Dr. Mock has published Five books with Floricanto Press, Berklety, CA. His articles have appeared on publications like The Chicago Tribune and several gay and lesbian newspapers. He was inducted in The Chicago GLBT Hall of Fame in 2007. He can be reached at: www.carlostmock.com Excerpt from Cuba Libre, Mentirita Chapter Five In 1843, Facundo Bacardí married a young woman named Amalia, daughter of a French Bonapartist fighter, and began a family. Around this time, his experiments with rum had paid off and he offered samples of his new light rum to relatives and friends. Facundo's secret formula enabled him to ferment, distill, and blend from molasses a rum one could drink neat, almost like wine, without mixers or additives. Since molasses was a byproduct of processing sugarcane, Cuba's largest export, there were ample quantities on the island. On February 4, 1862, Facundo, his brother Jose, and a French wine merchant joined forces to buy Nunes' tin-roofed distillery for $3,500. The facility had the necessities (a cast-iron still, fermenting tanks, and aging barrels) for creating and selling a Bacardi brand of rum. Buying the old distillery lock, stock, and barrel, Facundo also received an added bonus in the deal—a colony of fruit bats that later came to represent the Bacardi name. 
 The Bacardi enterprise was a family affair. As Facundo's three sons—Emilio, Facundo (Jr.), and José—came of age, they joined the company and learned their father's secret formula for making what was fast becoming the Caribbean's finest rum. Emilio, the oldest, worked in the office; Facundo Jr. worked in the distillery; and José, the youngest, eventually promoted and sold his father's products. In honor of his father and to celebrate the new family business, Facundo Jr. planted a coconut palm tree just outside the distillery. As the Bacardi boys learned their father's trade, a young man named Enrique Schueg y Chassin, born in 1862, the same year Don Facundo purchased the Santiago distillery, was maturing, and he would soon join both the business and the family, by marriage. As the business thrived in the ensuing years, young Facundo's coconut palm did, too. The tree became an enduring symbol of the Bacardi family and its of spirits operation. 
 Not long before Don Facundo and his partners bought the Nunes distillery, an Australian named T. S. Mort had perfected the first machine-chilled cold storage unit. Three years after Bacardi was established, Thaddeus Lowe debuted the world's first ice machine. Although these two inventions seemed unrelated to Don Facundo's new premium rum, they later helped Bacardi conquer the social drinking marketplace by making ice and cold mixers commonplace. Such ideas were far from Don Facundo and his family's minds, as they had no idea how widespread the appeal of their smooth, fine rum would become one day. Instead, they greeted Bacardi's increasing popularity in Santiago and the neighboring villages as a pleasant surprise. 
 As was the custom of the day, customers brought their own jugs and bottles to the distillery; and the Bacardi family members promptly filled and returned them. With business booming, Don Facundo decided that method of distribution was not good enough and set out to find an alternative. Meanwhile, back in Spain, Queen Isabella, who ascended the throne in 1843 at the age of 13, was deposed. For Bacardi and his family, as with most Catalans living on the Spanish-controlled colony of Cuba, the insurrection mirrored their own growing unrest. As civil war raged in Spain in 1872, Emilio, who had become a Cuban freedom fighter, was caught and exiled to an island off the coast of Morocco. During his absence, hostilities grew and a rebellion swept through Cuba, although the family business was unharmed. Emilio returned to Cuba four years after his capture and learned that Bacardi rum had earned a gold medal at the Philadelphia Exposition of 1876. 

 As the 1880s dawned, Don Facundo retired and turned Bacardi over to Emilio, Facundo Jr., Jose, and Enrique, now his son-in-law. The company's distribution problems had been solved with a suggestion from Doña Amalia that Bacardi products be sold with a distinctive, easily recognized, label. As many of Santiago's residents could not read, Doña Amalia recommended using a symbol to represent Bacardi. The Bacardi logo was born, sporting a most unlikely mascot, the fruit bat. Before the turn of the century, as Bacardi flourished, Cuba was again battling to gain independence from Spain. Fighting for his country, Emilio, was banished a second time and Enrique went with him into exile. In 1901, as Cuba became an independent republic, Emilio returned home to the Bacardi family and business. 

He was elected mayor of Santiago, while Bacardi continued buying sugarcane fields and expanding operation through several bottling facilities. The world's most popular drink was born during the Spanish-American War at the turn of the century when Teddy Roosevelt, the Rough Riders, and Americans in large numbers arrived in Cuba. One afternoon, a group of off-duty soldiers from the U.S. Signal Corps were gathered in a bar in Old Havana. Fausto Rodríguez, a young messenger, later recalled that a captain came in and ordered Bacardi (Gold) rum with a new American concoction called Coca-Cola, served on ice, with a wedge of lime. The captain drank the concoction with such pleasure that it sparked the interest of soldiers around him. They had the bartender prepare a round of the captain's drink for them. The Bacardi rum and Coke was an instant hit. As it still does to this day, the drink united the crowd in a spirit of fun and good fellowship. When they ordered another round, one soldier suggested they also toast ¡Por Cuba Libre!, in celebration of newly freed Cuba. The captain raised his glass and sang out the battle cry that inspired Cuba's victorious soldiers in the War of Independence.

Dr. Mock has published five books with Floricanto Press, Berklety, CA. His articles have appeared on publications like The Chicago Tribune and several gay and lesbian newspapers. He was inducted in The Chicago GLBT Hall of Fame in 2007. He can be reached at: www.carlostmock.com Excerpt from Infinitas: Una Obra realista mágica de la poesía - A Magical Realistic Work of Poetry Este libro está dedicado a mi hermana, Maria I. (Mayu) Mock, quien falleció a la tierna edad de 46 años a causa de cáncer del cólon, el 10 de noviembre del 2008; a las 8:55 AM en San Juan, Puerto Rico. This book is dedicated to my sister, Maria I. (Mayu) Mock who died from colon cancer at the young age of 46 in San Juan, PR on November 10, 2008 at 8:55 am. 10 de noviembre de 2008; 8:55 AM Paren los relojes, cuelguen los teléfonos, Apaguen la radio y el televisor. Silencien los instrumentos de música El planeta deja de rotar—marcará la ocasión. Dejen que los pájaros circulen el cielo quejándose Anunciando al mundo que Mayu ha desaparecido. Las estatuas están de luto, los parques están vacíos La isla está llorando—entren, escuchen, y siéntense en el salón. Ella era mi norte, mi sur, mi este y mi oeste, Mi semana de trabajo, mi ocio, y mi diversión. Mi mediodía, mi medianoche, mi palabra y mi canción. Creía que nuestro amor era infinito—pero se desvaneció. No quiero ver las estrellas, apáguenlas una a una, Desaparezcan la luna, apaguen el sol. Vacíen lo océanos, quemen los bosques, Lloremos nuestra pérdida con una sola voz. Polvo somos y en polvo nos convertiremos, Eso dice la tradición—pero mi querida Mayu Vivirá eternamente en mi corazón Hasta que la próxima poesía llore por mi desaparición. November 10, 2008; 8:55 AM Stop all the clocks, hang all the phones, Turn off the radio and the T. V. Silence the music As the Earth stops its rotation, marking the occasion. Allow birds to fly in mourning, Singing that Mayu is gone from the world. The statues will mourn her passing, by leaving the parks empty. Puerto Rico cries--enter, listen, and sit in our home. She was my North, my South, my East, and my West. My workweek, my sorrow, and my fun. She was noon, midnight, my word, and my song. I though our love was eternal--but it disappeared in dust. I don’t wish to count the stars, please turn them off. Wipe the moon from the skies, burn off the sun. Empty the oceans burn the woods, Lets all cry the loss with one voice. Dust to dust--as taught by religion. But my beloved Mayu Forever will live in my heart Until the next poem cries for my soul. Los Muertos se olvidan más fácilmente que los vivos La caliente comodidad de mis sabanas blancas almidonadas Al moldearse a mi cuerpo forman Una barrera que excusa a mi cerebro de cualquier pensamiento. Me quedo quieto. Me ajusto a la moldura de la cama como mejor puedo. Es como que si haciendo esa maniobra Alcanzo un punto crítico Y reconozco la absurdidad de mi muerte inminente, Y me escondo entre las sombras, quedándome sólo eternamente. El centro de inactividad hace que mi pensamiento Rebote de alguna casualidad de crearlo, Atándome así a mi cama en el hospital. Por un lado, El miedo me obliga a escapar, A huir de la situación presente, A alcanzar otra vida, Pero antes de morir. Por otro lado, Los efectos de la morfina me hacen sordos, Ciegos, e incapaz de ser estimulado. Como si nada hubiera existido nunca—fantasmas de una pesadilla Nada más. En un cuarto oscuro, Sólo los monitores que me rodean rompen el silencio. Trato de escuchar mi latido A manera de buscar mi salvación. Pero el miedo a la nada que me rodea es más fuerte Y sueño que soy un cadáver que no se mueve. Sueño el miedo horrible de no poder despertar. Espero, Sigo esperando, Es como si esperara a que todos mis funciones vitales se apaguen. Estoy aburrido de vivir Espero al resto de mi verdadera existencia. Es como si el ciclo de mi vida se termina, Como si los cielos se cierran ante mi. Parece interminable, Como un perro que persigue a su rabo, Un círculo cerrado fuera del tiempo. Es como si fuera un fantasma, Un espíritu sin fin. Le tengo miedo a lo que me espera. ¿Qué hubiera sido de mi vida Si hubiera conocido a mi pareja antes de la “plaga”? ¿Cómo serían nuestras vidas si nuestra relación Hubiera empezado antes que la infección? ¿Seríamos negativos? ¿Hubiéramos sobrevivido las tentaciones del mundo gay? Sueño con un mundo donde el SIDA no existe, Tal vez no sea posible, Tal vez sea sólo mi alucinamiento. Nacer dentro de estas cuatro paredes del hospital, Y crecer sin tentaciones ni peligros inminentes. Distrayéndome con preguntas que no tienen respuestas. A pesar de que no creo en el infierno, El infierno es lo que vi en mis amistades, Cuando perdieron su lucha contra el SIDA. Y el cielo hubiera sido, Alguien creando una píldora, Que hiciera que la muerte y el sufrimiento desapareciera. En este estado de pavor que me encuentro, Esta es mi capacidad Para entender los conceptos Del cielo y el infierno. En un período de pocos años, Perdí a la mayoría de mis amigos. Sus conciencias individuales desaparecieron. Perdí una generación completa de hermanos, Esa pérdida y sus recuerdos, Es lo que me mantiene vivo hoy día. Sus almas son la esencia que llamo “Vida.” La muerte hace que la rabia forme parte del pasado, Reconozco la profundidad de mi furia, Aun cuando los dejo que se vayan, Los Muertos se olvidan más fácilmente que los vivos The dead are so much easier to forget than the living The warm comfort from the bleached white sheets Around my body is forming A barrier that excuses my brain from the activity of thought. I don’t move, I simple adjust my body to the bed as best as I can. It is as if that by doing so I reach a critical point of view And acknowledge the absurdity of my impending death, I can forestall anyone’s attention, forever being left alone. The center of inactivity makes any thought process Rebound from any chance of being created, Thus keeping me anchored to my hospital bed. On the one hand, The fear begs me to try to escape, To run away from the present situation, Which seems to be the after life, Yet before death. On the other hand, The analgesic effects of my morphine induced high makes me deaf, Blind, and thoughtless to any stimuli. It’s like nothing ever existed—ghostly figures from a bad dream Nothing more. In the dark room, Only the monitors that surround me break the silence. I try to hear my heartbeat, As if the clue to my salvation. But the fear of the nothingness around me is much stronger And I dream of myself as an inanimate cadaver. I dream of the terrible fear of not being able to wake up. I wait, I continue to wait. It is as if I am waiting for all my bodily functions to cease. It’s too boring to be alive. I am waiting for the real rest of my existence. It is as if the cycle of life is coming to an end, As if the skies are closing on me. It seems endless, Like a dog chasing its tale, A closed circle outside of time. It’s as if I’m a ghost, A spirit without end. I am very afraid of what this world has in store for me. How would my life be if I met my partner before the “plague”? How would it be if our relationship had started Before we were infected? Would we still be negative? Would we have survived the temptations of the gay world? I dream of a world where AIDS never existed, Perhaps this is not possible, Perhaps this is nothing more that a delusion Born inside these four hospital walls. To tempt me to forget the immediate and tangible danger By distracting myself with questions that can’t be answered. In as much as I do not believe in hell, Hell is what I saw in many of my friends As they fought and endured the gay plague. Heaven would have been Someone finding a pill To make all the suffering and death disappear. In my blurred state, this is as close As I’ll ever get to understanding Heaven and hell. Within a few years I saw most of my friends disappear; Their individual consciousness vanish And I lost whole generations on my brothers. Their loss, trying to remember them, Is what keeps me alive now? Their souls are the essence that I’ll call “Life.” Death puts anger in the past tense. I recognize the depth of my fury Even as I let go of them The dead are so much easier to forget than the living. Trato de silbar en la oscuridad A veces el único orden en la vida y el universo Es la injusticia y el caos. Eso explicaría por qué la locura es la única forma De integrarse a la realidad. Deseo esa locura, Para que me ayude con mi terror a la muerte y a la extinción. Por primera vez en mi vida, Me siento indefenso, Ni la vida, ni la fe,
Ni ninguna estructura que me rodea, Nada… Solo el pánico. ¿Qué otras experiencias me faltan? La muerte y nada más. Y con la muerte viene un sentimiento De terror porque A pesar de todas las teorías filosóficas, A pesar de todas las creencias religiosas, NADA es relevante ahora. Son como una excusa, Para aliviar el golpe de la extinción. ¿Parezco morboso? Trato de olvidar Silbando en la oscuridad. No tengas miedo, No creas en la muerte. La muerte es un sueño, Como un juego infantil. Juego a morirme antes de ir de compras. Vuelvo a silbar en la oscuridad. Cuando reconozco el sonido, Me reafirma que estoy aquí y ahora. I try whistling in the darkness Sometimes the only order in life and the universe Is injustice and chaos. That would explain why madness is the only way To become integral with reality. I wish for madness To help me cope with my fear of death and extinction. For the first time in my life I feel defenseless, Nor life, nor faith, Nor any of the structures that surround me, Nothing… Nothing more than fear. What other experiences are left? Death and nothing else. And with death comes the feeling Of terror because In spite of all the philosophical theories, In spite of any religious belief, They ALL seem irrelevant right now. They seem like an excuse, To soften the panic of extinction. Is it morbid? I try not to think about it. I try whistling in the darkness. Do not be afraid, Don’t believe in death. Death is a dream, Like an infantile game. I will play dead and then go shopping. I try whistling in the darkness again. As I hear my own sound, It reassures me that I’m here and now.

