tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29747252251144850092024-02-07T23:39:56.203-08:00His Story is BunkPatrick Sullivanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14948365865741313524noreply@blogger.comBlogger3364125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2974725225114485009.post-2749807065428716942016-04-16T16:11:00.002-07:002016-04-16T16:11:38.784-07:00Along came Phil<div class="tr_bq">
Gramm, former Senator from the state of Texas to set a few facts straight <a href="http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-great-recession-blame-game-1460758184">in the Wall Street Journal</a> about the cause of the financial crisis. I.e., it wasn't <i>deregulation</i> of the banking system;</div>
<blockquote style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Chronicle SSm', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 28px; margin-bottom: 18px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;">
Regulators also eroded the safety of the financial system by pressuring banks to make subprime loans in order to increase homeownership. After eight years of vilification and government extortion of bank assets, often for carrying out government mandates, it is increasingly clear that <b>banks were more scapegoats than villains in the subprime crisis</b>.</blockquote>
<blockquote style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Chronicle SSm', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 28px; margin-bottom: 18px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;">
Similarly, <b>the charge that banks had been deregulated before the crisis is a myth</b>. From 1980 to 2007 four major banking laws—the Competitive Equality Banking Act (1987), the Financial Institutions, Reform, Recovery and Enforcement Act (1989), the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Improvement Act (1991), and Sarbanes-Oxley (2002)—undeniably increased bank regulations and reporting requirements. The charge that financial regulation had been dismantled rests almost solely on the disputed effects of the 1999 Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA).</blockquote>
<blockquote style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Chronicle SSm', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 28px; margin-bottom: 18px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;">
Prior to GLBA, the decades-old Glass-Steagall Act prohibited deposit-taking, commercial banks from engaging in securities trading. GLBA, which was signed into law by President Bill Clinton, allowed highly regulated financial-services holding companies to compete in banking, insurance and the securities business. But each activity was still required to operate separately and remained subject to the regulations and capital requirements that existed before GLBA. A bank operating within a holding company was still subject to Glass-Steagall (<b>which was not repealed by GLBA</b>)—but <b>Glass-Steagall never banned banks from holding mortgages or mortgage-backed securities in the first place</b>.</blockquote>
Bolds by HSIB in the above. As faithful readers here know, GLBA only repealed two provisions (of 34 original ones) of the Banking Reform Act of 1933 (AKA Glass-Steagall). And the two repealed were numbers 20 and 32--affiliations provisions that had prevented a holding company from owning separately both a commercial and an investment bank--not the actual provisions (16 and 21) defining and separating institutions that offer checking accounts from those underwriting corporate securities.<br />
<br />
IOW, Bernie Sanders and his ilk are just flat out wrong to assert otherwise. Also, Sanders is wrong about the dangers of big banks, because elsewhere in his excellent piece, Gramm points out that the large banks were the ones that didn't need bailing out by TARP, because they were better capitalized. It was smaller banks that wouldn't have survived without the actions of Hank Paulsen, Ben Bernanke and Tim Geithner.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Chronicle SSm', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 28px;"><b>The subprime crisis was largely the product of government policy to promote housing ownership and regulators who chose to promote that social policy over their traditional mission of guaranteeing safety and soundness.</b> But blaming the financial crisis on reckless bankers and deregulation made it possible for the Obama administration to seize effective control of the financial system and put government bureaucrats in the corporate boardrooms of many of the most significant U.S. banks and insurance companies.</span></blockquote>
Again, our bold in the above paragraph.Patrick Sullivanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14948365865741313524noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2974725225114485009.post-91221435133435983352016-02-18T17:47:00.001-08:002016-02-18T17:47:10.962-08:00EuroCoCo, GuyWe again interrupt our blogging hiatus, for another update on banking regulation.<br />
<br />
Tuesday, at the Brookings Institution, <a href="http://www.c-span.org/video/?404692-1/neel-kashkari-2008-financial-crisis&start=1859">about 30 minutes into this discussion</a>, retired <i>Fed Board of Governor</i>'s member Donald Kohn tells Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari, pretty much what Bentley University macroeconomist <a href="http://hisstoryisbunk.blogspot.com/2015/11/the-sumner-also-rises-to-task.html">Scott Sumner concluded last November</a>: That had contingent convertible bonds, with an explicitly defined trigger been in place years before 2008, the financial crisis may well have been averted.<br />
<br />
Kohn's reasoning was that back then the conversion to equity of the long term bonds (<i>CoCo</i>s) in the capital structure of stressed firms (such as Bear Stearns and Lehman Bros) would have protected the short term bond holders from runs: <i>That's where the danger was</i>. He then goes on to point to <i>the CoCos in Europe</i> (where such bonds are already in place), as an example. He believes that developments in the last few weeks show that markets believe that the threat of conversion from debt to equity is now affecting bond prices and is evidence that bank regulators are alert to possible stress in the banking system. That they will allow the stressed financial institutions to be automatically recapitalized. I.e., CoCos will work as advertised as canaries in the coal mine, and avert a repeat of the disaster of 2008-09.<br />
<br />
Of course, <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/analysis-and-features/is-the-market-in-european-coco-bonds-about-to-pop-a6866496.html">European bank managers aren't happy</a> that they're being disciplined by markets (and regulators):<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #281e1e; font-family: 'Indy Serif'; line-height: 28px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;">
...investors have indeed flipped out with concern about Cocos after the German lender Deutsche Bank was forced to reassure investors it could meet interest, or coupon, payments on its Coco bonds. </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #281e1e; font-family: 'Indy Serif'; line-height: 28px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;">
The move has stoked fears that something is rotten at the heart of the European banking sector and led many to question why Cocos – considered a silver bullet solution – have melted like their chocolate breakfast cereal namesake in the face of market turmoil.</blockquote>
<br />
Which is what <a href="http://hisstoryisbunk.blogspot.com/search?q=cocos">Charles Calomiris reported</a> was their reaction when CoCos were authorized by the 1999 legislation known as Gramm, Leach Bliley:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small; line-height: 18.2px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 21px;">I would establish a minimum uninsured debt requirement for large banks in the form of subordinated debt, known as contingent capital certificates, or "CoCos." The CoCos would automatically convert to equity based on predetermined market triggers, which would be very dilutive to pre-existing shareholders. One banker who understood my proposal for CoCo's said, <b>"You are putting an electric fence behind me."</b></span></i></blockquote>
It's a feature...not a bug, guys.<br />
<br />
Well, back to hiatusing.<br />
