Wanderlust Heaven!

The past week was dominated by three events. First, the U.S. Super Bowl – the American football championship game. My hometown team, the New England Patriots, were in the game for the 4th time in 7 or 8 years, and the prohibitive favorite, having gone undefeated during the regular season. They had already played their opponent, the New York Giants, at the end of the regular season and had barely won that one. So despite the oddsmakers giving the Pats a 12-point margin, the game looked to be pretty close.

The game was on at 4:30 a.m. Mumbai time. Ugh. Had to scout around for a place where I could watch the game. No bars/restaurants were open then…and there aren’t that many gringos here anyway, so getting a critical mass wasn’t likely. I went over to the nearby Bethany Inn – they have decent rooms with cable TV. They had TenSports, the channel with the game, so booked a room there for Sunday night.

It felt like a bit of an adventure – staying in a different place so close to Bean Me Up. I’ve been at BMU every single night since early December…and regular readers know that I’ve been getting itchy feet anyway, so this seemed a good way to break up the routine. Went out for kebabs and beer that night, to approximate a Super Bowl celebration – I probably wouldn’t be up for beers and chips at 5 a.m. Went to Bethany and checked in, made sure the TV was working, and kicked back. Sent an SMS to brother-in-law Dave about the game…he called a few minutes later to chat about the game and politics. Then I hit the sack and tried to get a few hours sleep.

Didn’t get much sleep – but when the alarm went off I had dozed off and I didn’t enjoy rolling out of bed at that hour. I don’t know how my father gets up at 4:30 a.m. most days to exercise…I can hardly breathe normally before 6 or 7 a.m. Switched on the TV and soon the pre-game show started. The advertisements were local ones, of course, and I found it pretty funny to be watching ads for cricket and Tata autos during the U.S. Super Bowl.

As for the game itself – to make a long story short, the Pats got their hats handed to them. The game was close throughout, but it became apparent that the Giants had spent their 2-week hiatus well and had forged the right defensive scheme to frustrate our record-setting quarterback Tom Brady and his offense. The conventional wisdom was that the genius coach of the Pats, Bill Belichick, would create an unbeatable gameplan during the 2-week break…but every team can be beaten, as history has shown. In the 3 recent Patriots Super Bowl appearances (all victories), I’ve generally found the offensive play-calling to be conservative…and each of those games has been very close, all were 3-point wins. So while I didn’t find the play-calling to be highly creative and inspirational, we won those games so I couldn’t really complain. This time we just couldn’t solve the Giants’ defensive sets and past solutions (e.g., lots of screen plays vs. Philly 3 years ago) either didn’t work or weren’t attempted.

We lost on a Giants touchdown pass with about 35 seconds remaining in the game. Very painful…but the Giants deserved to win the game. After a brief tantrum I reverted to a state of calm. I’ve managed to get to a good place as a sports fan: I exult in victory and am fairly relaxed in defeat. This particular game should have brought out the worse in me, given that the Pats were undefeated, could have made history, and were the strong favorite. But their loss didn’t upset me too much…not sure why. Might have been that the Giants were a Cinderella story, much like the Pats were in 2001 at the start of this run – perhaps it was that the circle had come full and the new underdog deserved its turn against the mighty favorite/bully. Might have been that the Pats (and Red Sox) have been so successful since 2000 or so that it would be boorish to whine; there are lots of cities (Philly, Houston, etc.) that haven’t won anything in decades. Right now Boston is the sports hub of the U.S. and its fans should be well aware of their good fortune. But I suspect the reason I stayed calm is that I understand well (having been a lifelong Boston sports fan) that there’s always next year, indeed. When I was 10 years old I cried when the Celtics lost a do-or-die playoff game vs. Philly…now that I’m 40 years old, I’ve seen lots of devastating losses, and also some exhilarating wins…and I realize that the sun still rises no matter what happens.

Rode back to BMU, a bit down but not particularly morose. During the short ride I passed a woman and a cow, standing side by side. The woman touched the cow and then touched herself, in blessing – I found that oddly reassuring, ancient traditions were still in place and enduring, no matter what happened in a game thousands of miles away. Then I got to BMU and kicked the dog (just kidding).

