Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
Sunday, August 07, 2011
Saturday, August 06, 2011
S&P downgrades US credit rating for first time in history
And Maddow says that S&P is full of shit
Republicans blame Obama for downgrade Yeah, what the fuck DON'T the RepugnanThuglicans blame on Obama.
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
Republicans blame Obama for downgrade Yeah, what the fuck DON'T the RepugnanThuglicans blame on Obama.
30 Years Ago Today: The Day the Middle Class Died ...a letter from Michael Moore
30 Years Ago Today: The Day the Middle Class Died ...a letter from Michael Moore
Friday, August 5th, 2011
Friends,
From time to time, someone under 30 will ask me, "When did this all begin, America's downward slide?" They say they've heard of a time when working people could raise a family and send the kids to college on just one parent's income (and that college in states like California and New York was almost free). That anyone who wanted a decent paying job could get one. That people only worked five days a week, eight hours a day, got the whole weekend off and had a paid vacation every summer. That many jobs were union jobs, from baggers at the grocery store to the guy painting your house, and this meant that no matter how "lowly" your job was you had guarantees of a pension, occasional raises, health insurance and someone to stick up for you if you were unfairly treated.
Young people have heard of this mythical time -- but it was no myth, it was real. And when they ask, "When did this all end?", I say, "It ended on this day: August 5th, 1981."
Beginning on this date, 30 years ago, Big Business and the Right Wing decided to "go for it" -- to see if they could actually destroy the middle class so that they could become richer themselves.
And they've succeeded.
On August 5, 1981, President Ronald Reagan fired every member of the air traffic controllers union (PATCO) who'd defied his order to return to work and declared their union illegal. They had been on strike for just two days.
It was a bold and brash move. No one had ever tried it. What made it even bolder was that PATCO was one of only three unions that had endorsed Reagan for president! It sent a shock wave through workers across the country. If he would do this to the people who were with him, what would he do to us?
Reagan had been backed by Wall Street in his run for the White House and they, along with right-wing Christians, wanted to restructure America and turn back the tide that President Franklin D. Roosevelt started -- a tide that was intended to make life better for the average working person. The rich hated paying better wages and providing benefits. They hated paying taxes even more. And they despised unions. The right-wing Christians hated anything that sounded like socialism or holding out a helping hand to minorities or women.
Reagan promised to end all that. So when the air traffic controllers went on strike, he seized the moment. In getting rid of every single last one of them and outlawing their union, he sent a clear and strong message: The days of everyone having a comfortable middle class life were over. America, from now on, would be run this way:
* The super-rich will make more, much much more, and the rest of you will scramble for the crumbs that are left.
* Everyone must work! Mom, Dad, the teenagers in the house! Dad, you work a second job! Kids, here's your latch-key! Your parents might be home in time to put you to bed.
* 50 million of you must go without health insurance! And health insurance companies: you go ahead and decide who you want to help -- or not.
* Unions are evil! You will not belong to a union! You do not need an advocate! Shut up and get back to work! No, you can't leave now, we're not done. Your kids can make their own dinner.
* You want to go to college? No problem -- just sign here and be in hock to a bank for the next 20 years!
* What's "a raise"? Get back to work and shut up!
And so it went. But Reagan could not have pulled this off by himself in 1981. He had some big help:
The AFL-CIO.
The biggest organization of unions in America told its members to cross the picket lines of the air traffic controllers and go to work. And that's just what these union members did. Union pilots, flight attendants, delivery truck drivers, baggage handlers -- they all crossed the line and helped to break the strike. And union members of all stripes crossed the picket lines and continued to fly.
Reagan and Wall Street could not believe their eyes! Hundreds of thousands of working people and union members endorsing the firing of fellow union members. It was Christmas in August for Corporate America.
And that was the beginning of the end. Reagan and the Republicans knew they could get away with anything -- and they did. They slashed taxes on the rich. They made it harder for you to start a union at your workplace. They eliminated safety regulations on the job. They ignored the monopoly laws and allowed thousands of companies to merge or be bought out and closed down. Corporations froze wages and threatened to move overseas if the workers didn't accept lower pay and less benefits. And when the workers agreed to work for less, they moved the jobs overseas anyway.
And at every step along the way, the majority of Americans went along with this. There was little opposition or fight-back. The "masses" did not rise up and protect their jobs, their homes, their schools (which used to be the best in the world). They just accepted their fate and took the beating.
