Mail Box Surprises And Other Ad Oddities

Unless you have been on some kind of TV abstinence program you have certainly seen all those ads for Viagra, Cialis, etc. It makes one wonder just how much of that stuff they are selling. Those ads can’t be cheap. On the other hand it is encouraging that the older set is at least getting some exercise program going. I mean those intimate moments that are constantly discussed as occurring must burn some calories and produce a bit of aerobic benefit for the participants. Those ads have become so pervasive that I pretty much tune them out like most ads on TV. I might “see” them but they don’t really register on my consciouness. Success breeds copycats. That is truism for marketing one oh one. Those ads to enhance male performance and cure all those wilted desire syndrome have now produced offshoots in other media.

Just yesterday I opened the mail and found a new ad for me, just me. How wonderful to be noticed and written to by name. It was a product offering me a veritable baccanalian paradise of pleasures if I tried this product. It featured a “vacuum therapy” method. I am not making that up. Immediately images came to mind of some dark dungeon and all those devices used to torture the unfortunates who were taken there. Furthermore I was informed that this method and device was “proven” to be 98% effective. I wonder who exactly sat there and monitored those situations when it was tried to verify that information. I mean is this some type of Rasmussen polling system? Surely, since this a medical issue there is science involved and the verification process is more stringent that anecdotal reports of success.

If they really wanted to make money they should charge guys to sign up for the testing program to assure the success rate legitimacy. No doubt there would be a line at the door. Of course there is always the question of exactly what do they consider “success”. Don’t worry I am not going to detail the possible speculation on what that could be. But informed minds do wonder.

This offer even had an extra. I was told that if I ordered right away that for a limited time I would also receive free with my purchase of this vacuum therapy device “accessories” to go with it. Now that really does open up even the clogged brain. Other than a willing partner exactly what “accessory” does one need? You think they are sending out blow- up dolls or ear- marked copies of the Tropic of Cancer? Now I thought about asking the little lady if she thought this would be a good purchase for the household but hesitated. Um, the answer might be fraught with disparaging remarks. Remember that old cliche about not asking a question that you don’t really want to hear the answer to. Would it be a great thrill for her to say sure let’s give that a try or would it be a huge kaboom on my ego?

I just wish those guys had sent out there stock symbol with the mailout. It might make a great addition to my dwindling IRA portfolio. It would sure be doing better that US Steel and their forward earnings projections are probably off the charts.

[Via http://olcranky.wordpress.com]

Mervyn King has a guru according to The Times

There is an interesting article by two economics professors from Boston University which sets out A Banking System we Can Trust.

The Times published a story about one of these professors who has supposedly become a guru for Mervyn King. That’s where I’d like to know whether they also talk about “credit money” in general and quantitative easing as the way of central banks supplying banks with credit money.

For that’s what a guru would propose. Because a guru has spiritual wisdom to offer that is of benefit to mankind.

[Via http://forumforstablecurrencies.info]

One year later: Obama still chanting, “change," and jobs, jobs, jobs are our future!

After Obama’s State of The Union Address what can we expect to see in the housing market in 2010?

A new commitment to fiscal restraint, and the certainty that change is impeding, Obama assured us, that Americans are resilient “ while affirming, “I never suggested change would be easy.” So, “It’s time for something new,” he said… Something that will bring an assurance to American’s about the future. However, just what does that mean?

“The steps we took last year to shore up the housing market have allowed millions of Americans to take out new loans and save an average of $1500 on mortgage payments. This year we will step up refinancing so that homeowners can move into more affordable mortgages.”

With so much talk about “recovery, “how is this going to take place? Just what does Obama mean by “stepping up refinancing so that homeowners can move into “affordable mortgages?”

Obama made it very clear that jobs, jobs, jobs are a central focus for 2010; however, in two months the Treasury Department’s $1.25 trillion program to buy agency mortgage-backed securities will end. This program did drive down mortgage rates and open up the market for some real estate buyers, but how does Obama plan on bringing recovery to the housing market?

While very little was mentioned in Obama’s State of the Union speech about the real estate market, perhaps the President’s focus for creating new jobs will bring a new sense of relief to this troubled housing market, since the boom of foreclosures has been more largely the result of unemployment. While the Administration’s modification and refinance programs have made a small difference for those trying to keep their homes in this pressed economy, these programs will not work if a borrower has no job!

Obviously Obama believes jobs will bring about change, and let’s hope so! If that’s his point of view, great, but he better not use my money to put expensive Band-Aids on cuts that might not heal.

[Via http://writeratthesea.wordpress.com]

Another self-serving book?

Is everybody and their mother writing a book?  Now I think I know why Sarah Palin rushed hers to print.  Notice the special words Mr. Paulson has for Palin.

Lilac

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/01/27/henry-paulson-memoir-on-t_n_438545.html

[Via http://iggydonnelly.wordpress.com]

WEF starts in Davos

The annual meeting in Switzerland has engaged political, business and social leaders for the last four decades.  The financial crisis of 2008 and the “Great Recession” of 2009 have raised particularly difficult questions about future directions of the global economy.  Delegates to Davos will discuss the  economic interdependencies, governance failures and systemic risks intrinsic to the world’s economic wellbeing, with a view to re-shaping the business models, financial innovation and risk management on which the developed and developing worlds rely.  The success of nations with redesigning vital institutions, policies and regulatory environments will depend on their common vision,  innovation and co-operation.  Most importantly, that success will be built on widespread trust and confidence in the legitimacy of that redesign.

Follow the debate:

• at the official WEF website at http://j.mp/aikdlQ
• by following Twitter @Davos
• on Facebook at www.facebook.com/worldeconomicforum.

[Via http://johnhodgkinson.wordpress.com]

Hugo Chavez vs. the U.S. Dollar: Micturating Into the Wind

Some people like to micturate into the wind. And some like to do it in the currency markets. And that’s really quite fine if they’re doing it with their own money. But when they are doing it with the life savings of the poor of an entire nation, in order to gratify their own grandiloquent self-conceptions, or in order to prove a politico-economic point which cannot be proven, then the tragedy imposed by the will of one man upon an entire people turns monumental. This is what Hugo Chavez has done to the working poor of Venezuela, in order to prove a Marxist point, and stick it to America, his (supposed) Capitalist opponent to the North. Bloomberg reports that Chavez has been massively selling U.S. dollars to artificially strengthen the Bolivar against the Yankee sawbuck, but after initially strengthening, the Bolivar has lost back 5%. Chavez, with the typical economic intelligence of the Communist, is massively selling dollars right when the U.S. dollar is  embarking on a long protracted strengthening, catalysed by the trifectal fillips of a sinking stockmarket (safehaven status), the coming necessity of higher interest rates to seemingly (and unsuccessfully) control inflation, and the coming scramble for dollars to service the massive amount of debt that has been underwritten in U.S. dollars. But Hugo Chavez will ignore these realities, thinking that his influence (and oil wealth) is so massive that he alone can move the currency markets. His is a “corpus gordo” about to take his place amongst the littered graveyard of traders and politicians who thought they knew better than the currency markets how those markets “must” go. He will continue to micturate into the wind of the currency markets, further impoverishing the Venezuelan people with inflation as big capital flees the country (Bloomberg reports $93 billion has left the country since 2005), while increasing unemployment because of the suddenly less competitive Venezuelan exports, due to any temporary increase in tthe Bolivar. Add to this that a stronger dollar usually means lower commodity prices, and that Venezuela is basically a commodity-export economy, and you have a formula for a very wet blowback as Chavez continues to micturate into the wind. It wouldn’t bother Silverwolf too much if the ureal mist only flowed into the face of Big Brother Hugo, but unfortunately its stinking drench will encompass the entire Venezuelan populace. This is the tragedy of Marxism, that economic misery is imposed on millions by government bureaucrats, destroying the labor of years, and the wealth of human energy and care that was invested in the currency. In the old days, they called it “theft”.

Hugo Chavez: another in the long list of histories arrogant micturators.

Hoooooooooooooooooooooooooooowwwwwww! — Silverwolf

[Via http://lobobreed.wordpress.com]

We Are Grossly Over-Taxed

I’m trying to figure out all the taxes that the citizenry has to pay. I’m sure I’ll miss most of the taxes so help is appreciated.

There’s the FICA/Medicare tax, which is over 15 percent of income. If you work for an employer, you pay half and the employer pays half (which means you make more money than you think you do, but that extra money is all federal tax).

There’s the federal income tax, which is anywhere from 0 to 35 percent of income. Actually that is inaccurate on multiple levels. If you’re a part-time minimum-wage employee (or likely even a full-time minimum-wage employee), you will get more back than you put in, so your tax is in the negative range (you get money from your neighbor and the person living 5000 miles away from you just for working). But you are still giving the federal government an interest-free loan; money that could gain you interest if you just stuck it in the bank. While the FICA/Medicare tax has a top limit on income taxed, it is above the bottom limit of the top federal income tax bracket.

There’s the state income tax, which varies state to state (and several states don’t have income taxes).

Mt Vernon, OH has a city income tax of 1.5 percent while Columbus, OH has a city income tax of 2 percent (and it’s not a sliding scale). I’ve had jobs in both locales. And my state income taxes have always been higher than my city income taxes (I’ve never had greater than 36k income in a single year, and usually under 28k).

