BRUSSELS: A top executive at Coca-Cola, Michael Stopford, spends much of his working life guarding its image. But in August, he starts working on an even more powerful global name: NATO. A British-born American, Stopford is a specialist in managing reputations. His career combines time at Coca-Cola and Exxon Mobil with two decades in the public sector, including the United Nations and the British Foreign Office. By hiring Stopford, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization has shown how determined it is to revamp its image as it approaches its 60th anniversary in 2009. Eighteen years after the fall of the Berlin Wall and confronted by evidence of ignorance or indifference among many in its 26 member nations, NATO is rethinking how it communicates with the taxpayers who pay for it. For example, at its headquarters here, the alliance has created an Internet-based service called NATO TV and established a media operations center just for Afghanistan, with 14 media officers.
BRUSSELS: A top executive at Coca-Cola, Michael Stopford, spends much of his working life guarding its image. But in August, he starts working on an even more powerful global name: NATO.
A British-born American, Stopford is a specialist in managing reputations. His career combines time at Coca-Cola and Exxon Mobil with two decades in the public sector, including the United Nations and the British Foreign Office.
By hiring Stopford, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization has shown how determined it is to revamp its image as it approaches its 60th anniversary in 2009.
Eighteen years after the fall of the Berlin Wall and confronted by evidence of ignorance or indifference among many in its 26 member nations, NATO is rethinking how it communicates with the taxpayers who pay for it.
For example, at its headquarters here, the alliance has created an Internet-based service called NATO TV and established a media operations center just for Afghanistan, with 14 media officers.
Anyway, seems someone forgot to tell certain members of NATO that the Soviet Union is no more. With the Soviet Union gone, maybe NATO has outlived its purpose. Just maybe. "The basis of optimism is sheer terror" - Oscar Wilde
Wednesday's swap of prisoners between Israel and Hezbollah planned was mediated over an 18-month period by a German secret agent. German involvement had been reported all along in the Middle East, but was not confirmed by Berlin until Tuesday, July 15. Quoting an internal document compiled by Chancellor Angela Merkel's office, the sources said the "facilitator" was a staffer with the BND, the German foreign intelligence agency, who was authorized by the United Nations to manage the secret contacts. Over the 18 months, he flew a total of 700,000 kilometers (435,000 miles), shuttling between UN headquarters in New York, Tel Aviv, Beirut and various European capitals.
German involvement had been reported all along in the Middle East, but was not confirmed by Berlin until Tuesday, July 15.
Quoting an internal document compiled by Chancellor Angela Merkel's office, the sources said the "facilitator" was a staffer with the BND, the German foreign intelligence agency, who was authorized by the United Nations to manage the secret contacts.
Over the 18 months, he flew a total of 700,000 kilometers (435,000 miles), shuttling between UN headquarters in New York, Tel Aviv, Beirut and various European capitals.
Israel has confirmed that human remains handed over by Lebanese militant group Hezbollah as part of a prisoner swap are those of two of its soldiers. Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser were seized in 2006 but until now there had been no confirmation of their deaths. Their capture sparked a month-long war between Israel and Hezbollah. Israel has handed over five Lebanese prisoners, including a man convicted of killing a child, and the bodies of 200 Lebanese and Palestinian fighters.
Israel has confirmed that human remains handed over by Lebanese militant group Hezbollah as part of a prisoner swap are those of two of its soldiers.
Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser were seized in 2006 but until now there had been no confirmation of their deaths.
Their capture sparked a month-long war between Israel and Hezbollah.
Israel has handed over five Lebanese prisoners, including a man convicted of killing a child, and the bodies of 200 Lebanese and Palestinian fighters.
America's banking crisis reached new levels of hysteria yesterday as police ordered angry customers of IndyMac, a Californian bank on the brink of collapse, to remain calm or face arrest. Police waded in to quell unrest among anxious IndyMac depositors as they queued outside the bank's San Fernando Valley branch in a desperate attempt to withdraw their money. The scenes reflected the growing panic that Americans are feeling over the safety of their savings, as every day brings a further dose of dire news about the deepening housing slump and the worsening outlook for US financial industries. After the US Treasury moved at the weekend to throw an emergency $15 billion (£7.5 billion) funding lifeline to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the stricken giants that underpin a vast slice of American mortgage lending, fears that the US economic turmoil is entering a dangerous new phase also spilled over into London's stock market, sending shares plunging again.
America's banking crisis reached new levels of hysteria yesterday as police ordered angry customers of IndyMac, a Californian bank on the brink of collapse, to remain calm or face arrest.
Police waded in to quell unrest among anxious IndyMac depositors as they queued outside the bank's San Fernando Valley branch in a desperate attempt to withdraw their money.
The scenes reflected the growing panic that Americans are feeling over the safety of their savings, as every day brings a further dose of dire news about the deepening housing slump and the worsening outlook for US financial industries.
After the US Treasury moved at the weekend to throw an emergency $15 billion (£7.5 billion) funding lifeline to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the stricken giants that underpin a vast slice of American mortgage lending, fears that the US economic turmoil is entering a dangerous new phase also spilled over into London's stock market, sending shares plunging again.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/07/16/fbi.indymac/?iref=hpmostpop
If you want to know how Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have survived scandal and crisis, consider this: Over the past decade, they have spent nearly $200 million on lobbying and campaign contributions. But the political tentacles of the mortgage giants extend far beyond their checkbooks. The two government-chartered companies run a highly sophisticated lobbying operation, with deep-pocketed lobbyists in Washington and scores of local Fannie- and Freddie-sponsored homeowner groups ready to pressure lawmakers back home. They've stacked their payrolls with top Washington power brokers of all political stripes, including Republican John McCain's presidential campaign manager, Rick Davis; Democrat Barack Obama's original vice presidential vetter, Jim Johnson; and scores of others now working for the two rivals for the White House. Fannie and Freddie's aggressive political maneuvering has helped stave off increased regulation and preserve special benefits such as exemption from state and local income taxes and the ability to borrow at low rates.
If you want to know how Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have survived scandal and crisis, consider this: Over the past decade, they have spent nearly $200 million on lobbying and campaign contributions.