Patrick Sullivanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14948365865741313524noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2974725225114485009.post-64284772125938678162015-11-12T13:13:00.000-08:002016-02-17T07:30:25.506-08:00The Sumner Also Rises (to the task)We again interrupt our blogging hiatus, to <a href="http://econlog.econlib.org/archives/2015/11/could_gramm_lea.html#">acknowledge some fine work</a> by Bentley University economist Scott Sumner (who is also the <a href="http://mercatus.org/scott-sumner">Ralph G. Hawtrey Chair of Monetary Policy at the Mercatus Center of George Mason University</a>). This <a href="http://econlog.econlib.org/archives/2015/11/could_gramm_lea.html">EconLog blog post</a> by Scott is the only recognition of which we are aware (<a href="http://hisstoryisbunk.blogspot.com/2015/11/team-coco-wins-one.html">other than our own</a>), of the potentially momentous change in banking regulation under consideration by the Fed. And we thank Scott for graciously crediting us for alerting him to it.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: #333333; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 12.8px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 16.64px; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">In the longer scholarly article from 2011, Herring and Calomiris report [<a href="http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1815406">to be read here</a>] this stunning piece of information:</span><br />
<blockquote style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: #f2f2e3; border-bottom-color: rgb(222, 222, 197); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-top-color: rgb(222, 222, 197); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; color: #333333; font-family: verdana; font-size: 12.8px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 16.64px; margin: 1em 0px 1.5em; orphans: auto; padding: 0.2em 1.5em 0.5em; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px;">
In response to the mandate within the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act of 1999 that required the Federal Reserve and the Treasury to study the efficacy of a sub debt requirement, a Federal Reserve Board study reviewing and extending the empirical literature broadly concluded that sub debt could play a useful role as a signal of risk. Despite that conclusion, no action was taken to require a sub debt component in capital requirements; instead the Fed concluded that more research was needed.</blockquote>
<span style="color: #333333; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 12.8px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 16.64px; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">So the law that provided the flexibility Bernanke needed to deal with the 2008 banking crisis, also suggested a policy reform that might have prevented the crisis entirely. <b>Maybe Phil Gramm deserves a Nobel Prize in economics.</b></span><br />
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: verdana; font-size: 12.8px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 16.64px; margin: 0px 0px 1em; orphans: auto; padding-top: 0.7em; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px;">
Apparently that "more research" that was needed has now been concluded, as the Fed is finally<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/press/bcreg/20151030a.htm" style="border: none; color: #6d6d0d; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">adopting the idea</a>:</div>
<blockquote style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: #f2f2e3; border-bottom-color: rgb(222, 222, 197); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-top-color: rgb(222, 222, 197); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; color: #333333; font-family: verdana; font-size: 12.8px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 16.64px; margin: 1em 0px 1.5em; orphans: auto; padding: 0.2em 1.5em 0.5em; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px;">
<b>For immediate release</b><br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding-top: 0.7em;">
The Federal Reserve Board on Friday proposed a new rule that would strengthen the ability of the largest domestic and foreign banks operating in the United States to be resolved without extraordinary government support or taxpayer assistance.</div>
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding-top: 0.7em;">
The proposed rule would apply to domestic firms identified by the Board as global systemically important banks (GSIBs) and to the U.S. operations of foreign GSIBs. These institutions would be required to meet a new long-term debt requirement and a new "total loss-absorbing capacity," or TLAC, requirement. The requirements will bolster financial stability by improving the ability of banks covered by the rule to withstand financial stress and failure without imposing losses on taxpayers.</div>
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding-top: 0.7em;">
To reduce the systemic impact of the failure of a GSIB, an orderly resolution process should allow a GSIB to fail, and its investors to suffer losses, while the critical operations of the firm continue to function. Requiring GSIBs to hold sufficient amounts of long-term debt, which can be converted to equity during resolution, would facilitate this by providing a source of private capital to support the firms' critical operations during resolution.</div>
</blockquote>
<br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: verdana; font-size: 12.8px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 16.64px; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<span style="color: #333333; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 12.8px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 16.64px; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">Yes, this is a bit like closing the barn door after the horses have left, but it's still gratifying to see that after all the time wasted on 1000 page monstrosities like Dodd-Frank, we are finally getting somewhere.</span></blockquote>
With which, we are well pleased.Especially that line about Phil Gramm that we bolded in the above.Patrick Sullivanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14948365865741313524noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2974725225114485009.post-88258072115723436112015-11-01T07:18:00.002-08:002015-11-01T07:20:30.257-08:00Team CoCo wins oneWe interrupt our blogging hiatus <a href="http://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/press/bcreg/20151030a.htm">for this news</a>;<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The Federal Reserve Board on Friday proposed a new rule that would
strengthen the ability of the largest domestic and foreign banks
operating in the United States to be resolved without extraordinary
government support or taxpayer assistance.</span></span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The proposed rule would apply to domestic firms identified by the
Board as global systemically important banks (GSIBs) and to the U.S.
operations of foreign GSIBs. These institutions would be required to
meet a new long-term debt requirement and a new "total loss-absorbing
capacity," or TLAC, requirement. The requirements will bolster financial
stability by improving the ability of banks covered by the rule to
withstand financial stress and failure without imposing losses on
taxpayers.</span></span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">To reduce the systemic impact of the failure of a GSIB, an orderly
resolution process should allow a GSIB to fail, and its investors to
suffer losses, while the critical operations of the firm continue to
function. Requiring GSIBs to hold sufficient amounts of <b>long-term debt,
which can be converted to equity </b>during resolution, would facilitate
this by providing a source of private capital to support the firms'
critical operations during resolution.
</span></span></blockquote>
Our bold in the above. Long time readers of this blog will immediately recognize our enthusiasm for the idea of using contingent convertible debentures to provide managers of banks with a powerful market incentive to not take too much risk in the first place. We could point to numerous posts, such as <a href="http://hisstoryisbunk.blogspot.com/2014/10/as-we-were-saying.html">this one from almost a year ago</a>;<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>HSIB has noted the enthusiasm for this form of bank self-regulation on the part of <a href="http://hisstoryisbunk.blogspot.com/search?q=cocos">Columbia economist Charles Calomiris</a>;</i>
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">...the Columbia economist offers a suggestion to improve the banking system;</span></span>
</i>
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 21px;"><span class="Apple-style-span"> </span>I
would establish a minimum uninsured debt requirement for large banks in
the form of subordinated debt, known as contingent capital
certificates, or "CoCos." The CoCos would automatically convert to
equity based on predetermined market triggers, which would be very
dilutive to pre-existing shareholders. One banker who understood my
proposal for CoCo's said, "You are putting an electric fence behind me."</span></span></span></i></blockquote>
<i><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
The potential for dilution of stockholder equity being the key incentive for management to work to prevent that from happening.