Using a conservative estimate of 5 percent state income tax, so far this means those lowest of the top federal bracket working in Columbus, OH are paying a whopping 57 percent of their income in taxes!

Let’s not forget that those living in certain school districts pay an additional 1 percent income tax for the schools, whether they have children in school or not.

Then we have the 46-cent-per-gallon gasoline tax. That means someone living in Mt Vernon and working in Columbus and driving a 33 mpg car pays $1.40 in taxes just to commute to work every day. If that person only works 200 days a year (and it’s likely much closer to 250 days), that adds up to $280 in taxes just to be able to work, on top of the other income taxes.

Add to that the 6 percent sales tax on any non-food item bought in Ohio (and carbonated beverages are not considered food). And some states tax food as well.

And there are the railroad taxes tied to phone bills. And other “temporary” taxes tied to phone bills that have never expired, after 100 years. And there are special taxes tied to electric bills and natural gas bills and garbage-collection bills and city-water bills.

Then we have corporate profits taxes, which not only affect corporations (where they add the tax burden to the price of their goods) but also anyone who has an IRA or 401(k) or any other stocks in their retirement investment plans.

Then we have corporate inventory taxes. (See corporate profits taxes for impact.)

Then we have corporate property taxes on buildings and land. (See corporate profits taxes for impact.)

Then we have personal property taxes on homes and land.

Then we have corporate property taxes on machinery bought many years prior where the corporations paid the taxes on buying the machinery. (See corporate profits taxes for impact.)

Then we have the death tax, which can be as much as 60 percent of a decedent’s worth, already taxed multiple times. (The Bush moratorium on the death tax is about to expire, thanks to the Democrats who refused to make it permanent.)

We also have tobacco and alcohol taxes on top of the sales tax (but not everyone buys either of these items).

Understand if a corporation has to pay a total of 20 percent of its gross profits in taxes (profits tax, inventory tax, and both property taxes), the price of their goods must be increased enough to cover those taxes, which could increase the cost of a good by 2 or 3 percent. And you get to pay sales tax on the tax-inflated cost of the item.

And if you’re a renter, don’t think you don’t have to pay property taxes for the home you’re living in. It’s figured into the price of rent.

With all these taxes, hidden or otherwise, I cannot come up with a way for someone in middle-class income levels to pay less than half of their income in taxes.

(Oh, I worked for a PA company while never leaving the Columbus, OH metroplex. But I had to pay the PA tax of $15 a year for the, get this, for the privilege of working in PA!)

[Via http://truthbeforedishonor.wordpress.com]

Wise Money Weekly Update of The Market (Week: 25th - 29th January)

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Hello Friends, here, we bring you the weekly view of the Indian as well as of the Global markets and latest global business and industry updates..

Wise Money Weekly Update of The Market (Week: 25th - 29th January)

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A sell-off in global stocks, disappointment from key corporate earnings like L&T, possibilities of further monetary tightening by China and US president’s proposal to put new restrictions on big banks weighed heavily on the domestic markets.

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In the forthcoming week, domestic markets are expected to remain volatile as traders roll positions in the derivative segment from January 2010 series to February 2010 series.

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Markets will also take cue from monetary policy which is scheduled to come out on January 29.

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Though tightening is largely expected by way of Cash Reserve Ratio hike as RBI has already started the first phase of ‘exit’ in its October 2009 policy statement but there is a belief if the RBI sucks out some liquidity, it may not raise interest rates, since liquidity is excess in the system.

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The Indian food price inflation is largely due to supply constraints.

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But going ahead anticipation of decline in food price inflation & lower borrowing from government in future because of huge money raising plans through disinvestment are some of the factors that are likely to determine RBI stance on increasing policy rates.

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The widely watched wholesale price index rose an annual 7.3% in December 2009, its highest since November 2008 and accelerating from a 4.8 % rise in November 2009.

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Food prices rose 16.81 % in the 12 months to 9 January 2010, easing from nearly 20 % in early December.

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On the Global economic front, GDP of China returned to double-digit growth in the fourth quarter of 2009 at 10.7 percent, and over the full year GDP surpassed the government’s target of eight percent.

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Back at home, domestic economy, which grew at 7.9% in the September quarter, is expected to grow 6-6.5% in the December quarter.

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The World Bank has raised its forecast at 2.7% for global growth in 2010.

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Moreover it has raised its forecast for US growth in 2010 to 2.5% growth, after predicting 1.8% in June.

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Japan’s gross domestic product will expand 1.3% this year, more than the 1% predicted in June.

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The euro area’s economy is forecasted to grow 1%, compared with the earlier estimate of 0.5% expansion.

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Stay Tuned for More on this..

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Note : For More Latest Industry, Stock Market and Economy News and Updates, please click here

Hello Friends, here, we bring you the weekly view of the Indian as well as of the Global markets and latest global business and industry updates.

[Via http://smcinvestment.wordpress.com]

Interactive Risk Interconnection Map from WEF

In preparation for the annual meeting (Jan 27-31, 2010) in Davos the World Economic Forum published a very interesting interactive risk map. Risks (nodes) are classified by likelihood (%) and severity (billion US$) and edges represent connection strength (from low to high). The only problem it is a bi-directional graph from which it is hard to what is impact of A to B and what is impact of B to A. I think these numbers are very important.

The most critical risk is asset price collapse which is assessed as having > 20% likelihood and

over 1 trillion US$ severity.

[Via http://aglazkov.wordpress.com]

Blumenthal Asks Senate to Reject Bernanke Re-Nomination

by John Dankosky - Speaking on WNPR’s Where We Live, Connecticut Attorney General – and Senate candidate -Richard Blumenthal is asking senators to reject the re-nomination of Federal Reserve Chief Ben Bernanke.  That senate vote, once said to be a slam-dunk, is now in question. Blumenthal said that he’s doing this “somewhat regretfully” because of Bernanke’s “economic expertise, and his past involvement in crisis, which has been positive.”  Here’s some of what Blumenthal had to say: “I give him credit for many good decisions, but I think that his current tack needs to be changed.  And that we need to send a message to our nation that we’re done with the kind of laxity toward Wall Street that has been tolerated for much too long.” “I have immense respect for Chairman Bernanke, but my my feeling is that we need some new leadership at the federal reserve.  He has opposed some of the financial regulatory reforms that the President himself has supported.  I have supported creating a consumer finance protection agency that would, in effect, provide safeguards for consumers against some of the deceptive and risky loans that again, were at the core of our economic problems and the meltdown that occured.  The chairmen has opposed a number of reforms that I feel are necessary.  And, he has also failed to take action so far against the spiraling increases in fees and charges, sometimes on people who pay in full, on time, with their credit card.  And these increases in the credit card rates, I think are unconscionable and unacceptable.  I’ve written not only to the banks, but to him, and so far, he’s failed to act.  I think we need new leadership at the federal reserve.” Blumenthal said that “we need someone with a different view” of the regulation of Wall Street, but admitted it might not be easy to find that candidate. “The chairmen of the federal reserve have come from the culture and profession that really  embodies wall street.  And wall street can do many great things…provide exchanges where people’s money can buy stock in good companies, and they can provide liquidity to the nation’s financial system, and talent to run our corporations.  But the kind of bailouts that we gave, and the lack of sufficient oversight against the bonuses, and  some of the now repeated excesses I think is something that the federal reserve has to be held accountable for doing.” He said that because he’s “not running for President” he wouldn’t presume to make a list of possible contenders for the job.  Blumenthal also said that his actions weren’t about “blame going backward,” but instead were meant to be about a step forward in regulating the financial services industry, reigning in credit card abuses, and cracking down on big bonuses given out by the banks. “We need someone in the federal reserve who shares the kind of outrage that I think American people feel about the way things are going in this country.” You can hear the entire interview here.

[Via http://whereweblog.wordpress.com]

Triumph of the Nerds: The Rise of Accidental Empires (1996)

Triumph of the Nerds: The Rise of Accidental Empires (1996) is a documentary film written and hosted by Robert X. Cringely and produced for British television by Oregon Public Broadcasting. The title refers to the 1984 film, Revenge of the Nerds, and the documentary itself is based on Cringely’s book Accidental Empires. The three-part film first premiered on PBS in June 1996. The full transcripts of the documentary can be found at the PBS website.

The documentary chronicles the rise of the personal computer/home computer beginning in the 1970s with the Altair 8800, Apple I and Apple II and VisiCalc. It continues through the IBM PC and Apple Macintosh revolution through the 1980s and the mid 1990s, ending at the beginning of the Dot-com boom with the release of Windows 95.

[Via http://worthwhilemedia.wordpress.com]

Strongly held assumptions resist data!

Planet Money yet again provided a great example of how preconceived notions resist contrary information.  First a bit on context, although the details of the episode aren’t totally relevant to the point I’m making here.  The episode focuses on the idea of taxing ‘Cadillac’ health care plans and they get an economist from MIT to argue for the proposition saying that the evidence is that such a plan does not negatively impact upon public health, controls cost and will likely lead in increased wages.

The sound engineer objects strenuously.

Madcap hilarity ensues as both try to convince each other by using criteria the other rejects.

The engineer relies on personal, anecdotal evidence (“I’ve seen this…I know someone that…”) while the economist relies on data (‘We’ve got X number of studies that say Y’).  There’s no convincing going on here and it reminds me (whoa…name dropping alert) of Kierkegaard’s  Either/Or (eh…it’s not that impressive, I only know about it because I heard a summary of the work via the Teaching Company) where he says everyone has to make a decision between the religious and aesthetic life and there’s no criteria upon which to base the decision which doesn’t presuppose the answer.