But the political tentacles of the mortgage giants extend far beyond their checkbooks.
The two government-chartered companies run a highly sophisticated lobbying operation, with deep-pocketed lobbyists in Washington and scores of local Fannie- and Freddie-sponsored homeowner groups ready to pressure lawmakers back home.
They've stacked their payrolls with top Washington power brokers of all political stripes, including Republican John McCain's presidential campaign manager, Rick Davis; Democrat Barack Obama's original vice presidential vetter, Jim Johnson; and scores of others now working for the two rivals for the White House.
Fannie and Freddie's aggressive political maneuvering has helped stave off increased regulation and preserve special benefits such as exemption from state and local income taxes and the ability to borrow at low rates.
The US is planning to establish a diplomatic presence in Tehran for the first time in 30 years, a remarkable turnaround in policy by president George Bush who has pursued a hawkish approach to Iran throughout his time in office.The Guardian has learned that an announcement will be made in the next month to establish a US interests section in Tehran, a halfway house to setting up a full embassy. The move will see US diplomats stationed in the country. The news comes at a critical time in US-Iranian relations. After weeks that have seen tensions rise with Israel conducting war games aimed at Iran and Tehran carrying out long-range missile tests, a thaw appears to be under way.The White House announced today that William Burns, a senior state department official, is to be sent to Switzerland on Saturday to hear Tehran's response to a European offer aimed at resolving the nuclear standoff.
The US is planning to establish a diplomatic presence in Tehran for the first time in 30 years, a remarkable turnaround in policy by president George Bush who has pursued a hawkish approach to Iran throughout his time in office.
The Guardian has learned that an announcement will be made in the next month to establish a US interests section in Tehran, a halfway house to setting up a full embassy. The move will see US diplomats stationed in the country.
The news comes at a critical time in US-Iranian relations. After weeks that have seen tensions rise with Israel conducting war games aimed at Iran and Tehran carrying out long-range missile tests, a thaw appears to be under way.
The White House announced today that William Burns, a senior state department official, is to be sent to Switzerland on Saturday to hear Tehran's response to a European offer aimed at resolving the nuclear standoff.
An envoy from the US will attend weekend talks with Iran and other major powers over Tehran's nuclear programme. The announcement on Tuesday that William Burns, the US under-secretary of state, is to attend a meeting in Geneva with Saeed Jalili, Iranian nuclear negotiator, is a switch in position for the US. Burns will join Javier Solana, the EU foreign policy chief, and envoys from China, Russia, France, Britain and Germany, at the meeting, due on Saturday. They will discuss Iran's response to an offer made by world powers last month to give up nuclear work that the West believes is aimed at building an atomic bomb and Tehran says is for peaceful power-generation purposes
The announcement on Tuesday that William Burns, the US under-secretary of state, is to attend a meeting in Geneva with Saeed Jalili, Iranian nuclear negotiator, is a switch in position for the US.
Burns will join Javier Solana, the EU foreign policy chief, and envoys from China, Russia, France, Britain and Germany, at the meeting, due on Saturday.
They will discuss Iran's response to an offer made by world powers last month to give up nuclear work that the West believes is aimed at building an atomic bomb and Tehran says is for peaceful power-generation purposes
"Where, pray tell?", someone might ask.
Within the Bush Administration!
Out went Rumsfeld, Bolton, Rice of the "Birth Pangs" persuasion and Feith and in came Robert Gates and Rice of the "Negotiations instead of confrontation" persuasion. Diplomacy has replaced confrontation (to some extent) within the Bush regime, plus it also embraces US troop reductions in Iraq.
Obama will just build on these already made changes. In a sense, both he and McCain (whichever of the two wins) will give continuity to these changes that have already occurred. The difference each candidate represents will be marginal in terms of substance, although their styles will be different. "Beware of the man who does not talk, and the dog that does not bark." Cheyenne
Bush's own changes show how bankrupt his [original] policies were from the beginning. "Beware of the man who does not talk, and the dog that does not bark." Cheyenne
A day after he was prevented from visiting Gaza because of an assassination threat, Tony Blair for the first time raised doubts that a peace deal could be concluded between Israel and the Palestinians by the end of the year. Mr Blair, who is the international community's envoy to the Middle East, said that the uncertain political future of Ehud Olmert, the Israeli Prime Minister, was undermining efforts to conclude a deal, which President Bush had pledged would be signed by the end of this year. "The political situation in Israel makes it difficult to continue being optimistic about reaching a peace treaty between the Israelis and Palestinians by the end of the year," the former Prime Minister told the Palestinian newspaper Al-Quds. Mr Olmert is expected not to stand for re-election in party primaries in September after becoming engulfed in a corruption investigation that has severely damaged his popularity. He is suspected of having received hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes from Morris Talansky, a Jewish American businessman, over 15 years before becoming prime minister.
A day after he was prevented from visiting Gaza because of an assassination threat, Tony Blair for the first time raised doubts that a peace deal could be concluded between Israel and the Palestinians by the end of the year.
Mr Blair, who is the international community's envoy to the Middle East, said that the uncertain political future of Ehud Olmert, the Israeli Prime Minister, was undermining efforts to conclude a deal, which President Bush had pledged would be signed by the end of this year.
"The political situation in Israel makes it difficult to continue being optimistic about reaching a peace treaty between the Israelis and Palestinians by the end of the year," the former Prime Minister told the Palestinian newspaper Al-Quds.
Mr Olmert is expected not to stand for re-election in party primaries in September after becoming engulfed in a corruption investigation that has severely damaged his popularity. He is suspected of having received hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes from Morris Talansky, a Jewish American businessman, over 15 years before becoming prime minister.