</span></span></i></blockquote>
<i>
Calomiris has said, in speeches, that the Federal Reserve has had the
legal authority to do this since the 1999 Gramm, Leach, Bliley Act, but
chose not to implement that reform. Now would be a good time to listen
to Charlie. </i></blockquote>
</blockquote>
That's right, the 1999 legislative handiwork--which, btw, did not 'repeal Glass-Steagall'--of former Texas A&M economist Phil Gramm is finally being implemented 16 years after it was authorized. Unfortunately, seven years too late to have prevented the financial crisis of 2008. Patrick Sullivanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14948365865741313524noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2974725225114485009.post-86614893116296805132015-09-30T07:23:00.002-07:002015-09-30T07:23:18.270-07:00Pardon the interruptionBlogging at this site will be suspended, at least temporarily, for non-econospheric reasons. <i>Lo siento</i>.Patrick Sullivanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14948365865741313524noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2974725225114485009.post-26963876226375775342015-09-29T18:04:00.000-07:002015-09-29T18:04:30.306-07:00Ridin' the rails to MalmoFirst, Mark Steyn risks his life speaking in Copenhagen;<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe width="320" height="266" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/_ahFJqOJvck/0.jpg" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/_ahFJqOJvck?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
<br />
where he details his own, very real, ordeals with the anti-free speech policemen of Canada. <i>Speaking truth to powe</i>r, if he weren't a conservative.<br />
<br />
Then he takes a trip on a train, and <a href="http://www.steynonline.com/7201/wild-seadogs-of-the-oresund">thinks some more about Abdul</a>;<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">...unlike the bad old days of Nazi-occupied Denmark and neutral Sweden
that "some" are comparing it to, there are no border controls whatsoever
between Copenhagen and Malmö. You just hop on a train at the
aforementioned Central Station in Copenhagen and hop off a half-hour or
so later on the other end of the impressive Øresund Bridge at the
Central Station in Malmö. I did it myself the other day, and was looking
forward to sitting back and enjoying the peace and quiet of
Scandinavian First Class. But, just as I took my seat and settled in, a
gaggle of Abdul's fellow "refugees" swarmed in, young bearded men and a
smaller number of covered women, the lads shooing away those first-class
ticket-holders not as nimble in securing their seats as I. The
conductor gave a shrug, the great universal shorthand for
there's-nothing-I-can-do.
</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">What Abdul made of being shanghaied by some high-class Nordic totty
to serve as her cabin mate on a stomach-churching voyage of moral
exhibitionism, I cannot say. But, from personal observation, the
"refugees" around me seemed to take it for granted that asylum in Europe
should come with complimentary first-class travel (see picture at top
right, from a German train).</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">There were more shrugs at Malmö, when I asked a station official
about it. He told me that, on the train from Stockholm the other day, a
group of "refugees" had looted the café car. The staff were too
frightened to resist. "Everyone wants a quiet life," he offered by way
of explanation. </span></blockquote>
That's looking unlikely. Patrick Sullivanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14948365865741313524noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2974725225114485009.post-13751180654809181632015-09-29T13:19:00.001-07:002015-09-29T13:23:03.162-07:00Separat aber gleich?<i>Deu</i><span class="short_text" id="result_box" lang="de"><i><span class="hps">tschland <a href="http://www.dw.com/en/refugees-dont-leave-their-conflicts-behind/a-18746390">nicht</a></span><a href="http://www.dw.com/en/refugees-dont-leave-their-conflicts-behind/a-18746390"> </a></i><span class="hps"><a href="http://www.dw.com/en/refugees-dont-leave-their-conflicts-behind/a-18746390"><i>über alles</i></a>;</span></span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Separating refugees according to religion is now being mentioned as an interim solution to help alleviate the problems.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">.... Tempers flare easily at close quarters. In Leipzig last week, about 200
refugees wielding table legs and bed frames started a fight after they
couldn't agree who got to use one of the few toilets first. It took a
large police contingent to calm the situation.</span></blockquote>
Elsewhere;<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Other recent incidents include a riot at a refugee shelter in central
Germany over a torn Koran and Muslim Chechens beating up Syrian
Christians in a Berlin shelter. </span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Islam is a part of Germany, but Islamism clearly isn't, said opposition
Greens party leader Cem Özdemir, adding that tolerance must not be
misinterpreted and exploited as weakness. </span></blockquote>
Maybe it <i>must not</i>, but it is. <br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">But insults, threats, discrimination and blackmail against Christian
asylum-seekers in particular are a regular occurrence, according to the
Munich-based Central Council for Oriental Christians (ZOCD).</span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">"I've heard so many reports from Christian refugees who were attacked by
conservative Muslims," said Simon Jacob, of the Central Council for
Oriental Christians (ZOCD).</span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">But that's only the tip of the iceberg, the ZOCD board member told DW: <b>"The number of unreported cases is much higher."</b></span></blockquote>
<span class="short_text" id="result_box" lang="de"><span class="hps"> Our bold. Herr Jacob also summed it up thus;</span></span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> "People bring with them the conflicts that exist in their native
countries, Christians and Muslims, Kurds and extremists, Shiites and
Sunnis - they don't leave them behind at the border."</span></blockquote>
And there will be more refugees to come. Patrick Sullivanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14948365865741313524noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2974725225114485009.post-35688573522046016812015-09-29T11:18:00.000-07:002015-09-29T13:03:05.080-07:00Wanna be a coal-miner's hostage?That would be the result of a Jeremy Corbyn Labour government for the UK, and the comrades at <i>Morning Star The People's Daily</i> think, <a href="http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/a-87f9-Wilsons-wisdom-proved-prophetic#.VgrHrm6PG70">a consummation devoutly to be wished</a>;<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
AT THE Labour Party conference in Blackpool exactly 40 years ago this
week, then prime minister Harold Wilson made one of the most prophetic
speeches any politician has ever made. He warned of the extremist
direction that the Conservative Party under its new leader Margaret
Thatcher was heading in, and how, if her party was elected, Conservative
policies would adversly affect Britain.<br />
<br />
.... To some, Wilson’s warnings in 1975 might have sounded far-fetched.