This is the same situation.  The economist could have cited studies until he was blue in the face and the engineer would still say:  “Yeah, but I don’t know anyone like that.”

I suspect this happens a lot more than we realize, even in the intelligence field and the problem lies in the fact that the protagonists don’t set the ground rules and aren’t clear what they’re talking about.  They both value different aspects of the issue their studying and what metrics to use to define success.  Of course I suspect any attempt to reach an agreement on what to talk about would result in it’s own dispute but at least these guys would know what they were arguing about rather than having to have a proxy fight about something else.

The other interesting point is one that was discussed by Richards Heuer when he says:

• Mind-sets tend to be quick to form but resistant to change.
• New information is assimilated to existing images.

Good examples of both of those here.

[Via http://iago18335.wordpress.com]

Attack on the minimum wage

The Chicago Boys are back at it, attacking the latest increase in the federal minimum wage.

University of Chicago economist Casey Mulligan notes that, after July 2009, the number of workers with part-time jobs began to decline, thus changing the previous trend line (that part-time jobs increased as full-time jobs declined). That’s the extent of his argument. No theory, no causal mechanism. In his view, because they occurred at the same time, the decline in part-time jobs must have been caused by the increase in the minimum wage.

In other words, if the minimum wage had stayed at $6.55, part-time employment probably would have closely followed the blue series in the chart, as it did until July 2009.

No discussion of the deepening recession and the growth of unemployment. No discussion of the number of jobs—both full-time and part-time—not being created. And certainly no discussion of the number of workers helped by the increase in the minimum wage. It’s just a repeat of the same neoclassical story: a minimum wage creates unemployment and is therefore an unwarranted intervention in the labor market.

[Via http://anticap.wordpress.com]

Did economics miss the cognitive revolution?

I am currently reading a fascinating book, “The Cognitive Revolution in Psychology” by Bernard J. Baars (1986).

With a long introduction, it provides informative material for an outsider like me on how the cognitive turn played out in psychology, and presents a clear historical background getting back to Wundt and the early experimentalists, and the origins of the behaviorist revolution. Then it is followed by a series of interviews of participants in the cognitive revolution: from the opponents (Skinner and others) to the enthusiasts, and the followers.

Baars (1986)

On the substance, I was stroke by how much behaviorism, which is the methodological orthodoxy that was overthrown by cognitive psychology, shares features with today’s textbook economics. Both share the status of a well-guarded orthodoxy: in their interviews, psychologists remember that behaviorism in psychology was exclusive, displaying a “nothing but” attitude: variables should be related to nothing but observable behavior, which disqualified the discussion of concepts like “memory” or “representations” ! Those words were taboo in psychology at least until the mid-1950s.  Looking back, psychologists consider that the methodological rigorousness of behaviorism, which insisted that each concept be operationally defined and testable, had the effect to strip psychology from its substance: the study of cognition, consciousness,  emotions and rational behavior were discouraged, virtually banned indeed, because these concepts did not readily translate into tightly defined behavioral variables that could be observed in an experimental setting.

I could not help but be reminded of a similar taboo in today’s economics, where the formation of preferences, or how the process of choice unfolds, is declared “out of bound” right from the introductory chapters in microeconomic textbooks: only an individual’s observable behavior, as it is instantiated in the outcome of the choice it performs, is to be taken into account.

The cognitive revolution in psychology crystallized around the mid-1950s, early 1960s. Forty years later, nothing of that sort happened in economics, it seems to me. With behavioral economics and neuroeconomics, maybe that economics will jump directly to the next train: the neurocognitive turn. Or will it miss that one also?

Post-script: on an approaching topic, Wade Hands as a paper forthcoming in the CJE, which is a nice read.

[Via http://historyofeconomics.wordpress.com]

Whitman and Worstall: apply "new paternalism" logic to policymakers too

Lynne Kiesling

Glen Whitman has been posting excerpts from his Arizona Law Review paper with Mario Rizzo on the “new paternalism” for a while, and his most recent discussion has to do with the paternalist policy recommendations around the human tendency toward hyperbolic discounting. Hyperbolic discounting means that individuals tend to place more weight on nearer-term outcomes than might be deemed “rational” by some expected-value-based model, and the corresponding paternalist policy recommendation is to force people into the intertemporal substitution that increases the purported future benefit. There’s an enormous literature on this idea, and applications of this idea in many areas (including vehicle fuel efficiency, in which some people claim that hyperbolic discounting is a “market failure” — a claim that drives me completely batty due to its lack of logical content!), well beyond what I want to discuss here and now.

Whitman is making a more pointed argument, and an important one — if we cede this kind of decision-making to centralized policymakers and allow them to exercise the coercive power to force individuals into particular forms of intertemporal substitution, on what basis are we making that decision? If individuals in their private roles engage in hyperbolic discounting, isn’t it also logical to assume that policymakers are prone to hyperbolic discounting? And if they are, what are the implications of that tendency for the efficiency and the morality of the legislated, coerced outcomes? His post goes through several reasons why we should expect policymakers to have shortened time horizons, and I encourage you to read it.

Tim Worstall puts it much more colorfully than I am capable of:

So we should be shepherded to the right decisions by those wise enough to know what the correct, non-hyperbolic, discount rates are. That’s basically the libertarian paternalism for you right there. And as Whitman points out, that’s just great but who are the people who will be taking these decisions about what is the correct discount rate?

Yup, politicians. And do politicians take decisions based upon the correct discount rates or are they also subject to this hyperbolic discounting? Was that howls of laughter I could hear? Splutters of indignation perhaps? For yes, of course, when we look at how politicians actually run any of the long term schemes which they currently have power over we see that they’re vastly worse at this than we little sheep are. Look at civil service pensions, roaring out of control as far as the eye can see into the future because years ago it was easier to buy political support or buy off industrial unrest by promising what could never be afforded. The untold off-balance sheet promises that have been made that will impoverish our grandchildren just to get one politico or another through a difficult election. The hocking of the future in that every few year electoral scramble to get the right bums on the right benches at Westminster.

For the failure of this libertarian paternalism, the hole in this argument about hyperbolic discounting, is that we as individual humans may well be imperfect: but those who would rule us are worse by this measure. I know of no adult who lives their life with a final horizon of only the next election and I know of no politican with a horizon of longer than that next election.

Hear, hear.

[Via http://knowledgeproblem.com]

Don’t Expect the Public to Make the Case for Economic Redistribution and Equality

Unsurprisingly, the events of 2009 have not furthered the cause of reasoned debate. An unholy combination (the paranoid may say alliance) of egotistical financiers and venal politicians has made parts of the electorate, who were blissfully silent in their disinterest and political apathy, seemingly incandescent with rage and bulging with righteous anger.          

Once this anger has subsided (any day now) the real question for me, at least within the economic “realm”, is how we should react to the financial crisis. I don’t mean a tedious debate on the merits of quantitative easing or deficit cutting but whether the developments over the past two years demand a decision of greater magnitude. In other words do we aim to simply refine our regulatory system? Should our aim be to free up domestic capital, titillate and cajole foreign direct investment so we can facilitate business as usual economic  growth?

Or do we, acknowledging the profoundly detrimental effect our ill advised and noxious embrace of free market economics (not to mention our over reliance on our financial and banking sectors) reconstitute our deeply iniquitous economic system?  

This may be harder than it seems. The Conservative Party accuse Labour of trying to galvanise its base through rabble-rousing identity politics and the contemptuously termed “politics of envy”.  Well despite that being a bit of election porkies, and me hating that phrase, it probably wouldn’t work anyway.

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation, arguably the pre-eminent research institute on deprivation, concluded in its last report (Public Attitudes to Economic Inequality, available online) that “public attitudes to policy responses, specifically redistribution, are complex, ambiguous and contradictory”.

And believe me that’s one damn understated conclusion. In 2004 a whopping 73% of the British public believed the income gap is too large despite the fact that only 53% agreed that “ordinary working people” do not get their fair share of the nation’s wealth. Therefore, despite indicating an overwhelming objection to the rate of inequality, few seem to support a proactive, systematic government response. Only 32% agree that the government should redistribute income from the better off to the poor whilst just 43% of the British public thought that it was the government’s responsibility in the first place to reduce differences between high and low incomes.

Hmmm rational eh? The general consensus is that such a discrepancy is not rooted in any anachronistic, lefty assumption of “false consciousness”, but a very entrenched and pervasive ignorance of social inequality. Far from being saturated by Dickensian horror stories of woe and misfortune, the UK public doesn’t seem to know a thing when it comes to the social impact of our economic policies.

Particularly comical (and disturbing) is the public’s gross overestimation of the percentage of people on high incomes, with Taylor Gooby in his book “Querulous citizens: welfare knowledge and the limits to welfare reform”, finding that  his respondents perceived  28% of Britain to be  earning over 40k, whereas only 8% actually did. When asked how much certain high professions earn on average, e.g. chairman of a large corporation, respondents thought it was on average £125,000…underestimating by £430,000 a year.

The Fabain society has shown that in cross national comparisons of children’s life chances and levels of poverty, Britain is appallingly situated. Critically the report also highlights the depth of public ignorance on the issue, with such information being neither widely known nor expected.

