Sunday, August 31, 2014

About that 'least dangerous branch'

 The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government....
After  2-1/4 centuries, word of the U.S. Constitution's idea of co-equal branches of government seems not to have gotten to the Pacific Northwest;
When citizens or companies disregard court orders or decorum, judges aren’t shy about sanctioning them.
But the Washington Supreme Court could make history if it finds the entire state Legislature in contempt for not making enough progress toward fully funding public education.
The court will hold a special hearing Wednesday to hear arguments about whether it should do so.
In 2012, the justices found Washington’s education system was not properly funded, ruling that lawmakers were violating the constitutional rights of the state’s one million school children. They gave lawmakers until 2018 to come up with billions of dollars of additional money.
  Government by judicial fiat!
 

Saturday, August 30, 2014

Temps libre, égalité, fraternité

As Maynard G. Krebs put it, Work...work! 

While others say, We want a Maggie in our future;
The choice to replace [Economy Minister Arnaud] Montebourg was telling. The veteran left-wing firebrand has made way for 36-year-old former banker Emmanuel Macron, another move aimed at sending out a clear pro-business message.
Xavier Galezowski, a senior consultant at Ernst and Young, believes the government’s change of heart is a “clear signal that the left is reconsidering the fact that they have to be pragmatic” when it comes to businesses and the economy.
....“I think that in many ways we are hoping to have someone like Margaret Thatcher in France,” he says, referring to the Britain’s “Iron Lady” Prime Minister famous for her policies of economic deregulation, privatisation and decreasing the power of trade unions.
France does resemble a Peter Sellers movie these days;


NEW ECONOMY minister Emmanuel Macron has sparked a political row after saying that he would be in favour of relaxing the rules on the 35-hour working week in France. - See more at: http://www.connexionfrance.com/france-politics-valls-2-government-macron-economy-minister-working-hours-16132-view-article.html#sthash.QiAO0XeD.dpuf
NEW ECONOMY minister Emmanuel Macron has sparked a political row after saying that he would be in favour of relaxing the rules on the 35-hour working week in France.

In an interview with Le Point, conducted before his elevation to the “Valls II” cabinet and published today, the former investment banker said that he was in favour of businesses being able to set their own working hours in agreement with the unions.

Mr Macron, who helped draw up the €50bn Responsibility Pact, said: “We could allow businesses, under majority agreements, to waive the rules of working hours and pay.

“It is already possible for companies in trouble. Why not extend it to all companies provided that there is a majority agreement with the employees.”

He said that France faced two major economic problems - the budget deficit and decreased competitiveness, and argued that “key to recovery is to liberate the energies that create activity”.

Unions reacted angrily to Mr Macron’s comments. Lawrence Berger, secretary general of the CFDT, said that waiving the 35-hour rule was "not a good idea”.

France’s Secretary of State for European Affairs Harlem Désir told iTele this morning that the government had no formal plans to challenge the 35-hour law.

"There is no project of this nature," he said. "There is, however, a desire to develop social negotiation in business.” - See more at: http://www.connexionfrance.com/france-politics-valls-2-government-macron-economy-minister-working-hours-16132-view-article.html#sthash.QiAO0XeD.dpuf
NEW ECONOMY minister Emmanuel Macron has sparked a political row after saying that he would be in favour of relaxing the rules on the 35-hour working week in France.

In an interview with Le Point, conducted before his elevation to the “Valls II” cabinet and published today, the former investment banker said that he was in favour of businesses being able to set their own working hours in agreement with the unions.

Mr Macron, who helped draw up the €50bn Responsibility Pact, said: “We could allow businesses, under majority agreements, to waive the rules of working hours and pay.

“It is already possible for companies in trouble. Why not extend it to all companies provided that there is a majority agreement with the employees.”

He said that France faced two major economic problems - the budget deficit and decreased competitiveness, and argued that “key to recovery is to liberate the energies that create activity”.

Unions reacted angrily to Mr Macron’s comments. Lawrence Berger, secretary general of the CFDT, said that waiving the 35-hour rule was "not a good idea”.

France’s Secretary of State for European Affairs Harlem Désir told iTele this morning that the government had no formal plans to challenge the 35-hour law.

"There is no project of this nature," he said. "There is, however, a desire to develop social negotiation in business.” - See more at: http://www.connexionfrance.com/france-politics-valls-2-government-macron-economy-minister-working-hours-16132-view-article.html#sthash.QiAO0XeD.dpuf
NEW ECONOMY minister Emmanuel Macron has sparked a political row after saying that he would be in favour of relaxing the rules on the 35-hour working week in France.

In an interview with Le Point, conducted before his elevation to the “Valls II” cabinet and published today, the former investment banker said that he was in favour of businesses being able to set their own working hours in agreement with the unions.

Mr Macron, who helped draw up the €50bn Responsibility Pact, said: “We could allow businesses, under majority agreements, to waive the rules of working hours and pay.

“It is already possible for companies in trouble. Why not extend it to all companies provided that there is a majority agreement with the employees.”

He said that France faced two major economic problems - the budget deficit and decreased competitiveness, and argued that “key to recovery is to liberate the energies that create activity”.

Unions reacted angrily to Mr Macron’s comments. Lawrence Berger, secretary general of the CFDT, said that waiving the 35-hour rule was "not a good idea”.

France’s Secretary of State for European Affairs Harlem Désir told iTele this morning that the government had no formal plans to challenge the 35-hour law.

"There is no project of this nature," he said. "There is, however, a desire to develop social negotiation in business.” - See more at: http://www.connexionfrance.com/france-politics-valls-2-government-macron-economy-minister-working-hours-16132-view-article.html#sthash.QiAO0XeD.dpuf
NEW ECONOMY minister Emmanuel Macron has sparked a political row after saying that he would be in favour of relaxing the rules on the 35-hour working week in France.

In an interview with Le Point, conducted before his elevation to the “Valls II” cabinet and published today, the former investment banker said that he was in favour of businesses being able to set their own working hours in agreement with the unions.