Dr. Mock has published five books with Floricanto Press, Berklety, CA. His articles have appeared on publications like The Chicago Tribune and several gay and lesbian newspapers. He was inducted in The Chicago GLBT Hall of Fame in 2007. He can be reached at: www.carlostmock.com Excerpt from Mosaic Virus: A medical thriller that involves a cover up at the Vatican to protect a Cardinal from being accused to be a pedophile. Giuseppe Cardinal Siri sat in his office at the Vatican, an office second in grandeur only to the Pontiff’s; he was lost in thought wondering how worried he should be. He had been looking at this quandary all day when he realized he was hungry. One look at the clock and he understood why—he had once again missed dinner. He was a short round man, with small hands and feet, a dewlapped face, and a high domed head, bald as an egg under the scarlet skullcap. His grey eyes twinkled with benevolence and his mouth was as small and scarlet as a woman’s against the matte olive of his complexion. But the appearance was deceiving. He had a PH. D. in Theology and he was both feared and respected by the Pope’s allies and enemies alike. It was now 1983 and Cardinal Siri had been Secretary of Sate for five years. He had quickly learned that his great challenge was in convincing people to do things they did not want to do and to get them to tell him things they would rather keep secret. Although his personal apartment was austere and simple, he had filled his office with objects that reflected his power. He had handpicked the art and furniture from the vast collection at the Vatican Museum and Archives. On the far wall was a rare painting of the Madonna by Sandro Botticelli. Merely the gilded elaborate frame would impress even the most ignorant. Immediately behind him was a pen and ink Michelangelo study of the Pieta whose final version was in the Great Basilica below. In contrast, this was not framed flamboyantly as the Botticelli. But the importance of the work was rarely lost to anyone who stood in front of the Cardinal. It was enough to make anyone think twice before responding to the request of the powerful man who claimed its possession. Underneath the Botticelli was a sixteenth-century desk used by Pope Pius V on top of which was his favorite possession. He had discovered it in the flea market off via Veneto: a simple clay sculpture of the three monkeys. This was to remind him that although it was true he would never speak evil, it was also true that he could sometimes not avoid hearing or seeing it. On his vast desk there were only two pictures—one of the Pontiff, the other of his parents who had died in one of Stalin’s labor camps. Looking at his parents’ picture he knew they would be stunned with joy that he was sitting at the right hand of the Pontiff, responsible for the safety of the Church; they would be in equal measure disappointed at what he often had to do to defend it. He thought of his easier days as Bishop of Genoa—not easier, perhaps, but certainly different. He had relished the Mass and the interaction with his congregants. He had expected that his life would change because of his newly acquired power, but he had never imagined the loneliness. He now did his work through memos, meetings, and committees. He worked through innumerable assistants who would bring him leather-covered documents for his signature and seal, never exchanging a word with him unless necessary. Siri had realized that his days at work were so long, so composed of barely a few acts—performed over and over and over again—that they made of themselves a world within the World. All the men in Siri’s world lived primarily there, and paid a visit to the real world—where they ate, rested, and made ready to return. The men in Siri’s world had relinquished their citizenship to their respective countries of origin, and their former lives were dreams they had each night, from which they awakened each morning at the Vatican. It had been over five years since he had ordained or counseled a priest and he missed the involvement enormously. Since he had become the principal advisor to the Pontiff, even his friends no longer felt comfortable confiding in him—except those with an agenda. Siri’s life was now ruled more by the crisis-of-the-moment than opportunity. Last Christmas he had missed his traditional midnight mass at the Genoa Cathedral in order to fly to Beijing to negotiate the release of the bishop of Shanghai. He had been forced to shut down the mission in Tibet that had proved embarrassing to the Chinese. He had accomplished his objective by securing the bishop’s release, yet it had come at a cost. As he flew home from China, he wondered if it had been worth it. His intercom lit to announce the arrival of his assistant. As he stood to open the door, he considered taking comfort in a discussion of his predicament with a reliable ear. Cardinal Siri welcomed Lorenzo Cardinal Matta to his office. “I have been expecting you,” Siri said to his assistant, breaking the awkward silence in the large office. “Your summons sounded urgent,” was Matta’s polite, but respectful response. Cardinal Matta was his right hand. He had been crucial to Cardinal Siri as secretary of state. Pius XII had also made Matta a cardinal; they had had long hard careers together. Matta was tall and heavy, with the appearance of an athlete, even for his seventy years. His face was always without any expression, making it hard to read. Siri paused, then said, “I have yet to decide how urgent this matter is.” He always trusted his assistant with important news, and he felt compelled to act only after hearing his advice. “Thirty-seven deaths in the Northeast region of the United States, all of them priests—what do you think?” Matta did not answer immediately, which lead Siri to wonder how much of this news was a surprise to Cardinal Matta. “Your eminence, there are forty six thousand priests in the United States, about a fourth of those in this particular region. Only six percent of American priests are younger than thirty-five, with their population aging rapidly and not being replaced. The institutional forms of priesthood, as we have known them over the past several hundred years, are moving toward death.” Cardinal Siri reflected. That had been his original gut reaction. Sitting down to look at the report again he added, “In this report, the ages of the deceased range from thirty-one to sixty three years old, with more than half of them under forty. Should we not lose our older priests first?” Deep in thought Cardinal Matta asked, “Seriously, you are not thinking a conspiracy?” “It is my duty to think of conspiracies—it is everyone else’s task to disprove them!” Cardinal Matta waited for Siri to calm down, “If you are thinking about the Zionist groups, there are no new developments…” The phrase sent chills up Cardinal Siri’s spine. The image of a sixteen year old Jew came back to haunt him. Trying to avoid showing Matta the impact those words still had on him, he diverted his full attention to getting his friend out of the room so he could be left alone. “There are also rumors about DDT and other dioxin poisonings in the Soviet Union,” Siri said. “Yes, yes, of course. And the Stasi is still trying to kill his eminence—how many problems do you want me to concentrate on? We have enough real problems without inventing new ones!” “I tell you Matta, I am convinced this is the tip of an iceberg. I think we need an investigation…” “If you decide to have an investigation, have you thought of who will lead it?” Siri was again perplexed by Matta’s question and wondered how many eyes had already seen the report in front of him labeled Secret. “I sent for Javier Barraza. He has proven valuable to us before.” The secretary of State rose, which meant the interview was over. Matta was delighted by the choice, but simply said, “Your eminence, if you think this through you will agree with me that you are making too much of nothing.” “Matta, start working on some leads. I want you to meet with Barraza in the morning and have something for him to work on. Get a team together.” Siri thought it was better to be cautious, to keep divine things from being devoured by vengeful jealousy. As Siri walked his assistant to the door, Matta added in a more conciliatory note, ”Giuseppe, as always, I am glad to be of help…” Loneliness and stress always brought Siri back to the face of little Jacob. In the spring of 1939, the Chief Rabbi of Palestine, Isaac Herzog, asked the then Bishop of Genoa, Giuseppe Siri, to intercede to keep Jews in Spain from being deported to Germany. General Franco declared his Fascist government and the Spanish Civil War broke out. Out of the 35,000 volunteers of the International Brigades, approximately 7000 were Jewish. During the Second World War Spain officially remained neutral, yet, Franco sent troops to fight against the Russians, and Spain later served as a refuge for fleeing Nazis. Siri had traveled to Spain on behalf of the Vatican and had met with a group of children. With his Vatican passport Bishop Siri had no trouble crossing the borders of Italy, France, and Spain. He was welcomed in Garnatha Alyehud, the Jewish ghetto in Granada. For weeks, he tried to send the Jewish people to Britain or the Americas. He had hired a young Jewish boy, Jacob Goldman, as his secretary and translator. He had spent three months working hard and had gotten most of the population off to safer ground. He had become attached to this youth who so selflessly worked to save the life of people he hardly knew. When it came time to leave, young Jacob asked if he could continue to serve his new hero. Siri was both touched and excited. Young Jacob wanted to follow in his savior’s steps. Using his Vatican connections he got Jacob a new passport and a non-Jewish identity—Joseph Spellman—thus returning with the boy to Rome after his mission was accomplished. Siri was sure young Joseph would make a great priest. But on his return to Rome, things had changed. The Papal Secretary of State, Pacelli, signed a concordat with the German government. Siri felt that the signing of the concordat was a mistake by the Roman Catholic Church because it gave Hitler’s regime international sanction, given that at the time it was signed, the Enabling Act of March 23 had already granted Hitler dictatorial powers—mass arrests and book-burnings had taken place, and the first official concentration camp, Dachau, had been created. Siri recalled his words to his friend Matta: “It is not my right to question the wisdom of his eminence, but should we remain a bit more neutral?” All political parties in Germany, except for the Nazis, had effectively been dissolved by July 14. On 2 March 1939, Pacelli became the first Secretary of State since 1667 to become pope; he took the name Pope Pius XII. Siri often wondered if the concordat was a deliberate act to assure the new Pope his election. Was the College of Cardinals also afraid of Hitler? Did they think Pacelli would be the only one who could keep Hitler at bay? Later, Siri was relieved when Pope Pius XII issued a policy of public neutrality during the Second World War mirroring that of Pope Benedict XV during the First World War. Even though Siri understood that Pius’s main argument for that policy was that public condemnation of Hitler and Nazism would have achieved little of practical benefit and most likely would add to repression of Roman Catholicism within Nazi Germany, he was secretly disappointed that the new Pontiff could not take a stand against such a tyrannical regime. Then came word that Hitler was planning to kidnap Pope Pius XII. Gen. Karl Wolff, the head of the SS in German-occupied Rome accused the Vatican of being a “friend of the Jews.” When Bishop Matta, who was the head of security at the Vatican, discovered the identity of the seminarian Joseph Spellman (Jacob Goldman), he called the SS and turned him in to the Germans over the objection of a horrified Siri. The bishop of Genoa still remembered the last look from Jacob/Joseph, his cries of fear and misery, as the SS came and broke into Siri’s office to take the young man away. Siri went to Pope Pius XII to beg for the life of his protégé. The Pontiff told him some of the victims could still be saved, but only through discreet private interventions. Siri tried everything that he could think of: calling all his old friends in the Vatican and any of the most fervent Nazi Catholics. To no avail. On December 30, 1940, Jacob/Joseph said goodbye to his mentor as he was placed on a train to Auschwitz. The look in Jacob’s eyes had stayed with Siri for over forty years. He saw Joseph after his release from the concentration camp. Emaciated and beaten—he was far from the enthusiastic youth who had worked with him in Spain. Not even when Pope Pius XII rewarded the just-released Joseph by elevating him to Cardinal in 1946, was he able to forget the misery he had been unable to prevent. His reminiscing turned to a nagging pain in his stomach: “I must go see the doctor…” Then Siri told himself, “Ah, it can probably wait until tomorrow.” He had thirty-seven deaths to explain…