 Many are probably also unaware of World Health Organisation studies indicating a strong correlation between the extent of economic inequality (in developed countries) and the proliferation of emotional distress:

What is the Association between wealth and mental health? – The British Medical Journal

Selfish Capitalism and Mental Illness – Oliver James, for The Pyschologist

 So in simpler terms, what is to be done considering the substandard knowledge of the intricacies and consequences of substantial inequality? Personally I think someone has to simply brave the wrath of the predatory right wing press and its hollow and predictable outcries of class war.  

Virtually everyone accepts that  a defining feature of most societies is that there exists an unequal distribution of skills, abilities and motivation. Subsequently, in order to incentivise and reward  productive endeavour most reasoned people accept the basic premise of economic inequality. However there reaches a point where it becomes  undeniably corrosive in its effects on society.

I have stated to wonder whether  a shamelessly emotive and evocative approach, which nevertheless stuck rigidly to accurate information, could enable people to appreciate the aspects of our economic system which are deeply iniquitous, unsustainable and oppressive.

For instance would people’s  perceptions alter if they were aware that there is a  28 year life expectancy gap between Calton Glasgow and the  leafy suburban commune of Lezie which borders it?

 Or maybe an appreciation of the life chances of the 14.3% of UK children on Free School, Meals, only 27% of whom  get five A-C GCSE’s against a national average of 54%. (BBC Figures)

This Christmas past, when most of us were enjoying  our extensive  festive indulgences, a chronic shortage of affordable housing left  83,000  homeless British children  in temporary accommodation. A recent article in The Guardian stated that over 33% of these children cannot go to school due to appalling disruption in their lives and are twice as likely to suffer poor health. In describing the appalling disruption and emotional distress that children suffered, Adam Simpson, the director of the charity Shelter, described the euphemistic term “temporary accommodation” as a “terrible parody”.

 The problem is not capitalism, but the parameters in which it operates and develops. To a greater or lesser extent it is the public that have to either stay content with the framework of its existence or instead ,tirelessly agitate for its adaption.

Aaron Frazer

[Via http://politicalpromise.wordpress.com]

Science & Soul: Book Review: Ishmael

I have read a number of books over winter break and would like to take some time to review them and hopefully give my readers some more reading!

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Humans are actively destroying the natural world because we are captives of a cultural system that compels us to do so.

• Takers as people often referred to as “civilized.” Particularly, the culture born in an Agricultural Revolution that began about 10,000 years ago in the Near East; the culture of Ishmael’s pupil.
• Leavers as people of all other cultures; sometimes referred to as “primitive.”
• A story as an interrelation between the gods, man, and the Earth, with a beginning, middle, and end.
• To enact is to strive to make a story come true.
• A culture as a people who are enacting a story.

Our creation stories, be they Creationism or the Big Bang theory, all make the claim that man is the end product of creation; man is the creature for whom everything came to be.  However, we are not the culmination of evolution!  The universe went on as before.  Our ultimate evolution did not change much of anything.  The premise of this story, however, is that the world was made for man.  And we do whatever we please to this world because of this assumption: man was made to rule the savage world.  To do this, he had to conquer the world.  Under human rule, the world should have become a paradise, but we wound up slowly destroying it.

We say that it is our nature to do so, but I believe differently.  There are still people who live in peace with the natural world and they are no different than us.  There is nothing fundamentally wrong with humans.  Instead, given a story to enact that puts them in struggle against the world and they will do so.  We were fed a story in which the Earth was a foe to be conquered (we are conquering the oceans, we are conquering mountains, etc) and now, we have very nearly conquered it, but at what cost?

How does one achieve flight?  One must understand, or at least abide by, the laws of aerodynamics; it could be through trial and error, but you must abide by the law.  The people of our culture are learning to live by trial and error and we are not knowledgeable about the laws of life.  Imagine an early flier: one with a crankshaft atop his craft.  He takes off from a cliff and for a moment, he stays in the air.  He sees the ground approaching and says, “I just need to pedal a bit harder and will make it.”  He sees dozens of crafts just like his scattered, broken on the ground.  ”What fools.  They simply did not pedal hard enough.”  Unfortunately he crashes because his craft did not abide by the laws of aerodynamics.  Ten thousand years ago, we too began on a path to flight.  We have tried and failed many times with civilization before (ie the Mayans, Aztecs, Romans, etc), but fell each time.  We believe ourselves to be flying, but we are only falling because we are not living in accordance to one of the great laws of life…

Takers destroy their competitors to make room for their own.  In nature, the rule is take what you need, and leave the rest alone.  Takers will deny their competitors access to food; to life.  In nature, you may deny competitors what you eat, but not food in general.  Takers think everything on this planet belongs to them.  In nature, you are a part of this planet, not its owner.  All of this points to a law: “You may compete to the full extent of your capabilities, but you may not hunt down competitors or destroy their food or deny them access to food. In other words, you may compete but you may not wage war.” All species inevitably follow this law, or as a consequence go extinct. The Takers believe themselves to be exempt from this Law.  Any species that exempts itself from the rules of competition will destroy the community to expand itself.  Since we do not believe in this law, we believe that we can grow without bound.  Some new scientific breakthrough will save us in the future; we will enter the Star Trek age.  Unfortunately, like those early pilots learned, we are not exempt.

Now, let me say, civilization as we know it, in and of itself is not against the laws of competition outlined above, but it is subject to the laws.  In fact, one need not return to hunter gather society to make right the wrongs we have perpetrated on the environment.  We just need to throw away the veil our culture: one of mastery, oppression, and exploitation to see how to fix the system we have.  We must relinquish the idea that we know best about everything and that we have the knowledge, power, and right to bend everything to our wills.

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"With gorilla gone, will there be hope for man?"

Above I have outlined the main premises of the book Ishmael by Daniel Quinn.  Ishmael is a gorilla. And Ishmael is a teacher who communicates with humans telepathically.  I know it sounds insane, but instead of a goofy SciFi novel, you take a philosophical journey as a pupil who looks at humanity from a different perspective.  I loved every minute of this book and it is definitely an interesting, thought-provoking read.

Grade: A

[Via http://scienceguy288.wordpress.com]

Economics 201, Macroeconomics

Economics 201 /Macroeconomics–3.5/10

I like economics, i get it and have meaningful conversations with friends and family about whats happening in the world with regards to the global economy and the US economy. This class however decimated my thought to be knowledge about economics and filled it with subjective information. I learned a few things from the teachers ppt and from the textbook, but the tests that followed were basically retarded. The questions were vague, hard to understand–it was one of those classes where all the tests have “Eny Meeny Miney Mo” questions (a lot of those types of questions). The classroom was nice and new, but you always feel like the teacher (Mrs. Doti) is always going to call on you and rape your soul in front of all 30 of your classmates. I like economics, i didn’t like this class. Although the textbook was good and so were my classmates and the stuff i learned the tests weren’t–too bad that was the only thing going into your final grade…:( my advice try to get a less sporadic teacher, if her tests were less difficult and more in accordance to what we learned in class then the rating would go to around 6.

[Via http://classgauge.wordpress.com]

GDP no longer reliable as economic index, EESC claims

At a side event on the final day of the Copenhagen Climate Conference, Stéphane Buffetaut, President of the EESC’s Sustainable Development Observatory, said: “If policy makers remain wedded to GDP as their primary way of thinking about the future, they will miss a large part of what people really want – true well-being. This is why the EESC supports initiatives like the Stiglitz report and the further work of the OECD and the European Commission on these issues. Without new means of measurement we shall sleepwalk towards the future like blind people.”

The meeting, which took place at the Eu ropean Environment Agency, heard presentations of current work in the OECD, the EEA, the European Commission and in the UK Sustainable Development Commission. After a lively debate, there was wide agreement that the world needs to move beyond GDP as a measure of the well-being of society and human progress. GDP is all very well as a measure of economic activity, but it fails to capture the true goals of human society and can mislead us in pursuing illusory or destructive objectives.

The growing threat of destructive climate change illustrates this problem very clearly. Over the past 50 years all countries have devoted themselves to continuous economic growth but have largely ignored the growing pressure that this was placing on the planet’s ecosystems and the birthrights of future generations. Now at last in Copenhagen world leaders are beginning to face up to the perils of the growing accumulations of CO-2 in the atmosphere and the depletion of the fossil fuel reserves that will remain for future generations. We are beginning to recognise the necessity of making a transition to a new type of low carbon economy built around less consumption of material resources and more around the delivery of social and ecosystem services.

Concluding the meeting, Derek Osborn, vice-President of the SDO, foresaw new opportunities to incorporate this new thinking in the forthcoming European strategy for 2020. Looking further ahead he proposed that the world should set itself the objective of creating a new measurement framework in time for widespread adoption at the recently announced UN Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 2012 which will be assessing progress on sustainable development 20 years after the first Earth Summit.”

EESC delegation to the Copenhagen conference w as made up of three Members: Stéphane Buffeteaut (Employers’ Group, France), Ernst Erik Ehnmark (Employees Group, Sweden) and Derek Osborne (Various Interests Group, United Kingdom).

At its November plenary session, the EESC adopted a resolution “No turning back”, which was submitted United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen

[Via http://reportingtheworldover.wordpress.com]

Doom and Gloom: Sunspots, Volcanoes and Earthquakes. Famine, Disease and Pestilence.