But Thatcherism, as he so correctly pointed out, did mark a real and
radical break with the egalitarian politics of the post-war era. Too
many on the left did not appreciate just how much of a threat Thatcher
posed, until it was too late. </blockquote>
Having actually lived in England while Harold Wilson was Prime Minister (1974), we can only laugh, or cry, over any dire warnings he made. London was like a third world city back then, with its electricity supply determined by the real rulers of the UK; the coal miners and their union. Wilson had to resign the PM-ship in 1976 due to the hardships in the country. Leaving the mess to James Callaghan. Which the comrades at <i>Morning Star</i> seem to be forgetting;<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Forty years on from Wilson’s speech, there are at last signs that
this incredibly regressive chapter in our history may be coming to an
end. In Jeremy Corbyn, Labour now has a leader who wants to break with
the neoliberal policies first introduced by the Conservatives in 1979
(and continued by Labour when in office from 1997-2010), and which have
done so much harm to our economic and social fabric.</blockquote>
The election that brought Thatcher to power followed <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winter_of_Discontent"><i>The Winter of Discontent</i></a> in which the UK's unions flexed their political muscles to extort above market wages. As Wikipedia puts it;<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The <b>Winter of Discontent</b> refers to the winter of 1978–79 in the United Kingdom, during which there were widespread strikes by public sector <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trade_union" title="Trade union">trade unions</a> demanding larger pay rises, following the ongoing pay caps of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labour_Party_%28UK%29" title="Labour Party (UK)">Labour Party</a> government led by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Callaghan" title="James Callaghan">James Callaghan</a> against <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trades_Union_Congress" title="Trades Union Congress">Trades Union Congress</a> opposition to control <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inflation" title="Inflation">inflation</a>, during the coldest winter for 16 years.
</span></blockquote>
And, the social fabric of that day? Let's let a <a href="http://www.newstatesman.com/uk-politics/2008/09/callaghan-government-cabinet">Labour Party insider, Bernard Donoughue</a>, from back in the day, tell it;<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The 1970s were, after all, a generation ago and it was a very different age, dismal in many ways.</span>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The economic climate facing Jim Callaghan was far worse than
anything that confronts [Gordon] Brown or the Chancellor, Alistair Darling (when
the latter finds time to read the economic history of the 1970s and
early 1980s he will want to revise his curious claim that today's [2008's] is the
worst economic situation for 60 years). <b>Inflation peaked around 30 per
cent just before Callaghan took over, and was usually in double figures.</b> Most other economic indicators were worse than today's, with growth and
productivity very poor over a long period and strikes continually
disrupting industry. Not for nothing was Britain then known as <b>"the sick
man of Europe"</b>. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">[our bolds]</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Politically, the challenges facing Callaghan were daunting. Labour
was in a Commons minority throughout his premiership (he skilfully
cobbled together small majorities through pacts with the Liberals and
the Ulstermen). Labour itself was riven by deep ideological differences
of a kind and on a scale unknown today, with the strong left wing
consistently on the edge of rebellion and limiting the policy options
available to the government. The unions and activists facing Brown at
this [2008] month's conferences are mere pussies compared to the wild men
fighting Callaghan.</span></blockquote>
The wild men would quickly return if Corbyn ever got into power. Patrick Sullivanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14948365865741313524noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2974725225114485009.post-20672858871876307342015-09-29T08:07:00.001-07:002015-09-29T10:28:08.774-07:00The wages of Obama<i>Is there <a href="data:image/jpeg;base64,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">a Kaiser</a> in your future?</i> The family foundation says, <a href="http://kff.org/health-costs/press-release/employer-family-health-premiums-rise-4-percent-to-17545-in-2015-extending-a-decade-long-trend-of-relatively-moderate-increases/">there are two Americas</a>;<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://cdn2.hubspot.net/hub/292449/hubfs/ehbs_premiums_wageschart.png?t=1442598614898&width=550&height=412" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://cdn2.hubspot.net/hub/292449/hubfs/ehbs_premiums_wageschart.png?t=1442598614898&width=550&height=412" height="239" width="320" /></a></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">... 81 percent of covered workers are in plans
with a general annual deductible, which average $1,318 for single
coverage this year. Covered workers in smaller firms (three to 199
workers) face an average deductible of $1,836 this year. That’s 66
percent more than the $1,105 average deductible facing covered workers
at large firms (at least 200 workers).</span></blockquote>
We <b>note the date</b>;<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Since 2010, both the share of workers with deductibles and the size
of those deductibles have increased sharply. These two trends together
result in a 67 percent increase in deductibles since 2010, much faster
than the rise in single premiums (24%) and about seven times the rise in
workers’ wages (10%) and general inflation (9%).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">“With deductibles rising so much faster than premiums and wages, it’s
no surprise that consumers have not felt the slowdown in health
spending,” Foundation President and CEO Drew Altman said.</span></blockquote>
It was in 2010 that a Democrat congress passed Obamacare. So that we could, in Nancy Pelosi's words, find out what was in it. Wonder how many Americans expected this?<br />
<br />
Unfortunately, Kaiser makes an elementary error in this statement of supposed fact;<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The average annual premium for single coverage is $6,251, of which
workers on average pay $1,071. The average family premium is $17,545,
with workers on average contributing $4,955.</span></blockquote>
Workers pay the entire amount. What Kaiser is promoting is false <i>incidence</i>; the employer <i>pays</i> for its share by reducing the amount the workers get in their paychecks as wages and salaries. Substituted for with a health insurance benefit--which, at least, is not taxed by the government as income. Patrick Sullivanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14948365865741313524noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2974725225114485009.post-18938357832133238152015-09-28T13:34:00.004-07:002015-09-28T13:37:56.694-07:00Go fishThe Mercatus Center scholars <a href="http://hisstoryisbunk.blogspot.com/2015/09/the-publics-utility-be-damned.html">Foldvary and Hammer</a> aren't limiting themselves to blowing up rationales for public utility monopoly. Nope. They <a href="http://mercatus.org/sites/default/files/Foldvary-Interventionist-Rationales.pdf">also play TAG</a>;<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The Tag-A-Giant (TAG) project has been advancing the knowledge of bluefin and yellowfin tuna, tracking their movements, habits, and spawning and feeding regions.... Using improved tracking tags that gather data over months and years before releasing and relaying information by satellite, TAG has been able to track migration patterns of bluefin throughout the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. ...</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<br />