Dr. Mock has published Five books with Floricanto Press, Berklety, CA. His articles have appeared on publications like The Chicago Tribune and several gay and lesbian newspapers. He was inducted in The Chicago GLBT Hall of Fame in 2007. He can be reached at: www.carlostmock.com An excerpt of Borrowing Time; A Latino Sexual Odyssey El Velorio – The wake Titi Elisa was dying. I remember like it was yesterday. I was in the second grade and my sister Elena and I were pulled out of school. Our half brother, Manny, was already fighting in Vietnam. Titi Elisa was mamita’s sister. Mamita was my grandmother on my mother’s side. They lived together in a house in Ponce on the other side of the island. At the time, there was no expressway to go to Ponce, so the trip would take three and a half hours, (these days it is only an hour and a half) assuming that papi would not take one of his famous “short cuts” in which case you would never know how long. The worst case that I could remember was a seven-hour trip door to door. The road to Ponce was carved into the slope over two mountain ranges making it very dangerous and curvy. Our maids, Tita and Tina, would need to take anti-nausea medicine, otherwise they would inevitably get sick on the trip. That would be another reason for us to take longer. If either of them would forget their medications, we would be forced to stop until they would get better. Sometimes we would have to stop just to let them puke. Because of the severity of the situation, and because we had no idea how long we would be in Ponce, it was decided to make the trip with just the four of us: Mami, Papi, Elena and I. Papi was forbidden to use any of the shortcuts. Mami was visibly upset. More than one time, we were told not to talk. On our trips to Ponce, papi would play Veo Veo (I see, I See). It would go as follows: Papi: Veo Veo (I see, I See) Mami, Elena, and I: ¿Qué Ves? (What do you see?) Papi: Una cosita (A little thing) Us: ¿Con qué letrecita? (Starting with what little letter?) Papi: La letrecita __ (The little letter __) Then we would guess what he was seeing and whoever guessed would be it. Other times we would sing. In the days before computer games and video recorders, we were forced to come up with our own forms of entertainment. We would do the things that would never be done at home, and they were done as a family. We were forced to be together for a long time, in an enclosed place, so it was hard to get out of it. At our destination, we might part our ways, but here and now we were forced to put on a perfect face without going crazy. In the car, nobody was perfect, yet nobody cared. Today, we did not sing, we did not play games. It was a very long three and a half hour trip. All I was thinking of was that my great aunt was going to die. It was a curious term for me. I thought that she was going to go somewhere where we would not see her again. I was unable to understand why. Why would she leave mamita all alone? Suddenly, a curious calm came into my soul; a kind of dreamy indifference to my situation. Had I been able to understand more of what was going on, I would have concluded that I was not afraid because none of this could possibly be real. Of course, I did not reason this out. I was too young to reason at this moment. I was here to witness death, I was here to become a living instrument: a flesh-and-blood camera, recording this event. Mamita’s house finally came into our visual field. The house was a small Spanish style house in the subdivision of Santa María in Ponce: the stucco was washed out pink; the roof was red-tile. There was a great deal of elaborate tile work at the front steps with an ironwork enclosed balcony with the tiles themselves surrounding the area where windows had been removed to open the balcony to the outside breeze. The tiles were bright blue, turquoise, and white: with complex patterns lending a touch of beauty to the façade. I had posed for pictures at that ironwork when I was a little baby, with mamita and Titi Elisa behind me. The front door looked as though it was meant to keep all-evil from the house. How had death found its way in was beyond my comprehension? We were rushed inside to Titi Elisa’s bed. The rest of the family was already there. I saw cousins that I had no name for, people that would only come together when someone got married, or, like in this case, when someone died (or was about to die). Mami’s sister, her husband and three kids were there. They had already paid their respects and were lined up in the living room awaiting the inevitable. Mamita’s sister, Merche, her husband and three kids were there. They were also waiting. As we were being prepared to say our final goodbye, mamita’s brother arrived with his wife and daughter. There were people there that I had no idea who they were. They were crying; crying aloud. They were holding rosaries, and hitting their chests. (Funny how they were always the same at all the funerals I had been to. I always wondered if they were servants, or were they just paid to add flare to the event…) The family doctor (also a relative) came out and gave mami an update. Titi Elisa’s kidneys had completely shut down. Her blood was unable to filter the impurities her body was making. I overheard the word uremia (Uremia). Apparently back in those times, we had not perfected dialysis, so all there was to do was wait for Titi Elisa to fall in an uremic coma; followed by death. My turn to go inside. Mami asked me to be on my best behavior and kiss Titi Elisa. As I walked inside the room I saw mamita. I ran over to her and kissed her. She was crying. There were more of those ladies inside. They were from the groups that were always crying at funerals. Mamita guided me to Elisa. She told me to be a good boy and say goodbye. It was strange to hear it put that way, but she knew what I was supposed to do. Who was I to question her? It wasn’t easy, if I had let my attention drop for a moment, I would have wanted to ask so many questions, but I knew that was not proper. I wanted to be myself, but I was also supposed to follow instructions. Titi Elisa looked very gray. That was the only way I could describe her. She was dressed in a beautiful blue lace nightgown and had the biggest crucifix I had ever seen on her bosom. Her hair was carefully combed and held together by a lace diadem that matched her bedclothes. Her face had been beautifully made, as if she was going somewhere special. It was when I noticed the Christ on the cross that I felt the presence of father Eduardo. He was a Jesuit priest from our parish in San Juan who had come for the event. I was told to kiss her quickly, because they were going to give her the holy sacrament of extremaunción (the last rites). Elena was rushed in, with mami and papi, so that the holy servant of God could do his work. We then began the process of waiting. There were many servants around. The people that were crying had stopped their mourning duties to go help in the kitchen. A big pot of asopao de pollo (chicken rice soup) was being prepared. Dinnertime came and one by one, the large multitude of people ate until they were satisfied. Just before dessert, there was a foul cry from the room. Titi Elisa was dead. One by one, we went into the bedroom where she lay. She looked happy. I would be unable to describe my recollection in any other way. She looked at peace. I had trouble understanding why everyone was crying. It felt to me like this was a game. Nothing seemed real. Everyone in the room was playing a part, and titi Elisa’s part was to lay still. It all felt like it was an illusion. On Monday morning, everything would go back to normal. I would go to school and everything would be the same. All I had to do was not spoil these people’s dreams. They wanted me to play a part in this sham so I had to go along. They wanted me to believe that titi Elisa was dead, so I was to act accordingly. I was to put on a perfect face (sad) and not go crazy like they were. In the end, my life would become the same daily routine.

