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Friday, November 20, 2009

Links 11/20/09

the price of water Archein

Lions kill rare white tiger at Czech Republic zoo BBC (hat tip reader Steve L)

Moira man fights off deer attack Press Republican (hat tip reader John L)

Cinema popcorn is nutritional horror show: US study Raw Story (hat tip reader John D)

The jobless rate-interest rate conundrum Tim Iacono

Canada’s sub-prime mortgage time bomb Rabble

Goldman Holders Miffed at Bonuses Wall Street Journal

White House Rebuke: Angry Dems Shut Down Vote Huffington Post (hat tip DoctoRx)

Easy Loans in Expensive Areas New York Times

Leading Economic Indicators Losing Strength EconomPic Data

Tax the windfall banking bonuses Martin Wolf, Financial Times

Short-term US interest rates turn negative Financial Times

The Big Squander Paul Krugman

Antidote du jour:

Picture 7

Topics: Guest Post

Email This Post Email This Post Posted by Yves Smith at 3:02 am

10 Comments » Links to this post

10 Comments:

  • IF says:
    November 20, 2009 at 3:52 am

    I am glad Krugman got the point. Pretty late, maybe because it is hard to ignore now? I like him, but more and more he seems like somebody who, while having good intentions, is after the effect he has on his audience. Unfortunately his columns are a bit bland compared to his bog. I guess it is the audience again (different, less geeky).

  • IF says:
    November 20, 2009 at 4:02 am

    Bad link: The jobless rate-interest rate conundrum Tim Iacono
    http://themessthatgreenspanmade.blogspot.com/2009/11/jobless-rate-interest-rate-conundrum.html

  • a says:
    November 20, 2009 at 5:16 am

    “Goldman Holders Miffed at Bonuses” I’m afraid I don’t see any difference between traders being paid bonuses and investors being paid dividends. Basically, someone is trying to walk off with the spoils (be it traders or investors), but leaving someone else (the taxpayer) to pick up the pieces when Goldman Sachs threatens to blow up. The proper thing to do with this money is to tax it away, or at least Goldman put it into its own reserves.

    • GoldFreak says:
      November 20, 2009 at 8:14 am

      Once you let the Taxman out of his cage he never goes back inside.

      The proper thing to do would be hold the Goldman boys accountable for the crimes they have committed. Then fire every single politician who voted “yes” for the Bailouts! Then remove the Federal Reserve and stop controlling interest rates! Then…I could go on for days so I’ll stop now.

  • attempter says:
    November 20, 2009 at 6:20 am

    This is just the latest installment in Krugman’s project to claim that the bailout was a good idea in principle, and not at all just disaster plundering, but that it was botched and hijacked in the execution.

    While I’ve always agreed with his lament that half-hearted stimulus would tend to discredit the concept of stimulus, he’s wrong to claim this effect for a badly executed bailout.

    The bailout was wrong and disreputable in principle. If more effective fiscal policy is one of the victims, and it sure looks like it will be, it’s the bailout in itself, which was criminal in itself, which is one of the culprits.

    Someone like Krugman who wants to maintain his stance as “eminent dissenter within the system” tries to obscure this but won’t be able to. Here the people were right, from the start.

    (I just put up a blog post on this point.)

  • Al says:
    November 20, 2009 at 3:00 pm

    In the past few hours now picked up by BBC etc

    Hackers target leading climate research unit

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8370282.stm

    “Update, 10:30am – Since the original publication of this article, the story is gaining steam and now the BBC is reporting on it. They report that a spokesman for the University of East Anglia’s Climatic Research Unit (CRU), “We are aware that information from a server used for research information in one area of the university has been made available on public websites.”

    Analysis of the emails and documents in the archives continues. We must stress that the authenticity has not been proven however there have been no denials of such by the Hadley Centre. Some of the more recent revelations include:

    From Phil Jones (destroying of emails / evidence):”

    http://www.examiner.com/x-25061-Climate-Change-Examiner~y2009m11d20-ClimateGate–Climate-centers-server-hacked-revealing-documents-and-emails#update

    ( http://www.anelegantchaos.org/ )

  • Anonymous Jones says:
    November 20, 2009 at 4:09 pm

    Thank you for the water article link!!!

    Great stuff. The Alternet article cited in the link was also excellent. I know people at Roll International. Fascinating story.

    Also, for anyone interested, the book mentioned in the link, Cadillac Desert, while now slightly outdated, is an excellent book, not just about water in the west but about how power operates in both public agencies and in wealthy private circles. I literally couldn’t put it down. I loved that book.

    I’ve always thought desert water delivery and flood control projects are the most difficult fact sets for anarchists. I know, I know…they think they can still get around that, too. I’ve heard the arguments. I just think that those arguments are insane.

    Anyway, the link is correct that there is clearly enough water for the *people* in the west, just not for the subsidized farming and the water-hungry crops. Efficient use of water could hydrate and feed all the people in the west, but that would entail less crony capitalism (in other words, it’s a non-starter).

  • ComparedToWhat? says:
    November 20, 2009 at 11:40 pm

    This is the sort of thing that gives me hope.

    http://mi.eng.cam.ac.uk/~qp202/my_papers/BMVC09/

    Check the video at least.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vEOmzjImsVc&feature=player_embedded

    (h/t Bruce Stirling)

    Then I kick myself and remember that nothing really happens unless it’s levered to the nth degree by masters of the universe. Better to breed draft horses in Detroit and invest the proceeds in empty Chinese cities and fetish metals.

  • some.random.critter says:
    November 21, 2009 at 4:34 am

    I like dry popcorn well enough, but I know that wouldn’t fly in the theater … perhaps we can move them to olive oil?

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