WASHINGTON - Democratic presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama is the man with the plan for Iraq and Afghanistan. Presidential in tone and delivery, quoting Harry S Truman and Dean Acheson, George Kennan and George Marshall - the greatest generation - Obama, in a major foreign policy speech in Washington on Tuesday, outlined what he calls his "new overarching strategy". He said he would "focus this strategy on five goals essential to making America safer: ending the war in Iraq responsibly; finishing the fight against al-Qaeda and the Taliban; securing all nuclear weapons and materials from terrorists and rogue states; achieving true energy security; and rebuilding our alliances to meet the challenges of the 21st century". To say that Obama's plan - sketched earlier in an op-ed piece for The New York Times - is more realistic, thoughtful and sensible than that of rival Republican Senator John McCain's "road to victory" in Iraq would be an understatement. But ... the devil in those (brave) details Does Obama's proposed redeployment in Iraq automatically translate into no US troops in Mesopotamia by the summer of 2010? No. It translates into "a residual force to perform specific missions in Iraq: targeting any remnants of al-Qaeda; protecting our service members and diplomats; and training and supporting Iraq's security forces, so long as the Iraqis make political progress."
Americans may be losing faith in free markets Things are hard all over the financial landscape, and politicians and experts are now looking with favor at more, not less, government involvement in the economy. By Peter G. Gosselin, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer July 16, 2008 WASHINGTON -- For a generation, most people accepted the idea that the core of what makes America tick was an economy governed by free markets. And whatever combination of goods, services and jobs the market cooked up was presumed to be fine for the nation and for its citizens -- certainly better than government meddling. No longer. -skip- Spurred by the continued housing crisis, turmoil in financial markets, spiking oil prices, disappearing jobs and shrinking retirement savings, the nation and its political leaders have begun to sour on the notion that the current market system is the key to a fair, stable and efficient society. "We're at a hinge point," said William A. Galston, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington who helped craft President Clinton's market-friendly agenda during the 1990s. "The strong presumption in favor of markets, which has dominated public policy since the late 1970s, has been thrown very much into question." Now, to a degree not seen in years, politicians and outside experts are looking with favor at more, not less, government involvement in the economy. -skip- Yet the sheer volume of setbacks that people have been dealt has sent consumer confidence to some of its lowest levels in half a century, according to Reuters/University of Michigan surveys. A remarkable 84% of Americans are convinced that the nation is on the "wrong track," according to a recent Gallup poll. In just the last week, the financial markets have provided ample new evidence that markets are not working smoothly. Washington had to ride to the rescue of two government-chartered mortgage giants -- Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, ..... Meanwhile, federal regulators seized IndyMac Bancorp... And the already battered stock market took another sharp dip. The fact that experts keep pushing back the date when conditions may improve and the failure thus far of any national leader -- including either of the major-party presidential candidates -- to offer a convincing vision of how America will make its way back to sustained prosperity suggest that the current crisis will probably be very different from other recent economic bad patches. So may Americans' reaction to it. -skip- When Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which are government-chartered but investor-owned, began to teeter last week, the (Bush) administration quietly went to work on possible government action. "If the pendulum swung away from government toward much greater confidence in markets during the last generation, the pendulum is clearly swinging back again now," said Daniel Yergin, whose 1998 book with coauthor Joseph Stanislaw, "The Commanding Heights," chronicled the worldwide spread of the free-market credo. "Everything is weighing in at the same time, and that affects how people view markets and government," Yergin said. "Nobody in this country really believes in unfettered free markets, and nobody really believes in socialism," said UC Davis historian Eric Rauchway, but economic crises of the past have produced constituencies favoring the reining in of markets and regulation of the economy -- constituencies that ultimately grew large enough to produce change.
Things are hard all over the financial landscape, and politicians and experts are now looking with favor at more, not less, government involvement in the economy.
By Peter G. Gosselin, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer July 16, 2008
WASHINGTON -- For a generation, most people accepted the idea that the core of what makes America tick was an economy governed by free markets. And whatever combination of goods, services and jobs the market cooked up was presumed to be fine for the nation and for its citizens -- certainly better than government meddling.
No longer.
-skip-
Spurred by the continued housing crisis, turmoil in financial markets, spiking oil prices, disappearing jobs and shrinking retirement savings, the nation and its political leaders have begun to sour on the notion that the current market system is the key to a fair, stable and efficient society.
"We're at a hinge point," said William A. Galston, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington who helped craft President Clinton's market-friendly agenda during the 1990s. "The strong presumption in favor of markets, which has dominated public policy since the late 1970s, has been thrown very much into question."
Now, to a degree not seen in years, politicians and outside experts are looking with favor at more, not less, government involvement in the economy.
Yet the sheer volume of setbacks that people have been dealt has sent consumer confidence to some of its lowest levels in half a century, according to Reuters/University of Michigan surveys. A remarkable 84% of Americans are convinced that the nation is on the "wrong track," according to a recent Gallup poll.
In just the last week, the financial markets have provided ample new evidence that markets are not working smoothly.
Washington had to ride to the rescue of two government-chartered mortgage giants -- Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, .....
Meanwhile, federal regulators seized IndyMac Bancorp...
And the already battered stock market took another sharp dip.
The fact that experts keep pushing back the date when conditions may improve and the failure thus far of any national leader -- including either of the major-party presidential candidates -- to offer a convincing vision of how America will make its way back to sustained prosperity suggest that the current crisis will probably be very different from other recent economic bad patches.
So may Americans' reaction to it.
When Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which are government-chartered but investor-owned, began to teeter last week, the (Bush) administration quietly went to work on possible government action.
"If the pendulum swung away from government toward much greater confidence in markets during the last generation, the pendulum is clearly swinging back again now," said Daniel Yergin, whose 1998 book with coauthor Joseph Stanislaw, "The Commanding Heights," chronicled the worldwide spread of the free-market credo.
"Everything is weighing in at the same time, and that affects how people view markets and government," Yergin said.
"Nobody in this country really believes in unfettered free markets, and nobody really believes in socialism," said UC Davis historian Eric Rauchway, but economic crises of the past have produced constituencies favoring the reining in of markets and regulation of the economy -- constituencies that ultimately grew large enough to produce change.
you are the media you consume.
Uh, no. FDR's changes during the 1930s were counted as socialism by quite a few people, and the situation then was much worse than it is now...