I have often wondered what would have happened had we all just stopped flying, period, back in 1981. What if all the unions had said to Reagan, "Give those controllers their jobs back or we're shutting the country down!"? You know what would have happened. The corporate elite and their boy Reagan would have buckled.
But we didn't do it. And so, bit by bit, piece by piece, in the ensuing 30 years, those in power have destroyed the middle class of our country and, in turn, have wrecked the future for our young people. Wages have remained stagnant for 30 years. Take a look at the statistics and you can see that every decline we're now suffering with had its beginning in 1981 (here's a little scene to illustrate that from my last movie).
It all began on this day, 30 years ago. One of the darkest days in American history. And we let it happen to us. Yes, they had the money, and the media and the cops. But we had 200 million of us. Ever wonder what it would look like if 200 million got truly upset and wanted their country, their life, their job, their weekend, their time with their kids back?
Have we all just given up? What are we waiting for? Forget about the 20% who support the Tea Party -- we are the other 80%! This decline will only end when we demand it. And not through an online petition or a tweet. We are going to have to turn the TV and the computer and the video games off and get out in the streets (like they've done in Wisconsin). Some of you need to run for local office next year. We need to demand that the Democrats either get a spine and stop taking corporate money -- or step aside.
When is enough, enough? The middle class dream will not just magically reappear. Wall Street's plan is clear: America is to be a nation of Haves and Have Nothings. Is that OK for you?
Why not use today to pause and think about the little steps you can take to turn this around in your neighborhood, at your workplace, in your school? Is there any better day to start than today?
Yours,
Michael Moore
Friday, August 5th, 2011
Friends,
From time to time, someone under 30 will ask me, "When did this all begin, America's downward slide?" They say they've heard of a time when working people could raise a family and send the kids to college on just one parent's income (and that college in states like California and New York was almost free). That anyone who wanted a decent paying job could get one. That people only worked five days a week, eight hours a day, got the whole weekend off and had a paid vacation every summer. That many jobs were union jobs, from baggers at the grocery store to the guy painting your house, and this meant that no matter how "lowly" your job was you had guarantees of a pension, occasional raises, health insurance and someone to stick up for you if you were unfairly treated.
Young people have heard of this mythical time -- but it was no myth, it was real. And when they ask, "When did this all end?", I say, "It ended on this day: August 5th, 1981."
Beginning on this date, 30 years ago, Big Business and the Right Wing decided to "go for it" -- to see if they could actually destroy the middle class so that they could become richer themselves.
And they've succeeded.
On August 5, 1981, President Ronald Reagan fired every member of the air traffic controllers union (PATCO) who'd defied his order to return to work and declared their union illegal. They had been on strike for just two days.
It was a bold and brash move. No one had ever tried it. What made it even bolder was that PATCO was one of only three unions that had endorsed Reagan for president! It sent a shock wave through workers across the country. If he would do this to the people who were with him, what would he do to us?
Reagan had been backed by Wall Street in his run for the White House and they, along with right-wing Christians, wanted to restructure America and turn back the tide that President Franklin D. Roosevelt started -- a tide that was intended to make life better for the average working person. The rich hated paying better wages and providing benefits. They hated paying taxes even more. And they despised unions. The right-wing Christians hated anything that sounded like socialism or holding out a helping hand to minorities or women.
Reagan promised to end all that. So when the air traffic controllers went on strike, he seized the moment. In getting rid of every single last one of them and outlawing their union, he sent a clear and strong message: The days of everyone having a comfortable middle class life were over. America, from now on, would be run this way:
* The super-rich will make more, much much more, and the rest of you will scramble for the crumbs that are left.
* Everyone must work! Mom, Dad, the teenagers in the house! Dad, you work a second job! Kids, here's your latch-key! Your parents might be home in time to put you to bed.
* 50 million of you must go without health insurance! And health insurance companies: you go ahead and decide who you want to help -- or not.
* Unions are evil! You will not belong to a union! You do not need an advocate! Shut up and get back to work! No, you can't leave now, we're not done. Your kids can make their own dinner.
* You want to go to college? No problem -- just sign here and be in hock to a bank for the next 20 years!
* What's "a raise"? Get back to work and shut up!
And so it went. But Reagan could not have pulled this off by himself in 1981. He had some big help:
The AFL-CIO.