Later in the day, in an attempt to drown my sorrows, I got a couple bags of potato chips and condiments. My intention was to make a thick onion dip, which requires 1) sour cream and 2) powdered onion soup mix. I could find neither of those, so settled for some white cheese dip and powdered mushroom soup mix. It was about as tasty as it sounds. The resulting dip was only slightly less thick than tar. I ended up eating the chips dry, which is fine…I have a near-fatal weakness for potato chips.

Second major event: the marriage of Lisa and Richard. In true Indian fashion, this was a trying series of events with the outcome far from certain. Lisa and Richard had spent 6 or so months getting the required paperwork from their respective countries, and getting the local documents too. They could write a book on their travails – quite a marathon. Anyway, they finally got what they needed. I mentioned last week that we went to Mapusa to meet Benny Nazareth, Advocate & Solicitor, to sign a few docs and arrange the timing of the ceremony (actually, a trip to see the judge). This second Mapusa trip was set for this past Monday, a few hours after the Super Bowl. I slept all morning after the game, then got up, shaved, put on my rarely-worn white oxford, and rode to Mapusa.

En route I talked with Lisa about the randomness of getting married like this. We decided that it would be fun to come up with the movie ‘Married in Mapusa,’ starring Tom Hanks and Aishwarya Rai. Look for it in 5 or so years…

Got to the courthouse – and was momentarily confused, because the sign above the court read ‘Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Court.’

Odd place to get hitched, we all thought – turned out that the ‘normal’ civil court was on the other side of the complex. Waited the better part of an hour, Benny finally showed up all decked out…he talked to the judge…and found out that the court stenographer was away for two days and we’d have to return on Wednesday to try again. Torture. Why didn’t old Benny know about this beforehand? What the bejesus are Lisa and Richard paying Benny for, anyway? It’s not that I have a full sked or anything, it’s just that I hate repetition.

Returned to the court on Wednesday afternoon. I was prepared to beat Benny if things didn’t come off this time. Lisa and Richard were threatening to fly to Vegas and have Elvis marry them. But this time it went fine…we were called, we stood in front of the judge (who was chewing gum), she asked who the witnesses were, we responded, and then she said ‘granted.’ That was it – I could hardly hear her words over the buzz of the ceiling fan. We then walked out of the court, Richard and Lisa exchanged rings on the busy Mapusa street, Nick (another witness) sprayed them with shaving cream, I snapped some photos, and off we went. These two have been together for 20+ years, so this was a formality…still, it was fairly cool.

Benny Nazareth is the fellow in the middle of the first photo here:

To celebrate (and to make some money), Bean Me Up is having a Chinese/Tibetan/Tet New Year Party tonight – about 400 people are expected. Right beforehand we’re doing a wedding photo session – I have to trot out my black pants and white oxford one more time, Lisa got her hair done and hands painted with henna, and who knows what Richard will turn up in. Then we supposedly get strawberries and champagne, I get my own bottle of Seagrams gin, and the party will get going. More on this next week.

Third big event of the past week – ‘Super Tuesday’ in the U.S. This denotes the single day (February 5) during which approximately 25 U.S. states hold their primary elections for U.S. President – these are run-offs on both the Democratic and Republican sides. To date there have only been a handful of contests, with mixed results – ‘Super Tuesday’ promised to provide more clarity and perhaps additional candidates’ departures. While it’s not the end of the primary race – there are still 20 or so states to go – it’s a big deal.

I got up early Wednesday and went to the Internet café to check the races. For many/most Americans (at least for most of the ones I know), following these races is much-needed escapism from the Bush regime – each primary is one more step towards an exit from our collective 7-year nightmare. And for many foreigners, the same holds. I’ve met lots of foreigners (we call ‘em ‘aliens’ – how cute) who wish they could vote in the U.S. elections, given the effect (positive or negative) on their countries and lives. That, of course, won’t happen…but I do feel it’s my duty to listen to them and do whatever I can to include their input into my voting behavior.

I’ve been following the situation pretty closely from here…reading every newspaper and magazine I can find, reading Internet stories, listening to podcasts, etc. It isn’t the same as being in the States…but at the same time, I’m reasonably politically aware and switched-on, more so than I imagine a large percentage of the populace is.