America looks back on the 10th anniversary of September 11

America looks back on the 10th anniversary of September 11
By Carlos T. Mock
September 10, 2011.

To say that every American was affected in some way by the attacks onSeptember 11, 2001, is the same as to say the sky is blue.However, each American has weathered the response differently as time goes on...

I still remember that terrible morning when my partner, Bill Rattan, woke me up because a plane had hit one of the World Trade Towers. We were both glued to the TV as we saw a second plane hit the second Tower, and then the incredible collapse of both towers, all there for all Americans to absorb. Not soon after, the plane crash at The Pentagon and the fourth plane which was headed for Washington, D.C., targeting either the Capitol Building or the White House, but crashed in a field near Shanksville in rural Pennsylvania, after passengers attempted to retake control of the airliner. There were no survivors from any of the flights.

I remember being numb, having a sense that this was a joke—someone was repeating The War of the Worlds hoax by Mercury Theatre on the Air—performed on Halloween, October 30, 1938 and aired over the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) radio network. Directed and narrated by Orson Welles, the first two thirds of the 60-minute broadcast were presented as a series of simulated "news bulletins,”which suggested that an actual alien invasion by Martians was currently in progress—someone was playing a hoax, we could not accept that this was really happening.

For about an hour, I was in denial...then the realization that this was not a hoax became clear to both of us: nearly 3,000 victims and the 19 hijackers died in the attacks. Among the 2,753 victims who died in the attacks on the World Trade Center were 343 firefighters and 60 police officers from New York City and the Port Authority, and 8 private emergency medical technicians and paramedics. Another 184 people were killed in the attack on the Pentagon. The overwhelming majority of casualties were civilians, including nationals of over 70 countries.

For the first time in history SCATANA (Plan for the Security Control of Air Traffic and Air Navigation Aids) was invoked, establishing an ATC Zero condition, closing all airspace and immediately grounding all non-emergency civilian aircraft in the United States, Canada, and several other countries, and so stranding tens of thousands of passengers across the world. The Federal Aviation Administration closed American airspace to all international flights, causing about five hundred flights to be turned back or redirected to other countries. Canada received 226 of the diverted flights and launched Operation Yellow Ribbon to deal with the large numbers of grounded
planes and stranded passengers.

We got mad, really mad; and both Bill and I wanted the US to obliterate the Middle East. As the culprits were identified, we supported the American invasion of Afghanistan and hoped the US would bring to justice the infamous Osama Bin Laden. Unfortunately, our then President George W. Bush got distracted with a war we didn’t need and invaded Iraq.

The politics of the events of September 11, 2001 will be discussed and re-examine under the microscope of history, but in the meantime our lives went on.

As a gay man, I love a great deal. To encourage travel, the airlines sold their seats for pennies. I remember that on September 15, I booked five trips to Puerto Rico—where I’m from—and three trips to Europe, and two trips to South America: all of them for under two thousand dollars. We didn’t book anymore, because there was no room in the calendar. So while the world went to war, while the hunt for Osama bin Laden was going on, we were traveling at bargain prices; and decided to completely live in denial. Funny, but when I found out that I was HIV positive I reacted the same way for two years: denial: The sky was cloudless and blue....

The problem with denial is that eventually you have to come back to the real world, and just like I started treatment for my HIV, I started dealing with “The War on Terror.” I’m 55 years old, and I consider myself somewhat intelligent, but to watch president Bush screw the American economy, while carrying a war of necessity and a war of choice—neither of which was funded—and going from a country that was admired and respected in the world to a country that became the laughing stock of the world was too much to tolerate: Thunderstorms became the forecast...

I lost it when Bush used same sex marriage to get re-elected in 2004. Matt Foreman of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force described the election results as “a right hook to the chin ... but certainly not a knockout.” Said Oregon activist Roey Thorpe, “On the road to equality and freedom, there are always setbacks.”

Oregon represented gay-rights groups’ best hope for victory, but an amendment banning same-sex marriage prevailed there with 57 percent of the votes, leaving some activists in tears. Similar bans won by larger margins in Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Michigan, Mississippi, Montana, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Ohio and Utah.

More than 20 million Americans voted on the measures, which triumphed overall by a 2-to-1 ratio. In the four Southern states, the amendments received at least three-quarters of the votes, including 86 percent in Mississippi; the closest outcome besides Oregon was in Michigan, where the ban got 59 percent.

Faced with four more years of “W” (we never thought he actually won in 2000) and being declared second class citizens by The American electorate, we felt we had to leave our country: category five hurricanes were coming....

I talked with the Spanish consulate and was ready to make a move to Barcelona, but we were stopped by the fact that we needed to have insurance. Since we were both HIV positive, our insurance was Medicare, which is not accepted in Europe, or anywhere else outside the US: So we boycotted Christmas in 2004 and sent out black cards to each person we had addresses for: explaining why we felt there would be no Christmas in 2004. It was the first time I felt I didn’t want to be an American citizen, but had no where to hide. I started calling myself Puerto Rican and denying Bush was my President.

As we suffered the atrocities committed by the Bush administration, The Daily Show became our nightly relief—we wish to thank Jon Stewart for the free therapy. Every time we heard the word “nucular” by “W” it was as if someone was stabbing us with a dagger. But when Mr. Stewart made fun of it, we were healed a little...

Then came 2008 and we had hope. Even though we were both for Hillary, we were glad to see the Democrats take the White House and both Houses of Congress: Bright skies...

Unfortunately, Obama was not the President we had hoped for. First of all, he was against marriage Equality: and worst of all, he turned out to be a sucker. His inability to lead and his naiveté in dealing with The Republicans proved fatal. The 2010 elections were a disaster: and the birth of the Tea Party moved the Republican Party to the extreme right: to a point where “W” seemed to be a moderate.

Obama was unable to end the Bush tax cuts in the budget negotiations and was ineffective in dealing with the Tea Party in the debt ceiling bargain. The US became the world’s laughing stock, Congress’s approval rating went down to 12% and Standard and Poor’s downgraded the American debt from AAA to AA+: Severe Thunderstorms warnings....

Then Osama bin Laden, was killed in Pakistan on May 2, 2011, shortly after 1 a.m. local time by a United States Navy Seals special forces. The operation, code-named Operation Neptune Spear, was ordered by United States President Barack Obama and carried out in a US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) operation by a team of United States Navy SEALs, with support from CIA operatives on the ground. The raid on bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan was launched from Afghanistan. After the raid, US forces took bin Laden's body to Afghanistan for identification, then buried it at sea within 24 hours of his death. Al-Qaeda confirmed the death on May 6 with posts made on militant websites, vowing to avenge the killing. The attack was done without permission or knowledge from the Pakistani government, who condemned the action as an invasion of their sovereign status. However, to this day, the main Bush ally in the “war against terror,”who received over 2 billion dollars a year from American taxpayers, has not been able to explain their ignorance—or worse, aid—in the hiding of Osama bin Laden in plain view, just a few miles from the West Point of Pakistan: sunny weather, with cloud coverings...

We thought the death of Osama Bin Laden would put closure to the 9/11 tragedy. We were also encouraged when the Obama administration finally moved to revoke Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, so now GLBT Americans can serve freely in the armed forces, and the President is coming our way towards Marriage Equality. New York State became the fifth and largest state to legalize same sex marriage, and the mood is finally moving toward Equal rights for the GLBT community. However, the economy is doing poorly and even though the Republicans are doing everything possible to harm our economy so that Obama becomes a one-termpresident, unemployment has not recovered and we may be nearing a double dip recession. That does not bode well for Mr. Obama chances in 2012. The truth is that Americans will ALWAYS live under the shadows of the 9/11 tragedy and the two wars we are still fighting are proof of that. We should bring everyone home: Bin Laden is dead—we can rebuild our economy if we just choose to spend all that reconstruction money used in Iraq, Pakistan, and Afghanistan right here in the US. We may even be able to balance the budget: So the weather for 2012 is yet to be determined...

