Strangely the one whos genes seem most degraded is the one whos genes aledgedly wander the furthest from the Family standard.

Fiscal Systems, Organizational Capacity, and Crisis: A Political Balance of Payments Approach    Nathaniel Cline and Nathan Cedric Tankus   INET

In an illustration of the power of carefully looking at economic history the authors illuminate some of the limitations of economic and monetary theory, in this case that of MMT, while clarifying factors that affect the abilities of different states to create a truly sovereign state.

Mosler argues that in the mid 1990s he thought, "the theory of the monetary circuit was correct to the point of being entirely beyond dispute". However, he also argues that the theory "could be further enhanced by starting from the beginning". This beginning for Mosler was of course why the workers accepted the units of a currency as payment for their labor services. His answer (which is quite well known among heterodox economists by now) was that imposed debts denominated in that unit of account, give it's units value; in other words taxes. This is an important part of the story, but we would argue it is in fact not the beginning. The true beginning to the circuit is the question of where people and organizations gain the ability to tax.

In order to impose liabilities onto a population (i.e., build a tax system), an organization or group needs to have the resources to impose a tax, collect a tax, and use the real resources it gains through spending to expand and institutionalize its power. The catch-22 is that all of these tasks take real resources and personnel, which is precisely what the tax system is supposed to get. This brings us to history and why this approach has fruitful insights for understanding growth and development. Western Europe was in many ways set up for the modern period by having a deeply institutionalized system of taxation and tribute (some of it in tally sticks and some of it in real resources) before capitalism started developing. They already had the ability and authority to extract real resources and thus it took minimal institutional change to do this purely through a monetary system run by a nation state rather then city-states and feudal hierarchies.

The authors note how the UK developed its fiscal capabilities after 1688, how that contributed to the political power of the UK, how the Napoleonic Wars, by greatly increasing the national debt, consolidated the financial power of the UK and how this led to a significant asymmetry in international political power.  

They note that the USA effectively inherited most of the needed institutions and financial knowledge, which greatly contributed to the development of effective sovereignty for the USA. And then they note that this did not happen in Latin America, where effective national fiscal sovereignty did not emerge in the 19th century.

Political balance of payments constraint

Among certain portions of Post-Keynesianism, there is much focus on the balance of payments constraint. While we don't disagree with the idea that there is a balance of payments constraint, we do feel that too often Post-Keynesians are willing to take it's existence for granted to the point of arguing that balance of payment deficits will adjust automatically. When pushed, these writers will acknowledge other factors, but those "other factors" are at best not a focus.

We take the opposite approach. For us the construction of balance of payment constraints for some countries and their loosening to the point of elimination for others, is a deeply political process. A classic (although under-read and under-cited) example comes from Michael Hudson's 1970 book "A financial payments-flow analysis of U.S. international transactions":

   Analysis can highlight the adjustment process, which if it is to work on the cause of today's balance-of-payments disequilibrium, must work not so much "through the marketplace" as through self-controlling policies by the governments of the "key currency" deficit countries. Otherwise, disequilibrium must continue to be financed through compensating diplomatic arrangements (for example, troop offset-cost agreements such as have been drawn up with Germany), swap lending, and a reconstructing of the IMF to increase U.S. credit lines. Balance-of-payments evolution in this event becomes a function of international power politics.

From this perspective the ability of a country to run persistent balance of payment deficits depends on how they finance those deficits and whether that financing can potentially go on indefinitely.

THE NORTHEAST Philadelphia "faith-healing" couple whose 2-year-old son died after they failed to seek medical treatment for the child were charged yesterday with third-degree murder in the death of another of their children.

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20130523_Faith-healers_face_murder_charges_in_death_of_second_chil d.html

He probably felt threatened. Which means, in Florida, that you can kill the people you feel threatened by.

Or maybe the cops felt threatened, and applied the same rule.

I propose a change to this site from EuroTrib to SteamTrainsForever.

That's why there's no cabooses any more. The brakemen got tired of being thrown from one end of the car to the other as the coupling slack got taken up and released.

Which then opens a question about how trains work with engines at both ends...somewhere in the middle there is a car bouncing back and forth, I would think...

EUobserver.com / News In Brief / German brewers: shale gas exploitation may ruin beer

BERLIN - The Brauer-Bund beer association is asking the German government to "carry out more research" before allowing the extraction of shale gas through "fracking" - a method pumping water and chemicals at high pressure into the ground which may pollute water used for brewing. Germany is Europe's largest beer brewer.

EUobserver.com / Justice & Home Affairs / Amnesty: EU states guilty of racism, homophobia

BRUSSELS - Several EU countries abuse the rights of migrants and ethnic minorities, while others are not doing enough to combat homophobia, Amnesty International has said.