Last week I listened to a PBS podcast about voters in the state of Illinois who were experiencing hard times…one couple lost their house when the man, a skilled mechanic, was diagnosed with an advanced case of Hepatitis C and was unable to work. He was uninsured or underinsured and they were cleaned out by his med bills. They were soon to lose their house and didn’t know where they’d go. They were asked who they voted for in the past couple elections – Bush. They were asked why – because he stood for their values, because they didn’t believe in abortion rights, because they’d always voted Republican…they were ‘Republicans’. There were a couple other sob stories recounted in the podcast – all of them concerning economic woes and foreclosure. And all of these people were rock-ribbed Republicans who didn’t seem to be about to change their voting behavior, despite their circumstances. I found that simply incredible…here were some down-and-out middle class folks who had seen their version of the American Dream evaporate, and yet they were sticking to their guns because they can’t abide by abortion or gay marriage. You might say that consistency is admirable…I’d call it a case of foolish obstinacy, or perhaps continuously looking at the same data and hoping for a different outcome (which is one definition of insanity).

You can’t blame the Republicans for all of the economic woes washing over the U.S. these days, for sure, but I think it’s safe to say that the Republican Party has favored policies that disproportionately favor higher-income Americans. Remember that line in Fahrenheit 9-11 by Bush – “my supporters are the ‘haves’…and the ‘have-mores.’” A dumb joke by a dump President, but entirely accurate nonetheless. The unbelievable thing is that the Party’s economic elitism has been successfully obscured by its coupling with ‘conservative social values’ like opposition to abortion, with the end result being that people who should know better continue to favor the GOP.

So the picture is complicated and blame cannot be cleanly assigned. While the subprime mess has taken place on Bush’s watch, the seeds were planted years ago when lawmakers (mostly on the Democratic side of the aisle) pushed for greater access to credit and home loans for the less-than-creditworthy, many of whom were minorities and working poor. Credit has been expanded and people who shouldn’t get home loans got ‘em – crazy loans that would ‘explode’ after 2-3 years. That trend was not carefully monitored – predatory loan agencies were free to create and sell insane loan packages to those who couldn’t repay them. The GOP’s aversion to regulation played a role there. But the biggest driver of this entire mess, in my humble opinion, is that the majority of Americans are not financially literate – they either do a poor job estimating what they can afford, or they’re easy prey for others who foist bad deals on them. The second biggest driver is our consumerist mentality and the need to keep up with the Joneses – the U.S. is the only country in the world where you see so many huge cars and trucks driving around, where the savings rate is zero (or below), etc. Historically consumer spending has constituted about 65% of the total economy, but lately it’s been about 72%, crowding out savings and investments and leading to a huge uptake in debt. We’re borrowing from the Chinese to pay for Japanese and German cars and Chinese toys…and it now looks like the party’s over, people. This feels a lot more serious than the internet stock bubble/crash and the early 90s recession.

I don’t mean to get too defeatist here. The U.S. has overcome far worse problems before – the Civil War, the Great Depression, the World Wars, etc. I think I understand the need to take the long view. It’s just that we really didn’t need to get to this place – we did it to ourselves. Poor leadership decisions on military action, on regulation, and on spending set the stage for the current slew of problems; other institutions, primarily the Fed, were responsible for the rest. I have a feeling the sainted (not by me) Alan Greenspan will get his fair share of blame for what’s transpired in the past few years. And rightly so.

I, for one, would absolutely love to see one politician who talks turkey about what’s going on and what needs to change. Some big changes I’d like to see in the U.S. include:

-Tax policy that favors savings and investment over massive consumption and debt – and if this can lead to simplification of income taxes, all the better
-Comprehensive/universal healthcare, so people can’t be bankrupted by medical bills – not tied to employers or geography, allowing people to be mobile
-Better educational system and standards – I just read that the U.S.’s ‘technological readiness’ slipped from 95 to 79 on a 1-100 scale – we’re now behind most other developed nations – and I’d also include financial literary in this category
-Higher spending on infrastructure, primarily public transportation and broadband access (the U.S. is now 24th in Internet access)
-A real energy policy – force automakers to adhere to tighter mileage standards…come up with a national prize for electric car development/commercialization, or whatever technology is best…spend more time courting non-OPEC oil producers in Africa so that we get some of their output and China (which hasn’t been distracted by Iraq and has invested much more time in these sorts of countries) doesn’t corner it all
-More enlightened social policies – including an end to the death penalty. We’re supposed to be a humane country – I don’t like the U.S. being in the same class as China, Iran, Russia, etc.
-Mandatory voting in national elections – our current voting participation rate is a disgrace. Reasons abound – apathy, difficulty in getting to voting booths, etc. Another reason – legislative and other barriers to voting. The Bush Administration’s Justice Dept. has focused all of its efforts in the area of voting on prosecuting voter fraud – and has done literally zero to prevent local authorities from preventing people from registering to vote, and actually voting. This is an outrage – but consistent with long-term GOP efforts to prevent many people from voting. In Australia, everyone must vote in national elections, and the authorities make it easy to do so. Aussies are every bit as independent and individually-minded as we are, but I’ve never heard a single gripe over there about ‘being forced’ to vote. This needs to be fixed ASAP. And while they’re at it, let’s get rid of the fucking stupid Electoral College system as well. Sounded good in 1789 – it stinks now.

