Baby dolphin saved after dumped in rice field by tsunami Reuters
Is Pluto a Planet? The Votes Are In Astrobiology
Norfolk sea level rise takes shine off waterfront homes The Pilot
Five myths about billionaires WaPo. Squillionaires. Fixed it for ya.
Political reticence blunts ECB’s asset purchase plan FT
Why is 2 percent the Federal Reserve’s inflation target? Because it is. Jared Bernstein, WaPo
Regulators warn banks over ‘Shellshock’ bug, Oracle says 30 products vulnerable The Star. Oopsie.
Drugs groups trapped in tangled M&A web FT. Well, I’m sure none of this is affecting the science.
Shire Settles Claims of Deceptive Marketing of Multiple Drugs for $56.8 Million, No Individual Held Responsible Health Care Renewal. Looks like Big Pharma is too big to jail, too.
CAFTA and the Forced Migration Crisis Eyes on Trade
Grossly Distorted Procedures: Mish Proposal to Raise GDP Calculation Global Economic Trend Analysis. “Imputation.”
The Congress of Vienna Revisited Project Syndicate
A Rare Arctic Land Sale Stirs Concerns in Norway New York Times
Hong Kong
If there’s one phrase I hate to see in a headline about a protest, it’s “turn violent.” It’s lazy writing, because there’s no agency. In this case, @OCLPHK (#OccupyCentral) seems to me to have been quite disciplined, and rigorous in its “nonviolent direct action,” but the Hong Kong police managed to inflame matters severely with tear gas and pepper spray; Hong Kong police-style pepper spraying is so heavy that people use umbrellas to protect themselves, as you see; if the umbrella becomes a symbol of these events, that’s why. (In other words, this photo, “iconic” or not, had nothing to do with the reality on the ground; in fact, it’s disempowering, because who uses an umbrella to protect themselves from gas?)
Hong Kong Traders Brace for Selloff on Protest Crackdown Reuters
LIVE: Hong Kong democracy protests continue Asian Correspondent. The situation is very fluid and dynamic, so best to use the twitter and live blogs to keep up.
LIVE: It’s Occupy Hong Kong as tear gas fails to deter thousands protesting around the city South China Morning Post. Live blog.
Tear gas used against Hong Kong protesters Al Jazeera. Big thing in Hong Kong.
Tear Gas, Arrests Mark Beginning of Hong Kong’s Occupy Central Protests The Diplomat
Hong Kong: Fresh clashes as pro-democracy protests spread BBC
Hong Kong democracy battle enters new stage FT
A Turning Point in the Fight for Hong Kong Foreign Policy
Is Instagram Blocked in China? Yes, but Not in Hong Kong; ‘Occupy Central’ Blocked on Weibo Epoch Times
Hong Kong Protests Expose Generational, Economic Divide WSJ
HK gov’t calls for view expression in peaceful, lawful means People’s Daily
Hong Kong’s Mega-Rich Kowtow in Beijing Asia Sentinel
Syraqistan
Obama’s Faustian pact with the Saudis Edward Luce, FT
The Khorasan Group: Anatomy of a Fake Terror Threat to Justify Bombing Syria The Intercept.
Literally within a matter of days, we went from “perhaps in its final stages of planning its attack” (CNN) to “plotting as ‘aspirational’” and “there did not yet seem to be a concrete plan in the works” (NYT).
Nobody could have predicted….
Air strikes said to hit Islamic State oil refineries in Syria Reuters
U.S. lawmakers urge congressional action to back Obama’s Syria war Reuters. Boehner thinks Obama has the “authority” he needs now, but apparently Congressional action would be nice, for some unknown reason.
White House still wants 2002 military authorization repealed The Hill. Even though they don’t need a new authorization, they think it would be nice if Congress gave them one. For some unknown reason.
Kaine: President’s military authority not open-ended Politico. Tim Kaine, D-VA.
Nusra threatens heavy price for coalition’s Syria strikes Daily Star
U.S. Underestimated Radical Islamists’ Gains in Syria, Obama Says Reuters
A Bottom-Up Solution to Cross-Border Conflicts: The Case of the Middle East and ISIL CorrenteWire
‘Why They Hate Us’: A Rant Against U.S. Before Attack on Chicago Air Traffic Hub Bloomberg (cf. the suicide note of Joseph Allen Stack).
Ferguson Police Officer Wounded While Chasing Fleeing Suspects Bloomberg. Nothing to do with the protests.
How to make it in the new music industry: The long slow ascent of electronic star Tycho Pando Daily
Carceral Educations The New Inquiry
Anatomy of a Non-Denial Denial Dan Froomkin, The Intercept. Froomkin could teach a master class in official Washington-ese. You’re gonna have to learn your clichés. You’re gonna have to study them, you’re gonna have to know them. They’re your friends. Write this down….
