is the bear side of the market and in many ways wage can only be protected by the action of the Government, which précis is achieved through interest rate and through protection of currency value such as the Naira. And through certain Amendment of Customs’ Act among other example

Inflation is too high in Nigeria. The ability of many Nigerians to buy anything is just too stiff. There is no protection of real income. In fact the bantam does not exist. There is no real remedy for this kind of situation since Nigeria is part of the international markets. In essence, the current condition will continue long into the future if nothing is done about it. Nigeria is part of international markets, the currency float freely, the currency has no protection in local markets, and the currency is not among the 30 useful currencies in the world. It means that in many ways that our currency, the Naira, is not even a blip on the Radar. The augur for open trade fair is competition with the best of them. And that means that you win as much you lose.

Naira Depression and What Sanusi Can Do (I)d

But these companies would not do such a thing largely because they belong to several outfits like even Goldman Sachs, who allow such penetration and dumping of Naira as unspoken guarantee that the so called business done by the like Sinopec, who are fast becoming the oil company to be in Nigeria, who are part of Red chip china companies but registered through ADR, may just be a redress of withdrawing Shell. As such the Swaps, the Bond, the guarantee against eventuality and exposure is subject to the depreciation of Nigerian Naira. That’s to say that ‘baits’ so far acquired in the interest on Nigeria will never make it and these deals with Chinese Sinopec will ‘deal break’ as long Naira keep its downward spiral.

If over 7 billion dollars sent to Nigeria by Nigerians abroad is obtained through banks in Naira terms and not the dollars or any other currency, it becomes possible to gauge the performance of Nigerian Naira within its local economy. This is the form for the economy and the stock gain in Naira terms becomes a function of its market. If foreign transactions take place in Nigeria through Naira, the Naira will assume an ‘f’ value and would inch in against any currency in the world. It is difficult to explain this because of the poor quality of the Nigerian statistical grid point. But sending 7 billion to Nigeria to be picked only Naira is buying into the Naira in the global markets, which I think Sanusi is doing with oil derived dollars. But the US interest rates have not really started climbing.

Money is like that, especially currency. These companies doing business in Nigeria and asking you pay them in Rand, dollars, pounds, euro, Yang, etc, are creating their own values in Nigeria. This is such a slap that a depression economy like the 30’s US and the International Valuation drag down on price is the only way to explain the problem. There is nothing ‘money’ about Gold beyond its acceptance as a unit of exchange, there is nothing ‘money’ about oil except in terms of its exchange and command of arbitrage. The only form of money known to us is used for business and transaction, a form IOU but I settle you…

Thursday, August 12, 2010

A Market Advice for President Jonathan Goodluck (I)

By

Sampson Iroabuchi Onwuka

High Tariffs in any industry in Nigeria inadvertently trigger high cost of products in many parts of the local economy. The pressure to sale at a higher return is due to the cost of getting the products to the market place in first place. There is a ‘vacuum system’ in the country that makes it difficult for small business to make vital gains in Nigeria. This vacuum system revolves around the Ports authority, the monopoly of certain good through exorbitant high tariff which extend from the docking areas through Customs to business to business and then the general public who must pay despite the fixed income.

The direct control of key industries in Nigeria by strikingly few merchants, force an unnecessary price escalation - a classic case on Adam Smith on Nigerian depression economy. The Nigerian President, Jonathan Goodluck, should look to slashing high Tariff - I mean all forms of Tariff incentive by at least 49% on year end. He should set up a simple committee to see this happen in matter of weeks. Should such Customs’ Act fail to pass in the coming months, the country should brace for extended occasions of strike if not for high inflationary pressure from newer Tariffs but for political reasons commensurate to elections 2011.

Nigerian is a ‘one crop economy’. Crude oil is Nigeria’s only bait in the world markets and in terms of import making a noise for the country, the country is struggling ‘Third’ at it. World Bank called Nigeria the most expensive business community largely due to the price on Tariff alone. The argument that certain embargo will help local production does not take into account the ever expanding Nigerian demographics. With the depreciating Nigerian power of purchase baited against the wholesale failures of small business in states other than Lagos and Abuja -there are serious depression economy indicators which the Nigerian President should take seriously. For nothing could add to this problem than a rising and very exorbitant cost of what we need.

