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Despair in the air at Davos
The absence of heavy hitters from China at Davos this year did not prevent the
West's movers and shakers who were present clamoring for Chinese assistance in
bailing out capitalism - ignoring the point that capitalism is in fact
stronger, freer and more powerful than ever. - Peter Lee
(Feb 2, '12)
Apple's sour core
Apple's iPad and iPhone are engineering masterpieces. They also incarnate the
social relations of production, their profitable production depending on a
brutally squeezed production supply chain and a country with unparalleled
capacity to discipline labor - China. - Walden Bello
(Feb 2, '12)
THE BEAR'S LAIR
The opportunity world
Eastman Kodak's bankruptcy filing is a reminder of the ever-decreasing lifespan
of businesses. Corporate loyalty offers few brownie points, pensions create
little security, and education is to be abandoned or picked-up as opportunities
dictate. - Martin Hutchinson (Jan 31'12)
 SPENGLER
How America made
its children crazy
American children do not read; they surf. They do not write; they text. And
when they fail to concentrate, we prescribe drugs that only harm them - drugs
can't be found in pharmacies in China, where perseverance and classical music
are the order of the day. If China replaces the US as the pre-eminent world
power, America will only have itself to blame for handing kids over to quacks
and computers. (Jan 30'12)
 CHAN
AKYA
The Pied Piper of Humbug
A gaggle of comic and self-righteous critiques of the evils of capitalism -
amid the assorted chirping from Davos - led us on a merry dance over the past
week. We've heard the tune before, but the piper's credibility is at stake in
the absence of viable institutions to police fast-changing markets.
(Jan 27, '12)
Zimbabwe's yearn for yuan
China's influence in the Zimbabwean economy is ubiquitous after President
Robert Mugabe opened the door. It may soon have a presence in every pocket if
the African nation acts on plans to introduce the yuan as an official currency,
though many are not happy about what this would represent. - Ignatius Banda
(Jan 27, '12)
Robo-signing casts a shadow
The slicing up of mortgages so they could be bought and sold as collateral for
the repo market is perilous and unsustainable. That's reason enough to shun a
proposed legal settlement with banks over the ''robo-signing'' scandal that
would grant immunity for crimes of the shadow banking system that are not yet
fully known. - Ellen Brown (Jan 26, '12)
THE BEAR'S LAIR
Overstuffed yuppies
Private equity firms and their overstuffed yuppies can look good on paper, but
they make at best a modest contribution to overall economic welfare. A return
to sharply positive interest rates that will devastate the leveraged buyout
model and redirect funds to true venture capitalists is sorely needed. - Martin
Hutchinson (Jan 25, '12)
US occupiers give credit to
Grameen
The pioneering work of Grameen Bank in Bangladesh is providing the model for
the Occupy movement in the United States to offer low-cost finance for
Americans who don't qualify for bank credit. The planned $1,000 minimum loan,
however, plants the credit union firmly in the developed world. - Judith Scherr
(Jan 23, '12)
CHAN AKYA
Draghi: Europe's
master of illusion
Belief in the markets, and the breathtaking bravado of new European Central
Bank president Mario Draghi, may already have saved the euro - just two months
into the job - thanks to the impressive illusion of stability his handouts have
created. Mere facts will do nothing to derail such a rally.
(Jan 20, '12)
THE BEAR'S LAIR
Scotland: Norway or Greece?