The biggest organization of unions in America told its members to cross the picket lines of the air traffic controllers and go to work. And that's just what these union members did. Union pilots, flight attendants, delivery truck drivers, baggage handlers -- they all crossed the line and helped to break the strike. And union members of all stripes crossed the picket lines and continued to fly.
Reagan and Wall Street could not believe their eyes! Hundreds of thousands of working people and union members endorsing the firing of fellow union members. It was Christmas in August for Corporate America.
And that was the beginning of the end. Reagan and the Republicans knew they could get away with anything -- and they did. They slashed taxes on the rich. They made it harder for you to start a union at your workplace. They eliminated safety regulations on the job. They ignored the monopoly laws and allowed thousands of companies to merge or be bought out and closed down. Corporations froze wages and threatened to move overseas if the workers didn't accept lower pay and less benefits. And when the workers agreed to work for less, they moved the jobs overseas anyway.
And at every step along the way, the majority of Americans went along with this. There was little opposition or fight-back. The "masses" did not rise up and protect their jobs, their homes, their schools (which used to be the best in the world). They just accepted their fate and took the beating.
I have often wondered what would have happened had we all just stopped flying, period, back in 1981. What if all the unions had said to Reagan, "Give those controllers their jobs back or we're shutting the country down!"? You know what would have happened. The corporate elite and their boy Reagan would have buckled.
But we didn't do it. And so, bit by bit, piece by piece, in the ensuing 30 years, those in power have destroyed the middle class of our country and, in turn, have wrecked the future for our young people. Wages have remained stagnant for 30 years. Take a look at the statistics and you can see that every decline we're now suffering with had its beginning in 1981 (here's a little scene to illustrate that from my last movie).
It all began on this day, 30 years ago. One of the darkest days in American history. And we let it happen to us. Yes, they had the money, and the media and the cops. But we had 200 million of us. Ever wonder what it would look like if 200 million got truly upset and wanted their country, their life, their job, their weekend, their time with their kids back?
Have we all just given up? What are we waiting for? Forget about the 20% who support the Tea Party -- we are the other 80%! This decline will only end when we demand it. And not through an online petition or a tweet. We are going to have to turn the TV and the computer and the video games off and get out in the streets (like they've done in Wisconsin). Some of you need to run for local office next year. We need to demand that the Democrats either get a spine and stop taking corporate money -- or step aside.
When is enough, enough? The middle class dream will not just magically reappear. Wall Street's plan is clear: America is to be a nation of Haves and Have Nothings. Is that OK for you?
Why not use today to pause and think about the little steps you can take to turn this around in your neighborhood, at your workplace, in your school? Is there any better day to start than today?
Yours,
Michael Moore
MMFlint@aol.com
MichaelMoore.com
P.S. Here are a few places you can connect with to get the ball rolling:
Showdown in America
Democracy Convention
Occupy Wall Street
October 2011
How to Join a Union, from the AFL-CIO (They've learned their lesson and have a good president now) orUE
Change to Win
MoveOn
High School Newspaper (Just because you're under 18 doesn't mean you can't do anything!)
Friday, August 05, 2011
Welcome to Fascist America
Unmasking "Secret Law": New Demand for Answeres about the Government's Hidden Take on the Patriot Act.
Sooo, these stories may have no connection whatsoever, but in combination I just don't feel safe in my country any more. The fact that for-profit corporations have so much power and the Supreme Court, and other courts keep handing them more and more power is disgusting. I am disgusted, no wait, make that revolted with the power structure in my country. This:
"We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America"
bears little resemblence to reality these days.
Sooo, these stories may have no connection whatsoever, but in combination I just don't feel safe in my country any more. The fact that for-profit corporations have so much power and the Supreme Court, and other courts keep handing them more and more power is disgusting. I am disgusted, no wait, make that revolted with the power structure in my country. This:
"We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America"
bears little resemblence to reality these days.
Thursday, August 04, 2011
Wednesday, August 03, 2011
Sunday, July 31, 2011
Planned Parenthood firebombed,
right wing silent
SATURDAY, JUL 30, 2011 10:01 ET
BY ALEX PAREENE
Salon - War Room
"Someone firebombed a Planned Parenthood clinic in McKinney, Texas, late Tuesday night. Because it was so late, no one was hurt. The clinic doesn't provide abortions, but there had been protesters there earlier that day anyway. You might've read about the news on Twitter or on a liberal blog. Probably not in a newspaper or on a cable new channel. Definitely not at any right-wing blogs. Which is a bit odd, actually, considering how much attention terrorist attacks generally get in this country...