A couple politicians running for President recently dropped out of the race – Democrat John Edwards and Republican (but really Libertarian) Ron Paul. I thought these two actually had the boldest and best proposals out of all the candidates. Edwards was out in front with a detailed healthcare policy and renewed focus on the middle class; Paul with opposition to war and with pro-investment tax programs. Paul was wacky on some other areas, and was unelectable – but he had some solid ideas. Edwards was an admirable candidate, and person – when he dropped out of the race he declined to endorse his two opponents, a (non)move which I thought was wise and right. After all, it’s a bit arrogant to drop out and then tell ‘your’ voters what to do. Before these two dropped out, they did have some influence on those remaining in the race, and they may play some role in future administrations – let’s hope so.

Rudy Giuliani also dropped out recently, a fairly stunning fall for a guy once the GOP front-runner. His strategy was to hang back and wait for the Florida primary, where he figured to do well…the problem is that by that point in the race, he had nearly vanished from public view and his opponents had serious momentum. For a guy who’s supposed to be a fighter, he was curiously reticent. I won’t miss him at all – he’s a mean-spirited, nasty old fuck who, as one writer put it, is only able to construct sentences consisting of ‘9-11 + a verb.’ He surrounded himself with yes-men, including scumbags like Bernie Kerik…he’s on his third wife and his own kids can’t stand him…and (like Mitt Ronmey, who I will eviscerate a bit later) was highly selective in choosing which parts of his record to feature and which to flip-flop on. Bashing immigrants and building fences – that’s just what we need to compete in the 21st century. Why and when did we get so malicious? If people thought that John Kerry was wishy-washy and untrustworthy, Giuliani and Romney took it to a new level. Good riddance, Rudy…you’ll do just fine in the private sector.

As for those remaining, Super Tuesday started to clear the mists. On the GOP side, McCain continued pulling away from Romney, with Huckabee playing a real spoiler role. On the Dem side, it’s still a toss-up between Clinton and Obama, with Obama continuing to make steady and real headway against Clinton’s once-commanding lead. Looks like each race has miles to go, with the Democratic contest still very much up for grabs. Here’s my opinion on the remaining candidates, for what it’s worth:

Democrats:

-Clinton: very bright, very knowledgeable, seemingly competent. Supposedly a real terror in her White House days…major control freak…a bit too studied, and fairly cloying. Refuses to take any positions that have the slightest tinge of controversy, or boldness – she’s bland and not particularly inspirational or creative. Hard to determine how experienced she really is – was she is essence Bill’s Veep, as she insinuates? She certainly had a bird’s-eye view on how the political processes (and personalities) work. Would probably be a good, but not great President. I was a huge Bill fan, but for some reason I can’t get that excited about 4-8 more years of the Clintons at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

-Obama: geeky, youthful, glib, internationally-appealing. Message is one of hope and change, with some details but nothing like Edwards provided. An Obama victory would be huge overseas…I believe it could get us back much of the goodwill and political capital destroyed by Bush and his cronies. Bill Clinton was probably right (although tasteless and biased in his presentation of this) when he said that voting for Obama was like ‘rolling the dice.’ Legislative record largely undistinguished thus far – but can claim to have been against the Iraq War from the start. Relatively untested/untried…of course, so was W. I’m not sure what point I’m trying to make there, except that a long resume doesn’t seem a requirement for winning…but when I add everything up, Obama is my favorite candidate. If Americans really want change, he’s the main man. Then again, any candidate, Republicans included, would (hopefully) provide a huge change from Bush. Newsflash – Obama seems to have done well on Super Tuesday, and has almost caught Clinton in the delegate count; he’s ahead in fund-raising. But miles to go before we vote…