Michael Hudson Why the Bail Out of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae: is Bad Economic Policy
We are not in a cycle but the end of an era. The old world of debt pyramiding to a fraudulent degree cannot be restored, despite the repeal Glass-Steagall Act in 1999 that unleashed financial conflicts of interest when the Clinton Administration backed Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin and financial lobbyist Greenspan in claiming that financial markets would be self-regulating and law-abiding. The real estate bubble was made possible by the unique degree to which America's population emerged from World War II relatively debt free. Each recovery has taken off from a higher debt level. This something like trying to drive a car with the brakes pressed tighter and tighter to the floor each time there is a stoplight (recession). We have now reached the debt limit, and the economy is stuck. The class war is back in business, with a vengeance. Instead of it being the familiar old class war between industrial employers and their work force, this one reverts to the old pre-industrial class war of creditors versus debtors. Its guiding principle is "Big Fish Eat Little Fish," mainly by the debt dynamic that crowds out the promised economy of free choice. This is being portrayed as a post-industrial economy, but it is a much older story. No economy in history ever has been able to pay off its debts. That is the essence of the "magic of compound interest." Debts grow inexorably, making creditors rich but impoverishing the economy in the process, thereby destroying its ability to pay. Recognizing this financial dynamic most societies have chosen the logical response. From Sumer in the third millennium BC and Babylonia the second millennium through Greece and Rome in the first millennium BC, and then from feudal Europe to the Inter-Ally war debts and reparations tangle that wrecked international finance after World War I, the response has been to bring debts back within the ability to pay. This can be done only by wiping out debts that cannot be paid. The alternative is debt peonage. Throughout most of history, countries have found again and again that bankruptcy - wiping out the debts - is the way to free economies. The idea is to free them from a situation where the economic surplus is diverted away from new tangible investment to pay bankers. The classical idea of free markets is to avoid privatizing monopolies, such as the unique privilege of commercial bankers to create bank-credit and charge interest on it. Current proposals would replace bad debts that are not publicly insured (except by an "implicit" guarantee that relevant legislators have bought into) with new debts, and new suckers are to be left holding the bag. Bahrainis and Saudis in particular are being courted. But most of all, there is a public campaign being waged by the FIRE sector (Finance, Insurance and Real Estate) to convince the American public that, in the infamous words of Margaret Thatcher, TINA, "there is no alternative." (See for instance the Wall Street Journal's excellent coverage of the FNMA/mortgage crisis on July 11, 2002, p. A12.) When one hears this, it means that political censorship is being mobilized to flood the popular media with the intellectual equivalent of sterile fruit flies being released to stop the spread of a threat. All one hears is a barrage of claims that the government must preserve the financial fictions of FNMA and Freddie Mac in order to "save the market." But what is "the market" that is to be "saved"? To Wall Street and its Congressional advocates, it is the mass of bad debts growing at compound "magic" rates of interest, beyond the ability of debtors to pay. If the debtors cannot pay, then the Government - "taxpayers" are to pick up the check to Wall Street. Meanwhile, more tax breaks are to be given to leave the finance, insurance and real estate sectors with enough money to "earn back" their losses, by extracting yet more rent and interest from the industrial economy's consumers and wage-earners.
We are not in a cycle but the end of an era. The old world of debt pyramiding to a fraudulent degree cannot be restored, despite the repeal Glass-Steagall Act in 1999 that unleashed financial conflicts of interest when the Clinton Administration backed Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin and financial lobbyist Greenspan in claiming that financial markets would be self-regulating and law-abiding. The real estate bubble was made possible by the unique degree to which America's population emerged from World War II relatively debt free. Each recovery has taken off from a higher debt level. This something like trying to drive a car with the brakes pressed tighter and tighter to the floor each time there is a stoplight (recession). We have now reached the debt limit, and the economy is stuck. The class war is back in business, with a vengeance. Instead of it being the familiar old class war between industrial employers and their work force, this one reverts to the old pre-industrial class war of creditors versus debtors. Its guiding principle is "Big Fish Eat Little Fish," mainly by the debt dynamic that crowds out the promised economy of free choice.
This is being portrayed as a post-industrial economy, but it is a much older story. No economy in history ever has been able to pay off its debts. That is the essence of the "magic of compound interest." Debts grow inexorably, making creditors rich but impoverishing the economy in the process, thereby destroying its ability to pay. Recognizing this financial dynamic most societies have chosen the logical response. From Sumer in the third millennium BC and Babylonia the second millennium through Greece and Rome in the first millennium BC, and then from feudal Europe to the Inter-Ally war debts and reparations tangle that wrecked international finance after World War I, the response has been to bring debts back within the ability to pay.
This can be done only by wiping out debts that cannot be paid. The alternative is debt peonage. Throughout most of history, countries have found again and again that bankruptcy - wiping out the debts - is the way to free economies. The idea is to free them from a situation where the economic surplus is diverted away from new tangible investment to pay bankers. The classical idea of free markets is to avoid privatizing monopolies, such as the unique privilege of commercial bankers to create bank-credit and charge interest on it.
Current proposals would replace bad debts that are not publicly insured (except by an "implicit" guarantee that relevant legislators have bought into) with new debts, and new suckers are to be left holding the bag. Bahrainis and Saudis in particular are being courted.
But most of all, there is a public campaign being waged by the FIRE sector (Finance, Insurance and Real Estate) to convince the American public that, in the infamous words of Margaret Thatcher, TINA, "there is no alternative." (See for instance the Wall Street Journal's excellent coverage of the FNMA/mortgage crisis on July 11, 2002, p. A12.) When one hears this, it means that political censorship is being mobilized to flood the popular media with the intellectual equivalent of sterile fruit flies being released to stop the spread of a threat. All one hears is a barrage of claims that the government must preserve the financial fictions of FNMA and Freddie Mac in order to "save the market."
But what is "the market" that is to be "saved"? To Wall Street and its Congressional advocates, it is the mass of bad debts growing at compound "magic" rates of interest, beyond the ability of debtors to pay. If the debtors cannot pay, then the Government - "taxpayers" are to pick up the check to Wall Street. Meanwhile, more tax breaks are to be given to leave the finance, insurance and real estate sectors with enough money to "earn back" their losses, by extracting yet more rent and interest from the industrial economy's consumers and wage-earners.
the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act in 1999
Nine years. It's taken just nine years to create this disaster.