Oh, sorry, how much attention possible Islamic terrorist attacks get..."
Yeah, except for I was reading this article this morning -
The Kingdom and the Towers
Vanity Fair August 2011
And let's face it folks, extremism is ignored or allowed if it is sponsored or condoned by the wealthy and powerful on this planet. Christ Almighty, Saudi Arabia is a scary place:
Saudi Arabia's new law would make political dissent a crime
Kingdom's 'anti-terror' legislation follows wave of upheavals across the Arab world
By Patrick Cockburn
Saturday, 23 July 2011S
SATURDAY, JUL 30, 2011 10:01 ET
BY ALEX PAREENE
Salon - War Room
Oh, sorry, how much attention possible Islamic terrorist attacks get..."
Yeah, except for I was reading this article this morning -
The Kingdom and the Towers
Vanity Fair August 2011
Saudi Arabia's new law would make political dissent a crime
Kingdom's 'anti-terror' legislation follows wave of upheavals across the Arab world
By Patrick Cockburn
Saturday, 23 July 2011S
Friday, July 29, 2011
No Doubt - It's My Life
And one of my favorites.
hmm, is it obvious that I was born and raised in Southern California? Not sure?
I grew up like 5 minutes from where these guys did.
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Was this the real goal of "The Global War on Terror?"
Tomgram: Andrew Bacevich, Playing Ball With the Pentagon
"Posted by Andrew Bacevich at 8:45am, July 28, 2011.
Post-9/11, doesn’t it seem as though all American experience is blending into a single experience whose label is “your safety”? Which means, in practical terms, you get poked, prodded, searched, and surveilled wherever you go.
The other day, I went to the ballpark to see my team, the Mets, play the Florida Marlins. It’s always a shock these days to make your way into the team’s new stadium, Citi Field (named, charmingly enough, after one of the financial institutions that took us down in 2008 and somehow came up smelling like roses). No more is it just tickets at the turnstile. What’s involved now is that peek into your backpack or bag, followed by the full-scale search of you, body wand and all.
I always have the urge to shout: I’m here for a ballgame, not the Global War on Terror! Instead, of course, I just lift my arms and let myself be wanded. It’s like an eternal reminder that, for Americans, 9/11 did change everything -- and for the more intrusive at that. Once inside, past all the restaurants and clubs, memorabilia shops and sports-clothing stores that now add up to the baseball (basemall?) experience, it turns out you haven’t left America’s wars behind...."
A security state run by goons?
15 Years in Prison For Taping the Cops? How Eavesdropping Laws Are Taking Away Our Best Defense Against Police Brutality
July 27, 2011 Rania Khalek -- AlterNet
So, I kind of got hooked on Dexter a couple of years ago when you could still stream the first two seasons on Netflix. Just recently I watched the 5th season, and as soon as I read the preceding paragraphs, the theme song started up in my head.
Sounds random? Nope, as soon as I got hooked on Dexter I wondered if Dexter would ever get to the real serial killers on this planet? Can you guess who entered my mind as I wondered that? I mean come on, it's obvious to me that the GWOT is the not the tip of the spear wielded by the banksters but it is the well muscled goon chucking the damn thing, and the goon is ordered fed by the banksters, but the taxpayers foot the bill.
"Posted by Andrew Bacevich at 8:45am, July 28, 2011.
Post-9/11, doesn’t it seem as though all American experience is blending into a single experience whose label is “your safety”? Which means, in practical terms, you get poked, prodded, searched, and surveilled wherever you go.
The other day, I went to the ballpark to see my team, the Mets, play the Florida Marlins. It’s always a shock these days to make your way into the team’s new stadium, Citi Field (named, charmingly enough, after one of the financial institutions that took us down in 2008 and somehow came up smelling like roses). No more is it just tickets at the turnstile. What’s involved now is that peek into your backpack or bag, followed by the full-scale search of you, body wand and all.
I always have the urge to shout: I’m here for a ballgame, not the Global War on Terror! Instead, of course, I just lift my arms and let myself be wanded. It’s like an eternal reminder that, for Americans, 9/11 did change everything -- and for the more intrusive at that. Once inside, past all the restaurants and clubs, memorabilia shops and sports-clothing stores that now add up to the baseball (basemall?) experience, it turns out you haven’t left America’s wars behind...."
A security state run by goons?