Mr Macron, who helped draw up the €50bn Responsibility Pact, said: “We could allow businesses, under majority agreements, to waive the rules of working hours and pay.

“It is already possible for companies in trouble. Why not extend it to all companies provided that there is a majority agreement with the employees.”

He said that France faced two major economic problems - the budget deficit and decreased competitiveness, and argued that “key to recovery is to liberate the energies that create activity”.

Unions reacted angrily to Mr Macron’s comments. Lawrence Berger, secretary general of the CFDT, said that waiving the 35-hour rule was "not a good idea”.

France’s Secretary of State for European Affairs Harlem Désir told iTele this morning that the government had no formal plans to challenge the 35-hour law.

"There is no project of this nature," he said. "There is, however, a desire to develop social negotiation in business.” - See more at: http://www.connexionfrance.com/france-politics-valls-2-government-macron-economy-minister-working-hours-16132-view-article.html#sthash.QiAO0XeD.dpuf
NEW ECONOMY minister Emmanuel Macron has sparked a political row after saying that he would be in favour of relaxing the rules on the 35-hour working week in France.

In an interview with Le Point, conducted before his elevation to the “Valls II” cabinet and published today, the former investment banker said that he was in favour of businesses being able to set their own working hours in agreement with the unions.

Mr Macron, who helped draw up the €50bn Responsibility Pact, said: “We could allow businesses, under majority agreements, to waive the rules of working hours and pay.

“It is already possible for companies in trouble. Why not extend it to all companies provided that there is a majority agreement with the employees.”

He said that France faced two major economic problems - the budget deficit and decreased competitiveness, and argued that “key to recovery is to liberate the energies that create activity”.

Unions reacted angrily to Mr Macron’s comments. Lawrence Berger, secretary general of the CFDT, said that waiving the 35-hour rule was "not a good idea”.

France’s Secretary of State for European Affairs Harlem Désir told iTele this morning that the government had no formal plans to challenge the 35-hour law.

"There is no project of this nature," he said. "There is, however, a desire to develop social negotiation in business.” - See more at: http://www.connexionfrance.com/france-politics-valls-2-government-macron-economy-minister-working-hours-16132-view-article.html#sthash.QiAO0XeD.dpuf
NEW ECONOMY minister Emmanuel Macron has sparked a political row after saying that he would be in favour of relaxing the rules on the 35-hour working week in France.

In an interview with Le Point, conducted before his elevation to the “Valls II” cabinet and published today, the former investment banker said that he was in favour of businesses being able to set their own working hours in agreement with the unions.

Mr Macron, who helped draw up the €50bn Responsibility Pact, said: “We could allow businesses, under majority agreements, to waive the rules of working hours and pay.

“It is already possible for companies in trouble. Why not extend it to all companies provided that there is a majority agreement with the employees.”

He said that France faced two major economic problems - the budget deficit and decreased competitiveness, and argued that “key to recovery is to liberate the energies that create activity”.

Unions reacted angrily to Mr Macron’s comments. Lawrence Berger, secretary general of the CFDT, said that waiving the 35-hour rule was "not a good idea”.

France’s Secretary of State for European Affairs Harlem Désir told iTele this morning that the government had no formal plans to challenge the 35-hour law.

"There is no project of this nature," he said. "There is, however, a desire to develop social negotiation in business.” - See more at: http://www.connexionfrance.com/france-politics-valls-2-government-macron-economy-minister-working-hours-16132-view-article.html#sthash.QiAO0XeD.dpuf
NEW ECONOMY minister Emmanuel Macron has sparked a political row after saying that he would be in favour of relaxing the rules on the 35-hour working week in France.

In an interview with Le Point, conducted before his elevation to the “Valls II” cabinet and published today, the former investment banker said that he was in favour of businesses being able to set their own working hours in agreement with the unions.

Mr Macron, who helped draw up the €50bn Responsibility Pact, said: “We could allow businesses, under majority agreements, to waive the rules of working hours and pay.

“It is already possible for companies in trouble. Why not extend it to all companies provided that there is a majority agreement with the employees.”

He said that France faced two major economic problems - the budget deficit and decreased competitiveness, and argued that “key to recovery is to liberate the energies that create activity”.

Unions reacted angrily to Mr Macron’s comments. Lawrence Berger, secretary general of the CFDT, said that waiving the 35-hour rule was "not a good idea”.

France’s Secretary of State for European Affairs Harlem Désir told iTele this morning that the government had no formal plans to challenge the 35-hour law.

"There is no project of this nature," he said. "There is, however, a desire to develop social negotiation in business.” - See more at: http://www.connexionfrance.com/france-politics-valls-2-government-macron-economy-minister-working-hours-16132-view-article.html#sthash.QiAO0XeD.dpuf
NEW ECONOMY minister Emmanuel Macron has sparked a political row after saying that he would be in favour of relaxing the rules on the 35-hour working week in France.

In an interview with Le Point, conducted before his elevation to the “Valls II” cabinet and published today, the former investment banker said that he was in favour of businesses being able to set their own working hours in agreement with the unions.

Mr Macron, who helped draw up the €50bn Responsibility Pact, said: “We could allow businesses, under majority agreements, to waive the rules of working hours and pay.

“It is already possible for companies in trouble. Why not extend it to all companies provided that there is a majority agreement with the employees.”

He said that France faced two major economic problems - the budget deficit and decreased competitiveness, and argued that “key to recovery is to liberate the energies that create activity”.

Unions reacted angrily to Mr Macron’s comments. Lawrence Berger, secretary general of the CFDT, said that waiving the 35-hour rule was "not a good idea”.

France’s Secretary of State for European Affairs Harlem Désir told iTele this morning that the government had no formal plans to challenge the 35-hour law.