The British-based NGO named 24 EU states in its annual report on rights abusers out on Thursday (23 May).

EUobserver.com / Regions & Cities / Germany and Greece: huge gulf in youth unemployment

Berlin - The German government on Wednesday (22 May) announced a series of conferences and bilateral programmes to help youngsters from Spain, Portugal and Greece find a job, as regional statistics show 17 times more unemployed youngsters in northern Greece compared to Bavaria.

According to the EU's statistical office Eurostat, youth unemployment in the northern-Greek region of Dytiki Makedonia stood at 72.5 percent in 2012, followed by the Spanish regions of Ceuta (70.6%) and Canarias (62.6%).

EUobserver.com / Headline News / EU retreats from olive oil ban after wave of ridicule

BRUSSELS - The European Commission has been forced to beat a hasty retreat from a proposed ban on jugs of olive oil in restaurants after the idea met with widespread ridicule.

EUobserver.com / Institutional Affairs / EU anti-fraud chief defends role in Dalligate

BRUSSELS - The director general of the EU's anti-fraud agency, Olaf, has said public confidence in the office has increased despite allegations of wrongdoing in an investigation that led to the dismissal of EU commissioner John Dalli last October.

Spain replants after centuries of deforestation | Environment | DW.DE | 22.05.2013

Centuries of deforestation have turned Spain's lush forests into barren scrublands, making them vulnerable to erosion. But volunteers are working to revive the landscape and protect local water sources.

Around this time of year in the Sierra de Guadarrama, a snow-capped mountain range outside Madrid, the snow is starting to melt. Below the tree line, the melting water soaks the earth in dense stands of pine trees. Further down, holly, oak and ash trees line the banks of mountain streams, and goats graze between granite rock formations.

German film in Cannes disturbs with religious conservatism | Culture | DW.DE | 23.05.2013

Only one German film made it onto this year's official festival program in Cannes. But prepare to be disturbed by Katrin Gebbe's realistic portrait of religious conservatism.

The film "Tore tanzt" (Tore Dances) couldn't open more idyllically, with plenty of sunshine and trees. That is, if it weren't for the harsh, throbbing soundtrack as a slouching blond teenager is baptized in a lake.

Tore is a Jesus freak. He listens to punk music, wears tattered leather jackets and lives in a Christian commune with other religious outsiders. In their universe, God is "cool" and it's normal to wear both a Mohawk and a cross.

UN seeks to restore credibility in DRC | Africa | DW.DE | 23.05.2013

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon und World Bank President Jim Yong Kim are working on a new strategy to end the conflict in DRC. Their joint trip to the region also raises questions about the UN's role.

It was intended to be an important signal - a joint visit to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and World Bank President Jim Yong Kim. The country has been in a state of crisis for decades. For the last twelve months the population in the eastern part of the country has suffered under armed clashes between government forces and M23 rebels.

'Dumbass' a tribute to China's zeitgeist | Asia | DW.DE | 23.05.2013

Chinese artist Ai Weiwei is making headlines with his first music video. In the song titled Dumbass he sings about his time in jail in 2011. The video is about the Chinese zeitgeist, he tells DW.

US, China face austerity vs growth debate | Transatlantic Voices | DW.DE | 23.05.2013

In 2009-10, at the peak of the global recession with 16 million unemployed in the US, there was widespread agreement that growth trumped austerity and a stimulus was needed. Consequently, Congress enacted a $787 billion stimulus package. But Congress has been unwilling since then to pass any significant stimulus bill, even though the economic recovery has been slow.

With further Congressional action blocked, fiscal policy (higher government expenditures, lower taxes) was no longer available as a tool to stimulate the economy.

However, Ben Bernanke, who took over from Alan Greenspan as the head of the Federal Reserve in 2006, has tried to learn from past experiences.

Amnesty International slams slum evictions | Globalization | DW.DE | 23.05.2013

Tens of thousands of people worldwide were pushed out of slum dwellings last year to make way for shopping malls and office blocks, according to Amnesty International. Nigeria witnessed especially brutal clearances.

The bulldozers came to the settlement just before midday, when most people were busy at work. Resident Jim Tom George was there to see over 20,000 people forcibly evicted from their homes in Port Harcourt, Nigeria.

"They blocked the entry points to our settlement and just started to demolish everything," he says of the day in June 2012. "They didn't tell us. We had no idea that the government would arrive on this day and destroy the place where we all live."

Obama clips drone wings | World | DW.DE | 23.05.2013

A day after the US administration admitted that a fourth US citizen had been killed by a drone strike, President Barack Obama is promising greater transparency in the notoriously secretive and morally dubious program.

In a major policy speech at the National Defense University the US president said his administration was willing to consider accepting increased oversight of lethal drone strikes outside of war zones like Afghanistan.