<div data-canvas-width="271.15364705882354" style="left: 392.176px; top: 648.313px; transform: scaleX(0.941506);">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The success of the TAG project, along with the possibilities offered by tuna farming and other <span class="highlight selected">fish</span>ery advances, suggests a way forward—transponder branding and fishery ownership. Transponder branding involves implanting a small transponder under the skin of the fish, in the same way that household pets are microchipped so they can be identified if lost. The transponder contains information on the owner of the fish as well as basic data on age and release location; more elaborate transponders can record movements over time and other data. For large, expensive fish such as bluefin tuna, these brands can allow fisheries to raise tuna to an age suitable for release into the wild and protect them for subsequent harvesting a few years later when they have grown. By using this technology, the aquaculturists can track their own tuna's movements for harvesting at optimal times, or they can allow third-party fishermen to capture the fish for a bounty. Although many different market structures are possible, one can imagine tuna fishermen being paid at market only for fish with transponders, with the wholesaler paying the farmer directly for the fish brought in, and the farmer paying a bounty on the return of the transponder. </span></span></div>
<div data-canvas-width="317.48121568627454" style="left: 264.947px; top: 334.972px; transform: scaleX(0.914931);">
</div>
<div data-canvas-width="317.48121568627454" style="left: 264.947px; top: 334.972px; transform: scaleX(0.914931);">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Such a system would induce greater incentives to catch only tuna that have been farmed or are otherwise clearly owned,as well as limit the incentives to underreport catches [to international regulators of fisheries]. </span></span></div>
</blockquote>
No more destructive overfishing. Who could be against that...other than people who earn their living as regulators, that is? Patrick Sullivanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14948365865741313524noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2974725225114485009.post-31449919351200956352015-09-28T12:25:00.000-07:002015-09-28T12:27:32.851-07:00The public's utility be damnedSan Diego Gas and Electric started a fire...so <a href="http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/west/2015/09/28/382928.htm">the public should pay the bills</a>;<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">San Diego Gas and Electric is seeking authority to bill its customers
$379 million for legal settlement costs left over from 2007 wildfires
that destroyed 1,300 homes and killed two people.</span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">In filings with state regulators Friday, SDG&E said customers
would pay 90 percent of the costs while stockholders in the
investor-owned utility would pay the remaining 10 percent, roughly $42
million.</span></blockquote>
Of course, where would the utility get the money to pay for anything, but from its customers. After their shareholders were cleaned out, that is. Which brings to this <i>working paper</i>--to which we were alerted by retired NC State <a href="http://www.newmarksdoor.com/mainblog/2015/09/government-intervention-is-becoming-obsolete.html">economist Craig Newmark</a>--by two Mercatus Center scholars <a href="http://mercatus.org/sites/default/files/Foldvary-Interventionist-Rationales.pdf">Fred Foldvary and Eric Hammer</a><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div data-canvas-width="568.8706745098041" style="left: 171.474px; top: 179.553px; transform: scaleX(1.0438);">
<b><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">How Advances in Technology Keep Reducing Interventionist Policy Rationales</span></span></b></div>
</blockquote>
Which, in part, deals with the justification for having public utilities, such as electricity providers. They exist only as a government policy, not as a natural outgrowth of marketplace conditions. At least as the marketplace exists today.<br />
<br />
On site electricity generation is now feasible. I.e. cost competitive with large centralized facilities. The decentralized, local generators also save significant transmission costs. The political barriers to making the switch are political, not economic. The entrenched operators have their ways to prevent competitiors gaining market share (or, in many cases, any share at all);<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Small-scale on-site plants require local and state permits, which are costly and can take months or years to procure, or may be denied. Federal agencies such as the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the Environmental Protection Agency can also block energy enterprise. Taxes on small-scale generation are alos imposed. As Lowi and Crews report (2003...), in California, if a user seeks to exit the grid, "it must pay tribute of up to $6.40 per kW of its own generating capacity per month."</span> </blockquote>
Hey, San Diego is in California! Maybe, if there were no political barriers to entry in the generating business, <i>SDG&E</i> might have gone bankrupt (with its shareholders bearing the losses from the fire they started) and the public's utility would be provided by some other (perhaps more socially responsible) electricity providers. Patrick Sullivanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14948365865741313524noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2974725225114485009.post-67877959454146520052015-09-28T11:18:00.001-07:002015-09-28T11:19:01.406-07:00Only Russians can plant a treeCertainly not some Hollywood actor...<a href="http://news.stanford.edu/pr/2011/pr-famine-040411.html">they have their pride</a>!<br />
<div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The Far Eastern representatives of
the Sakhalin Environment Watch, which the Russian Justice Ministry has labeled
as a foreign agent in accordance with legislation that declares any NGO that
receives financing from abroad as such, have announced that the organization
will voluntarily return any western funding it received.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">First of all the organization will
have to return the $159,000 to the foundation of Hollywood actor Leonardo Di
Caprio, which it received in July for a project to preserve the Vostochny
Wildlife Sanctuary and the surrounding wild salmon rivers.</span></blockquote>
<br />
<i>Sakhalin Watch</i> was founded in post-Soviet Russia. Recently it has published articles calling for more trees to be planted in South Sakhalin. Which the Russian Justice Ministry calls <i>political activity</i>. They probably have a point.</div>
Patrick Sullivanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14948365865741313524noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2974725225114485009.post-74401490546355039992015-09-28T11:03:00.000-07:002015-09-28T11:03:28.570-07:00Wanna be like YanksRussia thinks the USA could teach them <a href="http://www.themoscowtimes.com/business/article/russia-plans-36-billion-food-stamp-program-as-poverty-rises/535333.html">a thing or two about socialism</a>;<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The Russian government may spend 240 billion rubles ($3.6
billion) on a national food stamp program to support an estimated 15-16
million Russian citizens whose poverty has deepened amid an economic
slump, the RIA Novosti news agency reported Thursday.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">To deal with an economic shock that has spurred inflation
into double digits and pushed 3.1 million Russians below the poverty
line in the first quarter of this year alone, the Industry and Trade
Ministry this month submitted a proposal modeled on the U.S. food stamp
program to help low-income and out-of-work people.</span></blockquote>