The thought of great names from the past, such as Adam Smith and David Hume,
may puff up the courage of present-day Scots urging independence, but economic
and political facts suggest a go-it-alone Scotland would be more like a sunless
Greece than well-managed, oil-rich neighbor Norway. - Martin Hutchinson
(Jan 18, '12)
SPENGLER
God's promises and
man's
preferences
For Christianity to succeed, it must "Judaize" to one extent or another. That
is why America is the only remaining Christian nation in the industrial world:
it succeeded in styling itself a new (almost) Chosen People in a new Promised
Land. And that is why the Jews remain indispensable to Christians. One learns
to Judaize from the Jews. (Jan 17, '12)
S&P wrong on Germany
Germany should have been on the list of debt downgrades by Standard &
Poor's, along with France and seven other eurozone nations S&P did mark
down. The euro will inevitably collapse, endangering even the strongest
governments. - Peter Morici (Jan 17, '12)
Save the Post Office
A health-benefits burden uniquely foisted on the United States Postal Service
is dragging the successor to the unstoppable Pony Express to ruin and
widespread layoffs. Yet this congress-initiated fiasco is avoidable through
reintroduction of postal banking. Japan shows how. - Ellen Brown
(Jan 12, '12)
THE BEAR'S LAIR
More Obama, deeper chasm
President Barack Obama increasingly looks a sure thing to secure a second term,
given present Republican support for Mitt Romney. That raises concern over how
deep will be the economic and financial chasms facing his successor - and the
United States - in 2017. - Martin Hutchinson (Jan
11, '12)
THE BEAR'S LAIR
The end
is nigh
The chance of a system-destroying financial breakdown in 2012 is substantial,
and December 21, predicted by the Mayan's for the end of the world, is as good
a day as any other on which it might occur. - Martin Hutchinson
(Jan 10, '12)
SPEAKING FREELY
The cost of our habits
Smoke it, chew it or just second-hand inhale it - tobacco and production have
become the target of both health and political advocates seeking a better place
for all of us. Rights seem to dictate that people be allowed to smoke
themselves to death, while the same rights seek to protect non-smokers. All the
while, the tobacco industry lines itself to the tune of billions. - Ardeshir
Ommani (Jan 9, '12)
Give us back our country
Multi-million-dollar hand-outs by the fossil-fuel industry to US lawmakers
helped to reverse a political victory by active citizens. Such pay-offs would
attract condemnation and punishment in any other field than politics. That can
change if anger replaces cynicism. - Bill McKibben
(Jan 6, '12)
A little madness goes a long
way
Nassir Ghamei, a specialist in treating mental illness, argues that normality
does not make for an effective leader in abnormal times. The doctor tells Victor
Fic in an exclusive interview that people might do more for world
peace, such as the depressed Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King, when their
mood swings are slightly out of the ordinary. (Jan
5, '12)
Ron Paul vote raises alarm
Texas Representative Ron Paul's strong showing in the Iowa caucuses, backed by
his consistent economic message, is raising concern he might wreck Republican
chances in the November's presidential election even as he exposes realities
neither Republicans nor Democrats are particularly eager to acknowledge. - Jim
Lobe (Jan 5, '12)
More needed from Romney
Ron Paul drew significant support in Iowa from people to whom a better economy
really means something - those earning less than US$50,000. If caucuses winner
Mitt Romney is to secure eventual election victory, he will have to recognize
that simply berating Washington is not enough. - Peter Morici
(Jan 5, '12)
THE BEAR'S LAIR
Juche right when it
suits
North Korea's juche - or self-reliance - philosophy may be pursued by
more countries as the global economy worsens. In spite of the North's present
poverty, it can work - in the right circumstances, and for a short while. Kim
Il-sung, evil tyrant that he was, may be the leading economic inspiration of
the unhappy 21st century. - Martin Hutchinson
(Jan 4, '12)
Shale gas turns energy
tables
The proliferation of interest in extracting gas from shale rock may transform
the global balance of power in the energy industry, as countries at present
dependent on imports for oil and other fuels discover and exploit shale gas
resources that could lead to them becoming energy exporters. - Humberto Marquez
(Jan 4, '12)
SPEAKING FREELY
Finding justice in
Guantanamo
The events of 9/11 and the "war on terror" changed the global outlook and the
way governments function. An unfortunate example of this is the decision by the
supposed bastion of justice and human rights, the United States, to create a
detention facility at Guantanamo as part of the war. - Gyan Basnet
(Jan 3, '12)
CHAN AKYA
Year of Dali
This year has been fraught with surprises, even for the most experienced of
observers - not so much on the scale of "how did that happen", but more on the
lines of "why couldn't they escape that". Whether in the travails of humanity
in the face of natural disasters such as earthquakes, floods and tsunamis, or
merely the goings-on among financial assets and politicians, surrealism has
more than crept to the surface - it has usurped the entire proceedings.
