Open Thread
Bookworm on Dec 12 2009 at 12:50 pm | Filed under: Open Threads, San Francisco
You know how, every holiday season, there’s that one weekend that is the busiest weekend of the whole year? That’s my weekend. We attended a show last night in the City, my son has a concert today in the City, we have a business dinner tonight on the Peninsula, tomorrow my son has another performance in the East Bay, and in the afternoon we have the pleasure of attending a friend’s open house (in Marin, thankfully). Since about 3 p.m. yesterday afternoon, I haven’t had a minute to string a thought together. All of these activities are nice — some, indeed, are very nice — but they stifle coherent thought.
The one thing that I can tell you have spending more time than I want in San Francisco (Thursday, Friday and Saturday), is that it has gone from being a nice, mostly working class city, to a City that is half anarchic, and half overregulated. It is also a perfect example of liberal fascism at work: law abiding citizens are regulated to death, to the point where one City block may have 8 or 10 parking signs, all spelling out different — and sometimes conflicting — information. Meanwhile, the City supervisors refuse to allow police to pick up illegal aliens (some of whom are killers), contemplates “public sex tents” in the street, and generally allows complete license to the homeless and debauched. I grew up in a liveable City. It is now the worst of both worlds, thanks to the lust for governance that guides liberals, along with their passionate leniency for behaviors that are destructive and morally reprehensible.
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Reminds me of Nero and Boadicea.
Book says, of San Francisco:
> I grew up in a liveable City. It is now the worst of both worlds, thanks to the lust for governance that guides liberals, along with their passionate leniency for behaviors that are destructive and morally reprehensible.
There was another story this morning over on Instapundit where the Democrats are claiming that the USA is essentially “ungovernable”. A mad rabble, so to speak.
So, as Book says, they have this “lust for power”, that is, to GOVERN. Then once they take the reins, they throw up their hands and say, “There’s no way to DO this.” Whine, whine, whine.
Book describes San Francisco as a city descending into degeneracy and chaos. Under the Dems. I am reminded of New York City, in the 70′s, in its slow descent into bankruptcy, chaos, and danger. All the city streets becoming unsafe. Times Square turned into a lurid den of XXX theaters, hookers, druggies sprawled out on the sidewalks, graffiti and broken windows, and decay everywhere. Its Democrat overlords crying “Ungovernable! Ungovernable!”
Then came Rudy Giuliani. And the city is reborn, and thriving, and it is a destination for Americans again, rather than a squalid cesspool under the Democrats.
San Francisco will continue its descent into madness and squalor under the Democrats until a Rudy Giuliani comes along. But that’s not likely. New York City never was in the death-grip of the far left the way that San Francisco is.
My memories of San Fransisco are from the 60′s and the 70′s. A marvelous place. What you describe now, and what you have told us in the recent past, (wilding bicyclists, etc) indicate a place to avoid at all costs.
But it’s too nice a season to dwell on such things. What concerts is you son playing in? Is he singing, playing in an orchestra? What pieces is he performing?
Al
Greetings:
At the risk of disturbing your holiday, I would just like to state that I can’t decide whether I’m amused or annoyed by your use of a capital “C” when referring to Frisco. If there is a “the City” in the good old U.S. of A., it certainly isn’t anywhere around there. 3,000 miles east on highway 80, maybe.
Great news from the nascent Andrew Breitbart media empire:
http://www.mediaite.com/online/andrew-breitbart-launching-new-sites/
Brietbart is the fellow (and the site) that broke the ACORN scandal. He sent the fake bordello madam and her fake politician donor into the ACORN offices to capture the ACORN employees telling them how to import and enslave foreign girls into their bordello, and how to capitalize on government funding, and lie about it. And he played ACORN like an expert fisherman, baiting them with one round of evidence, waiting for the response he knew would come, and then presenting the next round of evidence that refuted their so-called claim. Over and over he did this. He’d studied ACORN, and he knew their deceitful tactics, and he uncovered them one by one, right in a row. It’s Nobel-Prize-worthy journalism. It was absolutely BRILLIANT.
He’s also responsible for Big Hollywood, a great site. And as that link above shows, he’s just getting started. Hurrah!
What with Gateway Pundit popularizing the terrible Kevin Jennings pedophilia angle, and with the conservative blogosphere uncovering and popularizing Climategate… things are moving in such a good direction. How long can the mainstream media continue their censorship of the truths?