This is progress, as Russia used to specialize in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_famine_of_1921">man made famines</a>, that the <a href="http://news.stanford.edu/pr/2011/pr-famine-040411.html">USA and Europe had to alleviate</a>.Patrick Sullivanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14948365865741313524noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2974725225114485009.post-48387969321828002282015-09-27T09:24:00.000-07:002015-09-27T09:24:03.587-07:00How many Poles had to take one for Team USSR?Cuts best eaten <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/poland-reburies-wwii-heroes-who-were-slain-by-communists/2015/09/27/1fd29e7a-6526-11e5-bdb6-6861f4521205_story.html">cold Polish-style</a>, (for Russia's foot-in-mouth <a href="http://hisstoryisbunk.blogspot.com/2015/09/heard-one-about-polack-who-started-wwii.html">diplomat Sergey Andreev</a>);<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Poland’s highest state officials have reburied the remains of 35
national heroes, men who fought the Germans during World War II only to
be killed after the war by a new communist leadership that felt
threatened by their patriotism.</span> <br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The remains of the victims were recently recovered from unmarked mass graves with bullet holes in the back of their skulls.</span></blockquote>
With the bullets provided by the predecessors of Vladimir Putin. Patrick Sullivanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14948365865741313524noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2974725225114485009.post-3800148580168777792015-09-26T10:25:00.001-07:002015-09-26T10:25:10.231-07:00Operation Push SEIU asideMake way for Ken Hamidi, says Ken Hamidi--and <a href="http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/the-state-worker/article36630864.html">Jon Ortiz of the Sac Bee</a>, at least, takes him SEIUously--cause he's won some big fights before;<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">...the Iranian-born Franchise Tax Board employee has won some admirers
for his never-say-die spirit and for winning a landmark California
Supreme Court case a dozen years ago. He’s also drawn the ire and the
ridicule of SEIU officials, who dismiss him as a self-aggrandizing
blowhard and a buffoon.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Now he has renewed efforts to replace the
union’s exclusive representation of half of California state
government’s organized workforce with an association that he would head.</span></blockquote>
The law requires that 30% of the covered work force sign petitions before a decertification election will be held. In this case, that would be about 28,500 signatures from approximately 95,000 state employees. Hamidi is confident he can get to that number, if the state government doesn't interfere with his efforts. And it sounds as if they won't, as Governor Jerry Brown's;<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">...administration did send out a statewide memo to managers acknowledging
it “received notice from an employee organization of its effort to
decertify an exclusively recognized state employee organization.” It
also reminded agencies that they must “uphold the state’s position of
strict neutrality during a decertification effort” and that the state
“could be exposed to allegations of unfair labor practice” should any
manager take any action that shows bias.</span></blockquote>
IOW, please don't do anything to hinder Hamidi that would give him a chance to sue. Considering that some powerful people aren't thrilled with the prospect;<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">“Ken Hamidi is a state worker who relies on televised theatrics,
falsehoods and exaggerated claims to attack Local 1000,” Local 1000
President Yvonne Walker said in an email to The Sacramento Bee. “Like
his candidacy for governor in 2003 and for Local 1000 president in 2008,
his 8-year-long campaign to weaken the union hasn’t attracted any
meaningful following.”</span></blockquote>
<div style="color: black; font: 10pt sans-serif; height: 1px; overflow: hidden; text-align: left; text-transform: none; width: 1px;">
<br />Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/the-state-worker/article36630864.html#storylink=cpy</div>
<div style="color: black; font: 10pt sans-serif; height: 1px; overflow: hidden; text-align: left; text-transform: none; width: 1px;">
that </div>
that was the least Brown could do. Now it's a race for Hamidi to find and submit the requisite number of signatures before November 2. That's the deadline according to state law, since the SEIU's current contract runs out July 1, 2016.<br />
<div style="color: black; font: 10pt sans-serif; height: 1px; overflow: hidden; text-align: left; text-transform: none; width: 1px;">
<br />Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/the-state-worker/article36630864.html#storylink=cpy</div>
Patrick Sullivanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14948365865741313524noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2974725225114485009.post-20300946849477012572015-09-26T09:24:00.002-07:002015-09-26T09:24:37.473-07:00Heard the one about the Polack who started WWII?Next time you're at a Soviet Embassy party in Poland, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/poles-furious-after-russia-blames-them-for-starting-wwii/2015/09/26/0da28620-644a-11e5-8475-781cc9851652_story.html">ask the Ambassador</a> to tell you about it;<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Russian Ambassador Sergey Andreev on Friday described the
Soviet’s 1939 invasion of Poland as an act of self-defense, not
aggression. The comment prompted Poland’s Foreign Ministry to declare
Saturday that the ambassador “undermines historical truth” and seems to
be trying to justify Stalinist crimes.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">World War II
began after Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union sealed a pact in 1939 that
included a secret provision to carve up Poland and other parts of
Eastern Europe. Germany soon invaded Poland from the West, followed by a
Soviet invasion from the east 16 days later. Millions of Poles were
killed in the war.</span></blockquote>
It made sense to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lillian_Hellman">Lillian Hellman</a>, Dalton Trumbo and <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Odd-Man-Out-Memoir-Holllywood/dp/0809319993">John Howard Lawson</a>. Patrick Sullivanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14948365865741313524noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2974725225114485009.post-78306354440010446742015-09-26T09:10:00.002-07:002015-09-26T09:10:33.037-07:00The good ol' days...BrrrrrrrrHuman trafficking, <a href="http://af.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idAFKCN0RQ0GM20150926?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2FAFRICAWorldNews+%28News+%2F+AFRICA+%2F+World+News%29&&rpc=401&pageNumber=1&virtualBrandChannel=0">Putin-style</a>;<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span class="focusParagraph">Russia and Estonia exchanged
two men accused of espionage at a remote border post on Saturday in an
episode reminiscent of a Cold War spy thriller that follows heightened
tensions between the neighbours.<br />
</span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span id="midArticle_1"></span>
<span class="focusParagraph">
<br />
....Estonian officials confirmed the swap, which took
place at a bridge over the Piusa river in a forested border region a few
miles south of Lake Peipus.</span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span class="focusParagraph">
</span>
<span id="midArticle_3"></span>
</span><span class="focusParagraph"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">"Both sides found a suitable solution," the director
of Estonia's Internal Security Service, Arnold Sinisalu, told a
televised news conference.</span></span></blockquote>
We'll wait for the movie.<br />
<br />
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</span>Patrick Sullivanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14948365865741313524noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2974725225114485009.post-74058255189430605122015-09-26T08:46:00.001-07:002015-09-26T08:46:33.424-07:00Kicking the 'can' down the open roadWords that we <a href="http://www.trust.org/item/20150926134258-udqhp/">aren't at all surprised to hear</a>;<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span id="tab-container-landscape"><span id="tab-container">Socialist