(Dec 21, '11)
Back to the future
Forms of credit have altered through the centuries, adapting to (and in the
process changing) evolving economies. The problems of the 21st century cannot
be solved with 20th century solutions and the coming collapse of oil and other
commodity prices will help to usher in the next great credit transformation. - Chris
Cook (Dec 21, '11)
BOOK REVIEW
Angels and inquisitors
A Point in Time by David Horowitz For a quarter of a
century, Horowitz has told unpleasant truths about the political left where he
spent the first half of his career before turning conservative some 30 years
ago. He surpasses himself in this new essay, though, by telling unpleasant
truths about the human condition. - David Goldman
(Dec 21, '11)
THE BEAR'S LAIR
Ever-receding euro union
The euro project itself was not a disaster; handling of the present crisis has
been, culminating in the proposed new treaty, which will further disenfranchise
European voters. Let us wish for the treaty's failure, and hope that brings
greater freedom and prosperity to both Britain and its European Union friends.
- Martin Hutchinson (Dec 20, '11)
OBITUARY
Christopher Hitchens 1949-2011:
A man worth naming a dog after
British author, intellectual and educator Christopher Hitchens, who died at the
age of 62, remained supremely indifferent to any attempts to enforce
ideological correctness with verbal abuse and social ostracism. Moreover, he
was such a forceful advocate of the positions he believed to be correct that he
almost singlehandedly made it intellectually respectable to be both an atheist
and a conservative - and to have a dog named after him. - David M Lenard
(Dec 19, '11)
REUVEN BRENNER
Europe's gutless collapse
The euro crisis solution lies in political leadership, not the markets. With
that notably absent, Europe's banks can ease their agony by selling their loan
books to pension funds, insurance companies and sovereign funds - though again
guts are lacking. The alternative is bankruptcy. (Dec
16, '11)
DISPATCHES FROM AMERICA
Their bread, our circus
Recently, in the course of one evening in the Big Apple, President Barack Obama
"hosted" three fundraisers ranging from $35,800 a head to $1,000 a head and
raised $2.4 million - and that wasn't even close to 1% of the funds he will
need for this election season. This reflects the power, needs, fears and
desires of America's 1%, and how it has turned the rest of us from citizens
into viewers. - Tom Engelhardt (Dec 15, '11)
How to occupy a bank
Occupy Wall Street folk tend to overlook what brought them onto the streets in
the first place - a corrupt banking system. Occupy San Francisco has now
addressed that issue full on - urging the transfer of the city's US$2 billion
in bank accounts to a municipal bank. You could call it a revolution - but it
has been done before. - Ellen Brown (Dec 15,
'11)
THE BEAR'S LAIR
A credit-crunch stuffing
Current attempts to solve a potential liquidity crisis by stuffing overfed
banks with more cheap money are appropriate only if trying to make pate de foie
gras. Those in charge of the world's monetary system are wrong - and in
2012 we are likely to pay the price. - Martin Hutchinson
(Dec 14, '11)
SPEAKING FREELY
Derivatives and free trade
The United States depends on "free trade" for continued expansion - whether in
the shape of opium pushed on China or as no less destructive derivatives forced
on the rest of the world. The US Congress will not support protectionism when
there is still "free trade" in banking to secure. - Zhuubaajie
(Dec 13, '11)
More Pinocchio than Teddy
President Barack Obama wants to invoke stirring memories of Teddy Roosevelt,
but his denial that he overpromised on economic reforms and underestimated how
tough it would be is more reminiscent of a wooden toy in shorts and with a long
nose. - Peter Morici (Dec 13, '11)
SPENGLER
The fifth horseman of
the apocalypse
Past nations fell to the four horsemen of the apocalypse: war, plague, famine
and death. Today's more civilized world has a fifth: loss of faith. The world's