Correction – Breitbard DID NOT send the fake bordello madam and fake politician into the ACORN offices. Those two people did it entirely on their own. Brietbart realized the MSM was refusing to report the story, so he bought their tapes, investigated ACORN tactics, and played ACORN like a Stradivarius violin. And the rest is history.
The reaction to the Swis referendum banning minarets shouldn’t have been a surprise, but the level of condemnation puzzled me. Especially among Europeans, who I would have assumed have figured out that you’re not getting just a religion with Islam, but a political and cultural agenda. To what lengths should a country be allowed to defend its national identity? Apparently not much– at least to the chattering intellectual class. But the lesson of the Swiss should be followed closely– it may be a model other western countries should emulate to insure that Muslim immigrants realize the limits of their influence on their adopted country. Ayaan Hirshi Ali thinks the ban shows a level of tolerance and inclusion. Swiss main street understands at a practical level the effects of uncheck Muslim immigration. The ban on minarets, not on immigration itself shows the Swiss to be quite liberal– you’re welcome in our country, but not your political system. “The recent Swiss referendum that bans construction of minarets has caused controversy across the world. There are two ways to interpret the vote. First, as a rejection of political Islam, not a rejection of Muslims. In this sense it was a vote for tolerance and inclusion, which political Islam rejects. Second, the vote was a revelation of the big gap between how the Swiss people and the Swiss elite judge political Islam…”
“What Europeans are finding out about Islam as they investigate is that it is more than just a religion. Islam offers not only a spiritual framework for dealing with such human questions as birth, death, and what ought to come after this world; it prescribes a way of life.
Islam is an idea about how society should be organized: the individual’s relationship to the state; the relationship between men and women; rules for the interaction between believers and unbelievers; how to enforce such rules; and why a government under Islam is better than a government founded on other ideas. These political ideas of Islam have their symbols: the minaret, the crescent; the head scarf, and the sword.
The minaret is a symbol of Islamist supremacy, a token of domination that came to symbolize Islamic conquest. It was introduced decades after the founding of Islam.” http://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/Opinion/2009/1205/p09s01-coop.html Rather than be condemned it should be looked at as a model of how two competing civilizations might co-exist.
My husband and I lived for three years in Danville, in the East Bay. Love, love, loved it. The town anyway. It’s a wonderful old stagecoach stop of a town with bistros, walking streets and the perfect small town feeling. Of course, it was also ruinously expensive. We left California and came to Texas, mainly because we just couldn’t abide the liberal politics.
Texas really suits us better. And we now live in a perfect small town with great friends and neighbors and sensible Republican governance. Whew!
The daughters of our really good friends went to San Francisco for a bachelorette outing several months ago. I was stunned to hear from them that while they liked SF, the people there were unusually rude. Huh? As a native Californian, I still harbor a little passion for the place. What happened to the people? Rudeness was never a hallmark in the state. These gals are from Chicago, so they know what rude is ;>) It’s just a shame. I can honestly say that I am deeply glad to have left.
Best Parking Sign Ever (NYC)
DON’T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT.
Here are my two cents added to the discussion on the Bay Area. Four decades ago I spent a year as a hippie dropout eco-activist in Berserkeley. I sat in on a conversation among some middle aged professionals. One opined that the Bay Area would in future years be looked at as we now look at Renaissance Italy. Even in my leftoid years I thought that might be a bit over the top- which is why I remember that prediction today.
Nationwide, there is one advantage to Berserkeley and the Bay Area. Recall the old saw about all the nuts rolling to California? Better to have those moonbats concentrated in the Bay Area rather than where I live. While there are moonbats where I live, they do not abide in the numbers that they do in Berkeley. Think of the Bay Area as Moonbat Reservation, keeping the rest of the country safe. Book, the rest of the country appreciates your sacrifice.
As a counterargument: one reason that the moonbats in the Bay Area are so over the top is because there is not a vocal opposition to them. Where I live, there is a vocal opposition to the moonbats, so they temper their rages. The moonbats in the Bay Area have reached a critical mass.