15 Years in Prison For Taping the Cops? How Eavesdropping Laws Are Taking Away Our Best Defense Against Police Brutality
July 27, 2011 Rania Khalek -- AlterNet
So, I kind of got hooked on Dexter a couple of years ago when you could still stream the first two seasons on Netflix. Just recently I watched the 5th season, and as soon as I read the preceding paragraphs, the theme song started up in my head.
Sounds random? Nope, as soon as I got hooked on Dexter I wondered if Dexter would ever get to the real serial killers on this planet? Can you guess who entered my mind as I wondered that? I mean come on, it's obvious to me that the GWOT is the not the tip of the spear wielded by the banksters but it is the well muscled goon chucking the damn thing, and the goon is ordered fed by the banksters, but the taxpayers foot the bill.
Commanding Heights: The Battle for the World Economy
3 discs, PBS (c) 2002.
So I'm willing to give the 2nd disc a gander, but the first had Milton Friedman, and a crapload of other free marketeers in it and I was disgusted that I couldn't review it on Netflix. It was a big, fat, sloppy wet kiss for unregulated capitalism.
OMG, I'm struggling through the segments that are online, hopefully that is all that is on the 3rd disc because I have become more and more incensed watching this piece of crap. Fortunately, a majority of the reviewers, and those who mark a review "helpful" on Netflix have a clue about this extremely biased special. I'm sure the international pirates who devalued the Mexican peso love this propagandistic piece of bankster poopoo.
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Example of Tea Party morons in action.
This would not have ended peacefully if I had been there, nor would I have left. Why? Because I took a lot of bullying from stupid, conservative Republican, tea party fucktard types for years, and I don't take it anymore.
I'm not easily intimidated and I do NOT tolerate bullying.
I bite. Literally.
Tomgram: Mike Davis, The Coming Economic Disaster
What Happens When Three Sputtering Economies Collide? "..China, of course, now props up the world, but the question is: For how much longer? Officially, the People’s Republic of China is in the midst of an epochal transition from an export-based to a consumer-based economy. The ultimate goal of which is not only to turn the average Chinese into a suburban motorist, but also to break the perverse dependency that ties that country’s growth to an American trade deficit Beijing must, in turn, finance in order to keep the Yuan from appreciating..."
Saturday, July 23, 2011
The New Space Biz: Companies Seek Cash In The Cosmos
I wonder if these nifty new toys have components assembled by prison (slave) labor?
"...The majority of UNICOR’s products and services are on contract to orders from the Department of Defense. Giant multinatio
http://www
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost
Oh lookee more developer corruption in San Diego, what a surprise?
NOT.
Building 'Taj Mahals' with Taxpayer Money
Im so disgusted with the hypocrisy of the "don't tax me bro" Republican asswipes who suck off the government tit in this county.
Friday, July 22, 2011
What Just Happened in Oslo, Norway? (UPDATES)
Update 8PM At Least 80 Are Dead in Norway Shooting
By ELISA MALA and J. DAVID GOODMAN
Published: July 22, 2011
"...After the shooting the police seized a 32-year-old Norwegian man on the island, according to the police and Justice Minister Knut Storberget.He was later identified as Anders Behring Breivik and was characterized by officials as a right-wing extremist..."
I'm an idiot, I went with the early speculation of blame the Muslim extremist bs at first glance, probably because of the Bawer book. Wrong. I was soooooo wrong:
Norway suspect 'fundamentalist Christian'
Pierre-Henry Deshayes
July 24, 2011 - 1:24AM
What Just Happened in Oslo, Norway? (UPDATES)
Fri Jul. 22, 2011 10:25 AM PDT Mother Jones
Nick Baumann
probably unrelated
OSLO - Norwegian oil firm DNO said on Tuesday it had more than doubled its oil reserve estimate for its licensed Tawke oil field in the Kurdistan region of Iraq, sending its share price up nearly four percent.
"After this third party review by our external auditors, the Tawke oil field is confirmed to be a world class, giant oil field," DNO chief Helge Eide said in a statement.
more possibly unrelated info
more possibly unrelated info
The Mullah Krekar Show
By ELISA MALA and J. DAVID GOODMAN
Published: July 22, 2011
"...After the shooting the police seized a 32-year-old Norwegian man on the island, according to the police and Justice Minister Knut Storberget.He was later identified as Anders Behring Breivik and was characterized by officials as a right-wing extremist..."