apathy is seen in plummeting fertility rates threatening population collapse,
most devastatingly in the Muslim world. This makes radical Islam more
dangerous, since nations are like people - on the brink of death they lose
rational self-interest. - Spengler (Dec 12,
'11)
SPEAKING FREELY
The East-West dichotomy
revisited
How do cultures of the East versus the West deduce or induce the world and
reality around them? This affects the world of a society and an individual and
the interpretation of the many religious beliefs they hold. - Thorsten Pattberg
(Dec 12, '11)
Wall St likes your amnesia
Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke's tiff over bailout loans obscures the
fact that banks were getting perks denied the rest of us. Wall Street's
dominance depends on Americans' collective amnesia about a thriving past when
money was created by the people themselves. - Ellen Brown
(Dec 9, '11)
BOOKS REVIEW
Deconstructing
Thomas Friedman
The Imperial Messenger: Thomas Friedman at Work by Belen Fernandez
Analyzing the work of influential New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman,
this book finds flaws ranging from hypocrisy and racism to factual errors and
skewed judgment. More frightening is how Friedman is found to represent a US
media that's sacrificed its objectivity to US economic and political goals,
with corporate profit taking precedent over human life in counsel on Iraq,
Israel and Palestine. - Sandra Siagian (Dec
9, '11)
Obama risks oil threat to
China
The United States' change of focus away from the Middle East and towards the
Asia-Pacific and its sea lanes is grounded on one important factor - rising
energy production in America and a widening fuel gap in China. Yet Washington's
hemispheric energy policy is a fatal brew. - Michael T Klare
(Dec 7, '11)
THE BEAR'S LAIR
The true costs of Keynes
John Maynard Keynes, a pacifist, would not normally be associated with Hitler
and the other mass-slaughterers of the 20th century. Yet in terms of economic
damage, the English economist could be the most destructive of them all. Worse,
his influence is still only too present in our current crisis. - Martin
Hutchinson (Dec 6, '11)
SPEAKING FREELY
A new beginning for the
United Nations
The United Nations' structure still reflects conditions at the time of its
founding in 1945, but fundamental questions need to be asked about how well it
is equipped to fulfill its goals and maintain peace in today's world order.
Reform within the UN itself will not suffice in new political circumstances and
the troubled times more than half a century after its creation. Fundamental
change is essential. - Gyan Basnet (Dec 5,
'11)
REUVEN BRENNER
Tax code folly
Microsoft's US$8.5 billion purchase of Skype, far from being overpriced,
reveals the folly of US corporate tax laws. An overhaul of the tax code would
attract such money back into the US, encourage IPOs, benefit pension funds and
lead to reallocation of good mathematical and business minds to more beneficial
use.(Dec 2, '11)
ECB a barrier to crisis exit
European governments are barred from borrowing from the European Central Bank
although Europe's banks can do so at rates as low as 1.25%. The stability so
eagerly sought in Bonn, Rome and Athens can be secured by publicly owned banks
borrowing from the ECB - then buying up their country's debt. - Ellen Brown
(Nov 30, '11)
THE BEAR'S LAIR
Only too familiar
Time travellers from 1912 would find much of present-day society familiar. They
could offer from experience sensible answers to our economic and other woes.
Only in geo-politics, also only too familiar, do their own appalling failures
mean that we stand alone in seeking a solution. - Martin Hutchinson
(Nov 29, '11)
DISPATCHES FROM AMERICA
No free
speech at Mr Jefferson's library
The case of Morris Davis, fired from the Library of Congress for criticizing in
the Wall Street Journal what he saw as US double standards, spotlights a
growing trend of Washington punishing its employees who question its actions.