Sunspots, Volcanoes and Earthquakes

The problem with being merely human is, compared to the vast scales of planetary time, we are but brief and oh, so vapid bubbles. Our capacity to glimpse and somewhat comprehend the eons that have proceeded us, for the most part, only serves to frustrate and confuse.

It is precisely because our brains, and by extension our minds, are geared with pattern recognition and pattern synthesis as built in survival mechanisms, that we valiantly strive to “make sense” of our world, our universe. Some make sense of their world by becoming artists, archeologists or doctors. Others become psychologist, biologist or astrophysicists. And some, eschewing any attempts to understand, keep it simple by “leaving it to god”.

Others leave it to god, but hedge their bets with virgin sacrifices. This, if you think about it, has more in common with the scientific contingent. Reducing action to a simple experiment: A “What happens if ?” question. Where the scientist and the priest will sometimes differ, lays in which needs a definitive outcome. And which will keep try in to prove their ideas wrong in order to obtain a repeatable result.

In times of heightened stress and uncertainty, it seems the desire to create order out of chaos becomes even more acute. If we were all roaming the savanna, keeping a wary eye out for cheetahs stalking in the tall grass, our actively engaged minds wouldn’t have time to parse out the minutia of conspiracy theories or end-time scenarios. Cheetahs are sometimes useful that way.

As a species, we have been both blessed and cursed with the ability to invent time-saving processes and devices and implement them on a massive scale. And after all those processes and devices are firmly in place, what we are left with are active minds and a lot of free time. Here is where the Brain Squirrels tend to show up.

Brain Squirrels are a side effect of attempting to solve problems and create contingencies with too little useful information. We end up running round and round in our heads, trying to make pieces from different jigsaw puzzles fit into a seamless whole; taking a piece of information here, a bit there with no regard for relevance. The end result is either a shoddy conspiracy theory or a series of valid questions we could do little about, even if we understood the problem and its answer completely. Why our weather is outside the norm. Why earthquakes happen. Why are there droughts and crop failures and starvation and so on.

Sometimes though, if you sort through enough muck, you will find something useful. Something that allows you to mark an idea off your mental checklist and ponder contingencies based on known quantities, instead of hapless conjecture.

So while I was poking around after the earthquake in Haiti, I made a few discoveries.

Some people believe there is a link between the sun and our climate. No, I’m completely serious. Stop rolling your eyes. Yes, we are all aware that the sun warms the earth. We are also aware that the lack of sun cools the earth. But this idea is more subtle and more difficult to prove directly due to the aforementioned fleeting lifespan. We simply don’t have enough long term data to make a firm case. And, as yet, the causal link has not been discovered. So bear with me here, while keeping in mind that I am not arguing a case for or against human induced climate change, but am exploring the idea of links between solar activity, volcanoes, earthquakes and climate variation on Earth.

Climate Change May Trigger Earthquakes and Volcanoes. New Scientist

Evidence of a link between climate and the rumblings of the crust has been around for years, but only now is it becoming clear just how sensitive rock can be to the air, ice and water above. “You don’t need huge changes to trigger responses from the crust,” says Bill McGuire of University College London (UCL), who organised the meeting. “The changes can be tiny.”

Among the various influences on the Earth’s crust, from changes in weather to fluctuations in ice cover, the oceans are emerging as a particularly fine controller. Simon Day of the University of Oxford, McGuire and Serge Guillas, also at UCL, have shown how subtle changes in sea level may affect the seismicity of the East Pacific Rise, one of the fastest-spreading plate boundaries.

So science generally accepts that changes in the climate have effects on volcanic activity and on the tectonic plates. If tectonic plates are affected, it seems reasonable to assume that earthquake activity is also considered under that heading.

Right now, we are in a period of increased earthquake activity with much higher magnitudes:

And increased volcanic activity worldwide:

From: Global Volcanism: Volcanic Activity

It is understood that volcanic eruptions spew micro-fine particles and other detritus into the atmosphere. This creates a sort of sun filter, cooling the earth by deflecting solar radiation and heat.

That would, at least in part, account for the arctic cold snap covering the Northern Latitudes.

What might account for the rest? Sunspots. Or more accurately the lack of sunspots.

The Blank Year NASA.gov

Note the inverse relationship between the charts further up the column and the one shown here.

According to them that study our friend the Sun, we are right at the bottom of what is known as a Solar Minimum. A Solar Minimum is defined as a time in the Sun’s regular cycle with little or no solar activity.

From the site:

The longest minimum on record, the Maunder Minimum of 1645-1715, lasted an incredible 70 years. Sunspots were rarely observed and the solar cycle seemed to have broken down completely. The period of quiet coincided with the Little Ice Age, a series of extraordinarily bitter winters in Earth’s northern hemisphere. Many researchers are convinced that low solar activity, acting in concert with increased volcanism and possible changes in ocean current patterns, played a role in that 17th century cooling.

NASA scientists have also noted that the more calm the Minimum, the more quickly the Sun’s systems return to an active state. In addition there are a larger number of strong disruptive events, like solar flares.

I began by looking at a geology sites on the internet to find some information on earthquake strength and frequency after they Haiti quake. Based on forum postings, the question of earthquakes and sunspot activity comes up whenever there is a major quake. And instead of addressing these concerns, the regular posters flatly and adamantly denied any direct causal link between sunspots and earthquake or volcanic activity in the usual dismissive manner of the pseudo-skeptic.

Since I’m not a fan of flat denial as it has very little to do with critical thinking, I decided to look into the question for myself. After further reading I wondered if the “skeptics” on the geology boards would be willing to admit the possibility of an indirect causal link. A chain reaction, if you will.

I discovered a site with information on a rather interesting theory. On the site M.A. Vukcevic has a formula that discusses the interaction of influence on the mass of the sun from the magnetospheres of outlying larger planets.

http://www.vukcevic.co.uk/

This chart shows the correlation between the movement of planets Jupiter/Saturn and the incidence of recorded sunspots.

A PDF further discussing his work.

If the Sun’s mass is affected by these planetary magnetospheres, wouldn’t that suggest it is possible that the Earth’s mass, the molten core which helps to drive its magnetosphere would be affected too?

In the end, what I am suggesting is not a simple cause and effect. Instead I’m suggesting like many systems with interlinking chaotic processes, it’s a complex and dynamic cause and effect.

* Reduced sunspot activity due to planetary effects can affect how much heat the Earth receives. This begins to shift weather patterns, which in turn affect the tectonic and volcanic systems of the planet.

* The magnetospheric effects working on the Solar mass are echoed in our molten planetary core resulting in increased volcanic and tectonic activity which results in further change in the planetary weather system.

NASA scientists may not agree with Mr. Vukcevic. I have no idea whether his work is valid or supported. But the scientists at NASA do agree that sunspots, earthquakes and volcanoes are linked in some fashion. At this point they are not willing to forward a hypothesis about the correlations but agree that they mediated by changes in climate.

Whether this goes toward supporting claims on their side of the global warming vs. global cooling debate is outside my area of interest at the moment.

Famine, Disease and Pestilence

In terms of which aspects of the sunspot/volcano activity are within the purview of my interest I direct you to to:  Nine Meals from Anarchy

“This year is the 10th anniversary of the fuel protests, when supermarket bosses sat with ministers and civil servants in Whitehall warning that there were just three days of food left. We were, in effect, nine meals from anarchy. Suddenly, the apocalyptic visions of novelists and film-makers seemed less preposterous. Civilization’s veneer may be much thinner than we like to think.”

It is certain that the recent Arctic blasts which affected much of North America, has already impacted food security in the United States.

Florida, which tends to be the warmest state during the winter, generally grows tender warm-season crops like tomatoes and peppers. The freeze in Florida has crippled supplies of citrus and juices, along with tender vegetables like snap beans, squash, and peppers,

While this, in and of itself, does not constitute a food crisis, the truth is many people are not the position to afford an increase in food prices. It is more along the lines of “Another straw on the camels back”.

If there is a possible link between sun cycles and an increase in deadly earthquakes, volcanoes or weather changes then we are obligated to explore those ideas. Haitians and others across the globe who have been adversely affected by these terrible tragedies are a stark testament to how little we know and how much we need to discover about our world.

Climate Change May Trigger Earthquakes and Volcanoes.

[Via http://greengoddesslove.wordpress.com]

Credit where it's due

You would be hard pressed to find anyone who thought economics and politics were not related, yet too often we don’t discuss them as such. Instead ‘the economy’ is conceived of as a separate entity that we are all submitted to.

This is apparent in the way the Credit CrunchTM is debated. By constantly waiting for the ‘storm clouds to blow over’ or praying for a V-shaped recovery, we end up missing out how people go about surviving, drowning and profiting from the fallout.

It has emerged that over a million Britons are using credit card loans to pay for rent and mortgages. It is a vulgar development. Banks were bailed out with taxpayers money, and interest-rates were reduced to a whisker over zero by the Bank of England. This gave banks a favourable environment to lend cheaply and, in theory, start a consumption-fuelled recovery. Yet they have used the money to swell their balance sheets and, as is shown here, have profited from the lower interest-rates by deliberately failing to pass on the decrease to their customers.

