A bit of history
In 1995 Carlo Rubbia et al wrote a paper ("Conceptual Design 0f a Fast Neutron Operated High Power Energy Amplifier") on how to use a controlled decay-path for nuclear isotopes. The basic difference between an energy amplifier and a fission reactor is that the energy amplifier does not have a self-sustained reaction so no risk of meltdown. I remember this well as my younger self was very excited and saw a simple solution to every energy problem the world faced, including what to do with nuclear waste - feed it into the energy amplifier. One problem solved!

As I got older (and a fair bit more cynical) energy amplifiers first changed brand to Thorium reactors, then to 4th generation nuclear power and now apparently integral fast reactors. Actual reactors have however not been built.

On the surface it is about the party leader Juholt and a to high expense report as a parliamentarian, but that does not appear to be the real issue.

Below the fold follows the key elements.

I wrote:

Has the countries in the core balanced trade with each others? Otherwise, I doubt very much that it could work for the core either.

Structural trade imbalances would have built up, the surplus recycled to the trade deficit countries through the finance sector and then when recession hits, it turns into depression through the budget deficit ban, the vultures start attacking the debt of the trade deficit countries as the ECB demands shock therapy and demands that the finance sector of the trade surplus countries be protected at all costs.

Methinks inhabitants in the countries in the core that has a structural trade deficit against other members of the core should be very happy that they got away with a warning thanks to the admission of the periphery.

Migeru answered:

Can we fashion that argument into an LTE to be sent to newspapers in surplus countries having a deficit within the group of surplus countries?

And I say yes, we can.

Hence the name. Now to the content.

It has been pointed out that while you learn economics you are best positioned to write clearly about what it means. So I have been thinking about what Getting ECB'd or IMF'd means in economic terms, if we look past the terms of money.

IMF comes in when a country is less rich then it recently was. So what is a rich country?

frontpaged - Nomad

front-paged by afew

High-Speed Rail: Green or Mean? - Carbusters

High-Speed Rail: Green or Mean?

High-speed rail is often touted as a means to move forward and beyond the current modes for long distance transport. Its advocates tells us that, by combining the low energy use of trains and the high speed of planes, it will be the best option for our future transport needs. But is it really so? In this article Hampus Rubaszkin debunks some of the myths surrounding high-speed trains and argues that we can't solve our transport problems by using the same kind of thinking that created them.

Last SIFO (big poller, calls many and calls them fast) conducted 15th and 16th gives 49.9% for the Alliance and 45.3% for the RedGreens, and Sverigedemokraterna just outside parliament. This is a big increase for the RedGreens over a few days, if the trend continued during 17-19th of September we have an interesting night tonight.

next-day front-paged by afew

Last time was in 2006 and I wrote up the aftermath in Swedish politics: Rascism, Scandals and Piracy.

Since markets are to support societal needs I think it might be wise to first list what such a policy should accomplish.

A sustainable agricultural and rural policy should strive for:

• Longterm sustainable agriculture
  
• Production of food stuffs that cover the needs of the population in the EU
  
• A living countryside (among other things to avoid the negative effects of all out urbanization)

So how could this be accomplished?

This last week a minor crisis has emerged in the relations between Sweden and Israel.

It started with an article in the evening paper Aftonbladet about suspected organ harvesting from Palestinian prisoners in Israel. A bit of to and fro ensued with the Israeli government demanding condemnations the Swedish government would not supply.

I just found a good article from the public service television, Diplomatisk fnurra blev allvarlig kris - rapport | svt.se, that I have translated. It explains some about Swedish freedom of press and so on which might be interesting.

(If we have some "Sweden coverage" symbol, insert it here.)

part of the Special Country Focus on Sweden - Nomad

I will hold this short and sweet.

Rules of the game
Proportional elections, 4% threshold, 19 seats. Easy to register party, the real obstacle to enter is that new parties have to distribute ballots to the poll stations. Seats are distributed in accordance to list-order, except if candidates get enoguh votes on them personally to pass a threshold. In the EP-elections that is quite common.