This is financial incompetence writ on a scale far grander than anything seen for centuries. As a nation, our institutions have failed us: Under Alan Greenspan, the Federal Reserve slept through the most reckless and irresponsible expansion of bank lending in history for reasons of ideological purity. His opposition to the Fed's regulatory role reached the point of malfeasance long ago. History is unlikely to be kind to the Maestro. There is a choice to be made: Either we regulate the Banks, or leave it to the vagaries of the free markets to punish those who trade with, or place their assets in the wrong institutions. But for God's sake, do not give us the worst of both worlds -- do not allow banks the freedom to make horrific but preventable mistakes (i.e., only lending money to those who can pay it back), but then expect the taxpayers to foot the trillion dollar bill. That's not capitalism, its not socialism, its not regulation, and its sure as hell isn't what free markets are. Our language is insufficient to describe this hodge-podge system, other than to call it a random patchwork of quasi-capitalism, quadrennial-socialism, and politics as usual. Ideological idiocy is the only phrase I can muster that has any resonance with the daily insanity. We have entered into a fit of Orwellian madness: The American Capitalists, long the globe's leading advocates for free markets, have become near Socialists. Halfway around the world, the Chinese Communists have picked up the baton, and are moving rapidly towards a form of Capitalism. Ironically, it is the once largest communist nations -- the Chinese and the Russians -- who holds much of Fannie and Freddie's paper. Hey comrades, who's selling the rope to whom? Perhaps the rescue of "Phony and Fraudy" are not so much a bail out of American homeowners as it is a desperate attempt to stay in the good graces of our friendly global bankers. We are the world's largest debtor nation, and as such, we depend upon the kindness of strangers -- be they Japanese or Europeans or Abu Dhabians -- or even former communists. Back in the States, something beyond cognitive dissonance is occurring -- this is full blown case of dementia unfolding in the public sphere. When this era of excess and absurdity is treated by historians in the future, the question I expect to be asked most is not why many of these people weren't jailed for their financial felonies. Rather, I expect them to wonder why so many of these folk weren't placed in protective custody, and heavily medicated, for the only rational explanation for their statements and behaviors is that they have gone so far beyond the bend as to be completely and totally insane. Massively over-leveraged companies? Blame short sellers. Wildly under-capitalized financial firms? Blame rumors. Heinously poor corporate management? Blame a Senator. It is as if someone is running around Washington D.C. with a ball-peen hammer, smacking senior government officials on their skulls. If you find the standard finger pointing hard to fathom, perhaps blunt head trauma is a better explanations for the absurdities proferred. Books will be written about this period of time, and our descendants will wonder in awe as to how this was allowed to happen. Tulips got nothing on us! Its not just the total dollar value of the losses that have exceeded all other global fits of financial madness combined, but rather, how so many warning signs were so blithely ignored by so many and for so long. What was wrong with these people, the authors and historians will wonder. Did the antibiotics in the food supply drive them mad? Did the High Fructose Corn Syrup compromise their ability to think? Some form of viral plague? Roid rage? What else could have created such a mass delusion amongst not just the populace, but their leadership and institutions? Indy Mac goes belly up, having lost $900 million this year alone. Its shares fell 87% in 2007 and then its value dropped (on top of last year's collapse) another 95% this year-to-date. The stock fell to 28 cents yesterday. Some estimates of the total bad loans made by this somewhere in the neighborhood of $30 billion dollars -- and the Office of Thrift Supervision blames a senator who is investigating how much of the FDIC's $53 Billion this is going to eat up, with Wall Street estimates ranging from 15% to 30%. The towering incompetence of OTS is incomprehendable, but it is their colossal gall that is truly stupefying. From beyond the grave, Adam Smith does not know whether to weep or retch. >
This is financial incompetence writ on a scale far grander than anything seen for centuries.
As a nation, our institutions have failed us: Under Alan Greenspan, the Federal Reserve slept through the most reckless and irresponsible expansion of bank lending in history for reasons of ideological purity. His opposition to the Fed's regulatory role reached the point of malfeasance long ago. History is unlikely to be kind to the Maestro.
There is a choice to be made: Either we regulate the Banks, or leave it to the vagaries of the free markets to punish those who trade with, or place their assets in the wrong institutions. But for God's sake, do not give us the worst of both worlds -- do not allow banks the freedom to make horrific but preventable mistakes (i.e., only lending money to those who can pay it back), but then expect the taxpayers to foot the trillion dollar bill.
That's not capitalism, its not socialism, its not regulation, and its sure as hell isn't what free markets are. Our language is insufficient to describe this hodge-podge system, other than to call it a random patchwork of quasi-capitalism, quadrennial-socialism, and politics as usual. Ideological idiocy is the only phrase I can muster that has any resonance with the daily insanity.
We have entered into a fit of Orwellian madness: The American Capitalists, long the globe's leading advocates for free markets, have become near Socialists. Halfway around the world, the Chinese Communists have picked up the baton, and are moving rapidly towards a form of Capitalism. Ironically, it is the once largest communist nations -- the Chinese and the Russians -- who holds much of Fannie and Freddie's paper.
Hey comrades, who's selling the rope to whom?
Perhaps the rescue of "Phony and Fraudy" are not so much a bail out of American homeowners as it is a desperate attempt to stay in the good graces of our friendly global bankers. We are the world's largest debtor nation, and as such, we depend upon the kindness of strangers -- be they Japanese or Europeans or Abu Dhabians -- or even former communists.
Back in the States, something beyond cognitive dissonance is occurring -- this is full blown case of dementia unfolding in the public sphere. When this era of excess and absurdity is treated by historians in the future, the question I expect to be asked most is not why many of these people weren't jailed for their financial felonies. Rather, I expect them to wonder why so many of these folk weren't placed in protective custody, and heavily medicated, for the only rational explanation for their statements and behaviors is that they have gone so far beyond the bend as to be completely and totally insane.
Massively over-leveraged companies? Blame short sellers.
Wildly under-capitalized financial firms? Blame rumors.
Heinously poor corporate management? Blame a Senator.
It is as if someone is running around Washington D.C. with a ball-peen hammer, smacking senior government officials on their skulls. If you find the standard finger pointing hard to fathom, perhaps blunt head trauma is a better explanations for the absurdities proferred.