Meanwhile it denigrates Beijing, Tehran and Damascus for suppressing free
speech. - Peter Van Buren (Nov 29, '11)
Merkel right - and wrong
Germany's objections to signing a blank check for profligate European partners
and letting the European Central Bank freely print money to fend off
speculation are reasonable on their own. But Chancellor Angela Merkel is losing
sight of the bigger picture - and must start working for a European Union
identity over the old national identities. - Francesco Sisci
(Nov 28, '11)
THE BEAR'S LAIR
Back to 1693
Mishandling of the eurozone debt crisis is undermining international debt
markets and threatening the solvency of central banking itself. Once the world
returns to circumstances last seen before the founding of the Bank of England,
the benefits will be considerable - but the intervening decade will be
unpleasant. - Martin Hutchinson (Nov 23, '11)
CHAN AKYA
The trick to flying
As Europe's leaders try to muddle through to a resolution of their debt crisis
and the United States does no better on fixing its budget deficit, it is
possible to consider the most likely outcomes. Most involve the word "decline",
and even there they carry a strong whiff of wishful thinking.
(Nov 23, '11)
Heads or tails, we lose
Whether the US Congressional super committee on budget cuts reaches agreement
or not, the economy will have $1.2 trillion less purchasing power - killing yet
more jobs. Squeezed out of the debate is whether cutting the budget is a good
idea at all, when even the federal debt interest is a resolvable problem
without such cuts. - Ellen Brown (Nov 18,
'11)
REUVEN BRENNER
Young hold 'euro crisis' key
The "euro crisis" is not at core a currency problem but one of a period of
lucky demographics coming to an end, with the costs continuing. The solution
lies in incentives that would enable the younger, entrepreneurial generation to
finance their dreams or for those people to flow where capital becomes more
available to them. - Reuven Brenner (Nov 18,
'11)
DISPATCHES FROM AMERICA
Big change whether we like
it or not
As the post-World War II order crumbles, United States politicians are still
proclaiming "American exceptionalism" and "global leadership" amid a seemingly
never-ending "American century". As deluded as those expecting a President
Barack Obama statue to be erected in Tahrir Square, next year's Republican
candidates are ignorant to the reality that US expansionism only shadowed
Europe's colonialism, and will meet the same end. - Andrew Bacevich
(Nov 16, '11)
SPEAKING FREELY
The capitalist myth
Conventional wisdom decrees that the private sector is good, and the public
sector bad. That all regulation of the private, capitalist, sector stifles
innovation. Yet it is unregulated capitalism that lies at the root of the
current economic crisis. - Dafydd Taylor (Nov
15, '11)
Time for a new Bill of
Rights
Were people to understand the banking and monetary system there would be a
revolution, said Henry Ford. Occupy Wall Street shows that the public is
beginning to understand who does create our money and profit from that - and
therein lies something more advantageous than revolution. - Ellen Brown
(Nov 15, '11)
THE BEAR'S LAIR
Europe's Lehman Brothers
The reforms that Italian prime minister-designate Mario Monti favors will not
tackle the corruption endemic in Italian politics. As the politically connected
lobbies he brings with him grab available resources, the markets will wrongly
perceive Italy as being as much of a basket case as Greece, and close access to
Italian government refinancing. - Martin Hutchinson
(Nov 15, '11)
THE ROVING EYE
Politburo uber alles
Two decades after the end of "real socialism", politburos are back in fashion.
In the eurozone, that means naked power concentrated in an imperial "Gang of
Eight" and a trokia of gloriously unelected institutions that call all the
shots and render national governments totally meaningless. The only thing that
matters to this newly formed pantheon is what the financial markets want; mere
mortals, as in European voters, are seen at best as a nuisance. - Pepe Escobar
(Nov 15, '11)
BOOK REVIEW
The incredible lightheadedness
of being German
I Sleep in Hitler's Room: An American Jew Visits Germany by Tuvia
Tenenbom
Tuvia Tenenbom comes off as a Jewish Hunter S Thompson, describing cringing
encounters in Germany that strip away the veneer of sanity from his subjects.