Gringo
That critical mass you mentioned .. from the link below, I think we can safely assume that several of the window dressers (pardon the expression) broke out of the compound and headed south to LA.
http://www.weaselzippers.net/blog/2009/12/christmas-in-los-angeles-people-rave-over-nativity-scene-featuring-sexy-virgin-mary.html
Is the proper greeting, Happy Chanukah?
And can the greeting be given by a non-jew, such as Happy Christmas?
And do secular jews recognize the tradition since Chanukah seems to fly in the face of the current trend toward globalization?
Heh. Not a very happy “heh”, but “heh” nevertheless.
http://www.kjct8.com/Global/story.asp?S=11658051
BrianE
Absolutely and I even like the way you spelled Chanukah (my personal favorite).
Don’t the Brits use the term Happy Christmas?
suek
Another shovel ready project?
Sadie,
I an American through and through, though my ancestry is Welsh.
An interview with Paul Volker by Der Spiegel, which is both encouraging and maddening. Volker seems to get it– the part about malinvestment and consumption and the need to re-establish a manufacturing base, but then thinks green jobs will provide a sufficient base to re-vitalize the economy.
SPIEGEL: What is the difference between this deep recession and all the other recessions we have seen since World War II?
Volcker: What complicates this situation, as compared to the ordinary garden variety recession, is that we have this financial collapse on top of an economic disequilibrium. Too much consumption and too little investment, too many imports and too few exports. We have not been on a sustainable economic track and that has to be changed. But those changes don’t come overnight, they don’t come in a quarter, they don’t come in a year. You can begin them but that is a process that takes time. If we don’t make that adjustment and if we again pump up consumption, we will just walk into another crisis.
SPIEGEL: At that time, America was the biggest exporter in the world and not the biggest importer. The America you are referring to was the biggest lender in the world and not its biggest borrower.
Volcker: That is correct. And we don’t perhaps have to get all the way back there, but we have to get back in an area where there is confidence in the stability and the authority of the United States. I think we can do that but we have a challenge, we have gotten a wake-up call. There is concern in our recovery advisory group about how to rebuild the competitiveness of the United States, which inevitably means rebuilding, in part, the manufacturing sector of the economy.
SPIEGEL: What part of the manufacturing sector do you envision?
Volcker: I think there are a lot of opportunities in the so-called green economy for taking leadership. On the technical side, I mean technology development, research development, the US is doing ok, but when it comes to manufacturing some of this stuff, somehow the Germans do it all!
http://www.spiegel.de/international/business/0,1518,666757,00.html
We are ignoring the cliff, a cliff that dwarfs health care– energy. If we don’t establish a coherent energy policy that reduces dependence on transfer of wealth to foreign countries (I realize that we import most of our oil from Canada and Mexico, but that doesn’t change the problem) we won’t have a future.
We can’t add enough value added to make up for this transfer.
I’d call it a ‘light bulb moment’ but the greenies will insisit on calling it a CFL ephiphany – better known as the new green economy. Point is, the green has left the country and we’re in the red.
I can’t remember the thread, but suek and I were in an exchange about the economy. I’ll repeat my suggestion here w/o the background for it. No more than 40% import of any foreign anything. This must include not just product but the exporting a/k/a outsourcing of manufacturing, parts, labor, resources (including managers, architects, American-Yankee ‘know how’ in general. The only thing we are currenty creating is DEBT. When jobs were being outsourced 30-35 years ago everyone thought ‘great’ we can buy cheap throw-a-way stuff. Cheap TV’s, cheap shoes, clothing, you name it – An economic accident (catastrophe) waiting to happen. On a personal note, I watched my grandmother in horror when she tried to buy a blouse Made in America. She had worked for the International Ladies Garment Union for many years. I had to sadly tell her in the 1980′s that she would have to buy foreign or go without.
Unless the import/export stats are addressed, we are screwed.
BrianE
Here is a typical example apropos my post above.
AOL Inc. is in talks to sell its ICQ instant-messaging service to Russian Internet-investment group Digital Sky Technologies, according to people familiar with the matter.
Discussions between AOL and the prominent Facebook investor are still in the early stages, and AOL has reached out to other parties as well, according to a person familiar with the talks. The deal could fetch between $200 million and $300 million, this person said.
In my economic world, they could only sell 40% of the company and 60% to an American investor. No American investor – no sale.