Antidote du jour:
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
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Comments are closed.
luv a strong does of irony to start the day…
“Pluto also governs power itself, including struggles between people and countries for domination, and of course, personal power. It shows up when perfectly capable people end up under the thumb of someone else’s control. Facing down the control and manipulation of others, especially parents, can make us weak in the knees. But once we do this, we are changed forever.”
http://astrology.about.com/od/advancedastrology/p/Pluto.htm
does/dose…shellshocked:-/
(po oracle…only 28 more products to fix)
Crunchbang Linux is easy:
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install bash
The Pluto episode simply demonstrates that its hard to get even otherwise knowledgeable people to stop miscategorizing an object, when the miscategorization has been drilled into everyone’s heads in elementary school, and there is a popular cartoon dog named after it.
For awhile, the largest asteroids were categorized as planets, until people realized how many of them they were and how small they were, and that they were, well, asteroids. Pluto turned out to be small five iceballs orbiting the sun beyond the solar system, instead of one largish rock, and there are lots of similar objects beyond the solar system, so obviously they are in a different category than the gas giants and the inner rocky planets.
Granted, things would be easier if the smallest planet, Mercury, was bigger than the largest moon, Ganymede, so we could have an easy to understand “you have to be bigger than the largest mooon in the solar system”, but we are trying to impose neat categories on messy reality. The concept of “planet” is itself a leftover from when the ancient Greeks saw, without the help of telescopes, five objects in the sky, other than Moon, that seemed to move around a bit and grouped them together. If for some reason the sky couldn’t be observed before telescopes, say the Earth’s atmosphere’s was a thick haze and you need powerful instruments to penetrate it and see any stars of planets at all, you probably would have had one category for the four gas giants, and no attempt to group together Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars.
You can use the term “planet” for anything that orbits the sun, or restrict it to the eight largest objects that orbit the sun (Pluto is smaller than Eris and Ceres), or come up with some sort of “cultural” definition, which I take is a a surrendering of any attempt to think about the issue.
Ed,
Not Ceres. Ceres is much smaller than Pluto.
The riots in Hongkong have a strong smell not of tear gas but of “color revolution”. There should be more questions of who is steering the shit there.
Or it might just be natural organic frustration like the Occupy Wall Street protests were? Or were those sponsored by China? (eyeroll)
@Massinissa
It certainly could be, or it certainly could be something else.
Color revolution…my first thoughts too. A few billion dollars of outside organization over a few years can do wonders whether run by a government with foreign policy objectives or even an oligarch with simple financial motivation. I am amazed no one has tried it here in the states yet.
So how do we know if an uprising is groundswell authentic or something vigorously stirred to a froth from the outside?
The Koch brothers have tried it in the U.S. rather successfully. The Tea Party may have started out as a genuine grassroots movement, but it was small. It became a big movement after an influx of money changed it from grassroots to astro turf.
Vatch–
Yes, very good.
–Gaianne
The money could, theoretically, I am just giving a example by guessing, be coming from Tiandihui, or Hongmen, a fraternal organization originated in China, all the way back to the Shaolin Temple and its warriors monks, and over 100 years ago, was instrumental in overthrowing the last emperor.
Hong Kong, being a British colony, was a key location, and many early revolutionary leaders were born, grew up, worked or attended school there.
For the Qing mandarins in the Forbidden Palace, when they thought of Hong Kong, they thought ‘revolution’ – indigenous or foreign funded/influenced, it mattered not (my guess is you get a mixture of both – and at the end, some 40 years later, Mao, who never went abroad, emerged victorious, but not without assistance from eager-to-help proletarian comrades from the north)…though many revolutionaries could put up plenty of protest signs in English, or not embarrassing themselves attending elegant fundraising parties in London.
In any case, we have not heard anything about Falun Gong, the one group China is always monitoring, in this. So, maybe they have no part in it.
Yes, I was going to post something raising that question myself. Not saying it’s so, but nowadays keeping some measured skepticism in your back pocket is a necessity.
Plus, the pivot to Asia.
Sponsorship by really long-time democracy activists would be one reason to thing indigenous. Lots and lots and lots of English signage would be a reason not to (playing to the cameras). Always some, but does it dominate?
Could be, I’m not sure what signature to watch to see it. Thoughts?
The easiest way to tell if outside agitation is involved is if you get someone like Nuland to make an unsecured phone call bragging about who they are going to put in charge when the coup is successful. Unfortunately most leading actors in outside agitation lack the sheer stupidity and arrogance to make that sort of simpleton error and the truth also required the capacity to monitor all unsecured phone calls. So don’t expect it to be too easy to tell what is going on early. Although I suspect checking the background of the revolution leaders could also be a tell. Do they have the right connections.
Hmmm….that raises the question of how to spot CIA backed civil protests and how to distinguish them from “the real thing.” Any thoughts on how one might go about determining that?
Maybe that confusion is part of the game.
CIA and aligned agencies certainly have nearly unlimited budgets for creation of their desired reality.
How to distinguish CIA-backed protests from real thing? Hong Kong protests have been getting front page coverage, with pics, by NYT. That should be a tell.
Yeah, positive western media coverage is a definite indicator.