Dr. Mock has published five books with Floricanto Press, Berklety, CA. His articles have appeared on publications like The Chicago Tribune and several gay and lesbian newspapers. He was inducted in The Chicago GLBT Hall of Fame in 2007. He can be reached at: www.carlostmock.com

Make more of a fuss over Puerto Rico

Make more of a fuss over Puerto Rico
By Carlos T Mock
June 22, 2012

I was five years old when President Kennedy visited Puerto Rico. I remembered it like it was yesterday. The Island declared it a holiday so that everyone could come and see the Presidential entourage parading through the streets of San Juan. They even named a room after him at the Governor’s Mansion (La Fortaleza).

It takes a pretty distracted country to forget about a colony. But I think it’s fair to say that the people of the US have managed to pull off just such a feat of collective amnesia when it comes to Puerto Rico.

I was reminded of this when Barack Obama toured our Homeland for a few hours on Tuesday. It marked the first official visit by a US president to Puerto Rico in half a century and that is a remarkable statistic.

After all, the US owns Puerto Rico – and has - since 1898. The island was conquered during the Spanish-American War and is today a self-governing “commonwealth” of the US. Its people are US citizens: they share common citizenship, currency , and defense (just ask how many young Puerto Ricans have given their lives for American causes). Puerto Rican elect their local officials, but they are unable to vote for the president and members of Congress who oversee matters including defense policy and agriculture because they don't pay federal income taxes—although local taxes are as high as in the US.

Nor does the international community show much interest in the plight of Puerto Ricans, either. Conditions on the island are tough unemployment exceeds 16 per cent and drug violence has produced a higher murder rate than that of Mexico. But Puerto Rico just hasn’t made the list of disputed territories that tug on the heartstrings of the global chattering classes – even of the anti-US variety.

Not everyone in Puerto Rico has been happy with these arrangements. In 1950, two Puerto Rican nationalists attempted to assassinate President Harry Truman, setting off a gun battle on the streets of Washington that left a police officer and one would-be assassin dead. In 1954, other Puerto Rican nationalists opened fire from the gallery of the House of Representatives, wounding five members of Congress.

Two years ago, Governor Luis Fortuño was propelled to a landslide victory on the island with a mandate to take the “commonwealth” through a series of referendums to try to resolve the association between Puerto Rico and the US—perhaps creating the 51st state.

The charismatic 51-year-old Republican, who is thought to have national political ambitions, has since pushed an ambitious reform program. He has cut spending, increased university fees and sold off assets, including an airport and a toll road concession.

Puerto Ricans mourn when they talk about being fired from their job in the Puerto Rican government. Like many of the 12,000 state employees who lost their jobs during a tough austerity program on the island, they thought they had a position for life. So, many Puerto Ricans are angry, and the governor’s approval rating is slipping in advance of next year’s election. “What is the cost of balancing the budget?” asked Eduardo Bhatia, a Democrat in Puerto Rico’s senate.

Now plagued by a steadily worsening murder rate, more Puerto Ricans are second-guessing their evening plans, contemplating moving to the mainland (the latest “brain drain”) and sending away for gun permits in larger numbers to protect themselves. And the police are rolling out new strategies they hope will bring things under control.

So far this year, there have been 525 murders in Puerto Rico, a number that is outpacing last year’s 983 homicides, the second-highest ever, and the 995 in 1994. New York City, with a population a bit over twice that of Puerto Rico, reported 199 murders through the middle of this month, with a total of 536 in 2010.

High murder rates are not unusual in Puerto Rico. Between 1980 to 2005 the average annual homicide rate was 19 per 100,000 in Puerto Rico and 8 per 100,000 on the mainland.

The silence about Puerto Rico at home and abroad is particularly peculiar because Puerto Ricans have played such a prominent role in the media capital that is New York. Hundreds of thousands of Puerto Ricans came to the city during the last century. Some came in search of works; others were given a one way ticket and no support, to make the local government of the then Luis Muñoz Marín, look good at reducing poverty statistics in the Island. But it created havoc in NYC, stories which were captured in 1956 By Pedro Juan Soto in his short story collection: “Spiks.” There has been further immigration to the mainland, the so call “brain drains” of the 80’s, 90’s, and just recently: making it impossible to imagine the New York area or its sprawling Spanish-speaking barrios without them.

But for all the familiarity New Yorkers have developed with the local Puerto Rican community there has been a profound lack of connection with the history of Puerto Rico or the conditions on the island that drove its residents so far away. Even New Yorkers with immigrant backgrounds are not above viewing the Puerto Rican influx as some sort of historical accident – like the Puerto Rican Day parade that blocked Jerry Seinfeld and his friends in one of the episodes of his television situation comedy.

After all these years, Puerto Rico remains a mystery to the people who own it. Let’s hope it doesn’t take another 50 years for someone to notice us....



Dr. Mock has published four books with Floricanto Press, Berklety, CA. His articles have appeared on publications like The Chicago Tribune and several gay and lesbian newspapers. He was inducted in The Chicago GLBT Hall of Fame in 2007. He can be reached at: www.carlostmock.com

The American Solution for Puerto Rico

The American Solution for Puerto Rico
By Carlos T Mock
April 8, 2011

“There are only two ways to be Puerto Rican: either you were born there, or its soul runs through your veins.” Carlos T Mock

It’s been a long time since most Independentistas in Puerto Rico have theorized that the way for Puerto Rico to achieve its independence would come from Washington, D. C. They believe that independence would be most convenient to both The USA and The Republic of Puerto Rico.

However, The White House Interagency Committee reported on March 16, 2011, its plans for the colony. The White House wishes are a two-part referendum: in the first referendum they would ask Puerto Ricans if they want a continuous association with the USA, either through Statehood or the Commonwealth (ELA). The second referendum would ask Puerto Ricans if they desire to brake their relationship with the USA: either via Independence or a loosely association with the federal government.

In the present Island conditions: dependent, federalized, and traumatized by an economic crisis never seen before in our generation, the results would lean toward the first option: decide between Commonwealth and Statehood. This in part would lead to a virtual tie, giving the powers that be in Washington D. C. an excuse to do nothing and keep the colony as is.

The American Solution for Puerto Rico is to maintain the colony just the way it has been for 113 years—not desiring to relinquish the political advantages nor the commerce the Island provides for the American Republic.

The White House Interagency Committee Report would federalize the island even further. A new model of annexation would ensue. Education, health, security, communications, energy, and even the judicial branch of the colony would be controlled directly from Washington D. C. as delineated by the Report taking over the Colony’s internal forms of government.

I’ve always believed that Puerto Rican Independence will only be achieved when Puerto Ricans come as a nation and decide to personally fight for that end. It is imperative that the country achieves a Patriotic and National Unity. Once we accept that independence will not come from Washington, perhaps we will not only achieve our Unity, but also we’ll start working on the necessity and viability of a Puerto Rican Republic.

The next step would be to demand that Puerto Rico be recognized as a Caribbean and Latin American independent entity. We would demand the government of the United States to accept its responsibility for subjecting our country to 113 years of colonialist abuse, to release all of our political prisoners, and we would ask for indemnification for damages caused to Puerto Rico:

Damages such as: destroying our agriculture, using our land for military bases without paying for them, sacrificing our youth as lab rats in their imperialistic wars, the poisonous damage to the Vieques and Culebra residents caused by the US Navy target practice in those islands, forcing us to use their merchant marine at higher prices as they impede our commerce with the rest of the world, and finally taking the productive and working soul of our people and turning them into unproductive and useless individuals.

We propose to use the millions of dollars from this indemnification to establish the nascent Republic of Puerto Rico and to repair the damage of 113 years of colonial abuse.





Dr. Mock has published four books with Floricanto Press, Berklety, CA. His articles have appeared on publications like The Chicago Tribune and several gay and lesbian newspapers. He was inducted in The Chicago GLBT Hall of Fame in 2007. He can be reached at: www.carlostmock.com

An Obsolete coinage system and how to reduce the deficit without loosing one single job

An Obsolete coinage system and how to reduce the deficit without
loosing one single job
By Carlos T Mock, MD
March 23, 2011
From Barcelona, Spain

The first proof that our coinage is obsolete is that use of the
Kennedy half-dollar, Susan B. Anthony and Sacagawea dollars is not as
widespread as that of other coins in general circulation; most
Americans use quarters, dimes, nickels, and pennies only. In 1982 the
US mint had to change the composition of the copper penny. Due to an
increase in copper prices, the penny was costing 1.7 cents to mint so
the mint changed its composition from copper 95% and tin 5% to a core:
made of zinc 97.5% and a plating made of copper 2.5%.

The lack of use of the dollar and fifty cents coins costs an average
of 500 million dollars/year to the US mint. Coins last in circulation
for an average of thirty years, but bills only last an average of six
months. The fact that Americans refuse to use these coins, means that
the US must print more one dollar bills than necessary.

Any person that has a wish to reduce our deficit should take a look at
this obsolete coinage system and might come up with the following
solutions:

The reason the Kennedy half dollar is not used is because it is too
big. Reduce its volume by one half, and not only will it be cheaper
to print, but it will easier to carry in our pockets. The second
solution to our problem is that we need to eliminate the one, two, and
five dollar bills from circulation. For God’s sake, a pack of
cigarettes costs more that five dollars these days—isn’t it time we
printed a five dollar coin?

To encourage the use of these new coins and to make them easy to
identify and use, we would keep them between the size of a current
nickel and a current quarter but so as we don’t confuse their value
and to be clearly identified by the public I propose the use of
alloys. Just like the Euro and Mexican coins, the one 1 and 2 and 5
dollar coins would be two-toned. The "gold" would be an alloy made of
75% copper , 20% zinc and 5% nickel. The "silver" alloy would be
75% cupronickel and 25% nickel. The 25, and 50-cent coins would be
made from a proprietary alloy known as "Nordic gold, made of 89%
copper, 5% aluminum, 5% zinc and 1% tin.

We could either have a competition by the public to create the new
coins, or we could have the mint use its artists.

I believe that it is long overdue to return President Eisenhower to
the one dollar coin. I think Reagan could be a candidate for the five
dollar coin, and perhaps Truman for the two dollar coin.

If we force this changes on the American public, the treasury would
save 3 to 5 billion/year EVERY year, depending on how quickly the
change is made. The changeover period during which the former
currencies' notes and coins were exchanged for those of the new
currency lasted about two months in the case of the Euro. In our
case the official date on which the national currencies ceased to be
legal tender would vary from State to State.