Now these same banks can use more lucrative credit card loans to squeeze poor people even further and, when people are unable to repay their loans, use the harsher conditions of credit card lending to ramp-up charges and repayment rates. Alongside this, there are the significant penalty fees that banks command ($20.5 billion in the US, I can’t find UK data) through credit cards.

It is a political and economic (political economy, you could say) scandal that it can happen and shows, once again, how fruitful stronger unions in the financial sector would be for the majority of savers and borrowers.

[Via http://thebathhouse.wordpress.com]

A new finance minister for Japan

The Democratic party took office in Japan last year as the result of an overwhelming rejection of the ruling Liberal Democratic party by Japanese voters.

The Democrats’ platform was a hodge-podge of different policies, to me anyway, with the one connecting element in the pledge that the government would be run for the Japanese people, rather than for special interests–namely, the government bureaucracy, export-oriented manufacturing companies, and multi-generational political “machines” spawned by the long rule of the LDP.

One of the pleasant surprises of Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama’s cabinet has been the presence of seventy seven-year old Hirohisa Fujii as finance minister.

Mr. Fujii made early waves by announcing that the new government intended to let the yen settle where the currency markets led it.  In other words, it did not intend to adhere to adhere to the LDP policy of intervention to help smooth the profits of exporters.  Mr. Fujii also earned praise from domestic economists for his efforts to craft a government budget that tried to set limits to new bond issuance.  But his efforts appear to have earned him the enmity of long-time political fixer and one-time leading light of the LDP, Ichiro Ozawa, who is now the secretary general of the Democratic Party.

In late December, right after the budget had been set, Mr. Fujii checked into the hospital, suffering from high blood-pressure and fatigue.  Reports differ on whether Mr. Fujii is actually ill, or (more likely, in my view) whether this was a conventional signal of his disagreement with party policies.

Mr. Fujii tendered his resignation a few days ago and has been replaced–not by his assistant and fellow budget hawk, Yoshihiko Noda–but by one of the founders of the Democratic Party, Naoto Kan, who has little financial expertise.

Almost immediately, Mr. Kan announced that the government was considering intervening in the currency markets to weaken the yen in order to enhance the results of exporters.

What’s wrong with that?

It sounds like a return to the failed policies of the past twenty years and the cycle of self-reinforcing economic weakness that has gripped Japan over that period.  The steps:  discourage companies from becoming profitable on their own, so that they become dependent on government assistance and produce little economic growth.  Avoid outright deflation by public works construction projects.  But no growth and the threat of deflation keep nominal interest rates near zero, so the government is not overwhelmed by sharply rising interest expense and can continue to issue new debt.  Citizens continue to buy government bonds, since there aren’t other viable investment opportunities.

Great for political fixers, great for the establishment, bad for citizens who believed the Democrats’ campaign promises.

Mr. Hatoyama has rebuked Mr. Kan publicly, but so far Mr. Kan appears unrepentant.  Stay tuned.

Without structural change, I think Japan will remain a marginal stock market.  There will be very focused small-cap investment opportunities, but it seems to me these stocks will be swimming against the tide.  Given that they will stand out so starkly from the overall bleak economic background, such stocks may end up trading at much higher multiples than they would elsewhere.  The ideal strategy for them, then, would likely be to raise capital in Japan and invest it elsewhere–sort of a non-hedge fund carry trade.

[Via http://practicalstockinvesting.com]

'Sup, Dawgs?

This the Izzy fizzy in the hizzy, bringin’ u the next level of Econ APizzay.

Just kidding. It’s Ismail, your classmate from AP Economics. We’re going to try something new with this blog. With luck, it’ll be a running log of the notes I’ve taken during your presentations and interesting stuff related to economics that I find whilst browsing the Interweb. It’s not something that can replace studying Mr. Mankiw’s fabulous textbook, but I hope it’ll be a fun way to augment (that means add on to) your studying. Feel free to ask questions in the comments section, and I’ll try to find as many answers as I can.

[Via http://studyforecon.wordpress.com]

Old News - Do You Remember??

1947 Nissan Electric Car

1946 Technique developed to produce high-quality frozen orange juice concentrate

1946 Tupperware was introduced

1946 Frozen French Fries went on sale at the R.H. Macy department store in New York

1946 Instant Potato (mashed potatoes) was introduced

How Much things cost in 1947?

Average Cost of new house $6,600.00

Average wages per year $2,850.00

Cost of a gallon of Gas 15 cents

Average Cost of a new car $1,300.00

Loaf of Bread 13 cents

United States Postage Stamp 3 cents

Coke Cola 6 ounce Bottle 5 cents

Candy Bar was 5 cents

Ammonium nitrate cargo of SS Grandcap explodes in Texas City, Texas – 552 dead, 3000 injured

UFO allegedly found on July 7th in the Roswell UFO incident

Polaroid Land Camera Demonstrated giving photos in 60 seconds

UK News: Royal Highness Princess Elizabeth marries the Duke of Edinburgh at Westminster Abbey, London.

The United Nations General Assembly votes to partition Palestine between Arabs and Jews

Cold War starts which endured over four decades, from 1947 until the decline and eventual collapse of East European and Soviet state communism in the late 1980s

The Transistor is invented

Walter Morrison invents the Frisbee

ENIAC, one of the world’s first digital computers, is turned on after a memory upgrade. It will remain in continuous operation until October 2, 1955.

The Sound Barrier Broken ( Traveling faster than Sound )

1947 Sugar rationing ends in the U.S

1947 The first aluminum foil, Reynolds Metals ‘Reynolds Wrap’ goes on sale

1948 The opening of Britain’s first supermarket, at Manor Park, run by the London

1948 Bread rationing ends in Britain

Why is Common Sense so Uncommon??

[Via http://pobeptsworld.wordpress.com]

Additional Directional Movement (ADX) Part 1

Hello Friends here we come up with another write up on “Commodity Corner Series”. Topic is Additional Directional Movement (ADX) Part 1.

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Additional Directional Movement (ADX)

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We would touch upon aspects like what is ADX, what does it mean for Investors and what are the basics of ADX.

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As futures markets are volatile in nature & remain in over bought/-sold condition for a period of time, there is a need to confirm a move with an additional confirmation signal. . It is important to predict the trend of the commodities futures & the analyzing the strength with applying technical tools. . Reading directional signals from price alone can be difficult, & it is here where this indicator “Additional Directional Movement” provides an early signal to guide investor in right way.

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This indicator was created in 1978 by J. Welles Wilder, who also created the popular Relative Strength Index.

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THE BASICS . ADX differentiates between strong and weak trends, allowing trader to enter only the strongest trends. . The positive & increasing values on the Y-axis of the indicator measures how strongly price moves upward; the negative or decreasing figures measure how strongly price moves downward.

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· When the +ADX is dominant and rising, price direction is up. · When the -ADX is dominant and decreasing, price direction is down.

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In other words, the -ADX rises when price falls, and falls when price rises.

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Next Blog we would read about what are the features of ADX and the current scenario of the ADX in the market. . Stay Tuned for more on this. . – Note : For More Latest Industry, Stock Market and Economy News and Updates, please Click Here

[Via http://smcinvestment.wordpress.com]

Good Initiatives, Bad Initiatives

I contend that Prop. 13 SAVED California!

What lost California in the Initiative process was the Imitative that set the budget % for schools (read “Union Teachers”) and the three Initiatives from the Governator proposed in (as I recall) 2006, which were defeated by union money.

There has NEVER been a state income problem. There has been a documented spending problem, spending far beyond the combined Cost of Living Plus immigration numbers.

That, plus setting pensions and other items into contractual stones during bubbles (Dot Com and real estate) that cannot be rationally be funded during recessions and the proximate cause of the state problem.

However much income the State has is how much it has. If the politicians insist on spending more than one of the top five tax states in the nation (#1 in many categories) it is NOT the fault of taxes!

Darn few homes are covered by Prop 13 as to the homes still owned by the original owners – what KEEPS property taxes down is the 2%/year limit on property taxes for EVERYONE who owns a home.

Is it your contention that the 2%/year property tax limit on property tax increases for ALL homeowners should be repealed? Make THAT proposal and you had better guard your anonymity with GREAT care!

Regardless of the mistakes of the people in Initiatives, and I have noted them, the Legislature KNOWS with some certainty how much they have to work with, and in every year they have overspent that amount.

It was NOT an Initiative process by which the Legislature permitted city, county and state to increase the 2.5%/year retirement rate to 3% — it was pure legislative action, and although it was permitted and not required, union pressure promptly made 3% the norm (In San Diego County, of 17 municipalities excluding the City of San Diego, only Poway held to 2.5%.)

Surely, there is sufficient blame to go around and the rice bowls being broken are adding to a national unemployment problem. The unions have recently won their lawsuit precluding forced days off – which has caused pay cuts, but pay cuts will not work because they do not end huge pension costs. Only layoffs do that, and they need to begin immediately.

The bad news is that education must be cut. The good news is that it immediately hits leftist professors and idealistic young students who may discover that limits do actually exist.

The best news to everyone is that funds available to government are not unlimited. The Legislature did not believe that and in the budget deal last year the Republicans agreed sub-rosa to release a few Republicans in safe districts to vote the largest tax increase in ANY state’s history! (Anthony Adams, one of those, has recently announced he will not run again – because the Democrat-Republican private deal came to light.)

But it was NOT just the safe Republicans who were in on the deal. EVERY Republican (except I think 5 who were kept in the dark) signed off on it!