"There is no project of this nature," he said. "There is, however, a desire to develop social negotiation in business.” - See more at: http://www.connexionfrance.com/france-politics-valls-2-government-macron-economy-minister-working-hours-16132-view-article.html#sthash.QiAO0XeD.dpuf

Summer econ movie round-up

We've been meaning to catch-up on our viewing of films that econ professors could show in their classes to illustrate lessons from the textbooks their students are required to read, and found--from 2012;


Which is a subtle gem, written by someone called Michael Walker (of whom, little is known other than this film). Anton Chekhov probably never had an actress at hand as dynamic as Parker Posey, but he'd have appreciated the craftsmanship in this comedy-drama (what the Russian playwright thought his works were).

Which is more than can be said for the nation's film critics. We can't find a single one of whom who has a clue as to what this movie is about, even in the prestige press. The role played by the wife of slacker Pete Cozy--also a missed irony by most critics--is pretty much ignored. We'd have thought the counterpoint to Posey's brash, aggressive character couldn't have been clearer--especially with the movie's ending where the wife is happy as a clam, living within walking distance of the Pacific Ocean, while her husband has to go inside, on a Sunday afternoon, to catch up on his work. But, hey, it's only half the movie.

Also, most critics slammed the grocery economics as 'eyes glazing over' stuff. Fortunately, the writer/director Walker knew what he was doing;
Did you research the supermarket business?
I did. Shelving strategy isn’t that glamorous, but when you hear about it from someone who’s really articulate, it becomes very interesting. Also, it’s a very private business. It’s secretive stuff. Surprisingly, I couldn’t even get access to a lot of their offices.
He got enough to make the point that needed making about economic reality. See for yourself though and judge it both for the off-color of its characters AND the content of its economics.

She who is ignorant of economic history

Is condemned to repeat the same old nonsense for the San Francisco Chronicle;
"We're anticipating displaced families and individuals, and we're anticipating a shortage of homes," said Pablo Zatarain, a program manager at Fair Housing Napa Valley. "The rental market in Napa was already very short on housing, and we expect this to be a problem in the short term while people search for temporary solutions."
Ho hum, another earthquake in the San Francisco Bay Area. Another newspaper reporter--Vivien Ho--who missed the famous 1946 article by George Stigler and Milton Friedman--Roofs or Ceilings, that begins with the story of the housing non-shortage in San Francisco after the April 1906 massive earthquake and fire that destroyed roughly half the housing stock in that city.

The two economists point out that the first edition of the San Francisco Chronicle published after the earthquake (in May), contains not a single mention of a housing shortage!

The reason (obvious to an economist) is that housing markets were unhindered by government regulation back then. So, even without Craig's List, the people of San Francisco re-allocated their housing amongst themselves. Even the poor found lodgings, without the kind of wailing and gnashing of teeth today's Chronicle readers have to suffer through;
"Trying to find a new place at an affordable price, it's a huge concern for us. And now we've got to compete with everybody else needing immediate housing."
Exactly as San Franciscans had to over a century ago. Without;
If federal disaster assistance comes through, homeowners can apply for cash aid. Renters without insurance will only be eligible for low-interest loans.
"A loan!" [Sarah] Sandbek [the 38-year-old owner of a touring company called Sommelier on Wheels.] scoffed, gesturing toward the destroyed building. "This wasn't even our fault. But now we can go into debt over it."
Thank California politics for that, Sarah.

Friday, August 29, 2014

Yo soy lo que soy

And there are plenty more just like me, says Popeye the Columbian Hitman;
During an interview last year, Popeye said the drug war was unwinnable, because there would always be people like him.
“People like me can’t be stopped. It’s a war,” he told Jochen-Martin Gutsch and Juan Moreno of Der Spiegel.
“They lose men, and we lose men. They lose their scruples, and we never had any. In the end, you’ll even blow up an aircraft because you believe the Colombian president is on board. I don’t know what you have to do. Maybe sell cocaine in pharmacies. I’ve been in prison for 20 years, but you will never win this war when there is so much money to be made. Never.”
And Pablo Escobar's favorite murderer should know;
Popeye confessed to killing 300 people and also claimed he had a hand in the deaths of up to 3,000 people during the 1980s and 90s. He even murdered his own girlfriend at the request of his capo. In an interview last year, Popeye said Escobar’s orders came down after he learned she had tried to become an informant for the US government. He described her murder as one of the most painful episodes in his life.
The costs of good intentions (attempting to keep drugs away from American teenagers).

Like a toll bridge on a rainy day

Someone should feel so bad about this, because taxpayers were done a dirty deal, and can't just shake their heads and walk away;
The cost of repairs and unfinished work on the $6.4 billion Bay Bridge eastern span is likely to exhaust what is left in the project's contingency [rainy day] fund for overruns, a Caltrans official warned Thursday.
....The bridge contingency fund - money collected from toll payers' wallets - totaled $900 million when it was created in 2005. At the time, bridge officials portrayed it as far more than they were likely to need.
Now, however, the fund is down to $90 million, and "a bunch of" pending payments for finishing work on the new bridge and demolishing the old span will probably "eat up" that money and more, [risk manager Rick] Foley said. He pegged the likelihood of exhausting the fund at 80 percent.
80% and rising, is more like it.
Steel grit that embedded in the paint when grinding was being done during construction is rusting, which had already required an extra $2.5 million in work before the committee approved the new money [$4 million] Thursday. The misaligned steel rods have created the risk that steel cable strands will rub against metal on the bridge, potentially weakening the cable.
This on top of the cost overruns from the 1998 estimate of $1.4 billion to build the span. The final total will be at least $6.5 billion.

Meanwhile the French Communists who authorized the privately financed Millau Viaduct can chuckle.


Mountain hikes

Spain raises the incentives for recreationists;
Faced with growing numbers of casual day-trippers who end up stranded on a mountain, several regional governments have announced that they will charge for the work involved in getting people home safe. Besides Asturias, the Basque Country, Castilla y León, Catalonia, Navarre, the Canary Islands and Cantabria have also set hourly fees that range from €30 for a 4x4 vehicle to around €2,000 for a fully equipped medical helicopter. And then there is the price of the manpower: between €30 and €40 per officer sent out to help.
Though their hearts aren't in it;
But the truth is these fees are rarely charged because they are meant more as a deterrent than as a way to collect money, notes José Luis Villaverde, director general of the Asturian justice and home affairs department. What’s more, it is very hard to prove that negligence was involved. Castilla y León has yet to charge anyone. Navarre and the Basque Country have been more aggressive, and have collected the fees 10 times each.
 Now, about the running of the bulls...