mayor Anne Hidalgo, who late this year will host the United Nations
World Climate Conference, told the daily Le Parisien that the goal was
to show that "Paris can operate without cars".</span></span></span></blockquote>
It could operate without croissants, wine and cheese too. The question should be, What are the costs and benefits of doing without? And, maybe give some second thoughts to the type of fuel those cars burn;<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span id="tab-container-landscape"><span id="tab-container">France has
the highest percentage of diesel cars on the road in Europe. They have
been popular as successive governments have subsidised the fuel, making
it cheaper than gasoline.</span></span></span></blockquote>
But it's clean diesel. The <a href="http://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21666226-volkswagens-falsification-pollution-tests-opens-door-very-different-car">Germans told us so</a>, and have they ever lied to us? Patrick Sullivanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14948365865741313524noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2974725225114485009.post-19001104651234634132015-09-25T11:33:00.001-07:002015-09-25T11:33:23.887-07:00East is east, south is south and...Don't let the Pope know about the <a href="http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=73359">massive inequality in the Muslim world</a>;<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div id="text2">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">MECCA - They may be equal before God inside Mecca's Grand
Mosque, but the rich and poor pilgrims at the annual hajj clearly reveal
their differences just beyond the gates.</span></div>
<div id="text2">
<br /></div>
<div id="text2">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Outside the southern end of the sprawling compound lies a temple to consumerism.</span></div>
</blockquote>
<div id="text2">
Or a mosque.<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> </span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div id="text2">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Several
high-end hotels, malls and restaurants are found inside the six towers
of the gargantuan Abraj al-Bait complex. It includes the Mecca Royal
Clock Tower, the world's third-highest building which rises behind the
mosque.</span></div>
<div id="text2">
<br /></div>
<div id="text2">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">In contrast, beyond the eastern entrance of
Islam's holiest site, water drips from air conditioners, garbage is
piled beside the roads, and a stench fills the air.</span></div>
</blockquote>
Air conditioning, hmmm. Patrick Sullivanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14948365865741313524noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2974725225114485009.post-43054647810293744822015-09-25T10:39:00.002-07:002015-09-25T10:42:24.507-07:00She got the poms poms, butNot the <i>indentured servitude</i>, as she <a href="http://www.trust.org/item/20150925170225-vx9tj/">was free to stop cheering</a> for her team any ol' time she wanted;<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span id="tab-container">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">A former Milwaukee Bucks cheerleader has filed a federal lawsuit
accusing the National Basketball Association team of failing to pay her
at least a minimum wage or overtime for her work, court documents
showed.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Lauren Herington, 22, worked 30 to
40 hours in an average week in her one season for the team, making
about $3.50 to $4.50 an hour, and was not compensated for overtime when
she worked more than 40 hours in a week, attorney Scott Andresen said.</span></span></blockquote>
So, we'll have to <i>give her an F</i> for;<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span id="tab-container"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">"They
are <b>indentured servants with pom poms</b>," Andresen said by phone, adding
that more Bucks cheerleaders could possibly join the lawsuit.</span></span></blockquote>
Not too surprisingly;<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span id="tab-container"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">A Milwaukee Bucks team representative could not be reached immediately to comment.</span></span></blockquote>
There's never an economist around to cheer for, when you want one.Patrick Sullivanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14948365865741313524noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2974725225114485009.post-68772943407013531352015-09-25T09:07:00.000-07:002015-09-25T09:34:35.661-07:00Whoo, whoo, whoo, whooooooGive Labour a <i>break clause</i> and <i>they'll have a <a href="http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/a-6d8f-Labour-could-take-railways-straight-back#.VgVsAW6PG70">list of passenger [rail] that's pretty big</a></i>;<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">A LABOUR government under Jeremy Corbyn could take rail franchises
back into public ownership before they expire, the Morning Star can
reveal today.</span></blockquote>
They said, rubbing their hands together in glee. That's because of something in the contracts private rail operators have with government, called <i>break clauses</i>. Apparently having nothing to do with <i>tea time</i>.<br />
<br />
What makes the comrades at Morning Star: The People's Daily so excited (they got drubbed in the last election)? Well, there's a Labour Party conference this Sunday, and they have to have <i>something</i> to talk about. <i>Talking</i> being what they do best.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Transport Salaried Staffs Association (TSSA) general secretary Manuel
Cortes, whose union is behind the motion to next week’s conference,
said Labour should think about “accelerating” renationalisation through
invoking break clauses “if this is in the interests of passengers.”</span></blockquote>
Yeah, IF. <br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">While Labour should make a “bolder” commitment to ending the
franchising system and taking back all routes, he said, TSSA’s motion
would reiterate the NPF’s call for a new “guiding mind” to combine
buying trains with ticketing powers and track maintenance.</span></blockquote>
<i>Lenin</i>...<i>Lenin</i>...?<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">“All new rolling stock should be purchased through public
procurement,” the TSSA leader added, “to boost the manufacturing
capacity in the UK and create a better skills base.”</span></blockquote>
<i>Galbraith</i>...<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=puPXbYFTV6A"><i>Galbraith</i></a>...? And all the other suspects who been workin' on the railroad;<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Train drivers’ union Aslef is expected to second the call. Its leader
Mick Whelan told the Star: “We will support any opportunity for the
railways to be bought back into public ownership.”</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></blockquote>
Now all you need to do is convince a few million English and Scottish voters to return you to power.Patrick Sullivanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14948365865741313524noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2974725225114485009.post-8094016190092513082015-09-25T08:32:00.002-07:002015-09-25T08:32:56.662-07:00GoldilocksonomicsAnd he has a Nobel prize, so <a href="http://finance.yahoo.com/news/shiller--the-market-is-overvalued---and-what-to-do-about-it-120337758.html#">take it to...the fores</a>t, knock on any door...<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1443038855070_66427">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span id="yui_3_18_1_1_1443192255512_2472">While Shiller expects a further drop in the market, </span><span id="yui_3_16_0_1_1443038855070_66434">h<span id="yui_3_18_1_1_1443192255512_2469">e
warns against making any extreme moves. He says that investors should
not to pull out of stocks completely, but also that they should "not be
heavily exposed to the market, because it's worrisome at this point.