It is a den of thieves!

[Via http://usna1957.wordpress.com]

Downsized

I wrote the following essay during the summer of 2003, after attending the Vancouver International Folk Music Festival and picking up a green conscious living magazine.  I made the mistake of posting the essay on Helium.com in 2007 when I was a full-time student trying to earn some extra money on the side.

I never made a dime off of Helium.com nor did I read their agreement thoroughly when I posted two essays on that site.  When I tried to remove my essays from that site, I was denied.  I filed complaints with the Better Business Bureau and the Attorney General’s office in Washington State and still Helium.com refused to remove my essays from its site.

The essay below has just been edited and this is the only authorized version of this essay.  Though I clicked on an agreement on Helium’s website, you  must understand that those agreements favor the provider of the website and not the author that post–and all website agreements are non-negotiable. 

 

Discarded but Not Forgotten

Essay on Volunteer Simplicity

When I was still firmly ensconced in my middle class formative years, I thought I would grow up, find a good job and purchase the North American dream.  I started off in the right direction by attending and graduating from a university, then after I moved to the big city and decided to pursue a career in music, “reality” hit home.  I found work to support my musical endeavors, but my paychecks could not afford the price of new furniture, let alone, the purchase of a home.

Throughout my twenties, I thought that toiling at my music would land me a recording contract, the musical equivalent of winning the lottery, but Lady Luck was not looking my way.  By the time I reached my thirties, tired of various occupations and watching my dreams fade to black, I learned an important lesson about downsizing.

Some people volunteer to downsize their lives.  They give up lucrative careers and become stay-at-home parents or they seek out the true meaning of existence.  Best-selling authors wrote books about this painless process, Volunteer Simplicity (Duane Elgin) and Your Money or Your Life (Joe Dominguez & Vicki Robin).  The difference between the volunteer simplicity crowd and me was that I never chose to downsize and by the time I read those authors’ books, I had already reached ground zero.  I never owned a home, real furniture or any possessions besides musical instruments, equipment, several futons, books and compact discs.  I was already living the “simple life” other envied and I learned that with a little trust intact, the Universe does provide.

I watched Italian filmmaker Franco Zeffirelli’s Brother Sun, Sister Moon (1972, Italian), that chronicled the early adulthood of Saint Francis of Assisi, better known as “the first societal dropout”.  In the film, based on true events, the son of an upper class cloth merchant, Francesco (his Italian name), stripped himself bare and in his vulnerable state he walked naked into the unknown.  Francesco trusted that God would provide for him like he provided for all of nature and he also believed that we could not worship the Divine and materialism at the same time.  Add to that the ecological impact all our stuff has upon the earth and downsizing along with recycling our possessions sounds like reasonable plans.  Incidentally, Saint Francis of Assisi is known today as the Patron Saint of Ecology.

Another film, a documentary by the French filmmaker Agnès Varda, The Gleaners and I, focused on the people of France that live off of discarded goods.   Agnès chronicled the rural people who glean (collect) tons of vegetables, fruit and grains that was abandoned after harvest.  She also aimed her camera eye at urban dwellers that salvaged discarded furniture left on the sidewalks of Paris.  I have also found abandoned furniture left on sidewalks in good condition, clothing, and books in free boxes as well as, learning how to barter and trade my talents.  Somehow I survived a richer person who found wealth in the simple pleasures of life, listening to free concerts, watching free movies, spending time with friends or strolling through nature.

While acquiring money has its benefits, most people put a lot of time and effort to build their palaces and then more effort to fill their palaces with stuff they can no longer appreciate.  I have observed various people with big homes, vacation cottages, luxury cars and the works, but they are too busy to enjoy what they possess.  Some of them neglect their children, their spouses and friends, in favor of building another wing onto their palace.  They simply do not see all of the unused rooms in their houses, the dust gathering on their belongings or time racing past them as they rush out into the world to earn more money so they can buy more things.  It is unfortunate that these are the people society envies.  Mansions, luxury cars and designer brands play a greater importance than majestic mountains, vast oceans and wild animals.  They take on a greater importance that the joy of companionship, listening to music for the sake of music without boasting expertise or getting in touch with nature without cell phones and other electronic devices to distract them.

People such as myself who choose not to live the “high life” fade into the background, yet many of us (and I am not talking economic poverty), have found spiritual and other sustenance in knowing that the Universe provides for us.  Of course, we still need to make the effort and practicing trust is more challenging than people think.  Now, that more people find themselves abandoned by a gasping economy, they seek out a new meaning for their lives.  I know of at least one dot.com downsize victim (this essay was written in 2003), that turned her life around by pursuing a vocation as a Reiki practitioner and I have known others who found a spiritual practice after losing lucrative careers.

I lost many jobs in my life and I lost my music career after suffering from a long-term illness.  I did not think I would survive and yet the natural world beckoned to me, giving me hope.  Similar to Francesco of Assisi, I relied on God to provide for me and I gained a talent for resourcefulness.  We all have many talents that other people need in this New Era and it is time to return to the concept of barter and trade.  Perhaps then we develop a new confidence in ourselves and we will find security in our connection to the spiritual realm as opposed to the material one.

When people discard belongings, they are in fact, giving those possessions new life.  When we outgrow something we can pass it on to the next person.  And in the end those things once deemed important in our lives are discarded but not forgotten.  Since I believe that living beings are more important than things, by sharing what we do have with others, we acknowledge the bond that connects us.  The most important lesson I learned in this life thus far has not been how to earn lots of money, but how to contribute my talents to the world without living the North American dream.  And besides, I don’t really care for white picket fences.

Originally written the summer of 2003, copyrights Patricia Herlevi

This is the only authorized version of this essay on the Internet.

[Via http://pnwauthor.wordpress.com]

Global Finance Minister of the Year: Anupong Off Course

Bullets, not Korn, Saved the Siamese economy

By Pooky, this blog economics journalist

Korn, Thailand’s finance minister, just got ranked as last year’s “Best Global” finance minister by the very prestigious, Financial Times-specifically for being able to steer Thailand’s economy successfully across a very turbulent political landscape.

According to to most Thai economist, that says a lot for Korn’s ability and it will build confidence in Thailand for global investors, both direct and portfolio-since his past ability, will mean the same for the future and so the greatly feared Red Shirt gathering in the near future, will not really hit the Thai economy so badly.

And so as other ASEAN stock markets are currently making new high from the January Effect, but the Thai stock market has not shown any January Effect, that lagging behind, will not be a real problem as Korn is at the helm.

And as The Japanese think tank, Jetro, says Japanese investors have now abandoned Thailand as a place to invest, that will also not be a real problem, as again, Korn is at the helm.

And as the World Bank, have estimated the Thai GDP, to grow this year as one of the slowest in ASEAN, that will also not be a real problem, as yet again, Korn is at the helm.

To most global investors, the question now, with Korn’s global level elevation, is how will he steer Thailand into the future? Like how will he get the Japanese back; and how will he help stop Thailand being a laggard on growth and stock market performances.

Not only foreigners are pinning their hope on Korn, the Thais, as Master Card says, is about 50% more confidence now than 6 months ago, that the Thai economy and stock market will be doing great. With this type of confidence by the Thais, Korn is literally riding on a very strong positive psychology and sentiment-that will give him a great push.

So all in all, a great deal of hope is now pinned on Korn’s global class ability. And that is very important, because the Thai private sector is failing badly. So basically, Thailand’s hope, is with Korn and Finance Ministry.

International ranking says Thailand’s private sector productivity have dropped last year, and in the first global ranking of the world’s best 500 CEO, as many Asians and other emerging economies made the list, even the best of Thailand like the head of CP, Red Bull, the Liquor Tycoon, or the head of Siam Cement or PTT, did not show up. And other international ranking says as other ASEAN countries are focusing on innovation and creativity to recover from the global slow-down, Thai firms are cutting costs.

Does this blog have the type of confidence Financial Times has on Korn?

Well to tell you the truth, this blog does not think the Financial Times elevation of Korn has anything to do with Korn at all, but with the Thai military, particularly Anupong-the Thai army chief.

In fact, this blog thinks Anupong should be the global Finance Minister of the year position.

That is because the only reason why Korn was able to steer the Thai economy across such a turbulent political landscape, is because Anupong shot live bullets accross the heads of the Red Shirt protest and warned the Red Shirt to dissipate their protest, otherwise the military will do whatever is needed to stop their protest.

The Red Shirt, confronted by that type of threat, simply said they will “Save Red Shirt Lives” and stop the protest. So what actually steered Thailand’s economy through the political mess, is not Korn’s abilities at all, but bullets.

The question for ethical investors Globally to really ask, and we want the Financial Times to think about this very carefully-is if investing in Thailand, is helping the bullets fly towards people.