Not only we would not lose one job from this proposal, but we would
create jobs, because we would have to adapt all of our machines to the
new coinage. After firing teachers, policemen, firemen, and public
employees to balance our budgets, I think this simple solution should
be considered before we implant more pain on our American citizens.



Dr. Mock has published four books with Floricanto Press, Berklety, CA. His articles have appeared on publications like The Chicago Tribune and several gay and lesbian newspapers. He was inducted in The Chicago GLBT Hall of Fame in 2007. He can be reached at: www.carlostmock.com

Puerto Rican Students protest rise in tuition fee

End of February, 2011
Puerto Rican Students protest rise in tuition fee
By Carlos T Mock, MD

Months of unrest at the University of Puerto Rico seemed to be reaching a finale. Scores of students were arrested or injured by riot police officers. Faculty and staff members held a two-day walkout. The president of the university resigned, the police who had occupied campus were withdrawn and an interim president arrived.

But there were only three days of peace.

On the morning of February 17, students blocked the stairs to classrooms in the social science department with trash cans and chairs, and also closed down the humanities department. At the social sciences building, students said only one professor had tried to get through the blockade.

The spark for the university’s problems was a budget cut that required students to pay a new $800 fee, increasing their costs by more than 50 percent.

“It is the same situation that many universities in the United States are facing,” said Miguel A. Muñoz, the interim president. “Our budget is about $1 billion, and we have been cut about $200 million. We need the $800 fee to cover the deficit, and our tuition is so low, $51 a credit, that it’s almost a gift.”

The tuition is indeed far lower than most other flagship public universities. But Puerto Rico is poorer than the mainland United States, and two-thirds of the students have incomes low enough to qualify for Pell grants.

As at many public universities elsewhere in the United States, students here worry that the new fiscal realities will restrict who can attend.

Student leaders estimate that at least 5,000 of the university’s students were not able to pay the fee this semester. And the administration acknowledges that there are now fewer than 54,000 students this semester, compared with about 60,000 last semester.

But the students have flexed their muscles. A two-month strike last spring shut down the university’s 11 campuses. And since the current strike began in December — this time, largely at the main Rio Piedras campus in San Juan — people across the island have been riveted by television and YouTube videos of violent confrontations between students and the police.

Many students were outraged that the police had been called to the campus.

“Calling in the police, for the first time in 30 years, was one of the most rash decisions they could have made,” said René Vargas, a law student who represents the student body on the university board of trustees. “The university’s intransigence and refusal to talk to students has worsened the whole situation. The students presented a 200-page document suggesting alternatives and ways to increase revenues, and the trustees have not even been willing to look at it.”

Whether or not they approved of the police presence, many students said they found it frightening.

“I didn’t go to class when I saw the police because I was scared of getting hurt,” said Carmen Gonzalez, a senior majoring in English literature who supported the protesters. “On television I saw people getting hurt, and if you’re in class and you hear those police helicopters, you can’t concentrate.”

Some students are rethinking their protest approach. “Maybe stopping classes is working against the movement,” one said.

Many students complained about the university’s decision to put several academic programs, including Hispanic studies, “on pause,” meaning they are not accepting new undergraduates.

Some faculty members and students say that local politics have played a large role in the university’s problems.

Puerto Rico has its first Republican governor in decades, Luis G. Fortuño, a pro-statehood conservative who has cut the number of public employees by about 17,000. Last weekend, while the protesters were marching in the streets, Mr. Fortuño was in Washington as a featured speaker at the Conservative Political Action conference.
Even in the lull from protests early this week, students and faculty members alike said they had no illusion that the situation had been resolved.

“We still have a very volatile situation,” said Maritza Stanchich, an English professor who has supported the students. “This all started out over anger about the new fees that were being imposed, but the issues have expanded to the style of governance and the lack of negotiation.”

While it is hard to predict what will happen next, some students may be changing their approach.

“What a lot of people are saying, and I believe too, is that we should be thinking about a movement of protest now, not really a strike,” said Omar Oduardo, a Student Council representative who spent Thursday at the social sciences department lobby, discussing the situation.

“Maybe stopping classes is working against the movement,” he added, “and it’s time to go outside the university, to the legislature and the community, to work for change

Dr. Mock has published four books with Floricanto Press, Berklety, CA. His articles have appeared on publications like The Chicago Tribune and several gay and lesbian newspapers. He was inducted in The Chicago GLBT Hall of Fame in 2007. He can be reached at: www.carlostmock.com

Comments by a struggling author

Comments by a struggling author
By Carlos T Mock, MD
Chicago, IL
March 2, 2011



With the announcement of Border's Bankruptcy Chapter 11 filing on February 16, 2011, the death of the American publishing industry has been sealed.

The Big chain stores like Borders and Barnes and Noble were the demise of the small independent bookstores--the “Walmarts of the book industry.” Now they are becoming dinosaurs. Book store chains have been under severe pressure from discount sellers such as Amazon and Walmart in the mass market, along with the rapid growth in popularity of electronic book readers. Borders and rival Barnes & Noble have both been investing in new technology to better compete in the digital marketplace.

So where does that leave small publishing companies and the struggling new writers?

The big publishing companies ONLY want to publish celebrities. Donald Rumsfeld, Sara Palin, and George W. Bush are but a few examples of the trash that the big publishing companies are investing in and marketing. These books are a waste of the trees that died for the books to be sold. They are trash and lies for a specific readership that is either moronic or fanatics to certain ideals and need to be reassured so as not to crumble when the truth be known.

The second kind of books that are being published deal with religion. The best example of this is The Shack: which was written by the protagonist's best friend, William (Willie) P. Young. The book is boring, repetitive and overly complex. Nothing makes sense and I thought it was going to be a parody, since God is portrayed by a Black woman. But to hear the same things over and over again from page 88 to page 238 was hard to follow. To me it is irrelevant whether “the miracle” that happened to the protagonist is true or not. The author told the story in such a bad way that unless your religious beliefs coincide with those of the author, you will be terribly disappointed. Again the publisher is looking for morons or fanatics to reassure.

The third kind of books that are being promoted deal with vampires, werewolves, and other supernatural mumbo jumbo. The best example of this is the Twilight Series. Having read most of Ann Rice's books, I experienced how the vampire books got from good and erotic to verbose and boring. Ms. Meyer is unfortunately the later version of Ms. Rice. I believe that the audience Ms. Meyer is witting for is high school girls, which might explain her poor performance. Bella and Edward's story can be summarized in two paragraphs. A very insecure girl moves to Forks in Washington State; escaping her mother who recently remarried, to live with her father, the town sheriff. She meets a very awkward boy, Edward and slowly falls for him. She finally guesses that he is a vampire, and their relationship grows until Edward places Bella in great danger. After some chasing around, Bella is saved by her boyfriend. How Ms. Meyer got almost 500 pages to tell us this baffles me. She is extremely boring, I believe this book is an insult to our youth. They deserve better.

It is not a coincidence that no American novelist has won the Nobel prize in literature since 1993, when Toni Morrison from Ohio did. Instead the artistic and literary talent has shifted to Latin America, Europe, and Asia—Peruvian Mario Vargas Llosa won the 2010 Nobel price in Literature—Mexican Octavio Paz in 1990, The Spanish Camilo José Cela in 1989, Colombian Gabriel García Márquez in 1982, and Chilean Pablo Neruda in 1972. No American has won this coveted price since 1962, other than Toni Morrison in 1993. The best books I’ve read in a long time are by:

Spanish Matilde Asensi: El Último Cato (The Last Cato), Todo Bajo el Cielo (Everything under the sky), El Origen Perdido, (The Lost Origin), and el Salon de Ámbar (The Amber Room).

Dominican Junot Díaz: The Brief Wondrous life of Oscar Wao (La maravillosa Vida Breve de Oscar Wao) Winner of the 2008 Pulitzer Price

Spanish Julia Navarro: La Biblia de Barro (The Mud Bible), Hermandad de La Sábana Santa (The brotherhood of the holy Grail), and La Sangre de los Inocentes (The Innocents’ Blood).

Spanish Arturo Pérez Reverete’s El Club Dumas which was used to create the script for the movie “The Ninth Gate.”

Spanish Javier Sierra: La Cena Secreta (The secret supper), Las Puertas Templarias (The Templar Doors), La dama Azul (The Blue Lady), and The Seville Communion.

Spanish Carlos Ruiz Zafón: El Juego del Angel (The Angel’s Game) and La Sombra del Viento (The Shadow of the Wind)--my favorites!!!

Peruvian Mario Vargas Llosa’s best: La Fiesta del Chivo (The Goat’s Party)--close second

Not to mention the talent from Afghanistan: Khaled Hosseini’s Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns

From Sri Lanka: Shyam Selvadurai’s Funny Boy and Cinnamon Gardens

And, finally, from Sweden: The Millennium Trilogy by Stieg Larsson

I think that unless the American publishers start looking for and promoting talent, instead of promoting bad literature and cultist themes by celebrities, the death of the struggling author will come along with the death of our literature. We are not just behind in math and science—our youth are being poisoned by the terrible choices made by our publishing companies.

Countries like Afghanistan, Chile, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Mexico, Peru, Spain, Sri Lanka, and Sweden are producing better literature than we are.

Dr. Carlos T Mock is a native Puerto Rican who resides in Chicago, IL and Three Oaks, MI. He has published four books and is the GLBT Editor for Floricanto Press in Berkley, CA. He contributes columns regularly to Windy City Times in Chicago, Ambiente Magazine in Miami, Camp Newspaper in Kansas City. He's had several OP-Ed published at the Chicago Tribune. Inducted in the Chicago Gay & Lesbian Hall of Fame October 18th, 2007. He can be reached at: http://www.carlostmock.com/

The greatest threat to America’s economic well-being: its deteriorating and unsustainable fiscal condition.