Plus suspiciously good media work from the demonstrators themselves- that strongly smacks of western media training.
A related question, post-Obama, is how to distinguish Deep State-backed candidates from self-promoted ones.
Thirty years ago, a rich commodity trader named Richard Dennis decided to train 14 total newbies to trade. They were taught not to have opinions; just follow the trend. Some of them ended up (so they said) hitting the jackpot.
In similar fashion, it appears that Obama was recruited and trained at college age. But why should his sponsors put all their eggs in one basket? At any given time, they likely have at least a dozen recruits in training, covering the whole spectrum of party affiliation and demographics.
Hillary is not a Turtle Trader, but her husband Bill (notoriously photographed shaking JFK’s hand while still a teenager) might have been. Ron Paul was not a Turtle Trader, but his son Rand might be. Mitt Romney was not a Turtle Trader, but Ted Cruz might be. And so forth …
The defining feature of Turtle Trader candidates is having no fixed principles. As they were trained, they simply follow the political trends, bailing promptly on stances that turn unprofitable. And of course, they remain loyal to the sponsors who put up their seed capital.
I thought Hillary started off as an eager young republican but turtle traded to the good guys?
Goldwater Girl. To be fair, I’m sure the upper crust of Scranton encouraged this.
What’s “turtle traded”?
I assume it refers to the trading strategy of the Wall Street recruits described by Jim–i.e. just following the trends.
As the Mothers of Invention would say: “Any way the wind blows is just fine with me”:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X16Y-Z-IBDQ
In 1964 I was an eager 8th grader campaigning for Goldwater. By 1968 I was campaigning for utterly different things, lol.
On the one hand, people in Hong Kong have been democratically shortchanged for a long time. Moreover, increasing competition among the cities of the Chinese littoral have meant harder times for many people in Hong Kong. So mass protests shouldn’t be all that surprising.
On the other hand, is it a coincidence that the PRC has recently refused to join the sanctions regime against Russia? Is this just another BS colour revolution?
Libya started out with ordinary people protesting. Egypt started out with ordinary people protesting. Ukraine started out with ordinary people protesting. Syria started out with ordinary people protesting. Hong Kong started out with ordinary people protesting, and this time it is different, because Markets?
Not all news is equal. Why is Hong Kong in the news? Because it suits the western power that be. Why are the mass graves in Ukraine not in the news? Because they do not suit the western PTB.
As many here predicted the Segarra Goldman/Fed tapes story has disappeared in the US MSM. The oligarchs have decided to bury it.
Our situation is painful so it is understandable that a man might light a fire at Midway airport–very understandable.
My problem with striking back is the stupidity of what people saw in “Do the Right Thing” but I never saw one critic talk about–trashing the dopey Italian guy’s store. If you want to “Fight the Power”, as the outro music would have us do, you don’t trash the pizzeria, you kill the cops who killed your friend. Period. Or at least die trying. If you want vengeance, you pick the proper target and don’t lash out like a child. But even for Spike Lee, that’s unimaginable. You see the same crap in Watts or Detroit or Liberty City or LA in 1991. Pointless destruction directed not at the oppressor, but at whatever comes to hand. The PTB are going to distort and denigrate whatever message you are trying to send, so you better make it a clear one to the people you want to get through to. Lighting a fire at an airport is not that clear message, if the time for such things has arrived (and I’m unconvinced it has). The Boston Tea Party was; and everyone in the colonies, whether they supported that action or not, got the message.
I wouldn’t recommend setting fires, as a rule. I just understand the helpless feeling of being alone, frustrated, and unable to know what to do. This is why we need to connect more closely with comrades and organize effective resistance. But, in a way, the dysfunction and crazy things people do are telling us something. We are a very stressed society often depressed who feel we live based on the pleasure of our corporate/gov’t masters and mistresses.
In Melvin Van Peebles Sweetback film, A cop is shot and a cop car is firebombed.
I think they should at least take on the big corporations and leave the mom and pops alone, they at least could be argued to be in a broad sense part of the problem.
“My problem with striking back is the stupidity of what people saw in “Do the Right Thing” but I never saw one critic talk about–trashing the dopey Italian guy’s store… If you want vengeance, you pick the proper target and don’t lash out like a child. But even for Spike Lee, that’s unimaginable..”
Personally, I don’t really view drama as a how-to manual, but in any case, according to Wikipedia, critics made big stink about it:
“The film was released to protests from many reviewers, and it was openly stated in several newspapers that the film could incite black audiences to riot.[9] Lee criticized white reviewers for implying that black audiences were incapable of restraining themselves while watching a fictional motion picture.[10]
One of many questions at the end of the film is whether Mookie “does the right thing” when he throws the garbage can through the window, thus inciting the riot that destroys Sal’s pizzeria. Critics have seen Mookie’s action both as an action that saves Sal’s life, by redirecting the crowd’s anger away from Sal to his property, and as an “irresponsible encouragement to enact violence”.[11] The question is directly raised by the contradictory quotations that end the film, one advocating nonviolence, the other advocating violent self-defense in response to oppression.[11]
Spike Lee has remarked that he himself has only ever been asked by white viewers whether Mookie did the right thing; black viewers do not ask the question.[12] Lee believes the key point is that Mookie was angry at the death of Radio Raheem, and that viewers who question the riot’s justification are implicitly failing to see the difference between property and the life of a black man.[10]”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Do_the_Right_Thing#Controversies
So, it looks like Spike Lee thinks is that said white people don’t see a difference between property and the life of a black man. Apparently some critics can distinguish between the life of a white man and the destruction of his property.