Fore!

While Barack Obama works on his putting, the rest of the world is not at rest;
We do believe there were air strikes undertaken in recent days by the UAE and Egypt inside Libya," Pentagon spokesman Rear Admiral John Kirby said at a news conference in Washington on Tuesday. The State Department reacted similarly, confirming the attacks but not saying whether the US was notified in advance - leading to an assumption that the country knew nothing of the strikes.
Several US officials are also being quoted in media reports saying Washington had been caught off guard by air strikes carried out by the UAE using Egyptian air bases. The lack of notification amounts to diplomatic embarrassment for the United States, since the UAE and Egypt are considered to be American allies. Washington is a significant provider of military aid to Egypt and is regularly involved in arms sales to the UAE.
Secret air strikes are "an astounding and unusual action," said William Lawrence of the Elliott School of International Affairs in Washington, adding that the US would not have approved of the move.
Moving east a little (even Martha Raddatz noticed);
President Obama admitted today that his administration does not yet have a strategy to combat the militant Islamic group ISIS that has seized large chunks of Iraq and Syria. 
Wonder if Putin would like to join the foursome;
Nato has accused Russia of a "blatant violation" of Ukraine's sovereignty and engaging in direct military operations to support pro-Russian rebels.
Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said that "despite hollow denials", it was now clear that Russia had illegally crossed Ukraine's border.
To which the POTUS had this to say;
“As a result of the action Russia has already taken and the major sanctions we’ve imposed,” Obama said, “Russia is already more isolated than any time since the end of the cold war.”
“The separatists are backed, trained, armed, financed by Russia. Throughout this process we’ve seen deep Russian involvement in everything that they’ve done,” Obama added.
That behavior, he added, “will only bring more cost and consequences to Russia.” After speaking with allies, Obama continued, he expects a new wave of sanctions to come soon. The president is expected to meet with NATO partners next week, and said the US “will continue to stand firm with our allies and partners” to protect Ukraine from further encroachment.
Summertime, and the livin' is easy.

Thursday, August 28, 2014

Barack, we hardly knew ye'd be this bad

Brad DeLong should have listened to us, long ago. He then might have been able to avoid having to admit this;
A year and a half ago, when some of us were expecting a return to whatever the path of potential output was by 2017, our guess was that the Great Recession would wind up costing the North Atlantic in lost production about 80% of one year’s output–call it $13 trillion. Today a five-year return to whatever the new normal might be looks optimistic–and even that scenario carries us to $20 trillion. And a pessimistic scenario of five years that have been like 2012-2014 plus then five years of recovery would get us to a total lost-wealth cost of $35 trillion.
At some point we will have to stop calling this thing “The Great Recession” and start calling it “The Greater Depression”. When?
When DeLong votes for a Republican?  Hell freezes over?

Estanflación

Argentina doesn't work!
Three out of Argentina’s five unions — those that oppose the policies of President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner — began a general strike on Thursday to protest the country’s economic crisis.
Those unions not on strike are the radicals.
....the strike really gained traction on Thursday, when the powerful Confederación General del Trabajo (CGT) joined in. Their action managed to bring to a halt the circulation of trucks, trains, a subway line, intercity buses and airplanes, and they also shut down numerous banks, restaurants, courthouses, gas stations, ports, garbage-collection services and soccer stadium box offices. City buses were still running, but access to the city [Buenos Aires] was blocked.
Cristina Kirchner has recreated that 70s show;
The government has sought to kick start the economy, which contracted 0.2 percent in the first quarter from a year ago. Spending rose 57 percent in June from a year earlier as the government raised salaries and energy subsidies.
Still, unemployment climbed to 7.5 percent in the second quarter from 7.2 percent in the same period last year. Gross domestic product is forecast to contract 1 percent this year, according to the median estimate of 22 analysts in a Bloomberg survey.
Along with an inflation rate between 30-70% annually.

A flibbertigibbet, a will-'o-the-wisp, a clown

Senator Maria Cantwell--one half of the senatorial tag team with the lowest combined IQ (perhaps of all time) of all state combos--wonders why all women can't just be given millions of dollars...as she was from Real Networks. There's just no social justice in the business world;
Cantwell, chairwoman of the Senate Committee on Small Business & Entrepreneurship, introduced legislation in July that would make it easier for women-owned companies to get loans and government contracts. The Washington state Democrat sees lending to small businesses as key to job creation because loans give companies the means to expand. But women owners in particular struggle to get loans from banks, and that is limiting their ability to hire.
"Clearly with women, we are being underserved," she says.
What do you mean, 'we', white woman?
Although women own nearly a third of businesses in the U.S., their companies receive only 4.4 percent of loan dollars, according to a report by the committee's Democratic members. A similar report is upcoming about minority businesses.
We note the sleight of hand from, 'a third of businesses' (by number) to,  '4.4 percent of loan dollars' (dollar volume). The AP reporter who fell for that one deserves...a Pulitzer?

We also wonder how many small businesses in Seattle are going to go under thanks to the new $15 per hour minimum wage. AP forgot to ask the pro-business Maria, how do we solve a problem like that.

Wednesday, August 27, 2014

Poached yeggs

No honor among Kenyan thieves, it seems, when it comes to ivory;
Corrupt Kenyan wildlife rangers are killing poachers to cover up the officers' collusion with the criminals slaughtering the country's elephants, a rights group alleges.
The disappearances of 18 suspected poachers were documented by Muslims for Human Rights over the last three years around Kenya's Tsavo National Park, a huge wildlife sanctuary that hosted 25,000 elephants in the 1970s but which has only 11,000 today.
Eight of the alleged poachers were last seen in the custody of Kenya Wildlife Service officers. Their bodies were later discovered in forests after being eaten by animals, said Francis Auma, an official with the rights group. Ten others were shot dead by rangers, according to witnesses, said Auma.
What the absence of property rights can do.