The criteria for Asian growth has been to export to the US, while blocking imports from the US – or blocking US ownership in their countries .The massive imports cannot endure. To their chagrin, China and Japan will take a hit and see many of their dollars disappear into inflation.
Sadie,
I’m not so much concerned about where the capital comes from or whether the company is “American owned” since corporations bear allegience to shareholders and not to its employees.
As a blue collar worker do you care if the company you work for is owned by Ford or Honda? In fact foreign auto manufacturers revitalized the auto industry in the US and forced the former big three to make changes (the fact they didn’t do to pressure from the unions and the culture of corporate cronyism made them irrelevant). GM produces more cars in foreign countries than it doesn in the US.
So I’m not sure the answer lies in who owns the companies. Some of it is natural business cycle and some is innovation.
K-Mart revolutionized retailing and nearly put Sears, the former industry titan and revolutionay merchandiser out of business. Walmart came along and nearly did in K-Mart. The next innovator may be using a Google model, since I’m not sure you can drive prices much lower than Walmart has. People will tire of lowest price and want more value.
It’s not that America doesn’t produce competent engineers (although that may be changing for the worse) and GM cars are certainly competent engineering wise– they fail to live up to the perceived Japanese quality in execution and the bean counter syndrome (cost disadvantage forced them to cheapen materials).
We still have and advantage in many industries– computer innovation for one, but the industry is so mechanized, it doesn’t do much to help employment.
Before we blame Walmart for too much of this (forcing many jobs overseas to compete on price alone) we musn’t forget Walmart was merely responding to consumer demands for cheaper stuff.
My suspicion (just that) is that over-regulation made it easier for companies to move overseas and corporate tax rates.
Wage pressures have continued for the past decades for a couple of reasons including immigration and women entering the workforce. Can’t do much about the latter, but we should cap immigration to the growth of the economy. And of course, stop illegal immigration.
This is just rambling, so I’ll stop.
WASHINGTON — The U.S. government is pouring billions into General Motors in hopes of reviving the domestic economy, but when the automaker completes its restructuring plan, many of the company’s new jobs will be filled by workers overseas.
According to an outline the company has been sharing privately with Washington legislators, the number of cars that GM sells in the United States and builds in Mexico, China and South Korea will roughly double.
The proportion of GM cars sold domestically and manufactured in those low-wage countries will rise from 15 percent to 23 percent over the next five years, according to the figures contained in a 12-page presentation offered to lawmakers in response to their questions about overseas production.
As a result, the long-simmering arguments over U.S. manufacturers expanding production overseas — normally arising between unions and private companies — is about to engage the Obama administration.
Essentially in control of the company, the president’s autos task force faces an awkward choice: It can either require General Motors to keep more jobs at home, potentially raising labor costs at a company already beset with financial woes, or it can risk political fury by allowing the automaker to expand operations at lower-cost manufacturing locations.
“It’s an almost impossible dilemma,” said former labor secretary Robert Reich, now a professor at the University of California-Berkeley. “GM is a global company — so for that matter is AIG and the biggest Wall Street banks. That means that bailing them out doesn’t necessarily redound to the benefit of the U.S. or American workers.
http://www.vindy.com/news/2009/may/09/gm-to-build-more-cars-overseas/
Some good news for the Christmas season.
>>Another shovel ready project?>>
Nah. They’re not union. No jobs available unless you’re an SEIU member…
The problem is basically that our US labor costs too much. Unless that changes, the manufacturing will go where the labor is cheaper.
Maybe if management was willing to share some of their profits, we could afford to pay labor a living wage!
Sorry, Suek. I couldn’t resist.
It’s been unusually cold here this past week. What if they’ve got it all wrong and we really are entering a new ice age!
Personally, I’d choose global warming over an ice age.
“The problem is basically that our US labor costs too much. Unless that changes, the manufacturing will go where the labor is cheaper”
To follow up .. limited and no manufacturing ends up costing the economy even more. Some middle ground needs to be found. The auto industry continued to jack up the price of a new automobile to feed the coffers of the unions and auto executives. The rising costs also were happening at the same time the big 3 were becoming inextricably linked to the Japanese. The automotive aftermarket (the big money maker) and parts were being made out of the country a long time ago, while Gringo rightly points out, the asian markets were/are closed to us.
I do not agree with Reich (how’s that for chutzpah). I am not an economist, I only play one online – the ultimate disclaimer. There is still wiggle room for survival at the 40/60 approach.