“My problem with striking back is the stupidity of what people saw in “Do the Right Thing” but I never saw one critic talk about–trashing the dopey Italian guy’s store… If you want vengeance, you pick the proper target and don’t lash out like a child. But even for Spike Lee, that’s unimaginable.”
Personally, I don’t really view drama as a how-to manual, nevertheless according to Wikipedia, critics made a big stink over it:
“The film was released to protests from many reviewers, and it was openly stated in several newspapers that the film could incite black audiences to riot.[9] Lee criticized white reviewers for implying that black audiences were incapable of restraining themselves while watching a fictional motion picture.[10]
One of many questions at the end of the film is whether Mookie “does the right thing” when he throws the garbage can through the window, thus inciting the riot that destroys Sal’s pizzeria. Critics have seen Mookie’s action both as an action that saves Sal’s life, by redirecting the crowd’s anger away from Sal to his property, and as an “irresponsible encouragement to enact violence”.[11] The question is directly raised by the contradictory quotations that end the film, one advocating nonviolence, the other advocating violent self-defense in response to oppression.[11]
Spike Lee has remarked that he himself has only ever been asked by white viewers whether Mookie did the right thing; black viewers do not ask the question.[12] Lee believes the key point is that Mookie was angry at the death of Radio Raheem, and that viewers who question the riot’s justification are implicitly failing to see the difference between property and the life of a black man.[10]”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Do_the_Right_Thing#Controversies
So, it looks like what Spike Lee thinks is that said white people don’t see a distinction between destruction of property and the death of a black man, but apparently critics see a distinction between the death of a white man and the destruction of his property.
ooops, sorry for re-post. Something funky just happened with the site.
Well, as I white guy, I was actually saying he would have been more justified in killing the cops, so I find you critique of what I said, implying that as a white guy all I care about was Sal’s pizzeria, as bizarre. All I said was that vengeance should be directed exactly where it belongs, and in the film that wasn’t the pizzeria. And the outro music was fight the power. Confusing Sal with “the power” is just stupid.
You need to read that better.
I don’t see dramatic films as how-to manuals, so I didn’t address your how-to comment, I was merely sharing some things said about the film itself.
Anyway, you’re wrong. Sal is the power.
The white man’s property is more important than black lives. The how-to question is how to fight that radical inequality.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kj9SeMZE_Yw
It’s true I’m slow, but I think the fabulous new editor function could use a longer timer.
I was almost as angered by that scene as the one in GOT where Ned Stark lost his head. But when I calmed down I realised it was a deliberate provocation, not frivolously or pointlessly inflammatory. I chided myself for automatically inferring that Lee’s own feelings were reflected in the action, and came up with lots of examples of artists describing awful acts or attitudes without apparent censure, sometimes seemingly with approval… must Mick Jagger singing Under My Thumb identify with the misogyny or can the lyrics be regarded as a first person critique of that mindset?
Buggin’ Out’s cold stare at the end when he decided to trash Sal’s flicked a switch in me, I was outraged by what I saw as a betrayal… but then I thought what was really being portrayed here is how at the pointy end of an unfair, broken and uncaring system correct, laudable, thought-through moral decisions are probably the exception rather than the rule. ‘Lashing out’ is exactly right, and appeals to a violent and almost certainly self-destructive tribal solidarity will sometimes trump the sensible or even the ‘Right’ thing.
The fire was at the Aurora air traffic control facility, about 35 miles from Chicago, not at an airport. Both Midway and O’Hare airports were affected by this event.
Thanks.
“Our situation is painful so it is understandable that a man might light a fire at Midway airport–very understandable.”
yeah, no it isn’t. The fellow that set the fire, then proceeded to cut his own throat at the Aurora ATC center only message was that he needs psychiatric help.
State capitalism, comrades … it was supposed to be a slam-dunk:
American Dream, the vacant East Rutherford megamall that N.J. Gov. Chris Christie once called “the ugliest damn building in New Jersey, and maybe America,” hasn’t signed investors almost a year after his administration agreed to public financing and a $390 million tax break, the biggest of its kind in state history.
Behind chain-link fence, the mall and its multicolored facade became a decaying landmark off the New Jersey Turnpike.
Revel, the casino project restarted with Christie’s pledge of $261 million in tax breaks, was a key piece of his plan to turn around the seaside resort and lure tourists to New Jersey amid growing gambling competition in nearby states. The casino, projected to generate $3.2 billion in taxes over 20 years, closed on Sept. 2 after twice filing for bankruptcy.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-09-29/stalled-mall-impedes-christie-s-plan-after-casinos-fail.html
Im not sure how State Capitalism = Tax breaks on the rich.