I'm an idiot, I went with the early speculation of blame the Muslim extremist bs at first glance, probably because of the Bawer book. Wrong. I was soooooo wrong:
Norway suspect 'fundamentalist Christian'
Pierre-Henry Deshayes
July 24, 2011 - 1:24AM
What Just Happened in Oslo, Norway? (UPDATES)
Fri Jul. 22, 2011 10:25 AM PDT Mother Jones
Nick Baumann
probably unrelated
OSLO - Norwegian oil firm DNO said on Tuesday it had more than doubled its oil reserve estimate for its licensed Tawke oil field in the Kurdistan region of Iraq, sending its share price up nearly four percent.
"After this third party review by our external auditors, the Tawke oil field is confirmed to be a world class, giant oil field," DNO chief Helge Eide said in a statement.
more possibly unrelated info
| Book review: 'Midnight on the Mavi Marmara' |
"...Bayoumi introduces the anthology's subject by emphasising its international impact.
The attack on the Mavi Marmara, he explains, resulted in demonstrations in major European capitals, Turkey, Canada and many US cities. Bayoumi credits the attack for pushing Egypt to finally open its Rafah border crossing into Gaza.
Belgium, Norway, Denmark, Spain Greece, and Sweden summoned their Israeli ambassadors, Bayoumi continues, while Turkey, Ecuador and South Africa recalled theirs from Jerusalem. Some dockworkers in American and European cities refused to unload Israeli ships for a time in protest, a move he cites as evidence of the attack's widespread global unpopularity.... '
The Mullah Krekar Show
Foreign Policy
Is this the man behind the Oslo terrorist bombing?
BY J.M. BERGER | JULY 22, 2011
Is this the man behind the Oslo terrorist bombing?
BY J.M. BERGER | JULY 22, 2011
I read Bruce Bawer's book about 4 years ago, and here is a blogpost of his from about a week ago. Bawer is a gay American living in Oslo and his persective worried me while I was reading the book, but umm....I pretty much forgot about it till this morning, because I figured he leaned a bit too far to the right for me.
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Role Reversal: Latin America Taunts US on Debt Woes
Worries about contagion; Brazil now a U.S. creditor
"...When did the American dream become a nightmare?" gloated Argentina's President Cristina Fernandez, whose own country defaulted on about $100 billion in debt a decade ago.
In a speech at the Buenos Aires Stock Exchange on Monday, she contended that Argentina had prospered since then by focusing on exports and controlling financial speculation -- a lesson that Washington has yet to learn, she said.
The Americans "thought that money just reproduces by itself, and only in the financial sector, without having to produce any goods or services," Fernandez said..."
Taibbi -The Real Housewives of Wall Street
I somehow missed this in April 2011.
Cute title, although I don't get the whole "reality tv" thing, but I suppose lots of people like it. I can be amused watching people in public, I don't need some greedy producer inducing some of the worst of what society has to offer act like flaming assholes for my entertainment.
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
deleveraging
THE WORLD OF BUSINESS
Mastering the Machine
How Ray Dalio built the world’s richest and strangest hedge fund.
by John Cassidy
JULY 25, 2011
"Ray Dalio, the sixty-one-year-old founder of Bridgewater Associates, the world’s biggest hedge fund, is tall and somewhat gaunt...
...Rather than confronting these issues, Dalio, like all successful predators, is concentrating on the business at hand—the markets and the global economic outlook. This spring, he told me that economic growth in the United States and Europe was set to slow again. This was partly because some emergency policy measures, such as the Obama Administration’s stimulus package, would soon come to an end; partly because of the chronic indebtedness that continues to weigh on these regions; and partly because China and other developing countries would be forced to take drastic policy actions to bring down inflation. Now that the slowdown appears to have arrived, Dalio thinks it will be prolonged. “We are still in a deleveraging period,” he said. “We will be in a deleveraging period for ten years or more.”
...Like many successful financiers, Dalio justifies capitalism and his place in it as a Darwinian process, in which the over-all logic of the system is sometimes hidden. This is actually what the mention, in his Principles, of hyenas savaging a wildebeest was about. “Is this good or bad?” he wrote. Like “death itself, this behavior is integral to the enormously complex and efficient system that has worked for as long as there has been life.” Of course, this view conveniently ignores the argument that hedge funds, through their herd behavior, have contributed to speculative bubbles, in tech stocks, oil, and other commodities. Even some defenders of the industry concede that the problem is real and potentially calamitous. “There is a basis for the argument that hedge funds add economic value,” Andrew Lo, an economist at M.I.T. who runs his own hedge fund, says. “At the same time, they create systemic risks that have to be weighed against those positives....”