The greatest threat to America’s economic well-being: its deteriorating and unsustainable fiscal condition.
By Carlos T Mock, MD
Chicago
January 24, 2011


America’s debt is piling up at a rate not seen, outside of the Second World War, since record keeping began in 1792. Federal debt has nearly tripled in the past 10 years, from $3,500bn to more than $9,000bn. The ratio of debt to gross domestic product has doubled. Federal debt, of course, is the dollar-for-dollar product of deficits. Each of the past three years has seen trillion-dollar deficits, each larger in both absolute and proportionate terms than ever recorded before 2008.

Unfortunately, this picture gets worse. The Congressional Budget Office projects that the debt to GDP ratio will hit 90 per cent by 2020; the International Monetary Fund projects that it will reach 115 per cent. These are levels usually associated with Italy or Greece. The US will reach them within nine years.

The Solution: a negotiated agreement between the president and congressional leadership. The scale of deficit reduction needed to stabilize the US debt to GDP ratio, however, is large – between $200bn and $300bn annually. That means reducing entitlements and discretionary spending (anathema to congressional Democrats) as well as defense cuts and higher taxes (seen as toxic by Republicans). Bridging those differences promises to be a Himalayan task and is unlikely today. Only Mr. Obama can begin to change this dynamic.

This is the right moment because, for all the commentary on deficits and debt, the danger is greater than most Americans understand. Not even the US can indefinitely run up debt at the current, astronomical rate. If our leaders do not rein it in, global financial markets will ultimately force a solution. In other words, adjustment will either be done by the US or to it. The latter scenario would mean The American economy will be changed; by larger than necessary changes, indiscriminate, and imposed virtually overnight. No one can predict when markets might move on America, but it is a question of when, not if.

The result would be an age of American austerity. No category of federal spending, from defense to Medicare, would be spared. Taxes on most or all individuals and businesses would rise. Economic growth would slow. The consequences for America’s international role, and for world stability, would be profoundly negative.

Those who claim the debt crises that have struck Greece and Ireland recently and so many others cannot hit America should study the events of 1979. That was the period of stagflation, the Iranian oil embargo and President Jimmy Carter. The US dollar had been weakening for months but, when Mr. Carter proposed a larger than expected budget deficit, markets revolted. The dollar plunged, global markets fell and an international rescue of the dollar was required. Within days, the US was forced to halve its budget deficit and the Federal Reserve had to raise rates sharply. America was not immune from global financial rejection then, and it is not now.


Dr. Mock has published four books with Floricanto Press, Berklety, CA. His articles have appeared on publications like The Chicago Tribune and several gay and lesbian newspapers. He was inducted in The Chicago GLBT Hall of Fame in 2007. He can be reached at: www.carlostmock.com

Is there the will to save the euro?

Is there the will to save the euro?
By Carlos T MOCK
Chicago, IL



As Estonia became the 17th member to join the Euro on January first, 2011, we ask ourselves; is it worth it?

To outsiders, it may look a strange moment for the eurozone to be admitting new members when the single currency is embroiled in what some observers consider to be a battle for survival. Yet, Estonia’s eagerness to join despite the crisis provides a reminder of the euro’s appeal to some countries on the eastern fringe of Europe eager to cement their place in the west. While the debt crisis has sparked renewed debate over the merits of monetary union, Andrus Ansip, Estonia’s prime minister, says Europe must not lose sight of the bigger picture. “Every one in Estonia understands that the European Union started as a peacekeeping project and that the common market and the euro is a continuation of that,” he says.

Will the eurozone survive in its current form?

There are several reasons why markets have reacted poorly to Europe’s recent crisis management efforts. First, questions about the ability of the EU to make decisions. This is a matter of governance. Second, questions about the lack of a fiscal union. This is a matter of design. And third, political sustainability in times of harsh adjustment. This is a matter of remedial action. To address these questions, we need to consider three more precise issues. First, how likely is a wave of sovereign defaults? Second, will the eurozone make the changes needed to prevent these? Third, could the eurozone survive them?

Sovereign defaults:

Ireland: Ireland’s government has avoided immediate disaster by mustering just enough votes to pass its emergency budget. But now it must decide what to do next. Here, €6bn ($9.4bn) in new austerity measures are unlikely to be enough to put it back on the right path. Instead a more radical option should be seriously considered: leaving the euro. Sovereign default, massive bank recapitalizations, and sharply falling real wages are all given as reasons why peripheral euro area countries should hang on to monetary union. Yet, in Ireland’s case, all three are going to happen anyway. If Ireland’s government continues to guarantee bank debt, a restructuring of sovereign debt seems inevitable in 2013, when the present bail-out expires. Ireland simply has too much overall debt. A high-interest loan from the European Union and International Monetary Fund will only serve to buy a little more time. Further bank recapitalization is also so certain in Ireland that the EU, IMF, European Central Bank and Irish government have already set aside €35bn of the new €85bn bail-out package expressly for this purpose. On wages, given it is unable to devalue its currency Ireland must undergo an internal devaluation to regain competitiveness by cutting wages and bringing down prices. Real wages are therefore expected to fall over the next few years. All of this is pessimistic, but there is an optimistic case too: if Ireland withdrew from the euro it would actually have reasonably good prospects for growth. It has a highly skilled labor force, open labor and product markets and a fairly robust export sector. The export sector would be bolstered by an immediately devalued new Irish currency.

Spain: On December 15, Moody’s, said it may downgrade Spanish government bonds because of the country’s likely difficulty in raising large sums of money next year, the problems of its savings banks and the debts incurred by its autonomous regions. Spain was downgraded by Moody’s from the agency’s top rating of triple A by one notch less than three months ago because of weak economic growth, the difficulty of cutting the budget deficit and higher borrowing needs. In a statement on Wednesday, Moody’s said it was putting Spain’s current Aa1 ratings for local and foreign currency government bonds on review for possible downgrade, and was also reviewing the rating of the Fund for Orderly Bank Restructuring, known as the Frob from its Spanish initials. The markets reacted swiftly to the news. The euro fell 0.5 per cent against the dollar to $1.3319 and yields on Spanish 10-year bonds challenged euro-era highs with an 8 basis point jump to 5.6 per cent. Madrid’s Ibex 35 stock index fell 1.4 per cent and the broader FTSE Eurofirst 300 lost 0.3 per cent as the region’s banks came under pressure because of their exposure to eurozone sovereign debt. The announcement by Moody’s comes at a bad time for Spain, one day ahead of its last scheduled bond auction of the year and just as it is struggling to restore international confidence in its economy and its banking system. On Tuesday, Spain sold €2.5bn in treasury bills but had to pay more than one percentage point more in interest than it did only a month ago.

Portugal had to pay extremely high premiums to sell short-term debt in a further sign of the problems in the eurozone debt markets. Lisbon borrowed €500m of three-month bills, paying an average yield of 3.40 per cent compared with a yield of 1.82 per cent at the previous auction on November 3. The auction attracted bids of 1.9 times the amount offered compared with a bid to cover ratio of 2.2 in November.

Thus the question is whether these countries can avoid sovereign debt restructuring. The salient characteristic of lending to sovereigns is the absence of collateral. Thus, the safety of the creditors depends on their ability to sell debt to others at reasonable prices. If this confidence disappears, liquidity dries up and sovereigns are driven into default. What, then, determines confidence? The short answer is: sustainability. That itself depends on the relationship between prospective economic growth and the real rate of interest. The lower the growth and the higher the interest rate, the bigger the primary fiscal surplus (before interest payments) needs to be – and so the greater the political costs of achieving it. The bigger these costs, the less confident will investors be and the higher the interest rates will become. This, then, creates a vicious spiral. Vulnerable peripheral eurozone member countries now suffer from troubled financial systems, high fiscal deficits, rapidly rising ratios of debt to gross domestic product, elevated interest rates, poor prospective growth and the absence of a central bank that is sure to make the debt market liquid. Poor growth prospects, in turn, are partly due to loss of competitiveness. If these indicators were applied to normal emerging countries, a default would seem inevitable.


Will changes be made?

The answer is: probably not. Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, has ruled out two of the most widely backed ideas for combating the eurozone debt crisis. She saw no need to increase the size of the European Union’s €440bn rescue fund and said that the bloc’s treaties did not allow for the creation of a Europe-wide bond. Ms Merkel’s comments on Monday came as finance ministers from the six-country eurozone were gathering in Brussels for a regularly scheduled meeting where the need for more measures was debated behind closed doors.

Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, has called for calm in the European Union after an angry attack by Jean-Claude Juncker, prime minister of Luxembourg, who accused Berlin of being “un-European” and “a bit simple” in making some areas “taboo” in EU negotiations. At the same time she repeated her rejection of Mr. Juncker’s proposal for jointly guaranteed eurobonds to help finance the most debt-laden members of the currency union. “The discussion does not help us,” she said after meeting Fredrik Reinfeldt, the Swedish prime minister. Although Berlin remains adamant that Mr Juncker’s eurobond proposal cannot work without significant treaty change, there are signs that the German government may be prepared to seek some compromise on another plan: to raise the funds available in the eurozone rescue mechanism – the €440bn ($580bn) European financial stability facility – to enable the full amount to be payable for countries in difficulty. Under the present arrangement the fund can borrow €440bn on the bond market but can only pay out about two-thirds of the amount to troubled governments, mainly because it has to maintain a cash buffer to guarantee its triple-A status. An amendment to use the full €440bn is one proposal under consideration in Brussels and other eurozone capitals, although Germany has rejected as unnecessary any increase in its overall size. Mr. Juncker’s outburst, in an interview with Die Zeit, the German weekly newspaper, was the most dramatic demonstration to date of the worsening tempers within the EU. He accused the German government of rejecting his eurobond proposal “before it had been properly studied” and was baffled by Germany’s way of “erecting taboo areas in Europe and not even considering the ideas proposed by other people”.

The German rejection leaves the European Central Bank’s aggressive purchase of eurozone sovereign debt as the main weapon for the EU in fighting to keep the two most vulnerable countries, Portugal and Spain, from being forced into a bail-out. One reason is that the creditors want them. True, Germany has suggested this should apply only to future debt. But, in capital markets, the future is always now. Moreover, the funds now on offer are not enough to finance all weak countries for long enough to avoid defaults, particularly since the latter will need to deflate and restructure their way back to growth. As Desmond Lachman of the American Enterprise Institute argued in a recent paper for the London-based Legatum Institute, prospective growth is of the essence. But, in the absence of exchange rate flexibility and in the presence of high interest rates, cutting fiscal deficits on its own may well exacerbate slumps.