His peregrinations show that World War II and the Holocaust have left the
Germans with a terminal case of post-traumatic stress disorder and aspirations
for their national identity to be subsumed into Europe. To understand Germans,
one has to learn their language and live with them - or read Tenenbom's book. - Spengler
(Nov 15, '11)
SPEAKING FREELY
Japan and Europe toward
the exit from history
Up until 1991, the Land of the Rising Sun and the Old Continent were the United
States' bulwarks at the eastern and western rims of Eurasia’s landmass: the
first line of containment against the Soviet Union along the Pacific and
Atlantic Oceans. Now, despite the diplomatic acrobatics staged by US officials,
the status of Japan and Europe as cornerstones - in their respective regions -
of the American security system is questioned. - Emanuele Scimia
(Nov 14, '11)
DISPATCHES FROM AMERICA
How a neo-liberal shell game
created an age of activism
Although mainstream media try to distance the Occupy Wall Street and the Arab
Spring protests, both are rebellions against an extreme concentration of wealth
caused by neo-liberal policies of deregulation and union-busting. The same
policies that cost American livelihoods and jobs created the dictatorships from
Egypt to Tunisia, and now the global youth are united in their attempt to
dislodge the 1%. - Juan Cole (Nov 14, '11)
REUVEN BRENNER
Wanted: Debt enforcers
International agreement is required to recreate institutions that can ensure
settlement of debts and prevent countries from profligacy - institutions with
the clout to enforce clauses in contracts rather than the present mish-mash of
faddish bureaucracies and ineffectual courts. (Nov
10, '11)
BOOK REVIEW
Harsh light on history
Breaking the Rules by Alexander Casella
An insider's account of the United Nations refugee agency's inner workings,
this book sketches out a "humanitarian industry" run by politicians and
bureaucrats more interested in securing their own paychecks and promotions than
helping victims. Starting in post-unification Vietnam and traveling into the
UN's dark heart, it rewards readers with a trove of insights and anecdotes
about events that have shaped our time by someone who was right in the thick it
it. - David Simmons (Nov 10, '11)
 SINOGRAPH
Save Rome, bomb the euro
(and the world)
A weird yet fascinating perspective on Italy, the world, and the present crisis
in the eurozone is offered by a letter to Silvio Berlusconi expressing
admiration at a crunch time in the Italian premier's rule. Attributed to a Kim
Jong-il - and whether spoof or not - the letter advises that much can be gained
from North Korea's tried and tested brinkmanship over the course of another
illustrious leadership career. - Francesco Sisci
(Nov 8, '11)
THE BEAR'S LAIR
Policy can trump
unpopularity
Economic change was no more palatable in the 19th century than it is now, yet
policymakers are still, even in democracies, sufficiently insulated from
popular feeling to do what is necessary to move economies from crisis to
prosperity. Our present lot merely fail to use that insularity to good effect.
- Martin Hutchinson (Nov 8, '11)
Push on for Tobin tax
Barely half the member countries attending the Group of 20 Cannes summit backed
plans for a financial transactions tax that could raise money for any number of
purposes, including debt payment or development of poor countries. Yet the
supporters of the "Tobin tax" hope for further progress by year end. - Cleo
Fatoorehchi (Nov 7, '11)
SPENGLER
What do we want from Wall
Street?
In the banking world after the 2008 financial Armageddon, exotic securities are
extinct, proprietary trading is a shadow of its former self. While weakened
managers won't take on risk or lend, that is what is needed to promote economic
growth. Investors too need to size up what may lurk on bank balance sheets.
Transparency and a fix of the broken system of assessing credit risk could help
restore back-to-basics banking, and give the market the means to punish Wall
Street gamblers. (Nov 7, '11)
CHAN AKYA
Financial fascism
Europe's leaders, in their treatment of Greek wishes for an austerity
referendum, have brought back the era of fascism as they contend with the
financial contradictions that the euro project has become. The elite of Europe
are choosing to perpetuate the euro's existence at the expense of the people.