Republicans:

-McCain: stubborn, consistent, generally honorable guy (like yon Cassius?). A moderate Republican who harkens back to the old Rockefeller Republican days – in other words, he’s not a right-wing lunatic. Has his enemies, but doesn’t appear to be a walking flamethrower. Reminds me a bit of Bob Dole – his age, his personality and his chances of being elected Pres. Has driven several intelligent (and bipartisan) legislative efforts – notably on campaign donation limits (passed) and immigration (torpedoed by the fearmongers in his own party). Got knee-capped by Bush and his GOP operatives in South Carolina in 2000 – he could have gone ballistic (and should have), but he bit his tongue, got in line, and waited for his turn. Campaign nearly imploded 6 months back, but somehow he held on and turned things around. Not young (is 71 – would be oldest newly-elected Pres.), but is energetic and reasonably mentally agile. Good at connecting to colleagues, voters and media – likeable enough. Was completely pro-Iraq War from the get-go – and probably really was into it, in other words was not just kissing Bush/GOP ass. That’s a strike against him…but at the same time he wanted us to go in with more troops, and was a major driver of the recent ‘surge.’ So he wanted to do the wrong thing, but do it right. That worries me. Still, the best of the GOP gang – would probably make a decent President if he got good economic and diplomatic teams in place. I’d just hate to see him win because he’s strongly anti-abortion and would likely have the opportunity to select 1-2 Supreme Court Justices – thus tipping the scale heavily to the right. Mexican abortion clinics, anyone?

-Romney: the plastic (or clay) man. Eminently unlikeable – one of the other GOP candidates (I forget which) told the media that ‘I can’t stand this guy – I can live with losing as long as he loses too.’ Not something you often hear. It might’ve been McCain who said that…these two do hate each other. Romney was Governor of my home state, Massachusetts, where he was accused of using the office as a stepping-stone to President. He wouldn’t have been the first one to do that…but his position reversals have been breathtaking across the board. In Mass. he oversaw a universal healthcare mandate which he now seems to be repudiating (‘socialist-style healthcare’ is what he calls Clinton’s program). He has also changed positions on:
-abortion – he ‘made a mistake’ before
-guns/assault weapons/hunting (admittedly a composite topic) – after he declared for the race, he showed up in the usual hunting gear and claimed to be a lifelong hunter, despite having gone hunting twice before – give me a break
-the environment/carbon emissions – now he’s unconvinced about global warming
He has been consistent on opposing gay marriage, though – hallelujah. As for the ‘war on terror’ and on immigration, he has been seriously hard-core. Even W. knows that Guatanamo has to be closed one of these days – but Romney proposed doubling the size. Sometimes you wonder if he’s joking. I know that tacking rightward in the primary is normal, but you do have to wonder about his overall long-term and short-term strategy. One – why did he bother to serve as Mass’s Governor; it forced him to be semi-moderate and we all know Mass. is the kiss of death in national politics…unless he saw himself as the next coming of JFK – I do not. Two – he’s whining about having to split the conservative vote with Huckabee, thus enabling McCain to win – well, Mitt, it’s your own damn fault that you staked out a position that’s turning out to be a loser. He’s a good-looking guy with a wad of cash, and probably knows how to run a business better than the other candidates…but our current MBA Pres. hasn’t shown that to be a particularly critical skill. Not honorable, not likeable, losing ground to McCain. Won’t be missed by many.

-Huckabee: weird but oddly amiable. Plays a mean bass guitar; was once morbidly obese but lost 100 pounds jogging; has a sense of humor and has skewered Romney and other solemn types repeatedly. Has been an evangelical preacher since he was 20 years old or so, but his folksiness helps downplay his addiction to chaper and verse. Is poison to Romney specifically, splitting the ‘conservative vote’ with him and letting McCain rack up delegates. Doesn’t come across as the usual angry conservative – doesn’t appear to hate anyone, and has a populist (Wal-Mart, not Wall Street) message, which is remarkable for this party. Two huge negatives: knows almost nothing about the rest of the world (has stumbled painfully when asked about the CIA NIE on Iran, and on other topics), and is a religious nutcase who doesn’t believe in evolution. Imagine him in the same room with heavies like Hu Jintao, Putin, etc. Basically unthinkable. Would be a great choice for an all-evangelical heavy metal band, though.