Worrisome but not horrible."</span><span> </span><span id="yui_3_18_1_1_1443192255512_2488">For this reason, Shiller says he has reduced his own exposure to equities.</span></span></span></div>
</blockquote>
to just the right amount, no doubt. <br />
<div id="yui_3_18_1_1_1443192255512_2490">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span id="yui_3_16_0_1_1443038855070_66434"><span id="yui_3_16_0_1_1443038855070_66436"></span></span></span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div id="yui_3_18_1_1_1443192255512_2490">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span id="yui_3_16_0_1_1443038855070_66434"><span id="yui_3_16_0_1_1443038855070_66436">He
also notes that recent gains in the housing market may not be
sustainable. “I'm starting to worry a little bit, it's getting high by
historical standards,” he says, adding that housing is a cause for
concern, but it's not quite like the stock market yet in terms of
valuations.</span></span></span></div>
</blockquote>
'not quite...yet' <br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div id="yui_3_18_1_1_1443192255512_2528">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span id="yui_3_16_0_1_1443038855070_66434"><span id="yui_3_16_0_1_1443038855070_66433">“Usually
housing has not been a great investment, owner-occupied housing,” he
says. “Unless it gives you pleasure... I think people tend to
overestimate the investment value of housing, especially at a time like
this, when home prices are already high.”</span></span></span></div>
</blockquote>
Of course, he has two houses himself.<br />
<br />
Also, he has <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Phishing-Phools-Economics-Manipulation-Deception/dp/0691168318">a book you should buy</a>. So you don't get manipulated or deceived.<br />
<br />
(Actually, he once wrote a very good book; <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Finance-Good-Society-Robert-Shiller/dp/0691158096/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1443195090&sr=1-1&keywords=finance+and+the+good+society"><i>Finance and the Good Society</i></a>, that would serve most people well if they read it.)Patrick Sullivanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14948365865741313524noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2974725225114485009.post-21854418485495232632015-09-24T12:11:00.002-07:002015-09-24T12:14:41.198-07:00What happens in VegasStays in Vegas got more expensive, <a href="http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/west/2015/09/23/382541.htm">thanks to the airport authorities</a>;<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">McCarran International Airport spokesman Chris Jones confirmed
authorities cited 87 [Uber and Lyft] drivers as of last week for not being authorized to
drop off or pick up passengers.</span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">.... The citations carry fines of $100.... </span></blockquote>
Even though the drivers have been authorized to do so by the state of Nevada. We wonder who the airport is supposed to serve, the passengers pay to take off and land there...or someone else?Patrick Sullivanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14948365865741313524noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2974725225114485009.post-58440998501200543222015-09-24T11:38:00.001-07:002015-09-24T11:55:32.660-07:00She's a saint<div class="tr_bq">
Or should be anyway, thinks Pope Francis of Dorothy Day. Who also <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorothy_Day">was a Communist</a> and a supporter of Fidel Castro (and were she still alive, would probably think Nick Maduro is just swell). But, <i><a href="http://hisstoryisbunk.blogspot.com/2015/09/the-jokes-on-el-papa.html">is the Pope a socialist?</a></i></div>
<br />
<a href="http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/09/24/443126027/in-pope-francis-congress-speech-praise-for-dorothy-day-and-thomas-merton">Perish the thought</a>;<br />
<blockquote style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; float: none; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.70588; margin-bottom: 1.17647em; max-width: 680px; padding: 0px 15px; position: static; vertical-align: baseline; width: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">He praised one as a man of prayer, the other for her "passion for justice." But many Americans might need a reminder about two of the people Pope Francis discussed in Congress on Thursday: philosopher Thomas Merton and activist Dorothy Day.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The two Catholics were mentioned alongside two other, more famous names: Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King Jr.</span></blockquote>
Just a coincidence that the non-socialist Pope mentioned, for praise, a Marxist inspired critic of capitalism. Sure.<br />
<br />
<b><span style="font-size: large;">[Update:]</span></b> The <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3247650/A-divorced-Fidel-Castro-fan-string-affairs-abortion-spoke-Ho-Chi-Minh-Dortoth-Day-unusual-American-Catholic-saint-praised-Pope.html">Daily Mail noticed</a> too;<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<h1 id="ext-gen142">
A divorced Fidel Castro fan who had a string of
affairs, an abortion and spoke up for Ho Chi Minh: The VERY unusual
American Catholic 'saint' praised by the Pope</h1>
</blockquote>
That's the Mail's response to the Pontiff's;<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span id="ext-gen143">'In these times when
social concerns are so important, I cannot fail to mention the Servant
of God Dorothy Day, who founded the Catholic Worker Movement
[newspaper],' he said.</span></span></span><br />
<div style="background-color: white; border: medium none; color: black; overflow: hidden; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /><span id="ext-gen144">'Her social activism, her
passion for justice and for the cause of the oppressed, were inspired
by the Gospel, her faith and the example of the saints.'</span></span></span><a href="http://ec.tynt.com/b/rf?id=bBOTTqvd0r3Pooab7jrHcU&u=DailyMail" target="_blank"></a></div>
</blockquote>
Patrick Sullivanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14948365865741313524noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2974725225114485009.post-55808426406247540582015-09-24T10:39:00.002-07:002015-09-24T10:39:37.453-07:00What will spook the spooksDelay paying them, <a href="http://www.thezimbabwean.co/2015/09/cio-pay-day-moved/">as Zimbabwe has</a>, that'll do it;<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px none; color: #323232; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18.2px; margin: 0px 0px 12px; padding: 0px ! important; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">President Robert Mugabe’s trusted spooks in the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) have not been spared the current economic problems – with their pay day being moved by almost two weeks.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px none; color: #323232; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18.2px; margin: 0px 0px 12px; padding: 0px ! important; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Sources confided in The Zimbabwean that the dates were moved in May this year as government struggled to mobilise enough revenue to pay public employees on time.</span></div>
</blockquote>
Bad for morale;<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #323232; display: inline ! important; float: none; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18.2px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px;">“Most of us are not happy with this. We used to get preferential treatment, but this is no longer the case. How does the president expect us to be loyal to him when we are being treated like this? Morale is very low among the ranks and most of us are no longer as dedicated to the job as we used to be,” added the source.</span></span></blockquote>
Ominous.Patrick Sullivanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14948365865741313524noreply@blogger.com1