I dont like either, but I dont see how the two are related.
Because corporations and oligarchs are ‘job creators’, doncha know. They can only be lured with lower taxes. Then they employ maybe a couple hundred people who don’t earn enough to PAY any taxes, and must go on public assistance. A good deal for NJ, all around!
It’s like smearing blood all over the body politic before going swimming in the shark pool.
Still with the “Pluto is a planet” nonsense? Oh, gimme a break! A poll among some US-Americans, almost necessarily biased and fanatic to go to such a debate (I would not bother, nor would most people: it’s settled for good and is good as it is settled) is meaningless. Ask the World: get out of the rather small territory of the USA with its even smaller population and ask the World, for Eris sake!
Pluto’s a sideshow. The real planet that needs a vote is Niburu. If you polled 10,000 people you might get 3 or 4 who’d vote “Yeah”. They probably have IQs north of 180 and live in a completely delusional brain fog of their own creation, but if they’re right. Holy Moly!!!
Oh, come on now. Being a Regis Professor of Philosophical Econonetrics at Magonia University, (the real Secret College, natch,) you know full well that Nibiru is a headfake by the Lizard People to keep us lowly Terran humans from figuring out the proper area codes for the Interdimensional Transport Service.
All the North 180’s I’ve read about seem to be living in self created lustral brain fogs. Which is a shame since they are smart enough to be Philosopher Kings and also smart enough not to want to job.
What does it matter if Pluto is a planet or not? Its not even useful in science fiction futures, much less the here and now. This is like arguing how many angels are on the head of a pin: Completely and totally irrelevant.
Maybe not now, but we don’t know if one day, being a planet might mean the rich can set it up as a tax haven there, which will not be possible for an asteroid or just a rock floating in space.
you’d think an asteroid would be even better for them. on the inbound flight, pulling out the profits from their semi-legitimate business operations. on the outbound pass, sucking out the gov’t social spending money through public-private partnerships. then retreating far enough away that they can’t be taxed, and staying there long enough that everyone forgets their dastardliness.
an asteroid is just what they need.
As History has shown too many times, it is just such questions that have ended up in Public Conflagrations. Your question reminds me of the anti-war query; how many nukes does it take to extinguish life on Earth.
Liberate your workplace, comrades:
Venezuela’s government authorized a takeover of Clorox Company’s facilities just days after the cleaning-products maker announced it was ending operations here due to the South American country’s economic crisis.
“This is now a factory liberated by its workers,” Vice President Jorge Arreaza said on Friday night in a televised address from one of Clorox’s facilities just outside this capital city.
Oakland, Calif.-based Clorox, which had three manufacturing plants in Venezuela, said on Sept. 22 that it was exiting the country and looking to sell its assets. The company, which manufactures bleach and other cleaning liquids and disinfectants here, argued that for nearly three years it had to sell two-thirds of its products at a loss as prices set by the state failed to cover the cost of production.
http://online.wsj.com/articles/clorox-questions-safety-after-venezuelan-takeover-1411843722
————
Last Friday, the day before the Clorox plant’s liberation, the black-market bolivar hit a new low of over 100 to the dollar. Meanwhile, the official rate remains at an astounding 6.3 bolivars per dollar … nearly 16 times stronger than the street price.
Can you stand up?
I do believe it’s working, good!
That’ll keep you going through the show
Come on, it’s time to go
— Pink Floyd, Comfortably Numb
“This is now a factory liberated by its workers,” Vice President Jorge Arreaza said on Friday night in a televised address from one of Clorox’s facilities just outside this capital city.
Oakland, Calif.-based Clorox, which had three manufacturing plants in Venezuela, said on Sept. 22 that it was exiting the country and looking to sell its assets.
Vacant possession not included.
Why a 2% inflation rate target and not 4% (or more)? My guess is that is the most the Fed thinks it can get away with. Any more and it might spark nominal interest rate increases.
“The fact is that the target is 2 percent because the target is 2 percent.”
Using the “Rule of 70,” 2% inflation doubles prices every 35 years, or roughly every generation. That means that each new “generation” of “prime purchasers” begins its purchasing life with baseline prices DOUBLE that of the last generation.
With 4% inflation, prices would double every 17.5 years, or TWICE during one generation of prime purchasers. THAT theft of purchasing power might very well get noticed.
The sociological implications of resetting prices for each generation are pretty hard to ignore. I seriously doubt that my 23-year-old daughter would even be listening when I told her that when I was her age, “a dollar’s worth” of gas was almost four gallons, and all I needed for the week. The pernicious consequences of inflationary theft of purchasing power are easily obscured by the younger generation’s absolute commitment to knowing MORE than their parents.
It’s a pretty fool-proof “system.” I sometimes wonder if I’m losing my mind when I remember my Mother telling me to clean my plate because people are starving in EUROPE!!