It's a jangle up there

In the crowded skies, watch out;
There are nearly 2,000 commercial and government satellites orbiting the Earth.
However, they face up to 200 threats a day from debris as small as a fingernail given they are travelling at speeds of about 17,500 miles an hour.
It is estimated that there are 300,000 pieces of space junk ranging from one-centimetre to the size of bowling balls, and that on average one satellite is destroyed each year.
The Australians saw a need, and are filling it;
US defence giant Lockheed Martin has struck a deal with an Australian technology firm to track space debris that can damage satellites.
It has signed a "strategic co-operation agreement" with Canberra-based Electro Optic Systems (EOS) to build a new tracking station in Western Australia.
The site will employ advanced optical and laser technology to detect, track and identify specific space objects.
Which is cost effective;
EOS chief executive Dr Ben Greene says that they have invested 80m Australian dollars ($74,6m; £45m) into developing their light-based technology systems, which have become cheaper than the use of radar.

Brenda Lee and Fritz to divorce?

Life in the Federal government imitates TV;
Federal Bureau of Investigation officials are in a turf battle with other federal law-enforcement agencies over perceived attempts to muscle into what the FBI considers its territory: fighting violent crime.
In the past year, 61% of the FBI's 56 field offices have run into "severe" or "moderate" conflicts with other federal law-enforcement agencies, according to an internal survey conducted by the bureau's Criminal Investigative Division. A summary of the survey was included in a memo circulated to managers in July and reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.
The memo provides a rare public look at the tensions that simmer beneath the surface as federal agents from an alphabet soup of three-letter agencies try to make big arrests and win prestige and congressional funding. It shows the FBI fretting that smaller agencies—particularly Homeland Security Investigations and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives—are taking over cases the FBI should handle, sometimes causing confusion.
Bold by HSIB in the above. But, there's a lesson in that for all those who reflexively turn to the government to solve society's ills.

The Doctor is in

Argentina--land hospitable to Juan and Evita Peron--honors el caudillo maximo;
On Wednesday, August 20, the National University of Lanús in Argentina  awarded former Cuban ruler Fidel Castro (1959-2008) an honorary doctorate....
For outstanding achievement in repression?
The dean justified the honorary distinction paid to the former revolutionary guerrilla member citing, “among other reasons, his pro-Latin America, unifying, humanitarian work.” [Dean Ana] Jaramillo added that “great works are done collectively, with passion and love for equality.”
Of course, in Cuba, Fidel had the equality of ordering his fellow Cubans shot if they displeased him.
“Teaching is not only done through books. You can also teach through example, and Fidel Castro did precisely that. He taught, and continues to teach, through his revolutionary example, his solidarity, the fairness of his ideas, his uncompromising struggle, and the conviction that a better world is possible.”
Except in Cuba, as long as Fidel and Raul live, that is.

Tuesday, August 26, 2014

Gran Hermano

He's fingerprinting the supermarket customers;
The biometric system that will be implemented in Venezuelan supermarkets from November 30 will control the sale of 23 priority items, namely: flour, rice, milk, sugar, toilet paper, coffee, margarine, oil, chicken, meat, shampoo, bath soap, and detergent, among others. 

.... For his part, Andrés Eloy Méndez, the Superintendent of Fair Prices, informed that once the fingerprint-reading machines are installed, the enrollment of clients, which includes collection of personal information and scanning of forefinger prints, is expected to take only 40 seconds. He hopes this mechanism will allow eliminating lines to buy food and resale of products.
Privatization, Venezuelan style;
As for the fingerprint-reading machines, Méndez noted that the State will import them through the National Center for Foreign Trade (Cencoex). Each retailer will have to cover the costs of the machines.

Look for the union libel

One wouldn't normally expect to hear it from the Chicago Teachers' Union president. But it's an election campaign;
In an interview Tuesday, [Karen]  Lewis said she didn’t break her promise not to make more as union president than Chicago’s highest-paid teacher makes, saying her CTU salary is for working the full year, rather than a 39-week school year.
And make it, she does;
Lewis isn’t as wealthy as [Mayor Rahm] Emanuel, a multimillionaire who made his fortune during a short stint as an investment banker. But she makes more than $200,000 a year and has an ownership interest in three homes, records show.
She owns, with her husband, three homes, including one in Hawaii. Made possible by her multiple employers;
The CTU reported to the Internal Revenue Service that it paid Lewis $136,890, plus $18,687 in “nontaxable benefits,” for the year ending June 30, 2013.
In addition to her Chicago union post, Lewis also serves as executive vice president of the Illinois Federation of Teachers, based in Westmont.
The IFT’s most recently available tax filings show it paid Lewis a base salary in 2013 of $64,157, plus $16,039 in “other compensation.” That was for benefits, an IFT spokeswoman said.
Nice work....

McDeserve a break today? Nyet!

At least that's what Vladimir Zhirinovsky thinks;
Vladimir Zhirinovsky, the rabble-rousing leader of the Liberal-Democratic Party, on Friday called for a McDonald's sign in the Moscow city center to be ripped down, ITAR-Tass reported.
"We need to get rid of this sign, this disgusting sign has to go. What gives them the right to teach us how to make pirozhki [stuffed Russian buns]!" Zhirinovsky exclaimed to the few dozen people assembled at a political rally calling for the downfall of U.S. fast food and a return to the flag of the Russian Empire.
But some have studied economics;
Others had a less sanguine view of the matter, such as Evgeny Roizman, the mayor of Yekaterinburg and a prominent opposition figure.
"If we consider ourselves a great country and a great power, then these are petty deeds, on the level of mice," Roizman said in an interview on Komsomolskaya Pravda radio, news portal Ura.ru reported.
"It's a blow to our own people — to consumers, for one, and obviously all the suppliers are locals. Hitting your own people doesn't make any sense," he said.
Politics makes strange badfellows.