Books will be written about this period of time, and our descendants will wonder in awe as to how this was allowed to happen. Tulips got nothing on us! Its not just the total dollar value of the losses that have exceeded all other global fits of financial madness combined, but rather, how so many warning signs were so blithely ignored by so many and for so long. What was wrong with these people, the authors and historians will wonder. Did the antibiotics in the food supply drive them mad? Did the High Fructose Corn Syrup compromise their ability to think? Some form of viral plague? Roid rage? What else could have created such a mass delusion amongst not just the populace, but their leadership and institutions?
Indy Mac goes belly up, having lost $900 million this year alone. Its shares fell 87% in 2007 and then its value dropped (on top of last year's collapse) another 95% this year-to-date. The stock fell to 28 cents yesterday. Some estimates of the total bad loans made by this somewhere in the neighborhood of $30 billion dollars -- and the Office of Thrift Supervision blames a senator who is investigating how much of the FDIC's $53 Billion this is going to eat up, with Wall Street estimates ranging from 15% to 30%. The towering incompetence of OTS is incomprehendable, but it is their colossal gall that is truly stupefying.
From beyond the grave, Adam Smith does not know whether to weep or retch.
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mighty hacks at the tree of ignorance... ~"When an inner situation is not made conscious, it appears outside as fate." Karl Jung~
I think Hudson is right and only by writing down the value of the mortgages on which the bubble is based by an amount close to the increase caused by the bubble can the economy be saved. Badly damaged but possibly saved. The beneficiaries of the bubble would be left with about 30-40% of their vast wealth, still far more than they and their progeny can possibly consume, and the other 99.9% of the population can conceivably clean up the mess.
Else it is the abyss. What will all of their paper assets be worth when no one can afford to pay any part of the mortgages? When government can't afford to enforce the laws? They can hire private security, but how will they pay them? There is not enough gold and silver in the world to go around. Paper money will be worthless, first in the USA and UK, then elsewhere. International trade will collapse. Where is Bruce when we need him? Perhaps he can show why I am all wet and make me feel better. Hopefully after he has read the two articles to which you have provided links. As the Dutch said while fighting the Spanish: "It is not necessary to have hope in order to persevere."
That's exactly what's happening, foaming b.s. by way of anesthetic on one side, the python squeeze of inflation on t'other.
will the patient wake up before his organs are harvested and his fluids run dry?
thank Guin and Guinness there are still some who dare tell the truth
(and it's our hallowed bounden duty to find and circulate their screeds...read up, lurkers, join the hunt!) ~"When an inner situation is not made conscious, it appears outside as fate." Karl Jung~
So here we are, at the end point of Reagan's folly, with his kitchen cabinet of whining millionaires. The credit card binge that the US never recovered from, attributed to breaking the backs of the Soviet Union, finally breaking the back of the US. I think it was that last aircraft carrier that they thought they would be so clever with, budgeting only the boat, but leaving the planes as a hole for the next administration to deal with. But there were many such excesses along the way.
They still sneer at Jimmy Carter. I wish it felt better, sneering at them back.
The only lucky part is that history is so much sped up these days. Just as empires come and go in less than decades, the recovery from all this will not have to be so extended as from the Great Depression, or rely upon war writ large to recreate a newly balanced system. 10 years from now, the US will be back, hopefully embracing wise state control of entities best served by that, and 800 fewer military bases around the world. Of course, Yellowstone and Yosemite will have been sold off for debt financing as well, but what's a few mountains and rivers? Never underestimate their intelligence, always underestimate their knowledge.
Frank Delaney ~ Ireland
the original settlers of the usa would say it doesn't belong to anyone...
if only jimmy had been more macho!
get your winter sweaters ready ~"When an inner situation is not made conscious, it appears outside as fate." Karl Jung~
The New York TimesCitigroup Regrets Bond Trades in EuropeBy HEATHER TIMMONSSeptember 15, 2004Citigroup told employees on Tuesday that it regretted executing a $13.5 billion bond trade that has raised the ire of rival traders in Europe and led to an investigation by regulators in Britain.In an memorandum to all 40,000 employees of Citigroup's global corporate and investment bank, the chief executive for global capital markets, Thomas G. Maheras, said the trade was an "innovative transaction, that sought to access the liquidity in the European bond markets," but that it "did not meet our standards."As a result, "we regret having executed this transaction," he said.The bond sale, executed Aug. 2, caused widespread concern in Europe's markets. Citigroup sold 11 billion euros ($13.5 billion) of European government debt within minutes, mainly through electronic trades, then bought some of it back at lower prices less than an hour later, rival traders say.Though the trades were not illegal, they angered other bond houses, which said the bank violated an unspoken agreement not to flood the market to drive down prices.Citigroup "failed to fully consider its impact on our clients, other market participants and our regulators," Mr. Maheras said in the memo...
I think it is time to pull my savings from there. I always felt a little bad going into the belly of the beast, but it was the only simple international choice I could figure out when I started living abroad. And all the reasons that I thought they would be better have not proved correct in practice.
I just haven't figured a safe place to put cash though. Not that I have that much. Just enough that if a bank goes bust, I'd rather be in line outside than online...kinda no where...or not be in that jam at all. Never underestimate their intelligence, always underestimate their knowledge.
i hear ya, i have vivid memories of my parents having their italian bank accounts frozen during the 60's. ~"When an inner situation is not made conscious, it appears outside as fate." Karl Jung~
they come with fuzz tone ~"When an inner situation is not made conscious, it appears outside as fate." Karl Jung~
placed high in a tree they can work as antennas for VPN, or pick up radio waves from neptune- ~"When an inner situation is not made conscious, it appears outside as fate." Karl Jung~
Yes, these do exist, and there are American brokers that offer them.. When the capital development of a country becomes a by-product of the activities of a casino, the job is likely to be ill-done. — John M. Keynes
"Missing Greenhouse Gas" 17,000 Times Worse Than CO2 by Patriot Daily News Clearinghouse [Subscribe] Wed Jul 16, 2008 at 07:03:49 PM PDT A recent study has concluded that NF3 (nitrogen trifluoride), which is used in the manufacture of computers, cell phones, TVs and solar panels, can be identified as the "missing greenhouse gas." The study warns that NF3 may "cause more global warming than coal-fired power plants" because NF3 is 17,000 times "more potent than carbon dioxide." NF3 remains in our atmosphere for 550 years but it is not regulated by Kyoto or other agreements yet production of NF3 is significantly increasing. The irony is that the industry initially switched over to NF3 in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
A recent study has concluded that NF3 (nitrogen trifluoride), which is used in the manufacture of computers, cell phones, TVs and solar panels, can be identified as the "missing greenhouse gas." The study warns that NF3 may "cause more global warming than coal-fired power plants" because NF3 is 17,000 times "more potent than carbon dioxide." NF3 remains in our atmosphere for 550 years but it is not regulated by Kyoto or other agreements yet production of NF3 is significantly increasing. The irony is that the industry initially switched over to NF3 in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
great...