Mastering the Machine
How Ray Dalio built the world’s richest and strangest hedge fund.
by John Cassidy
JULY 25, 2011
"Ray Dalio, the sixty-one-year-old founder of Bridgewater Associates, the world’s biggest hedge fund, is tall and somewhat gaunt...
...Rather than confronting these issues, Dalio, like all successful predators, is concentrating on the business at hand—the markets and the global economic outlook. This spring, he told me that economic growth in the United States and Europe was set to slow again. This was partly because some emergency policy measures, such as the Obama Administration’s stimulus package, would soon come to an end; partly because of the chronic indebtedness that continues to weigh on these regions; and partly because China and other developing countries would be forced to take drastic policy actions to bring down inflation. Now that the slowdown appears to have arrived, Dalio thinks it will be prolonged. “We are still in a deleveraging period,” he said. “We will be in a deleveraging period for ten years or more.”
...Like many successful financiers, Dalio justifies capitalism and his place in it as a Darwinian process, in which the over-all logic of the system is sometimes hidden. This is actually what the mention, in his Principles, of hyenas savaging a wildebeest was about. “Is this good or bad?” he wrote. Like “death itself, this behavior is integral to the enormously complex and efficient system that has worked for as long as there has been life.” Of course, this view conveniently ignores the argument that hedge funds, through their herd behavior, have contributed to speculative bubbles, in tech stocks, oil, and other commodities. Even some defenders of the industry concede that the problem is real and potentially calamitous. “There is a basis for the argument that hedge funds add economic value,” Andrew Lo, an economist at M.I.T. who runs his own hedge fund, says. “At the same time, they create systemic risks that have to be weighed against those positives....”
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Polluters best friends in Congress
MONDAY, JUL 18, 2011 14:59 ET
Who are polluters' best friends in Congress?
BY NATASHA LENNARD
Cantor and Bachmann are on the list. Surprising? Uh, no.
Who are polluters' best friends in Congress?
BY NATASHA LENNARD
Cantor and Bachmann are on the list. Surprising? Uh, no.
Monday, July 18, 2011
Wall Street Journal's Defiant Defense Of News Corp
Wall Street Journal defends News Corp
what a silly article title
Murdoch Seizes Wall St. Journal In $5 Billion Coup
By Frank Ahrens
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, August 1, 2007
http://tin
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost
Why Is the Most Wasteful Government Agency Not Part of the Deficit Discussion?
Why Is the Most Wasteful Government Agency Not Part of the Deficit Discussion?
Any serious battle plan to reduce the deficit must take on the
Pentagon.
by David Morris
July 12, 2011
In all the talk about the federal deficit, why is the single largest culprit left out of the conversation? Why is the one part of government that best epitomizes everything conservatives say they hate about government—- waste, incompetence, and corruption—all but exempt from conservative criticism?
I read the article. In a word - useless, but the graphs and pie charts are pretty. Here is what I think the problem is:
Pg 306 Web of Debt by Ellen Brown
Any serious battle plan to reduce the deficit must take on the
Pentagon.
by David Morris
July 12, 2011
In all the talk about the federal deficit, why is the single largest culprit left out of the conversation? Why is the one part of government that best epitomizes everything conservatives say they hate about government—- waste, incompetence, and corruption—all but exempt from conservative criticism?
I read the article. In a word - useless, but the graphs and pie charts are pretty. Here is what I think the problem is:
Pg 306 Web of Debt by Ellen Brown
"Critics charge that warfare, terorism, and natural disaster on an unprecedented scale are are being used to justify massive federal borrowing, while diverting attention from the fact that the economy is drowning in a sea of governmental and consumer debt. And that may be true; but policymakers are only doing what they have to do under the current monetary scheme. In an upside-down world in which debt is money and money is debt, somebody has to go into debt just to keep money in the system so the economy won't collapse..."
pg 307"....4. Engaging in a war as a pretext for borrowing , preferably a war that will drag on. People are willing in times of emergency to allow the government to engage heavily in deficit spending to defend the homeland...."
pg 307"....4. Engaging in a war as a pretext for borrowing , preferably a war that will drag on. People are willing in times of emergency to allow the government to engage heavily in deficit spending to defend the homeland...."
still reading this book
Sunday, July 17, 2011
Courthouse auctions: bros with bids
Karla Peterson Test Driving San Diego
Courthouse auctions: bros with bids
By Karla Peterson
6:31 a.m., July 17, 2011
"...Hey bro, wanna buy a house?: It may sound like something out of Ye Olde West (Wenches, anyone?), but the mood of the front-step auctions is totally California Casual. It is mostly professional-buyer dudes in shorts and polo shirts bidding against other professional-buyer dudes in shorts and polo shirts..."