The Goons of August

It's the 75th anniversary of something polite leftwingers usually pass over in silence;
Just one week after the signing of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact (officially the Treaty of Non-Aggression between Germany and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics) on August 23, 1939, the Second World War began with the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany. Two weeks later, following the terms of the pact, Soviet troops also invaded Poland.
The two sides celebrated their victory with a "brotherhood" parade of Red Army and Wehrmacht units who marched arm-in-arm through occupied Brest, watched over by Soviet Brigade Commander Semyon Krivoshein and German General Heinz Guderian, who stood side by side.
Poland found itself under two dictators, as did many baffled German Communists.
This book is a unique account by a survivor of both the Soviet and Nazi concentration camps: its author, Margarete Buber-Neumann, was a loyal member of the German Communist party. From 1935 she and her second husband, Heinz Neumann, were political refugees in Moscow. In April 1937 Neumann was arrested by the secret police, and executed by the end of the year. She herself was arrested in 1938. Here Buber-Neumann describes the two years of suffering she endured in the Soviet prisons and in the huge Central-Asian concentration and slave labor camp of Karaganda; her extradition to the Gestapo in 1940 at the time of the Stalin-Hitler Friendship Pact; and her five years of suffering in the Nazi concentration and death camp for women, Ravensbrück. Her story displays extraordinary powers of observation and of memory as she describes her own fate, as well as those of hundreds of fellow prisoners. She explores the behavior of the guards, supervisors, police, and secret police and compares and contrasts Stalin and Hitler’s methods of dictatorship and terror.

And not only European Communists had some 'splainin to do to themselves. Including someone who became a mentor to a future POTUS;
That would be Frank Marshall Davis, an orthodox Stalinist of exceptional ferocity, with an absolutely sulfuric hatred of the United States. Davis joined the Communist Party USA after the Pact was signed, at the same time others were leaving the ranks, never to return. The Pact memorial would be an opportunity for Obama to provide a full profile of the man his handlers disguised simply as “Frank” in “Dreams From My Father.” If Frank Marshall Davis ever believed, said, or did anything with which Obama disagreed, a Stalin-Hitler Pact memorial would be the ideal time to set the record straight. After all, the Obama administration is the most transparent in history, with not a smidgeon of corruption. And of course, it would be another photo op he could use to raise funds. He could even bring along his travelling studio audience.
And possibly a future President;
Former First Lady and current presidential candidate Hillary Clinton could also benefit. One of her mentors is Robert Treuhaft, a Stalinist lawyer who joined the Communist Party USA after the Stalin-Hitler Pact and served faithfully in the USSR’s alibi armory. Hillary Clinton, who interned for Treuhaft, could use a Pact memorial to clarify Treuhaft’s career, and explain why he left the Communist Party in 1958, as he claimed. And she could go on record if she ever disagreed with anything her Stalinist mentor believed, said or did.
That could prove enlightening, but as with Benghazi she might just say “what does it matter?”

Monday, August 25, 2014

Ellos deben ser vistos, no escuchados

Education reform in Chile; ¿Cómo va?
“It’s clear that this administration began without clarity about the content of the educational reform package, about its timetable and with even less clarity about its priorities,” Jorge Navarrete, a political analyst, says.
 Second opinion;
"At its root, Bachelet’s proposal is contradictory, immature and lacks intellectual and technical ingenuity"
     --José Joaquín Brunner, scholar
So, just what was proposed by the Bachelet Administration?
... in May, Education Minister Nicolás Eyzaguirre decided to begin discussions with one of the nearly 10 legislative proposals in the reform package: the law that would prevent individuals from earning profits on public resources. The measure, which would affect 1.9 million students, would put an end to selective enrollment in subsidized private schools and abolish co-payment – the monthly fee parents pay for each child.
The government recognizes that beginning with this particular proposal was a risky strategy. Although it is the centerpiece of the reform package and one of the main concerns of the student movement...
 Never a good idea, pandering to noisy students.
...the administration did not take into account the potential pushback it might inspire in various sectors. Critics include opposition leaders, certain lawmakers from the president’s New Majority coalition, the Catholic Church and some middle-lower class voters. In the last few months, parents and managers of subsidized private schools – where most Chileans study – have criticized the measure publicly. Some have held demonstrations.
Wouldn't that be--pardon the expression--counter demonstrations? Polling says that 52% of Chileans like having the ability to choose the schools their children attend, even if it means paying out of pocket for it.

Bachelet got elected by saying, 'I'm not that hated Pinochet.' Now she's learning that Pinochet bequeathed prosperity and democracy to Chile.

Pour passer plus de temps avec la famille, monsieur?

Arnaud Montebourg, he of the tire tantrum and steel spat, wants a re-shuffle of the (incomplete?) deck he's been playing; 

French President Francois Hollande has dissolved his government amid a row over the country's struggling economy.

Mr Hollande said Prime Minister Manual Valls had handed in the Socialist government's resignation and had until Tuesday to complete a reshuffle.
Thanks to Arnaud issuing one ultimatum too many;
Montebourg told reporters on Monday that he would not seek a position in the new government.
"I believed it necessary to take back my freedom in the same way that he (Prime Minister Manuel Valls) accepted to give it to me," he said.
The 51-year-old sparked fresh controversy on Sunday when he said that he wanted to see a "major shift" in France's economic policy, in comments seen as an unacceptable challenge to French President François Hollande and Prime Minister Valls.
Imbécile.