That’s my overview. I should mention that I took an online quiz to determine which candidate best fits my views – brother-in-law Dave sent me the link to this. I think there were 7 or 8 questions – my position on the Iraq War, on taxes, on what political experience I deem important, etc. Interesting set of questions – certainly not definitive, though. Nothing in there about leadership style or the more intangible elements…still, when it crunched my answers, my ‘top 3’ came out as:

1 – Obama
2 – Paul
3 – Clinton

Not bad. Pretty much on the money. Maybe all Americans should take this quiz – it might get them to think a bit more about the issues…and in some cases it might get them to look outside ‘their party’ too.

I should also mention that I would not at all mind seeing Al Gore and/or Michael Bloomberg jump into the race. Highly unlikely at this point, but you never know. Gore has made an incredible comeback since his dog days of 2000/1 – who could have predicted that he’d win the Nobel Prize and be considered a global visionary/statesman now? As for Bloomberg…there doesn’t seem to be a compelling reason for him to run, and he might be better served by keeping his powder dry. Still, he’s an accomplished and admirable guy, and unlike Romney (sorry, can’t resist) when he spends his own massive fortune on running for office, it generally leads to victory.

Likely outcomes – I think that McCain’s 90% likely to get the GOP nomination; on the other side, it’s too close to call. If you put a gun to my head, I’d say Clinton, although I’d much prefer Obama. Just checked Newsfutures.com, a ‘prediction market’ website – Clinton’s chance of winning the Dem nomination is now listed at just 50%, with Obama at 51% – interesting. McCain came in at 96% on the GOP side. Dems have a 62% chance of taking the White House. Can’t get too carried away by these numbers, though. At the end of the day, unless we get a mean-spirited shape-shifter (Romney) or a believer in the End Days (Huckabee) we’ll be much better off than we are right now. Maybe even if they were to win…

Checked online and saw that there are all sorts of websites and gadgets you can get that count down the time till Bush leaves office. Might install one on my desktop…

What else? Read and finished The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini. Good yarn – his first novel, it’s a bit too neat in places – lots of heavy foreshadowing in particular. But there are some tear-jerking moments and he does a great job of depicting what life in Afghanistan was like 30 years ago, and now…definitely worth reading, particularly if you aren’t too knowledgeable about this part of the world. Was on the U.S. bestseller list for a while, which is usually an indication that a book isn’t worth reading – but this is an exception. Thanks to Al and Janine for giving me the book. Al – how do you like The Book of Dave?

Just started reading Family Matters by Rohinton Mistry. Mistry is one of the top Indian novelists and so far the book is pretty good. More on it next week.

Internet connections here have been slow – turns out that a couple undersea cables were cut by accident (go figure the odds on that), and it will take a couple weeks to repair them. Weird science…

The weather here has been perfect – 80 degrees or so by day, 65 or so at night. Great for sleeping, great for taking a walk, great for living. It’s hard to overestimate the effect of great weather on everyday life…that is, if you actually get a chance to spend some time outdoors. Back in the day I’d go for long stretches holed up in hotel rooms and conference chambers…no more.

The latest issue of Newsweek featured the food of Japan. As you may know, Michelin Guides just put out its first Tokyo restaurant rating guide, and it turns out that Tokyo restaurants procured nearly 200 total stars, vs. about 80 for Paris restaurants and about 50 for New York restaurants. I’m not surprised at all – Tokyo is by far the best eating city in the world (although Kyoto would protest). Total stars isn’t the sole determinant of quality – after all, Tokyo has more than 10 times the number of eateries (and population) as Paris. I had eaten in some of the specific restaurants mentioned in the story, and recalling them made me salivate. I briefly thought about returning to Tokyo for another stint, i.e. working there once more. I’d almost do it just for the food…almost.

Got a call from my new credit-card issuer asking me to call them back. I did…and they couldn’t verify my identity/data, neither of the two phone #s I gave jibed with their system. We eventually figured out that this was because I got the small biz card from them, and not the personal card – and this was the personal card group on the phone, with an offer to get me the small biz card, which I’d already been offered by them and which I’d already received. So the two groups don’t share systems or data – wonderful. I went through this with American Express 15 years ago – the Gold Card people didn’t know what the Corporate Card people were up to, it was like two separate companies. Isn’t this supposed to be the 21st century? Well, maybe not, if Hillary Clinton gets elected! Over and out.

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