That means that bailing them out doesn’t necessarily redound to the benefit of the U.S. or American workers.
So, why are we bailing them out? Stockholders already took an economic hit.
A total lack of understanding of cause and effect. I saw this coming when I went to buy my grandmother the blouse 30 years ago.
A very interesting tidbit. It speaks to the ‘global economy’ and the real cost and consequences of outsourcing.
The United States has imposed a trade embargo on Iran since 1995, but foreign companies linked to the United States can still use legal loopholes to sell U.S.-made goods legally to nations under U.S. export bans.
“We don’t want technology to go to Iran, regardless of whether it will be used militarily or by civilian businesses,” said Kenneth Wainstein, former U.S. assistant attorney general for national security.
“We don’t want American businesses engaged in trade with a regime whose policies are antithetical to our national interests,” he told The News.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_grounded_helicopter
That’s how it used to be in Ohio where I grew up but now, if I remember correctly since I don’t live in Ohio anymore, both eat in and take out orders are taxed.
It’s this way in Michigan, too. Nice, huh. They get you coming in and going out.
If you’re keeping track of the weather stuff, you’re probably familiar with:
Watts Up With That?
If you’re _not_ familiar with it, you ought to be! Lots of good info, with a regular check on sunspots – possibly the _real_ source of the climate change we’re in. Personally, I’ll take the warming over the cooling…
And about management giving up it’s outrageous profits…
if you find a source of info on how much the union management moguls make…let me know. Leave the info in your will…!
Here’s your “well whaddayaknow” article for the day…
http://www.firstthings.com/blogs/firstthoughts/2009/12/14/giant-rats-to-the-rescue/#more-10562
Heh. Here’s another…
http://www.firstthings.com/blogs/firstthoughts/2009/12/11/so-you-want-to-be-an-author/#more-10506
And I was just telling my husband the other day that I wanted to write a book – I feel _so_ left out!! Watching TV and listening to the radio has convinced me that _everybody_ seems to have written a book! Every day I hear of another one that sounds like one I really _should_ read…
However after reading this article, it seems to me that one alternative he doesn’t consider is helping someone else write a book…you could probably do a number of those at a time. Of course, your name wouldn’t be on the cover…but in the “credits” wouldn’t be so bad… Oh yeah…and you also wouldn’t really get to choose the topic of the book, though there could be some options on that. I wonder how authors connect with their “ghost” writers…is there an employment agency somewhere? How would you qualify? Do you have to write a book yourself before you can help others?
More questions!!
Here’s your “well whaddayaknow” article for the day…
Timely link. Watched some program over the weekend about extra huge rats being spotted in the Florida keys (they already exist in La. – Neutria rats). They were eventually determined to be Gambian rats in Florida and they mentioned that they were being trained to sniff out bombs.
It turns the expression, I smell a rat on its ear.
For anyone who believes that the economy has actually made a turn-around…
http://www.boingboing.net/2009/12/12/fdic-sends-a-big-f-u.html
With openess like this…who can you trust?
“Leave the info in your will…! and the SEIU”
suek…this one will make your blood boil
The Red Cross, which has union workers in various locations who are covered both by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters and SEIU, says union leaders are trying to disrupt the Red Cross Blood Services operations by going on strike.
http://biggovernment.com/2009/12/14/unions-out-for-blood-at-the-red-cross-time-for-a-hostage-negotiator/#more-45366
So…first read the first one, then read the second one. Are they related? I don’t know. Who keeps/manages any one particular pension? Who will be affected by the guaranty corporation? how do you/we find out if _your_ company is one that uses them? Is it voluntary?
There’s so much we take for granted – and don’t really know.
http://sweetness-light.com/archive/nyc-teachers-exploit-pension-loophole
http://westernrifleshooters.blogspot.com/2009/12/pension-benefit-guaranty-corporation.html
suek
I am providing you with one of the best sites I have found in a long time. It connects the dots, literally and figuratively. I put the PBGC in the search engine. On the upper right hand side it tells you how to start connecting more dots (more info) about anyone or org. in the chart. The grid can grow as large as you elect to ‘discover’ new names, new connections.
