We are in one of those “generational revolutions” that Jefferson said were as important as anything else to the proper functioning of our democracy. We can no longer pretend that our collective behavior as a nation for the past 25 years has been worthy of us as a people.
I suggest you read this op-ed piece in the NYT (htp: Jesse). Revolution is in the air - here, too. That's why we need radical reform, instead.
Tuesday, June 09, 2009
He who pays the piper calls the tune
A couple of stories catch my eye:
China is requiring new PCs to come with factory-installed Internet filters (don't tell our government)...
... and may be buying American military secrets from the US Government (I believe I suggested this as a possible development quite some time ago, but I'm still looking for the reference.)
China is requiring new PCs to come with factory-installed Internet filters (don't tell our government)...
... and may be buying American military secrets from the US Government (I believe I suggested this as a possible development quite some time ago, but I'm still looking for the reference.)
Recession - not even halfway there
Karl Denninger "does the math" and reckons that as Americans retrench, the economy will contract far more yet - at least 20% in total.
So anyone who has real money wants out: "The Chinese, Saudis and others with actual money that we are attempting to borrow to kick that can once again have figured out our scam and they are headed for the exits."
Coming soon: austerity, a devalued currency and high interest rates. And in the UK, it'll be worse.
A good time to save money, while you're still able to; and to bet against the crippled Anglo-American horses. No point piling up savings in our rotten fiat cash.
The Mogambo Guru continues to chirrup his commodities song.
So anyone who has real money wants out: "The Chinese, Saudis and others with actual money that we are attempting to borrow to kick that can once again have figured out our scam and they are headed for the exits."
Coming soon: austerity, a devalued currency and high interest rates. And in the UK, it'll be worse.
A good time to save money, while you're still able to; and to bet against the crippled Anglo-American horses. No point piling up savings in our rotten fiat cash.
The Mogambo Guru continues to chirrup his commodities song.
Monday, June 08, 2009
Return of the Mighty Marmite Machine
They've put a new fuse in the Large Hadron Collider and found a few more shillings to run it on off-peak through the coming winter. Ex-D:Ream bandmember and nucular scientist Brian Cox has said "Anyone who thinks the LHC will destroy the world is a twat".
I've often suspected that those who employ the ad hominem strategy do so because they are on dodgy ground. I'm not a fan of logical proof by abuse, but it has its adherents.
Nevertheless, surely handsome, trendy Cox has heard of the possibility of a "Vacuum metastability event", explained thusly in Wikipedia:
"If our universe is in a very long-lived false vacuum, it is possible that the universe will tunnel into a lower energy state. If this happens, all structures will be destroyed instantaneously, without any forewarning."
How could this happen? A further link in the infallible Wiki universe considers the possibility of cosmic annihilation by particle accelerator:
One scenario is that, rather than quantum tunnelling, a particle accelerator, which produces very high energies in a very small area, could create sufficiently high energy density as to penetrate the barrier and stimulate the decay of the false vacuum to the lower energy vacuum. Hut and Rees,[3] however, have determined that because we have observed cosmic ray collisions at much higher energies than those produced in terrestrial particle accelerators, that these experiments will not, at least for the foreseeable future, pose a threat to our vacuum.
"...at least for the foreseeable future": a phrase to treasure, when set beside the earlier phrase, "...without any forewarning."
Not that I'd mind. After all, we'd know nothing about it. And it'd end the debate about global cooling / global warming / climate change - no guilt, either. And it'd make the Bible a nice bookend for both ends of the history of the universe, starting with "Let there be light" and ending "the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night."
Throw that switch, Twatfinder General.
I've often suspected that those who employ the ad hominem strategy do so because they are on dodgy ground. I'm not a fan of logical proof by abuse, but it has its adherents.
Nevertheless, surely handsome, trendy Cox has heard of the possibility of a "Vacuum metastability event", explained thusly in Wikipedia:
"If our universe is in a very long-lived false vacuum, it is possible that the universe will tunnel into a lower energy state. If this happens, all structures will be destroyed instantaneously, without any forewarning."
How could this happen? A further link in the infallible Wiki universe considers the possibility of cosmic annihilation by particle accelerator:
One scenario is that, rather than quantum tunnelling, a particle accelerator, which produces very high energies in a very small area, could create sufficiently high energy density as to penetrate the barrier and stimulate the decay of the false vacuum to the lower energy vacuum. Hut and Rees,[3] however, have determined that because we have observed cosmic ray collisions at much higher energies than those produced in terrestrial particle accelerators, that these experiments will not, at least for the foreseeable future, pose a threat to our vacuum.
"...at least for the foreseeable future": a phrase to treasure, when set beside the earlier phrase, "...without any forewarning."
Not that I'd mind. After all, we'd know nothing about it. And it'd end the debate about global cooling / global warming / climate change - no guilt, either. And it'd make the Bible a nice bookend for both ends of the history of the universe, starting with "Let there be light" and ending "the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night."
Throw that switch, Twatfinder General.
Sunday, June 07, 2009
Selling off the family... gold?
A disturbing piece by Rob Kirby argues that the supposed reduction in the US trade deficit is partly accounted for by surreptitious exports of gold. Worrying on two fronts: first, that the real economic situation is worse than reported, and secondly, that when the gold market takes off, there won't be much left in the US. What will happen to the dollar?
It's not going to be over by Christmas
Charles Hugh Smith thinks the current crisis will turn into a worse depression that the one of the Thirties. Citing Galbraith's study of the latter, he thinks inequality is a driving factor:
...the proximate cause was a vast income disparity which placed much of the prosperous era's profits in the hands of a small wealthy class, who then mal-invested the profits...
- in the "non-real" economy:
The financial Plutocracy, observing that actually producing goods is not very profitable unless you can fix prices [...] sinks its capital into the FIRE economy (finance, insurance and real estate), eschewing real-world investments as comparatively unprofitable.
Though rarely noted, this is a longstanding trait of capitalism stretching back to 1400-era Venice. When trade became less profitable than mainland farmimg, the Venetian Elite stopped funding trading and bought farms on the mainland. As a side effect, Venice ceased to be a military and trading power. But the Elite remained immensely wealthy.
Watch that Gini coefficient rise.
...the proximate cause was a vast income disparity which placed much of the prosperous era's profits in the hands of a small wealthy class, who then mal-invested the profits...
- in the "non-real" economy:
The financial Plutocracy, observing that actually producing goods is not very profitable unless you can fix prices [...] sinks its capital into the FIRE economy (finance, insurance and real estate), eschewing real-world investments as comparatively unprofitable.
Though rarely noted, this is a longstanding trait of capitalism stretching back to 1400-era Venice. When trade became less profitable than mainland farmimg, the Venetian Elite stopped funding trading and bought farms on the mainland. As a side effect, Venice ceased to be a military and trading power. But the Elite remained immensely wealthy.
Watch that Gini coefficient rise.
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