"To say a military tactic is legal, or even effective, is not to say it is wise or moral in every instance," Obama said. "And before any strike is taken, there must be near-certainty that no civilians will be killed or injured - the highest standard we can set."

London's community divided by Woolwich attacks | Europe | DW.DE | 23.05.2013

The atmosphere on the streets in south London was described as "tense" as local residents struggled to come to terms with the brutal murder of a serving British soldier outside his army barracks.

The murder of a soldier in broad daylight in Woolwich, south London, on Wednesday has divided the multicultural local community and prompted fears of a backlash against British Muslims.

Community leaders from this deprived neighborhood near where the attack took place were quick to appeal for calm.

The Secretary General of the Muslim Council of Britain, Farooq Murad, said he wanted to express his "outrage and horror" at what happened. He said the culprits had "insulted Allah and dishonoured our faith." He condemned the attack unreservedly and added that he had been "heartened" by messages of understanding by other faith leaders and the prime minister.

IMF expresses confidence in Lagarde as fund chief appears in court | News | DW.DE | 23.05.2013

The IMF has expressed confidence in its director, Christine Lagarde, who has appeared in a French court over allegations she acted illegally while finance minister. It is the second scandal for an IMF chief since 2011.

Lagarde spent more than nine hours at the Court of Justice of the Republic (CJR), which probes cases of ministerial misconduct, in Paris on Thursday. The court wants an explanation of her role in the 2007 payment of public funds to businessman Bernard Tapie.

Germany's SPD party celebrates 150th anniversary | News | DW.DE | 23.05.2013

Germany's Social Democratic Party has marked its 150 year anniversary in Leipzig. Four months ahead of federal elections, the party has paid tribute to its rich past.

Festivities are underway in Leipzig where about 1,600 guests from 80 countries have gathered to celebrate the Social Democratic Party's (SPD) 150 year anniversary.

And Yasha Levine is for real.

Cicadas emerge fully formed on US east coast as mating ritual begins | Environment | guardian.co.uk

After 17 years beneath the ground, billions of cicadas are beginning to emerge along the US east coast.

The inch-long insects have spent their adolescence feasting on nutrients from tree roots. When the ground temperature reaches a steady 64F the cicadas burrow to the surface, shed their exoskeletons, and fly about, making a lot of noise in a bid to attract a mate.

After several weeks of frantic relations the females lay eggs. A couple of months later, tiny new cicadas hatch, fall to the ground, tunnel to a tree root, and the whole process begins again.

Islamist revenge attack in Niger hits military, uranium mine | News | DW.DE | 23.05.2013

Islamist groups have carried out suicide bombings at a Niger military base and a French-owned mine. The assault came in response to a French-led military operation this year which ousted Islamists from northern Mali.

Islamist militants detonated car bombs within an hour of each other early Thursday morning in the Nigerien cities of Argadez and Arlit, which lie about 1,000 kilometers (621 miles) northeast of the capital city Niamey.

At least 20 soldiers were killed when the first bomb exploded on a military base in Argadez. The defense ministry indicated that at least 15 troops had been injured in the attack.

Bomb attack kills police in Pakistan | News | DW.DE | 23.05.2013

A bomb attack outside Quetta in southwest Pakistan has killed at least 12 people. The attack, in the restive Baluchistan province, reportedly targeted a vehicle that was carrying a government special forces unit.

Officials say the bomb targeted a vehicle carrying security personnel early Thursday morning on the outskirts of Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan province. At least 11 policemen were killed as well as one civilian.

Syrian committees draft new peace proposals ahead of Geneva 2 | News | DW.DE | 23.05.2013

Members of the Arab League and the Syrian National Coalition have drafted new proposals aimed at ending the Syrian civil war. Their plans come in anticipation of a US-Russia backed peace conference slated for June.

Two separate committees of Middle Eastern leaders convened on Thursday, seeking to outline their official positions and proposals ahead of the Geneva 2 conference.

In Cairo, Arab League Secretary Nabil al-Arabi and Qatari Prime Minister Hamad bin Jassim, who heads the Syria committee, said in a statement following the committee's meeting that they planned to "submit the points to the five permanent members of the Security Council." In doing so, they hoped "to help the next international conference in Geneva succeed."

Nissan launches recall over steering system glitch | Business | DW.DE | 23.05.2013

Japanese carmaker Nissan has said it will recall hundreds of thousands of vehicles after a steering wheel glitch was discovered. Earlier this year, the auto producer already had to fix cars with faulty airbags.

Nissan announced on Thursday it would have to recall 841,000 vehicles worldwide. Japan's second-largest auto maker said among the cars affected were the Micra compact produced in Britain and Japan between 2002 and 2006.

A steering system glitch which prompted the recall also appeared in the Cube model produced in Japan around the same period, Nissan stated.