Let me know what you think. I have found this site to be an invaluable tool.
http://www.muckety.com/Pension-Benefit-Guaranty-Corporation/5031776.muckety
Interpol has confirmed that Iran has asked for help in tracking down 25 senior Israeli officials involved in the recent war on Gaza.
Tehran Chief Prosecutor Saeed Mortazavi announced earlier that Iran had asked Interpol to issue international arrest warrants for 25 Israelis charged with committing war crimes during Tel Aviv’s Operation Cast Lead in the Gaza Strip.
The International Criminal Police Organization (ICPO or Interpol) said in a statement on Tuesday that it “was reviewing the request to make sure it did not breach rules that prevent the body from making any intervention or activities of a political, military, religious or racial character.”
In December, Tehran announced that it had set up a court to put the Israelis on trial for attacking Gaza and is seeking the arrest of over 100 individuals.
Interpol said Iran wanted to issue 25 so-called Red Notices for senior Israelis but did not provide any names.
Outgoing Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Defense Minister Ehud Barak, and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni are reportedly on the list.
A Red Notice is not an international arrest warrant but a request to national police forces to identify or locate suspects with a view to arrest and extradition.
The legal move was made in response to the three-week Israeli onslaught on the densely populated coastal strip that left nearly 1,350 Gazans dead.
Mortazavi expressed hope that the 187 member states of Interpol would take “effective measures” to mete out justice to the Israeli war criminals.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=88159§ionid=351020101
File in the how much more bizarre can things get basket.
BrianE - We’re gonna need a bigger trash basket!
Dec. 14, 2009
LONDON (Reuters) – A British court issued an arrest warrant for former Israeli foreign minister Tzipi Livni on war crimes charges but withdrew it on finding she had canceled a planned trip to Britain, the Guardian newspaper reported.
Westminster magistrates court issued the warrant at the request of lawyers acting for Palestinian victims of fighting in Gaza earlier this year, the paper said in an article published online on Monday.
The warrant was later dropped after it was realized that Livni — who had been due to address a meeting in London last weekend — was not in Britain.
Human rights groups and U.N. investigators accuse Israel of war crimes in the Gaza Strip during a 22-day offensive against Hamas-led Islamist militants in which Palestinians say more than 900 civilians died — a figure Israel disputes.
Livni, who is head of the opposition Kadima Party, played a key role in launching the offensive.
The Foreign Office told Reuters it was “looking urgently at the implications of this case.”
“The UK is determined to do all it can to promote peace in the Middle East and to be a strategic partner of Israel,” a spokeswoman said. “To do this, Israel’s leaders need to be able to come to the UK for talks with the British government.”
The justice ministry said it would not comment on individual cases and the interior ministry also declined to comment.
In September pro-Palestinian groups failed to persuade a London court to issue an arrest warrant for Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak, whom they also accuse of war crimes.
The court said Barak, who attended the ruling Labour party’s annual conference and met Prime Minister Gordon Brown, had diplomatic immunity.
From the sublime to the ridiculous…
Turn up the sound on this one – it’s Larry the Cable Guy, it’s a word play thing, and Larry isn’t exactly a person I’d call a ‘careful enunciator’. In fact, you might have to replay it once or twice to catch all of it…
http://www.floppingaces.net/2009/12/13/daily-distraction-20/
BW, doesn’t often discuss economics but I’ve been trying to get my ahead around what the most likely scenario will play out.
It seems most likely we’ll return to the stagflation of the 70′s and early 80′s.
Since money enters the economy in the form of debt (another way by reducing the taking of money in form of taxes seems to be off the table), what happens when bankers don’t want to loan money to folks, especially at rates bankers feel are unprofitable? That seems to be where we are now. It would seem natural that the government would continue deficit spending to promote growth (and inflation) and bankers would begin loaning money once interest rates are sufficiently high to cover inflation and risk (which hasn’t happened except with credit cards).
What seems to be holding the whole thing is the fed theoretically keeping interest rates low (which hasn’t prompted the level of additional debt financing to ordinary Americans the fed would like). So Obama is going to summon the bankers to the WH and remind them we gave them the money to keep them solvent– so start lending.
What seems to be the sticking point to all this may be the government’s ability to borrow huge amounts of additional debt. What happens when the government can’t find a lender? Unlike most of us when we’ve reached our credit limit– the government will continue to spread money into the economy in the form of credits with increasingly cheaper dollars while interest rates rise.