Qué lástima, Caracas

Venezuelan ingenuity; the spoil of war without the war;
Caracas is only one of four cities in the world, and the only one in the Americas, to have experienced an abysmal decline in its quality of life over the past five years. The only cities that have experienced worse drops in “livability” are those mired in armed conflict: Kiev, Ukraine; Tripoli, Libya;  and Damascus, Syria.
This is according to information provided by the Intelligence Unit of the Economist in their latest Global Liveability Ranking and Report published in August. The study evaluated 30 factors related to stability, health, education, infrastructure, culture, and environment in 140 cities around the world.
The capital of Venezuela, which ranked 126 of 140, is the only city in the Americas to have experienced such a drastic decline across the relevant indicators since 2009.
Well, can it be blamed on the locals?
“In other cities, many of these powers are in the hands of local government, but in Caracas, they have been centralized. Here, the transportation system (Metro and Metrobús) reports to the Minister of Transportation, electricity is in the hands of the Minister of Electric Energy, hospitals and schools are not in the hands of local government, because they have taken those powers away. The people are able to identify that the national government is responsible for many of these issues,” says [Fredery] Calderón [president of For a Possible Caracas].
In addition, the ruling party has used the power of the central government to create a parallel authority in the municipalities where they have lost local mayoral elections.
Oh! Where are the people who profess to be so appalled by Chile's temporary detour from democracy during the Pinochet years, when you need them?
In 2009, Chavistas created the Capital District Government, an administrative body led by the “head of government,” an unelected presidential appointee. This new appointee was granted the powers previously held by the city’s mayor, opposition leader Antonio Ledezma, in the municipality of Libertador, the only municipality within the district where the opposition has not won an election in recent years.
Following the most recent mayoral and gubernatorial elections, in which Ledezma won reelection against his Chavista opponent Ernesto Villegas, the central government repeated this same tactic and created the Ministry of Popular Power for the Revolutionary Transformation of the Great Caracas. Villegas was placed in charge of the new ministry and tasked with the duties and authority that the local electorate had previously denied him.
[Bold by HSIB]

Just wine word: plastic

In Napa, when it wrapped bottled wine, it saved much more than nine;
Most wineries recently had bottled their 2012 wines. Cases of wine are often shrink-wrapped after being stacked on pallets for storage, and according to several winemakers, losses appeared to be minimal at the case-goods warehouses in southern Napa.
"We lost exactly one bottle of wine, and we've got 80,000 cases of wine here," said Michael Greenlee, CEO and president of Amedeo, a fulfillment company that stores and ships wine for about 190 mostly small winery clients.
As for the wine wrapped in oak;

Have it your way, eh?

When Burger King says inversion, they don't mean putting the cheese under the patty;
Burger King is in talks to buy doughnut chain Tim Hortons and create a new holding company headquartered in Canada, a move that could shave its tax bill.
Laffer? Laffer?
Such an overseas shift, called a tax inversion, has become increasingly popular among U.S. companies and a hot political issue. Burger King was founded in 1954 with a single restaurant in Miami, where it is currently based.
And where there is no state income tax, we add.
Shares of Burger King and Tim Hortons both jumped 17 percent before the opening bell, heading toward all-time highs.
The market tested positive.
In a tax inversion, a U.S. company reorganizes in a country with a lower tax rate by acquiring or merging with a company there. Inversions also allow companies to transfer money earned overseas to the parent company without paying additional U.S. taxes. That money can be used to reinvest in the business or to fund dividends and buybacks, among other things.
And enrage politicians in the higher tax countries who want the the money for their own selfish purposes (enhance their power over others' lives).

Saturday, August 23, 2014

I want to thank the little people

With as little as possible? From her vast estate Lauren Bacall gives her maid a little more than she gave her dog;
It was a fortune built up from a lifetime a films, her marriage to screen legend Humphrey Bogart, an esteemed art collection and the $9 million apartment she treasured on New York's Upper West Side.
And almost all of the Lauren Bacall's $26.6 million estate will be split amongst her three children.
However the Oscar-winning actress - who died of a stroke aged 89 on August 12 - was careful to make sure her beloved dog, Sophie, would be well looked after.
The first item of her will - filed in a rush order at Manhattan Surrogate’s Court on Friday, according to Page Six - left $10,000 to her son, Sam Robards, to take care of the spaniel.
And $15,000 to her maid of the last 14 years. Who was gracious enough to say thank you.

Is Paris yearning?

Or even remembering what August was like exactly 70 years ago? At least the BBC does;
Today, the spot where this happened is marked with a small plaque bearing the name of Georges Loiseleur, who "died for France". A 19 year old, Rene Dova, who was killed in the same incident is also remembered.
Across the city there are about 500 of these memorials dating from the week of fighting exactly 70 years ago, when Parisians won back their lost honour and threw off the Nazi yoke.
The earliest ones were put up spontaneously by families or comrades. Later, a law of 1946 set out strict rules about proof of merit, and about appropriate language.
Thus, while the first plaques use emotional phrases like "lachement assassine par les Boches" (victim of a cowardly murder by the Hun), the later formula "Mort pour la France" reflects an official appropriation of the act of memory.
France is still famous for its bureaucracy.

Friday, August 22, 2014

Back home again in Indiana

And it seems that we can see...

That we were right all along (though under another blogging guise), and Max Sawicky, pgl and the gang at the Angry Bear were hilariously, stupefyingly amateurishly wrong about the lease of the Indiana Toll Road under Governor Mitch Daniels. Lowlights from back in 2006 being (via pgl);
... maybe the other 10 bidders refused to pay enough to the Governor under the table as he was so happy to claim $3.8 billion was better than his reservation price - a reservation price concocted by citing a really sloppy analysis.
And,

So the Governor – aided by what appears to be a faulty Crowe Chisek analysis are selling assets that may be worth $5 billion to private investors for only $3.8 billion. ...one might wonder of the Governor asked them to lowball the reservation price. In other words, is this some form of financial fraud imposed upon the taxpayers? Why would any responsible Governor be engaged in this kind of behavior? Oh but – we are talking about George W. Bush’s first OMB director.
As we pointed out at the time, the state of Indiana actually got about $8.2 billion from the 'winning' bidders, because in addition to the $3.8 billion check they cashed in 2006, the investors also committed themselves to $4.4 billion in upgrades and maintenance/repairs to the ITR. A toll road still owned by the state--they merely leased its operation to Cintra-Macquarie.

We also predicted (8 years ago!) that: In other words Macquarie-Cintra overpaid by about one billion dollars.