Promoted by afew

Scenario: You are a politician and about to vote for or against a bill. A group of citizen makes you aware of their displeasure with your attitude in the question at hand. The question is: does it matter? Follow this simple flow chart and find out!

I have no idea where to find these, so I´ll just pose the question and see what pops up.

With poll!

I have not read the treaty myself. As is often the case I rely on second-hand sources. Now this might be even funnier if we cross it with point of view on the Lisbon treaty.

I have subdivided "read" into a) full extensive read, crosschecked with Nice to understand everything and b) read some. Their is of course gray-space between those two also, but I think it will suffice.

Now vote:

metavision:

The fact that Palestine diaries don't get enough attention is sad and I think it reflects our helplessness to make a difference.  

Helplessness is no good, m'kay? So, what can we as fairly bright citizens of the EU do to at least affect change in the EUs part of this? Well, there is an EP election this spring and I have some thoughts about it.

• Company A owns company D billions, that debt is insured by company B.
  
• Company B owns company C billions, that debt is insured by company A.
  
• Company C owns company A billions, that debt is insured by company D.
  
• Company D owns company B billions, that debt is insured by company C.

Females in front

250 million women in the EU. Not a single one good enough?
 
During the coming 12 months, four politicians will be appointed as leaders of the European Union. For fifty years now, the picture of European political leadership has remained the same. It is time for a change. International top posts should always go to the most competent candidate. There are 250 million women in Europe; it should not be too hard to find qualified candidates among all these.

This is something I have been mulling over.

Problem: the European Parliament (EP) has the broadest support and least power among the EU institutions.

So what is the solution? The treaty path is blocked by a combination of forces. The treaty path is not relevant to this diary anyway, as I am going to ask: What can we do about it?

Means: The European parliament has an election in 2009. Elections is somewhere were we get to vote, but more than that, they are an opportunity to influence the discussion.

Suggestion: We write a European Manifesto for Greater Democracy in the EU (and title it something with more schwung)! I am envisioning a document that we can get prospective parliamentarians and parties and possibly even EP party groups to sign, stating at the bottom line "If elected, I will not vote to [something1] unless [Council/Commission] agrees to [something2]". Possibly this statement is repeated n times with [something(n)] unless [something(n+1)] as a recurring theme.

Migeru:

DoDo:

However, even in Europe, the direction of socialism for step-by-step reforms through the parliamentary route, e.g. Social Democrats, historically favoured policies building up a wide middle-class. Myself, I think the self-defeating nature of this project could have been seen on the onset: the have-some will have a tendency to defend what they have, and hope they will rise further, thus a significant part will end up supporting the have-mores against the have-nones. Worse, when the party leaders themselves rise up the social ladder, there will be a tendency to view issues and weigh their importance from their current (or hoped-for even higher) position. (And to those who'd protest: a tendency of course doesn't mean that everyone is incapable of social solidarity, only that that realising [apparent] class interests is the easy route.) Thus to a large extent I view the current doldrums of the European centre-left and the plague of Third Wayism as a logical consequence of core Social Democrat strategy from at least 60, but perhaps 120 years ago.

Yet, discussing the present-day middle-class is worthwile even from a Socialist perspective. I will state an idea others indicated in a stronger way: with the collapse of the Eastern Block, the wide middle-class has "done its duty" for the upper-class, maintaining it is no longer felt as necessary: thus the wealth capture from above, thus the stagnating or reduced middle-class incomes, thus the erosion of the middle class and the growth of the new underclass: the service class.

This is the elephant in the living room of left politics, isn't it? The European Social Democrat and Labour parties are morphing into social-liberal parties partly through generational replacement of the successful working-class leaders of 30 years ago with their middle-class scions.

I think it is appropriate for middle-class "liberal professionals" to be "left" but they probably shouldn't lead the left.