[Via http://thaiintelligentnews.wordpress.com]

Τζο ο «Μέσος Αμερικάνος»

Τζο ο «Μέσος Αμερικάνος»

Πηγή:monkeysmashesheaven.wordpress.com

Αυθεντικός τίτλος: The average Joe Amerikan (in English) (in Polish)

Ο «μέσος Τζο» κατέχει ειδική θέση στην αμερικάνικη συνείδηση.Ο εν λόγω λογοτεχνικής έμπνευσης ,δημοφιλής χαρακτήρας, «ήρωας της εργατικής τάξης», εμφανίζεται σε ταινίες,στην τηλεόραση,επί σκηνής.Αποθεώνεται από τους πολιτικούς.Για τους Πρωτοκοσμιστές ρεβιζιονιστές αποτελεί το κλειδί για το μέλλον,για τον κομμουνισμό.Αυτός είναι ο μύθος του «μέσου Τζο».Ποιά είναι όμως η πραγματικότητα;

Ο «μέσος Τζο ο Αμερικάνος»,25 ετών και άνω,έχει ετήσιο εισόδημα 32 χιλιάδων δολλαρίων.(1)Αντιθέτως,οι περισσότεροι άνθρωποι στον κόσμο,ίσα που επιβιώνουν με χίλια δολλάρια το χρόνο.Για παράδειγμα,οι Ινδοί που βγάζουν λιγότερο από ένα δολλάριο τη μέρα είναι περισσότεροι από όλους τους κατοίκους των ΗΠΑ.(2)Με το υψηλό του εισόδημα,ο μέσος Αμερικάνος έχει πρόσβαση σε πολυτέλεια και ποιότητα ζωής άπιαστες για τους περισσότερους λαούς στον κόσμο.Αξιοπρεπή κατοικία ,αυτοκίνητο ,υπολογιστή ,στερεοφωνικά, πισίνα, μόρφωση, διακοπές, διασκέδαση, επενδύσεις, και άλλα πολλά, μπορεί να έχει ο «Τζο» χάρη στο υψηλό του εισόδημα.Ο «Τζο» και έχει και κερδίζει πολλά παραπάνω σε σχέση με την εργασία του.Με το εισόδημά του ο «Τζο» έχει μεγαλύτερη πρόσβαση σε κεφάλαιο από πολλούς καπιταλιστές του Τρίτου Κόσμου.Ο «Τζο» κερδίζει πολλά παραπάνω από ότι θα του επεφύλλασε μια ισότιμη διανομή του παγκόσμιου πλούτου.Με λίγια λόγια, από τον σοσιαλισμό θα συνεπάγετο μια δραστική μείωση των εσόδων του «Τζο».Στην περίπτωση μιας σοσιαλιστικής παγκόσμιας διανομής του πλούτου,ο «Τζο» θα έχανε το μεγαλυτερο μέρος του εισοδήματός του.Στο σοσιαλισμό ο «Τζο» θα έχανε τον αμερικάνικο τρόπο ζωής του.Με άλλα λόγια,τον «Τζο» τον συμφέρει τόσο να έρθει ο σοσιαλισμός,όσο συμφέρει και την ιμπεριαλιστική αστική τάξη.Αυτό το καταλαβαίνει ο Τζο και γι’αυτό,ξανά και ξανά συντάσσεται με την αστική του τάξη ενάντια στον Τρίτο Κόσμο.

Ο μύθος λέει ότι ο «Τζο» είναι εργάτης,χειρώνακτας, «μες στη μουτζούρα» ας πούμε.Αυτή η εικόνα έχει διαδοθεί από χαρακτήρες όπως ο Homer Simpson στη γνωστή αμερικάνικη σειρά κινουμένων σχεδίων «Οι Simpsons».Η αλήθεια ωστόσο διαφέρει.Ο μέσος Αμερικάνος έχει δουλεία γραφείου.(3)Η δουλειά του,δεν είναι από αυτές που σπάνε κόκκαλα,που τσακίζουν το σώμα ,που στην κυριολεξία σκοτώνουν, όπως αυτές που κάνουν οι εργάτες του Τρίτου Κόσμου για να επιβιώσουν.Αντιθέτως,η δουλειά του Τζο είναι άνετη,με υψηλές απολαβές,για λίγες ώρες και με μεγάλα διαλλείματα.Η κουλτούρα που σχετίζεται με τη δουλειά γραφείου του μέσου Αμερικάνου,έχει πολύ λιγότερα κοινά σημεία με την εργατική κουλτούρα του προλεταριάτου του Τρίτου Κόσμου και πολύ περισσότερα με την εργασιακή κουλτούρα της αστικής τάξης.Επίσης, ο «Τζο» δεν εντοπίζει τον εαυτό του μέσα στο παγκόσμιο προλεταριάτο, τους οποίους ο Μαρξ περιέγραφε ως εκείνους «που δεν έχουν τίποτα να χάσουν,παρά τις αλυσίδες τους».Μάλλον είναι πιθανότερο ο «Τζο» να «βλέπει» τον εαυτό του μέσα στην παραδοσιακή αστική τάξη.

Σύμφωνα με το μύθο,ο μέσος Αμερικάνος ζει μέσα σε μια αστική ζούγκλα,σε γκέτο ή σε καμμιά τρώγλη.Η αλήθεια είναι ότι ο «Τζο» ζει σε άνετο σπίτι σε προάστιο.(4)Τα προάστια όπως τα ξέρουμε σήμερα,ξεκινούν την εμφάνισή τους και αναπτύσσονται στις ΗΠΑ μετά το Β’Παγκόσμιο Πόλεμο.Η αφθονία στις ΗΠΑ αυξήθηκε κατακόρυφα καθώς αυτές αναδύονταν από τη Μεγάλη Ύφεση και το Β’Παγκόσμιο Πόλεμο ως η κύρια ιμπεριαλιστική υπερδύναμη.Η ζωή στο προάστιο έιναι μέρος ενός ουτοπικού οράματος που σχετίζεται με την μεταπολεμική pax Americana.Το να ζει κανείς σε προάστιο είναι μέρος του «αμερικάνου ονείρου».

Ας αντιμετωπίσουμε την αλήθεια.Η σκέψη και μόνο, ότι ο μέσος Αμερικάνος αποτελεί κοινωνική βάση για επανάσταση είναι γελοία.Με καμμία δύναμη δεν πρόκειται ο «Τζο» να εγκαταλείψει τα προνόμια που έχει σαν μέσος Αμερικάνος και να ρισκάρει το τομάρι του για το καλό αυτών που είναι πραγματικά θύματα καταπίεσης και εκμετάλλευσης στον Τρίτο Κόσμο.Αυτό δεν ισχύει μόνο για τον μέσο Αμερικάνο.Ισχύει γενικά για τον Πρώτο Κόσμο.Στον πυρήνα της Μαρξιστικής σύλληψης για το προλεταριάτο,το επαναστατικό υποκείμενο,βρίσκεται η ιδέα ότι η ζωή του προλετάριου είναι δυστυχισμένη και σκληρή.Δεν έχει τίποτα να πουλήσει παρά την εργασία του και τίποτα να χάσει παρά τις αλυσίδες του.Αυτή η περιγραφή,σε καμμία περίπτωση δεν ισχύει για τη συντριπτική πλειοψηφία των κατοίκων του Πρώτου Κόσμου.Τι είδους «Μαρξισμός» είναι αυτός που «αγωνίζεται» για καλό των πλουσιότερων πληθυσμών;Είναι σοσιαλιμπεριαλισμός και σοσιαλφασισμός,Πρωτοκοσμιστικός ρεβιζιονισμός.Τι είδους Μαρξισμός στέκεται στο πλευρό της συντριπτικής πλειοψηφίας της ανθρωπότητας,που δεν έχει τίποτα να χάσει παρά τις αλυσίδες της;Τι είδους Μαρξισμός στέκεται απέναντι από τον Πρώτο Κόσμο,θεωρώντας τον στην ολότητά του ταξικό εχθρό;Πραγματικός Μαρξισμός,Μαοϊσμός-Τριτοκοσμισμός.

Σημειώσεις

1. http://pubdb3.census.gov/macro/032006/perinc/new03_001.htm

2. http://monkeysmashesheaven.wordpress.com/2007/08/19/amerikkkans-rich-indians-poor-so-called-icm-deaf-and-dumb/

3. http://www.census.gov/prod/2004pubs/p20-550.pdf

4. ibid.

[Via http://monkeysmashesheaven.wordpress.com]

Fraudsourcing Redux

A few months ago, I suggested that citizen gumshoes using the Internet could help regulators spot fraud.  It seemed a number of people in finance knew for years that Madoff was likely a Ponzi scheme, but even though one of them, Harry Markopolos, wrote to the SEC, no one did anything about it until Madoff turned himself in years later.  The power of information connectivity can allow people to collaborate, and group problem solving has been a particularly powerful genre, whether it be movie-preference algorithms or mathematical proofs.  Why not solving crimes?

I wrote money-manager and blogger “John Hempton seems to spot a financial fraud every quarter and has the courage to publicly do so on his blog.”  He’s done it again, and this fraud is as big to his home country of Australia as Madoff was to the US.  Here’s his version of the events, along with his aw-shucks addendum.  The short story is that a reader of Hempton’s blog pointed him towards the suspicious firm given Hempton’s reputation for outing hedge-fund frauds.  After concluding the suspect financial firm Astarra was likely a Ponzi scheme, he wrote a letter to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, and the regulators followed up quickly, shutting down Astarra, which was a manager in the outsourced Australian pension system, their version of Social Security.

Congratulations to John Hempton and the anonymous citizen gumshoe/blog reader.

And why stop at white-collar crime?  How cool would it be to see Internet geeks collaborating on Twitter to solve an unsolved murder?  #ColdCase.  Uhh… it might be better to use anonymous names for those ones.

[Via http://stephendodson.wordpress.com]