And so I would ask the esteemed Mr. Bernstein what part of the Fed mandate for “stable” prices can logically be construed as a doubling of prices for each successive generation? Oh, and Jared, “It is what it is” will be considered a FAIL. Please consult Webster’s for the definition of “stable.”
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-the-rule-of-70.htm
So what if the Fed has an inflation target of 2%, or anything else, for that matter. The only way to effect such a target is via Quantity Theory nonsense, which is to say that whatever the Fed thinks of inflation targeting, it has no way of making that happen, because the Quantity Theory is bullshit.
Monetarism is DEAD.
Switzerland resoundingly rejects single payer … again:
Geneva (AFP) – Swiss voters on Sunday rejected a plan for a seismic shift from the country’s all-private health insurance system to a state-run scheme. The referendum came after reformers mustered more than the 100,000 signatures required to hold a popular vote, a regular feature of Swiss direct democracy.
The rejection of the plan by nearly two-thirds of voters is a major blow for pro-reform campaigners, given that opinion polls had shown the ‘No’ vote was likely to be around 54 percent. In a 2007 referendum, 71 percent of voters rejected similar reforms.
http://news.yahoo.com/public-versus-private-swiss-mull-health-system-shift-073917245.html
————
Letting lowly citizens vote on policy … oh my! Thank goodness we don’t allow such dangerous distortions of democracy here (at least not in the east). Much better to push through social change with one-vote pluralities in the House and Senate [Obamacare vote].
Are there any poor people in Switzerland at all? Doubtless their elites felt it safe to let the masses weigh in.
Meanwhile back in the USA, narrow networks to stay narrow
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-0928-obamacare-doctors-20140928-story.html#page=1
The 1st paragraph seems to imply they are getting narrower in Covered California but the actual article states and these are the 4 big insurers: Health Net is eliminating thier PPO option and will only offer an HMO, Blue Shield is narrowing it’s network, Anthem seems to have actually increased it’s network, nothing stated about Kaiser so I guess no changes though Kaiser has always been kind of it’s own thing. Prices still going up some. Everyone suing everyone, or more precisely there are several suits against the health insurance companies for these practices.
To clarify, Switzerland’s heathcare system may be private, but its also non-profit. The private companies compete with each other to see who can provide the best care for the lowest cost. Premiums cannot exceed 8% of an individual’s salary and individual “co-pays” are capped at $429 per year.
Switzerland’s healthcare system also has some of the best outcomes in the world. Its no wonder they don’t want to change it. In fact, we could argue convincingly that Switzerland has the healthcare system many in the USA are deluded in thinking we have.
Had to go see an eye doctor in Switzerland after getting a cut on my cornea. Was able to walk in, no appointment. Prescribed some ointment. Total cost (in 2000) about 30 euros.
From the “Carceral Educations” piece linked above:
“Re-entry is simply the continuation of this system of education that fails students who are condemned to an underclass. These students, eliminated from public schools and sent to prison or trapped in the bureaucratic web of probation, are forced to take personal responsibility precisely for their conformity to an American working-class ethic that is based on their exclusion. They are punished for being the truth about institutions that want to believe they would have—if the students had just followed the rules—accepted them with open arms, launching them upward toward class mobility.”
These scathing criticisms of our carceral society are right on point. For a fantastic short film on this issue, from the perspective of someone condemned to the underclass, yet who refuses to surrender quietly to his fate, see: “The Throwaways,” http://throwawaysmovie.com/
it was a very astute article, and notice how the author began their teaching career in Oakland.
I think that observation is incredible. they don’t try to ‘match up’ to the expectations of ‘standard’ society because, for most of them, there is NO WAY that doing that will in any way benefit them. their other drawbacks will always be held against them.
all a person like me (non-minority) had to do leave that behind was speak, dress and act ‘properly’, and get sufficient amount of education to get the sufficiently remunerative job, and I would have been able to leave that crap behind. doing that would have gotten most of them almost nearly nowhere, except for proof that you have been sufficiently cowed and tamed by the master so that you’re no longer deemed a threat. and then people wonder why they lash out. for some of them, it is the only way they can maintain their sense of autonomy and dignity.
The first thing that came to mind in response to reading the Congress of Vienna nostalgia is “whose realm, his corporations”. The absence of the transnational corporations as actors in the analysis was striking. Put the appropriate Sherlock Holmes cliche here.
Tarheel–
Spot on. The article progresses from a title promising deep historical insight to a conclusion that is both utter nonsense and in no way relevant to the Vienna Congress.
Characterizing Russia’s refusal of national dissolution as acts of chaos that the Chinese should separate from–in their own best interests, of course!–is very funny indeed.
The author would have been better to compare the US to Argentina–at the end of its economic rope and going to war over the Falkland Islands for lack of anything better to do.
I suppose that would not have sounded as august and highminded.
–Gaianne
Ah yes, The essence of what goes for ‘national debate’. Red mist or char broil human beings? More deadly air-kettling. There is no other choice. Because all those weapons, all that police/troop/moderate heart-eating liberal training has worked so well. Old AUMF or new AUMF? What will the Saudi’s think? Oh dear!