Hmm. First time in a long time that I was mildly amused (or even bothered to read) by an article in the SDUT, that right-wing, suck-up-to-anything -that smells -like-money, piece of shit local paper.
Courthouse auctions: bros with bids
By Karla Peterson
6:31 a.m., July 17, 2011
"...Hey bro, wanna buy a house?: It may sound like something out of Ye Olde West (Wenches, anyone?), but the mood of the front-step auctions is totally California Casual. It is mostly professional-buyer dudes in shorts and polo shirts bidding against other professional-buyer dudes in shorts and polo shirts..."
Hmm. First time in a long time that I was mildly amused (or even bothered to read) by an article in the SDUT, that right-wing, suck-up-to-anything -that smells -like-money, piece of shit local paper.
Saturday, July 16, 2011
Happy Pride 2011
I don't know if the kid is going to bring back pics or not, but I hope they have a good time.
LGBT Gay Pride Parade Route Map Schedule and History
Active military & Margaret Cho highlight 27th annual event
By Melissa Rauch • Sat, Jul 16th, 2011
Friday, July 15, 2011
Barack Obama to Nominate Consumer Protection Bureau Chief Next Week
"The administra
Ahh, what!? This informatio
"Dow Jones & Co. Chief Executive Les Hinton resigned late Friday, as the top executive at News Corp.'s financial publishing unit sought to contain the damage from the company's British tabloid scandal, which began while he oversaw the company's U.K. newspaper operations
http://onl
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost
State Health Exchanges Tilting Toward Insurers
"It's hard to believe that in all of Colorado, he couldn't find qualified candidates who understand commercial health insurance to balance industry executives with obvious conflicts of interest."
Thank you Mr. Potter :)
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost
Thank you Mr. Potter :)
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Naaahhhh, Really?
Congress Increasingly Staffed By Former Lobbyists
The number of former lobbyists working as key congressional staffers has more than doubled since the Republican Party took control of the House, a new report finds.
The number of former lobbyists working as key congressional staffers has more than doubled since the Republican Party took control of the House, a new report finds.
Sunday, July 10, 2011
How much money is enough?
How Dracula Hedge Funds Are Sucking Us Dry
What notion of economics or ethics justifies the fact that it would take the average family more than 35,000 years to earn as much as the top hedge fund managers earn in one year?
July 9, 2011 |
What notion of economics or ethics justifies the fact that it would take the average family more than 35,000 years to earn as much as the top hedge fund managers earn in one year?
July 9, 2011 |
| The Highest Income Celebrities, CEO and Hedge Fund Managers (2010) | ||
| The Top Ten | Average Yearly Income | Number of years if would take for the average American family to earn as much. |
| Hedge Fund managers | $1,753,000,000 | 35,217 years |
| Movie directors/producers | $126,000,000 | 2,531 |
| Top celebrities from all fields | $119,800,000 | 2,407 |
| Pop musicians | $87,200,000 | 1,752 |
| Non-financial CEOs | $47,100,000 | 946 |
| Athletes | $44,600,000 | 896 |
| Movie stars | $42,600,000 | 856 |
| Authors | $26,900,000 | 402 |
| Lawyers | $20,000,000 | 402 |
| Bank/Insurance CEOs | $16,600,000 | 333 |
| Median Family Income (2009) | $49,777 | |
Saturday, July 09, 2011
War on Drugs continues
Federal Government Rules Marijuana Has No Accepted Medical Purpose
Updated: 7/9/11 06:06 PM ET
Deeeeeees-custed here.
The “War On Drugs” Is A $2.5 Trillion Racket: How Big Banks, Private Military Companies And The Prison Industry Cash In
July 9th, 2011
Updated: 7/9/11 06:06 PM ET
Deeeeeees-custed here.
The “War On Drugs” Is A $2.5 Trillion Racket: How Big Banks, Private Military Companies And The Prison Industry Cash In
July 9th, 2011
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