So, how's the deal looking for the Spanish-Australian consortium today?
The Indiana Toll Road Oversight Board has asked the Spanish-Australian investor group Cintra-Macquarie about the status of the payment it owes this month after state officials made similar inquiries after news reports that it was struggling last year to make an interest payment, board Director James McGoff told The Times of Munster.

"The answer is the same, they are trying to negotiate more favorable terms with their lenders," McGoff said.

.... Paula Chirhart, a senior vice president for Macquarie Group Limited, declined comment on the consortium's current financial situation.
Under the terms of the contract, if C-M defaults, then the toll road reverts to control by the state. Which gets to keep the $3.8 billion they've already received--and used to build new roads in Indiana--and they then would have the option of running the toll road for themselves, or...re-leasing it to some other investors for yet another one-time payment for its net present value.

All thanks to Indiana's then governor and, we are talking about George W. Bush’s first OMB director.

Sociedad de suma cero

Venezuela will have a national cash register policy atop all their others;
On Wednesday, Andrés Eloy Méndez, the superintendent of fair prices, introduced the controversial plan, “Operation Queue Killer” (Eficiencia Mata Cola), for 80 supermarkets across the country.
According to Méndez, the initiative aims to “protect the sustenance of the Venezuelan family,” through ongoing and thorough inspections that will guarantee the proper functioning of cash registers in the targeted supermarkets.
To more quickly add up all the zeroes for products that are non-existent? Then, they'll out-Orwell Orwell;
The superintendent informed grocery-store owners across the country that a national system of biometric measurements – in the form of a fingerprint registry – will be established before the end of the year.
The official confirmed that the new regulation will establish a system of control and restrict the purchase of particular products. In order to implement the new system, the central government will ask supermarkets for weekly lists of the types of products purchased by Venezuelan families.
At least he's honest enough to admit what he is;
“[The critics] believe it offends us when they call us communists. It does not offend us; our project is clearly socialist, Chavista. In Venezuela, we have a group of unemployed writers and economists who I would classify as controlophobes. They have a phobia of regulation. They say nothing needs to be controlled.”
Oh, they might like to see the communists in power controlled.

Cyclists descend across the continent

Not just from Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, but from Norway to Turkey;
The Iron Curtain Trail is the brainchild of Michael Cramer, a member of the European Parliament with the German Green Party who was inspired to promote the idea having seen the success of a similar cycle project along the site of what was once the Berlin Wall.
The sights include;
Along sections of the trail in Germany, plaques have been placed to mark where people, attempting to flee to the West, were shot dead by border police. "By leaving these historical features in, it is as though one is riding through an open air museum," said Cramer.
Nostalgic?
The trail, nevertheless, does show how a divide remains between the two sides. The trail would have gone through Russia but according to the trail's website, visa difficulties meant the path goes on the Finnish side of the border rather than the Russian. The trail also noticeably hops from the bottom of Finland to Estonia rather than going through Russia.
 Wouldn't want to be caught smuggling food in to hungry Russians.

¿Qué, nos preocupamos?

El Pais reports that it's not healthy to be sick in Venezuela.
The way things stand, medicine in Venezuela runs the risk of returning to pre-modern times.
The Venezuelan regime, which follows the ideological path set out by the late Hugo Chávez, generally views the medical community as an adversary of its Bolivarian revolution. Under this prism, private healthcare becomes a mere manifestation of usury, and the government regularly issues threats about an impending expropriation.
Representatives of the private sector (although the shortages also affect public hospitals) on Tuesday asked President Nicolás Maduro to declare a humanitarian emergency in Venezuela.
  Not that anybody in power cares;
A day after this request by medics, the Venezuelan government played down the gravity of the situation. Gabriela Ramírez, the ombudswoman and a former deputy for the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), the party in power, called the doctors’ claims “disproportionate” and said that the government is in talks with all parties involved.
“All of this has been the subject of dialogue, the communication channels have been open,” said Ramírez in an televised interview. “The state of emergency cannot replace permanent dialogue or information about the drugs that affect various types of patients, especially those with chronic conditions.”
Venezuelans should just get over it.

When it absolutely, positively has to be there


It's Uber over ambulance, says Jaime King;
The “Hart of Dixie” actress said one benefit of Uber is that you know when it’s coming.
“I know they say three minutes away and an ambulance, you don’t know,” King said. “I can rely on Uber.”
You can also rely on politicians...to attempt to close down Uber.

We're from the government and we're here to help you with your health insurance.

August 2014 has some portentous numbers for the advocates of the PPACA (manufacturing sector survey, Philly Fed);

Special Questions (August 2014)*

1. How, if at all, are you changing (or have you changed) any of the following because of the effects the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is having on your business?
Lower
%
Higher
%
No change %
The number of workers we employ (including full time and part time) is..
18.2
3.0
78.8
The proportion of workers who are part time is...
1.5
18.2
80.3
The amount of work we outsource to other firms is...
3.0
13.7
83.3
Our wage and salary compensation per worker is...
15.1
16.7
68.2
Prices we charge to our customers are...
0.0
28.8
71.2
We note the increases in part-time employment, outsourced work and prices charged to customers. Also that six times as many decreased their workforces as increased them. Then the question is, How did your business change its health insurance coverage;
We do not offer health insurance and don’t plan to.
0.0%
We are keeping our plan unchanged.
40.9%
We are dropping health insurance.
3.0%
We are planning to offer coverage for the first time.
0.0%
We made (or are making) modifications.
51.5%
'Made' or 'are making' modifications outweighing unchanged, above. And of those modifications;


Lower
%
Higher
%
No change
%
The proportion of our employees covered is...
14.7
17.6
67.6
Our employee contribution to premiums is...
2.9
88.2
8.8
Deductibles are...
0
91.2
8.8
Out-of-pocket maximums are...
2.9
76.5
20.6
Copays are...
2.9
64.7
32.4
The range of medical coverage is...
41.2
2.9
55.9
The size/breadth of the network is...
26.5
0
73.5
A whopping 88% have had to increase their employees contribution to their premiums, 91% have higher deductibles, and co-pays and out of pocket maximums are both similarly up drastically.