Daily Kos: "Missing Greenhouse Gas" 17,000 Times Worse Than CO2
What kind of impact is this suppose to have, you ask? The chemical is found to stay in the atmosphere for 550 years and there is no force of nature known to remove it. This year, nitrogen trifluoride emissions are expected to have an impact equal to Austria's CO2 output. Production of the chemical may double in 2009. The study points to a number of NF3 manufacturing facilities opening up in the US, Korea, and China. The production increase is due in part to the switch to digital television which will lead to increased LCD consumption and the disposal of older sets, some of them early LCD models." This study is important because LCD monitors have been marketed as "environmentally friendly": LCD monitors have long been presented as environmentally friendly, particularly next to lead-laden, energy inefficient CRT models. According to ENERGY STAR, they consume half to two-thirds the energy of CRTs. Heat output is also less, leading to lower air conditioning bills. This year alone, plasma or LCD TVs constitute almost half of the global TV purchases. Moreover, the flat-screen TV market is expected to significantly increase when the US moves to digital television next year: "Americans are expected to discard 80 million analog TVs by the end of 2009."
What kind of impact is this suppose to have, you ask? The chemical is found to stay in the atmosphere for 550 years and there is no force of nature known to remove it. This year, nitrogen trifluoride emissions are expected to have an impact equal to Austria's CO2 output. Production of the chemical may double in 2009. The study points to a number of NF3 manufacturing facilities opening up in the US, Korea, and China. The production increase is due in part to the switch to digital television which will lead to increased LCD consumption and the disposal of older sets, some of them early LCD models."
This study is important because LCD monitors have been marketed as "environmentally friendly":
LCD monitors have long been presented as environmentally friendly, particularly next to lead-laden, energy inefficient CRT models. According to ENERGY STAR, they consume half to two-thirds the energy of CRTs. Heat output is also less, leading to lower air conditioning bills.
This year alone, plasma or LCD TVs constitute almost half of the global TV purchases. Moreover, the flat-screen TV market is expected to significantly increase when the US moves to digital television next year: "Americans are expected to discard 80 million analog TVs by the end of 2009."
there is some good news luckily
The good news is that concerns over NF3 led Toshiba Matsushita Display Technology in 2006 to find a substitute for NF3 to reduce GHG emissions. And, today, The Linde Group, a technology company, presented a "unique solution to replace the powerful greenhouse gas" NF3 in the production of LCDs and solar panels. The Linde Group states that it has "proven technology" to "replace NF3 with pure fluorine, which has a zero global warming potential." This technology was developed in the 1990s and has been used by some companies since 2003: Linde's on-site fluorine generators have been installed at more than 20 semiconductor, LCD and solar cell production sites, including Toshiba Matsushita Display, Samsung, and LG. This technology is particularly important for the solar panel industry, because it eliminates the environmental impact and makes the panels and the electricity they generate more cost-competitive. This is terrific news because the solar cell industry is expected to become a significant NF3 consumer whose "growth might lead to a six-fold increase in NF3 use by 2020."
The good news is that concerns over NF3 led Toshiba Matsushita Display Technology in 2006 to find a substitute for NF3 to reduce GHG emissions.
And, today, The Linde Group, a technology company, presented a "unique solution to replace the powerful greenhouse gas" NF3 in the production of LCDs and solar panels.
The Linde Group states that it has "proven technology" to "replace NF3 with pure fluorine, which has a zero global warming potential." This technology was developed in the 1990s and has been used by some companies since 2003:
Linde's on-site fluorine generators have been installed at more than 20 semiconductor, LCD and solar cell production sites, including Toshiba Matsushita Display, Samsung, and LG. This technology is particularly important for the solar panel industry, because it eliminates the environmental impact and makes the panels and the electricity they generate more cost-competitive.
This is terrific news because the solar cell industry is expected to become a significant NF3 consumer whose "growth might lead to a six-fold increase in NF3 use by 2020."
whew! ~"When an inner situation is not made conscious, it appears outside as fate." Karl Jung~
American inequality highlighted by 30-year gap in life expectancy By Leonard Doyle in Washington Thursday, 17 July 2008 The United States of America is becoming less united by the day. A 30-year gap now exists in the average life expectancy between Mississippi, in the Deep South, and Connecticut, in prosperous New England. Huge disparities have also opened up in income, health and education depending on where people live in the US, according to a report published yesterday.
By Leonard Doyle in Washington
Thursday, 17 July 2008
The United States of America is becoming less united by the day. A 30-year gap now exists in the average life expectancy between Mississippi, in the Deep South, and Connecticut, in prosperous New England. Huge disparities have also opened up in income, health and education depending on where people live in the US, according to a report published yesterday.
Asian-American males have the best quality of life and black Americans the lowest, with a staggering 50-year life expectancy gap between the two groups.
But Obama's the one who's been consistently correct on foreign policy, not McCain, so why pretend he has a problem?
Thus I think the Veep should be someone relatively young who makes sense taking over the operation in 2016.