It appears the only segment of society profiting at this point are the bankers.
“In addition, low interest rates have not only kept alive banks that would have failed, but allowed them to generate profits on the taxpayers’ dime by borrowing money from the government at 0 percent and either lending it back to the Federal Reserve or pumping it into the financial markets, where we see the results of continued monetary inflation in the increase in stock, bond, and commodity prices.
The banks have no incentive whatsoever to gamble their free money by lending it to risky borrowers like the overleveraged American people. What this represents is a massive wealth transfer from the public to the financiers, who prop up the government itself by underwriting and making markets in its debt.”
http://mises.org/daily/3907
Some comments on a post entitled “Obama channels Hoover”:
Todd
I posed the tax on excess reserves question to one of our economics professors that held an economic forum for one of our graduate school classes. The answer that I recieved can be boiled down to “blah, blah, blah, establishment economics, regulators don’t want the banks to lend out the reserves, blah, blah, blah”. Translated: If there was a “tax” on excess reserves, this would be the equivalent of having a negative interest rate and banks would have to lend. The reason that the Fed doesn’t do this is to prevent the inflation of the money supply (M1) which would lead to price inflation. In the drive to have price stability, similar to Japan’s price stability over the last 20 years, the Fed is taking much the same actions that the Bank of Japan has. Chairman Bernanke cannot force the lending because it will cause massive inflation of the money supply and he cannot pull the money back because it will cause “Great Depression 2”. Japan’s solution to economic crises was to bail out large banks and businesses, reduce commercial bank lending, and have two decades of lost growth. But we are not like Japan. The US government and the Federal Reserve exist to ensure that the big guys can survive, even prosper at the expense of the smaller businesses and banks. This is a form of mercantilism and could lead to economic fascism.
Published: December 15, 2009 2:03 PM
Slim934
To buttress what Todd was saying.
It is my understanding that the Fed is actually doing the opposite, it is paying interest on any funds that the banks choose to hold on deposit with the Federal reserve.
So instead of taxing the revenues the banks are holding, it is infact PAYING OUT to the banks to keep them as reserves to prevent the necessary price inflation which will happen as soon as those funds are lent out.
http://blog.mises.org/archives/011252.asp
<B>How long can the mainstream media continue their censorship of the truths?</b>
They simply do what most con artists do. They tell the mark what the mark wishes is true. And if you tell them otherwise, you’ll be the spoil sport. The unreasonable party.
<B>Apparently not much– at least to the chattering intellectual class. </b>
They don’t even have a country. They are global citizens, by the fact that they get their funds by looting the world’s resources, obviously. They don’t get their status and titles from their own nation, they get it from everybody else’s nation. Thus, no need to be loyal to one nation.
<B>Think of the Bay Area as Moonbat Reservation, keeping the rest of the country safe. </b>
If holding California’s electoral votes for the Presidency is keeping this nation safe, they need to be given some other land, that doesn’t have as many electoral votes. Since they speak about Israel in such tones, I think they won’t remind if they get booted out and re-located for the interests of social harmony.
<B>Before we blame Walmart for too much of this (forcing many jobs overseas to compete on price alone) we musn’t forget Walmart was merely responding to consumer demands for cheaper stuff.
My suspicion (just that) is that over-regulation made it easier for companies to move overseas and corporate tax rates.</b>
My suspicion is that people are too afraid of government and the power of Democrats to blame the source of America’s problems, so instead they take on lesser idols as substitutes, in the belief that these are harmless so thus can be used as a hate or ridicule receptable. Something they would be leery of doing to those with real power. At least the ones that have proven, unlike Bush, that they will lash out (like Obama and the Dems).
BrianE #41:
>What this represents is a massive wealth transfer from the public to the financiers, who prop up the government itself by underwriting and making markets in its debt.
The article below spells out the fact that Wall Street went for Obama big time. As BrianE’s #41 helps point out, we know why. Crony capitalism has more in common with socialism than capitalism.
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/the_two_faces_of_oTswtJpCjQusQCFCMdiluJ
“Maybe Obama’s softened tone was recognition of Wall Street’s election help. Campaign-finance filings show that firms like Goldman — now getting ready to dish out $20 billion in bonuses after nearly imploding last year — favored Obama over John McCain by a fairly wide margin. Nearly all the major Wall Street CEOs — including Dimon, Blankfein and Mack — have told people that they voted for Obama.”
