12-09-27 The Europeans appear clueless about what is going on in the United States

The presentations in Data Analytics 2012 and NextTech 2012 were illuminating.

After my first presentation, following questions from the audience, I realized that they were clueless about what is going on in the United States.  It was particularly surprising, since the audience was practically all academics from Europe and Asia, with only a few from the United States.

Therefore, in the following presentations I started by explaining that:

• According to US government statistics, 50% of Americans are now around or below poverty - they are still under the impression of solid home owning middle class in the United States, and
• A series of quotes by legal experts, regarding corruption of the state and federal courts in the United States - they are still under the impression of the US as a model "democracy".
• Explaining that I am only limiting my talk to the role of corrupt case management systems of the courts in these dramatic changes of the past couple of decades.

One notable exception was an American, who came to me and represented himself as a "Senior Director" from the Washington DC FTI Consulting firm: [1]

FTI CONSULTING

is a global business advisory firm that provides multidisciplinary solutions to complex challenges and opportunities. With the full power of unique depth of thought combined with the global expertise of leading professionals, we are committed to protecting and enhancing the enterprise value of our clients.

He seemed to be familiar with my writing regarding Countrywide and Bank of America, which were not the topics of my presentations... 

[1] FTI CONSULTING

http://www.fticonsulting.com/