Because NOT doing it (it being endless repetition of evil/failure) is always off the table. Because morality is lower on the proverbial totem polemic than hubris or manipulated legality.
If it’s not legal, who’s going to stop us?
In 1998 Madeleine Albright gave us this gem.
“It is the threat of the use of force [against Iraq] and our line-up there that is going to put force behind the diplomacy. But if we have to use force, it is because we are America; we are the indispensable nation. We stand tall and we see further than other countries into the future, and we see the danger here to all of us.”
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Madeleine_Albright
Oh man, that one needs a barf bag warning before reading!
U.S. lawmakers urge congressional action to back Obama’s Syria war -Reuters
Must. Maintain. Veneer.
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“Norfolk sea level rise takes shine off waterfront homes”
This is kind of thing that will bring the reality of AGW home to people. And the only reason flood insurance rates haven’t skyrocketed to their market levels is because the Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act of 2012 was rolled back so the federal government, meaning us, continues paying for the flood insurance. Once those rates reach market price there will be nothing but a cash market for coastal real estate. And this is just the beginning, only a glimpse of what AGW will deliver upon us. Wait until Miami goes under. God help our children because we sure aren’t.
I lived a large part of my early life in Miami. When Miami starts to go, there will be a land rush in North Georgia, North Alabama, North Mississippi, and points North of there. Don’t forget how many South Floridians come from Central America and the Caribbean. Some of them will return home to stir things up. Them real pressure points are going to be the major coastal cities. Ever look at the flood elevation maps for New York City, Boston, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Seattle? That’s just America. What about Bangladesh? 160 million people, of whom most live very close to sea level. Think Miami is going to be a problem? Try moving Dhaka, 15 million people living roughly 12 feet above sea level without starting a war with one of the neigbhours.
Sometimes I imagine placing a Bas Relief of The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse over the entrance to the New York Stock Exchange.
Yes, other regions of the world are far more susceptible. Rich countries like ours will muddle through for a time with mitigation. But even that has stark limits. As you mention, the entire U.S. east coast from North Carolina to Boston is extremely vulnerable. Miami is the most at-risk major U.S. coastal city (though New Orleans is uniquely vulnerable) but the impacts of AGW are already being felt in Virginia, as the linked article indicates. So when Miami floods will all those people just relocate permanently? If non-citizens, will they be welcomed back to their home countries? Will we deport them? For displaced U.S. citizens, are we going to erect major new cities in America, again along the coast? If not, then where? How much will that cost? What will it do to our economy? Or the 15 million people from Dhaka that you mention, where will they go? The problem of climate refugees will be one that alone puts civilization itself at risk. Add the damage to the food and water supplies and, well, I’m glad I’m not that young. The fact that our own government is now driving the use of fossil fuels is a crime against humanity and I hope those responsible are held to account.
The effect on seafront housing prices is the smaller issue. The larger issue is the end of deep-draft seaports. As sea level rises port facilities will need to be rebuilt. But the sea level will not stop rising for decades going on centuries. That means continuous rebuilding–which is too expensive and cannot happen.
And that is the end of industrial-scale shipping.
You can guess what happens after that.
–Gaianne
Floating docks, a la the Normandy Invasion “Mulberry.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mulberry_harbour
When protests “turn violent,” as lazy reporters and editors are wont to say, the reality is that the protest has turned into a cop riot. As we’ve seen with Ferguson, WTO protests, G20 protests, etc. the powers that be let their dogs off lead, and the access journalists duly blame the protestors, uh “rioters.”
But what do you expect from scribes who uncritically parrot the statements of police in regards to every arrest and have no problem publishing the mugshots of the accused. Most newspapers, at the local level, are stories told by the police and politicians, who constantly beat the drums of fear. Local TV loves a good police chase. And at the national level, journalists gladly let themselves get played by their anon sources and bloviate with the herdlike groupthink.
Critical thinking is not to be found in most journalism, and the consumers of said journalism tend to be lacking in that department as well. And yet, it is a profession, an institution that loves to hold up its myths, especially as a necessary advesary to power as reason alone for respect. And the “media” (god how I hate that word for descibing the press in all its incarnations) loves being the final arbiter of official reality, even though they are consistently wrong about what is really going on.
Not that the fair readers of this blog and the even fairer commentators don’t already understand this, I personally felt compelled to say something after experiencing the ignorance in the comments of the news section of Reddit, which I suggest anyone look at if they want to feel any more hopeless about the future.
Reddit has a news section? I thought all they did was sell stuff.
Yeah, this Syria reddit is pretty good…
re Glen Greenwald on Syria:
Why on earth would the US need the existence of a relatively small terror group to justify bombing Syria when ISIS already serves that purpose very nicely. Am I the only one who finds Greenwald just a bit over the top?