The SF Chronicle just published this detailed article about mismanagement in San Francisco.
I didn’t even make it past the end of page 3. Insanity RULES San Franscisco!
There must be a lot of SUCKERS living in that city, paying immense taxes and receiving almost nothing in return. There’s no other way the people who, ahem, “run” that city government could possibly survive.
I watched a bit of O’Reilly last night. He had the black professor from Temple U on for a discussion of the Copenhagen conference. O’Reilly asked him what the protesters wanted. The reply was that wealthy first world nations should cough up big bucks for impoverished third world nations to help them raise their standard of living. O’Reilly responded that even if that were a reasonable request, the corruption in those nations (which is largely why their standard of living is so terrible) would mean that the money would be just thrown away. The professor responded that that didn’t matter – that it was a matter of justice that the first world countries should pay “their share” of the use of the world’s carbon based resources.
I really have a problem following the logic…if there is any.
I really have a problem following the logic…if there is any.
tch..tch..tch – no logic applied, needed or found.
It’s all about ‘justice’. Justice is the new operative word for money.
Guess I have to add “justice” to my list of words that I need to have defined:
justice
fair
deserve
I think they’re all connected – the problem is to figure out how any one particular person defines/uses them.
Back to the old problem of “if you don’t adhere to a Judeo-Christian standard, what _does_ define/determine your standard?”
I am having the same problem with the word: liberal
Not limited to or by established, traditional, orthodox, or authoritarian attitudes, views, or dogmas; free from bigotry.
Favoring proposals for reform, open to new ideas for progress, and tolerant of the ideas and behavior of others; broad-minded.
Maybe it’s not so much about defining a word but defining your intentions.
btw…suek, did you visit the muckety site I linked.
Ok…this one should probably go into the open thread, but since we’re discussing definitions – we _were_ discussing definitions, right???
http://www.firstthings.com/blogs/firstthoughts/2009/12/16/british-court-rules-on-jewish-identity/
Yes…I visited the muckety site you linked. I agree with you that a link map can be _very_ informative – but I can’t say I understand how to make that site “work”. I think I’ll forward the link to Logistics Monster and see if she can make use of it. I read her blog for a while – her schtick is the Fed conspiracy and the B group (Bilder…? I can’t remember the name). I sort of got lost after awhile, but I’d bet she could put together a link map and make everything clear. Another word for the definition list – conspiracy. If we all have the same basic ideas and goals, do we have a conspiracy if we independently work towards the same goal? What constitutes a conspiracy? secrecy?
So…why do you think the site is so important?
From the bottom up…and yes, we were discussing definitions.
Conspiracy/Secrecy
Good one.
If you and I are working towards the same goals, peace of mind, financial security, a circle of good friends and generally well being of our families, I’d have to say this is average/normal behavior and desires, but if we colluded in private to apply pressure to ‘x’ our mutual friend for whatever reasons we thought justified the intrusion, I would file it under conspiracy.
Muckety
I think the site makes the linking and connections between organizations/people clearer. It saves time on a search since you can stay within the same site and keep clicking for additional information. It can be time consuming, but when I began searching a bit for more information on PBGC and started to ‘right click’ on names and then click some more the usual suspects started to pop up. After thoroughy clicking you begin to see a web, I think they call it networking in business social circles.
British Court Decision
(((((((((((((((((AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))
That’s me screaming! Am I surprised, No. Am I appalled, Yes. The brits (they get lower case for being lower class) have been notoriously anti-semetic. The country is and has been in a free fall from grace and on a reckless path to insanity for years. Last week a british court issued a warrant for Livni Zipni (Israeli politician). The PM had to make a call to his counterpart afterwards saying it would be rescinded. You’d have to be blind not to see where all of this is going.
more Muckety info
go back to the site and right click your mouse over the name Joshua Gotbaum, you will see a list to choose from, click on ‘more information about Joshua. Scroll down look left to find his name and click on ‘map it’. When you return to the top of the page you will begin to see a wider web. NOTE: under his name are a dozen more names all connected with the Obama-Biden transition team.
http://www.muckety.com/Pension-Benefit-Guaranty-Corporation/5031776.muckety