An interesting pick, the more I think about it (he's been my dark horse for Veep for a while): Russ Feingold. He's only 54 or 55, and he comes with tons of experience and solid Democratic credentials. Whole package. Conservatives want live babies so they can raise them to be dead soldiers. - George Carlin
Thus their main required talents are those of an actor. Successful US presidents are usually actors who believe in their lines, just as actors on stage or in movies. Or supporting roles in the case of VPs. The movie that is about to be made in the US is called 'Hopefully fair'. Obama and Edwards might play well in that, if the producers at Beltway Blockbusters will cast them. They are not fond of risk. You can't be me, I'm taken
when i saw him campaign with richardson , there was a 'je ne sais quoi' connection between them, some serious synergy, i guess you'd call it.
biden seems a bit of a shapeshifter, kaine i dunno.
but feingold, wow, yes! he truly stands out as the most liberal choice of all, from what (little) i know.
of course edwards would make a great choice too.
harold ford? ~"When an inner situation is not made conscious, it appears outside as fate." Karl Jung~
If I had to guess, I'd guess it'd be Richardson for the reason you mentioned, along with Richardson's regional advantages. They seem to click (and, yes, that does matter). And Richardson is, in many ways, the future. He's half-Latino, and he's from the West, where the future lies. The Rustbelt and the old Scandinavian-Socialist Northwest are still important, but they're becoming less so.
Not a chance in Hell on Harold Ford. First of all, nobody likes him. Second, he's got a pretty sweet gig at MSNBC for some reason I can't figure out (since he's a complete moron). Third, he brings nothing to the ticket except youth, and on that he probably brings a little too much at the age of thirty eight. He's basically a half-black Joe Lieberman without the nauseating voice. Conservatives want live babies so they can raise them to be dead soldiers. - George Carlin
Main monitors were huge Tannoys mounted in 26mm blockboard which was the front of a brick housing of about 2 cu metres.
I put my control room into service with a pair of Tannoy Gold Belveders. I had an octagonal speaker loft with 8 trapezoidal positions tapering inwards at the top. When I did the design I did not know which direction sound reproduction was going to take. Remember quad? The center position was filled with 3/4" ply covered with a decorative cloth. The Tannoys were in the adjoining spaces. The spaces on the sides were finished identically to the center space. The three rear spaces were covered only with cloth, with the loft stuffed with fiberglass. The mixer sat 7 feet on axis from the center of each Tannoy. I love the point source clarity of the Tannoy dual concentric design. I could achieve levels well in excess of 110 dBSpl at the mix position. With a continuous baffle between and beside each speaker the snare and mid-range instruments sounded real and solid. A back reflection and cancellation pattern can make them sound hollow.
The console sat on a one foot high platform covered with 3/4" ply over 2x12s I had a hole pattern drilled in the ply to create a highly adsorptive Helmholz resonator centered on about 125Hz, but we stuffed the spaces between the joists with fiberglass to broaden the Q, covered it with a thick jute pad and plush carpet. The result was an almost totally absorptive floor. I made the floor disappear, acoustically.
The studio owner had an excellent aesthetic sense and we collaborated on the finish of the room. He bought a ton of solid 3/4" walnut and we finished everything below the loft with 2" rounded walnut slats on about 2" centers, sculpted all around the room, including doors over storage spaces. Any parallel surfaces were close to 100% absorptive. The back of the slats was covered with charcoal colored felt with fiberglass behind.
The console was articulated, with the output assigns and Vu Meters above the hinge and with the Echo Return and Monitor sections seperate sections that could be either arranged in a line that continued the line of the input section or could be swung around up to 60 degrees. The rearmost section of each section could be raised up about 45 degrees for mixing. In that configuration, the mixer could reach and adjust every control without moving the center of his/her head except in pivot.
The chief problem was the fact that I lost the argument over how wide to make the room. Too late he realized that I had been right. It was quite a ride. At one point he had over $80,000.00 cash money invested in the console and it was all in bags and boxes of parts in my second bedroom "office" in West L.A. One of the more dramatic moments was when I inserted one of 72 10 position Switchcraft push button switch assemblies into one of 72 ~8"x10" double sided printed circuit boards with plated through holes and it fit. There was one such assembly on each side of each of 36 output assign modules.
As the Dutch said while fighting the Spanish: "It is not necessary to have hope in order to persevere."
And I did actually edit 2 inch tape on occasion. The idea of the physical splice in sound, video or movies is long forgotten - though not the small of film cement. You can't be me, I'm taken
We had an MCI 24 track. I had used an Ampex 440 two track for mixdown. I loved the isoloop drive of the 3M. Later, when they were developing the Digital Recorder, I was the project manager for the development of the editor, which synched two machines together with SMPTE time codes and executed up to 32 digital crossfades simultaneously.
The problem was that the technology, which they were given by the BBC, utilized a Hamming code for dropout protection. You could loose up to .2" of media off of the tape and not loose any sound. The Hamming code took a 16 bit digital word, waited for approximately 200ms, took another word, added them together and formed a check sum word. The original could be extracted from any two of these words. But if you tried to do a razor blade edit, you got a giant pop.
My editor took a word from one track, multiplied it by a coefficient from the start of my cross fade PROM table, pop the result into a TRW TDC1010J which would multiply two words in 110ns and put them into an accumulator, do the same thing for the destination track, except starting from the other end of the PROM, and then step through the PROM in opposite directions. It could do this 32 times in less than 20 micro seconds. I spotted the chip from an ad in Electronic Design Magazine, hired an MIT EE to design the logic and three Motorola 6800 programmers to program the four seperate microprocessors which had to work together in my design. I knew the application. They could do the work.
Without ever signing away my patent rights, I never-the -less became the not so proud author and assignee of a basic patent in digital assembly editing. That is another story. I also ended up in debt, naturally. As the Dutch said while fighting the Spanish: "It is not necessary to have hope in order to persevere."
Americans live shorter lives than citizens of almost every other developed nation, according to a report from several US charities. The report found that the US ranked 42nd in the world for life expectancy despite spending more on health care per person than any other country. Overall, the American Human Development Report ranked the world's richest country 12th for human development.
Americans live shorter lives than citizens of almost every other developed nation, according to a report from several US charities.
The report found that the US ranked 42nd in the world for life expectancy despite spending more on health care per person than any other country.
Overall, the American Human Development Report ranked the world's richest country 12th for human development.
This is just sad. Now where are we going and what's with the handbasket?