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Mispricing China (IV)

By
Sampson Iroabuchi Onwuka

The point here is that China is only a market term for cheaper alternatives to US and Europe, but just because it is called cheaper and China does not mean that it is now cheap in the way we want people to understand. I must repeat that China doing business through large companies and in dollars term are not cheap at all and emphasis on this cheap alternative should be dropped in Nigeria and in Africa. In dollars terms or approximate equivalent, these companies are no different from European and America oil. The same critical measure should be applied to these people especially their new found position with a Nigerian oil company by name Qua Iboe.

Many Nigerians are now very concerned about the near developments of using public businesses for private ends. In fact, the name trend is to transfer much of what public trust from the hands of the government to some people levied interest at the apex oil group and business. There is no need to dwell on this fact, since many Nigerian companies originating from the West and by many Western Nigerians are making headways in Crude oil. The point is not that Nigerians should privateer these NNPC business or place high derivative over the crude oil market like Rilwanu Lukman did - who I think should be prosecuted very acutely - rather Nigerians interested in making ends meet in terms of oil and business related to oil, should pursue participation of these businesses through direct ‘direct’ acquisition of some companies in many parts of the world, especially China

Finally in terms of the impending Auction…

However, there is need to be warned about the recent deals by Nigerian Government and Presidential adviser on Nigerian Petroleum, since lessons are still fresh about the incidents of 2005, 2006, 2007, block and rig zone licensing, which were subject to reckless Asian lobby and wild manipulations. The result was that highly lucrative Nigerian oil zones were cheaply and almost derisively licensed out to these Asians, among them China. China has the attention of the world, but needs be said that honesty which we think is their keeping is not always theirs. Well travelled Nigerians to Asia and those living in US will admit that that Chinese may be better other than Asian lot, but they are can be quite corrupt if they choose to.

From 2004 through 2007, there was at least 77 licenses released by Nigeria for companies interested in drilling oil in Nigeria and only 33 of these licenses are retained given the ‘empty’ goose promises made by these companies to Nigeria. The right to question certain assumption in the deals is not beyond many Nigerians. The temptation to manage budget deficit from auction is very serious since much of the lobby is involved.

Monday, August 9, 2010

Inflationary Pressure from High Tariff (I)

Sampson Iroabuchi Onwuka

High Tariffs in any industry in Nigeria inadvertently trigger high cost of products in many parts of the local economy. The pressure to sale at a higher return is due to the cost of getting the products to the market place in first place. There is a ‘vacuum system’ in the country that makes it difficult for small business to make vital gains in Nigeria. This vacuum system revolves around the Ports authority, the monopoly of certain good through exorbitant high tariff which extend from the docking areas through Customs to business to business and then the general public who must pay despite the fixed income.

The direct control of key industries in Nigeria by strikingly few merchants, force an unnecessary price escalation - a classic case on Adam Smith on Nigerian depression economy. The Nigerian President, Jonathan Goodluck, should look to slashing high Tariff - I mean all forms of Tariff incentive by at least 49% on year end. He should set up a simple committee to see this happen in matter of weeks. Should such Customs’ Act fail to pass in the coming months, the country should brace for extended occasions of strike if not for high inflationary pressure from newer Tariffs but for political reasons commensurate to elections 2011.

Nigerian is a ‘one crop economy’. Crude oil is Nigeria’s only bait in the world markets and in terms of import making a noise for the country, the country is struggling ‘Third’ at it. World Bank called Nigeria the most expensive business community largely due to the price on Tariff alone. The argument that certain embargo will help local production does not take into account the ever expanding Nigerian demographics. With the depreciating Nigerian power of purchase baited against the wholesale failures of small business in states other than Lagos and Abuja -there are serious depression economy indicators which the Nigerian President should take seriously. For nothing could add to this problem than a rising and very exorbitant cost of what we need.

Given the inflationary pressure from High Tariff and high unemployment in many parts of the country, given the little or no credit from Banks, the country cannot escape slow or insignificant growth for small businesses. Given the high numbers of unemployment in Nigeria and estranged condition of the Nigerian fixed income earners, there is no telling how disaffected and disfranchised Nigerian Laborers are and whether they can survive the unconditional vacuum system. There is ‘vacuum system’ of course in Nigeria, a process which involves protection of certain rights with high tariffs, which inadvertently destroy any comfort for long term investment and therefore cur for inflationary pressures.

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