Yes, you are. The reason they made up this other group is because Isis isn’t a credible threat to the US, at least not right now. So to get the people all ginned up for war they needed a bogeyman who could “strike at our commercial airliners at any time!!!!!1!!!!!”. You have to understand the way our “leaders” think. They leave as little to chance as possible. They’re workaholics who do their best to cover every base, every potential hole or point of light that might make its way through to the dullards of America who might then start to question WTF we are doing.
Recently, the supremely evil Henry le K gave an interview on NPR, where he claimed that the O-man’s drones have killed more people than Nixon’s bombing of Cambodia (and Laos) during the Vietnam War, an assertion so risible and insulting on its face that the journalist John Pilger – who covered much of the war’s effects whilst based in SE Asia during the 60s and 70a – takes the unindicted war criminal to task here:
The links in the sidebar to the above article are also well worth reading. How this pompous shit can still claim airtime and even praise as the consummate “elder statesman” despite being steeped in so much blood of the innocent from the late 20th Century remains one of life’s enduring mysteries. In a just world, Kissinger should have been tossed onto a tumbril and wheeled to an awaiting guillotine, thereby mercifully ridding the world of such an execrable human being.
here here.
Perhaps this article should be consigned to the “what-difference-does-it-make?” category of news, but there does seem to be a shift in voter sentiment in key races that is pushing the Repubs toward ultimate control of the Senate:
There was a time not too long ago where this might have been alarming news indeed, but given the state of politics in the US currently, these polling results aren’t surprising. The Democratic majority – as has its counterpart Republican minority – has repeatedly failed to protect the interests of the people in the face of a plutocratic onslaught, and simply can’t credibly claim allegiance to a progressive agenda. I suspect that the polling represents likely voters more favouring Republican candidates than registered voters who would normally support a Democrat but have lost interest in the 2014 elections for obvious reasons.
Senator Warren sends out fundraising appeals constantly. This latest pool got her to send out an email in which she states, “It matters that we protect the Democratic majority in the Senate this November. ” Here’s my reply to her (as if she’ll ever read it).
Dear Senator Warren,
While the Democratic Party continually solicits money from its base it simultaneously makes tepid, irrelevant and downright out-of-touch policy proposals to that base. Fewer people are inclined to vote Democratic this time because of the Obama administrations’ endless string of broken promises, wars, deceits, and indulgences of criminal financial interests.
So asking for a few more dollars from us –several times a week- is not what’s called for. You want support:? Then provide healthcare- not legislation that keeps health insurance companies in the game, deal with criminal bankers, stand up for Social Security, end the security state spying on citizens (you guys are allegedly constitutional experts!), stop focusing narrowly on the minimum wage as the bottom 95% lose economically to the top 5%.
If the Dems had taken these policy steps you would win landslides this fall. My father and his generation voted for FDR because FDR had some sense of obligation regarding what to do for the common person. The current Dem party does not; it’s a neoliberal party, so it’s hard to get the base to continually salivate to “the Koch Bros are coming!!!” dog whistle.
You made your choice when you decided to run as a Dem and now you have to keep quite about all the decadence and exploitation you see around you to advance your career in the party. You are creating a vitiated legacy for yourself.
Excellent! And, indeed, if the DP would actually favor rational and humanistic policies it would recapture the House at present the DP brand just isn’t cutting it–everyone knows it is a deeply corrupt party and will get no enthusiastic support. I just talked to an activist the other day here in NC she was doing what she could for Kay Hagan here in North Carolina–I had to say I was indifferent. I may vote for her is the best I could say.
Very well said. Perhaps more people are waking up to the duopoly ‘game’. Voting for lesser evil is still voting evil.
Faithful voters might want to vet Ms. Warren for TTT- turtle trading tendencies- as she already took the long position on Israeli incremental genocide of Palestinian civilians. When asked about the ongoing IDF massacres, she skillfully parroted all of the market-tested talking points out of the Frank Luntz Israeli playbook like a seasoned vet. Of course, political suicide by way of defying AIPAC is not a difficult trend to spot.
Would you mind if I grab a few nuggets from your comments and forward on to my DLC technocrat rep? I’m voting republican so as to put a hurt on the national party. Voting Green is just a waste above the local level.
Yeah, the only thing that fits in the space between our two parties is a credit card.
love that observation!
love that comment!
http://www.thisiscolossal.com/2014/09/kipple-dan-tobin-smith/
The First Law of Kipple: An Entire Floor Filled With Chromatically Arranged Junk by Dan Tobin Smith
Best attempt to help ordinary people grasp the ‘big (geopolitical) picture’ and the looming danger that I’ve seen.
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“You’re gonna have to learn your clichés. You’re gonna have to study them, you’re gonna have to know them. They’re your friends. Write this down….
Antidote du jour:”
But the antidote is never cliché. Who can say, for example, why that marvelous cat has that one little claw out.
Initial production rates of Eagle Ford wells have been increasing over the past five years.
I often hear how hydraulically fractured horizontal wells have steeper declines than conventional wells, but remember, they have higher initial production rates than a conventional well could have. (And a lower footprint)