Could the eurozone survive a wave of debt restructurings?

The more a break-up looks possible, the higher the risk of a self-fulfilling dynamic. For this reason the European Union cannot afford doubts about the viability of the euro to spread and strengthen. What justifies these doubts? First, questions about the ability of the EU to make decisions. This is a matter of governance. Second, questions about the lack of a fiscal union. This is a matter of design. And third, political sustainability in times of harsh adjustment. This is a matter of remedial action. Many countries across Europe are making sacrifices in the name of the single currency. The early lessons from Greece are that harsh reforms do not necessarily weaken governments if the population regards them as necessary. But a backlash is likely when conditions set for assistance are inadequate or unfair – as was the case with the strings attached to the cost of the emergency loans offered to Ireland. This is why European leaders must urgently devise a strategy to help foster growth in crisis-affected countries, before the euro is blamed for their difficulties.

Still worse, once a country has been forced to restructure its public debt and seen a substantial part of its financial system disappear as well, the additional costs of re-establishing its currency must seem rather smaller. This, too, must be clear to investors. Again, such fears increase the chances of runs from liabilities of weaker countries. For skeptics the question has always been how robust a currency union among diverse economies with less than unlimited mutual solidarity can be. Only a crisis could answer that question. Unfortunately, the crisis we have is the biggest for 80 years.

“Tell me how this ends,” was the question posed by General David Petraeus about the Iraq war. European leaders are asking the same question as they contemplate the crisis in the eurozone. Having failed to construct a firebreak in Greece, the Europeans are hoping that they can stop the euro crisis in Ireland. But, even as an Irish rescue package is put together, the bond markets are already looking with unhealthy interest at Portugal. After Portugal, Spain is assumed to be next. And, if a really big economy such as Spain needed to call the financial fire brigade, the whole future of the euro would be in serious peril. The question of “how this ends” is therefore obvious and urgent – but also fiendishly difficult to answer. It is like watching a three-dimensional game of chess – in which the financial, economic and political levels all interact with each other. My current best guess is that the single currency will indeed eventually break up – and that the euro’s executioner will be Germany, the most powerful country and economy inside the European Union.




Dr. Mock has published four books with Floricanto Press, Berklety, CA. His articles have appeared on publications like The Chicago Tribune and several gay and lesbian newspapers. He was inducted in The Chicago GLBT Hall of Fame in 2007. He can be reached at: www.carlostmock.com

Could the US be on a path to bankruptcy?

Could the US be on a path to bankruptcy?
By Carlos T Mock
December 10, 2010.


The recent deal extending Bush-era tax cuts is flawed because it fails to send a “signal of austerity” from the US about its ability to reduce its mounting debt burden. Market reaction was swift and devastating. US Treasuries suffered their biggest two-day sell-off since the collapse of Lehman Brothers, following a torrid month that has seen borrowing costs for western governments soar. Germany, Japan and the US have all seen their benchmark market interest rates rise by more than a quarter in the past month while the UK’s has risen by nearly a fifth.

The yield on 10-year US Treasuries hit a six-month high of 3.33 per cent on Wednesday, up 0.39 percentage points from Monday and 1 percentage point higher than its October low. The first toxic consequence of this is increase mortgage rates (which are based on the 10 year Treasury interest rates) thus hurting the housing recovery.

Japanese five-year yields also rose the most in two years, while Germany’s benchmark borrowing costs hit 3 per cent. “People are getting out of the market and moving to the sidelines, feeling shell-shocked at the speed of the rise in yields,” said David Ader, strategist at CRT Capital. US 10-year yields have risen by about 0.76 percentage points since November 8, those of Germany by 0.62 percentage points, the UK by 0.53 percentage points and Japan by 0.29 percentage points as the prices of the bonds has fallen.

Yields are still relatively low compared with long-term trends but investors are starting to fret that they could continue to move sharply higher. “Yields at this level are clearly unsustainable,” said Paul Marson, chief investment officer at Lombard Odier, the Swiss private bank. At what point will the US get stuck in a Japanese styled economy with a very prolonged recovery?

The market moves came after President Barack Obama agreed with Congressional Republicans to extend Bush-era tax cuts and combine them with a $120bn payroll tax holiday. The primary explanation is that growth expectations have increased because of better economic data and the “second stimulus” provided by the US government. But others argue it could be due to fears that the US Federal Reserve will not follow through on asset purchases or because of higher government deficits. “It is probably all three,” said said Steven Major, global head of fixed income research at HSBC.

Bucking the leadership of his own party, Tom Coburn, the Oklahoma senator who last week voted in favor of a sweeping plan to cut US budget deficits by $3,900bn during the next decade, said in an interview with the Financial Times the tax cuts deal did not “address our real problems and the real problem is we are in a hole financially”. The focus of Mr. Coburn’s criticism of the deal was not the overall cost of the tax cut extensions, which he supports, but that no spending cuts were included in order to offset some of the cost.


Dr. Mock has published four books with Floricanto Press, Berklety, CA. His articles have appeared on publications like The Chicago Tribune and several gay and lesbian newspapers. He was inducted in The Chicago GLBT Hall of Fame in 2007. He can be reached at: www.carlostmock.com

The Fed's Quantitative Easing 2 (QE 2) By Carlos T Mock

The Fed's Quantitative Easing 2 (QE 2)
By Carlos T Mock
November 5, 2010


Remember when we all were idolizing Fed chairman Alan Greenspan? When we thought he was the champion of our economy and the provider of prosperity?

In retrospect, we now know he is responsible for the housing bubble that brought the economy to its worst disaster since the Great Depression.

Now comes Ben Bernanke and his act of desperation called Quantitative Easing 2 (QE 2), in which the Fed will buy up to $600 billion dollars in treasuries to pump cash into the economy. To do this, the Fed MUST print the money to pay for it, an act that carries the consequence of devaluating the dollar.

By signaling its intention to purchase another $600bn of longer-term Treasury securities by the end of June 2011, the Fed hopes its injections of cash will lower interest rates, bolster asset prices, increase wealth and encourage households and companies to spend and hire. Moreover, by noting the possibility of doing more if the data disappoint, it is also hoping that markets could price in the institution’s future asset purchases, turbo-charging the direct policy impact before those purchases have even been specified.

While willing to act, the Fed should be aware that the potential benefits come with the certainty of collateral damage, and the probability of unintended catastrophe, just like Alan Greenspan brought forth to our economy before.

The Fed faces three problems, with its solo role being the first. Having warned in late August in Jackson Hole that “central bankers alone cannot solve the world’s economic problems”, Ben Bernanke, the Fed’s chairman, is now leading an institution that is virtually on its own among US policymakers in meaningfully trying to counter the sluggishness of the US economy and the stubbornly high unemployment.

Other government agencies are paralyzed by real and perceived constraints, seemingly happy to retreat to the sidelines and let the Fed do all the heavy lifting. But liquidity injections and financial engineering are insufficient to deal with the challenges that the US faces. Without meaningful structural reforms, part of the Fed’s liquidity injection will leak right out of the US and result in yet another surge of capital flows to other countries—thus worsening our trade imbalance.

Neither the rest of the world, nor our banks need this extra liquidity, and this is where the second problem emerges. Several emerging economies, such as Brazil and China, are already close to overheating; and the Eurozone and Japan can ill afford further appreciation in their currencies. Our banks are overloaded with cash that they simply refuse to lend—and further easing will not be an incentive to do so.

But the biggest risk to our economy is that as soon as the economy recovers and inflation kicks in, those bonds will be worth less—the value of the bond is inversely related to the yield it pays—thus leaving the Fed with bonds that are worth a lot less than what they paid and in turn increasing our deficit.

Despite polite rhetoric to the contrary in the lead up to the Group of 20 leading economies summit in Korea this month, other countries are likely to counter what they view as an unnecessarily disruptive surge in capital flows caused by inappropriate and short-sighted American policy. The result will be renewed currency tensions and a higher risk of capital controls and trade protectionism.

China has responded by stating they will not work with the US and impose current account targets. They have also criticized US monetary policy (QE 2), undermining hopes that the governments of the world’s two largest economies will find common ground at the G20 summit in Seoul next week.

Brazil, the country that fired the gun in the so-called “currency wars”, is girding itself for further battle. Brazilian officials from the president down have slammed the Federal Reserve’s decision to depress US interest rates by buying billions of dollars of government bonds, warning that it could lead to retaliatory measures.

The third issue relates to the gradual erosion of America’s central role in the global economy – including as the provider of both the world’s reserve currency and its deepest and most predictable financial markets. No other country or multilateral institution can displace the US, but a combination of alternatives can serve to erode its influence over time. No wonder commodity prices surged higher and the dollar weakened markedly in anticipation of QE2, pointing to increased input costs for American companies and unwelcome pressures on their earnings.

The unfortunate conclusion is that QE2 will be of limited success in sustaining high growth and job creation in the US, and will complicate life for many other countries. With domestic outcomes again falling short of policy expectations, it is just a matter of time until the Fed will be expected to do even more. And this means Wednesday’s QE2 announcement is unlikely to be the end of unusual Fed policy activism.

The Fed would be well advised to prepare for this possibility now. In doing so, it should insist that any further use of its balance sheet be subject to two overriding conditions.

First, rather than constitute yet another solo effort, the use of the Fed’s balance sheet should be one component of a more holistic US policy approach that addresses both demand and structural reform issues; and second, that such a policy response be accompanied by correlated, if not coordinated, actions in other countries. Without that, the Fed risks finding itself crossing the delicate line that separates a courageous policy approach from a counterproductive one. Other wise, Ben Bernanke will be our next Alan Greenspan.






Dr. Mock has published four books with Floricanto Press, Berklety, CA. His articles have appeared on publications like The Chicago Tribune and several gay and lesbian newspapers. He was inducted in The Chicago GLBT Hall of Fame in 2007. He can be reached at: www.carlostmock.com