(Nov 7, '11)
REUVEN BRENNER
Vote, then spend, then pay
The possibility of an "austerity referendum" in Greece now appears to buried,
yet holding such a vote could be greatly beneficial to the European Union as a
whole if it led to more "direct democracy" on how politicians spend cash as
well as on whether debts should be paid. (Nov 4,
'11)
THE ROVING EYE
Fear and loathing in
the Cannes debt festival
After posing as the Great Liberator of Libya, French President Nicolas Sarkozy
thought this week's Cannes Group of 20 summit would crown his Napoleonic
ambitions. Instead, the Greeks made the (invisible) God of the Market angrier
than Zeus and more psychotic than a German chancellor. All eyes are on China,
but the Middle Kingdom's generosity carries a hefty price tag - European
exceptionalism itself. - Pepe Escobar (Nov 4,
'11)
Papandreou right on
referendum
Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou is correct to put the European Union
bailout package to a vote, as the related austerity measures will be
unsustainable without public consent. A referendum can open the way to a
readopted drachma and the ability for Greece to trade its way out of debt mess.
- Peter Morici (Nov 3, '11)
US stares down occupying
forces
Reports that an Iraq War veteran was gravely
injured in the police crackdown on Occupy Wall Street in Oakland, California
will heighten tensions between protestors and riot police pushing back hard
nationwide with tear gas and rubber bullets. Though most major occupation sites
are seeing violence, Oakland resembles a war zone. - Ritt Goldstein
(Nov 2, '11)
INTERVIEW
US political consensus is a
Himalayan task
American Laurence Brahm is a global activist, international mediator, political
columnist and 
author who pioneered the Himalayan Consensus paradigm of sustainable
development, which has taken him from Tibet to the Occupy Wall Street protests.
He tells Victor Fic it's time to fire the managers of "America Inc" and
for corporate greed to be replaced with "compassionate capitalism".
(Nov 2, '11)
Pressure on World Bank
for revival of B-SPAN
The World Bank, under Robert Zoellick, has shown a commendable inclination
towards more transparency in its operations. That could mean a positive
response to growing pressure to reintroduce B-SPAN, a webcasting system watched
by a quarter-million viewers before its opponents succeeded in killing it off
in 2005. - David Shaman (Nov 2, '11)
What Chinese unemployment?
The US labor market started to hemorrhage jobs almost as soon as the country
came off the gold standard, as high-paying manufacturing employment migrated
eastwards. Low wages in China do not explain this phenomenon. But the Chinese
do have control over the gold price, and will adjust it when it suits. - Antal E
Fekete (Nov 1, '11)
THE BEAR'S LAIR
China points to Weimar exit
China's crisis stimulus spending was overdone even by the most demented
Keynesian standards. Now, faced by a trade deficit and gigantic bad debts in
the banking system, Beijing will probably resort to financial controls and
money printing that will wipe out middle-class savings. The Weimar republic
tried that route. - Martin Hutchinson (Nov 1,
'11)
DISPATCHES FROM AMERICA
A (self-)graduation speech for
the occupiers of Zuccotti Park
Once upon a time, no one imagined an American world of home ownership and good
jobs would be kneecapped. To the Occupy Wall Street Movement, I say: Don't kid
yourself, the old world has gone with the wind, no matter what happens
economically. And as you light up a dismal landscape, whatever you do, remember
that unlike the Tea Party, youth is on your side, and don't go home. - Tom
Engelhardt (Oct 31, '11)
SPENGLER
The economics of
polarization
America is engaged in a class war of survival between the productive middle
class and the dependents of the state. The middle classes are on the edge of
calamity, paying a crushing tax burden to foot generous pension and health
benefits to public sector employees who make up the backbone of the Democratic
Party. The economics of polarization favor the Republican Party in 2012, but
the fight will be desperate and nasty. (Oct 31, '11)
CHAN AKYA
The men without qualities
Robert Musil, novelist and mathematician, lived through more than one financial
crisis, but also at a time when "leaders" were leaders. His great work, The Man
Without Qualities, grimly presages the present batch of senior European
politicians as they scratch around for a way out of the eurozone debt crisis.
Their latest patched together "rescue" raises the question: "Hello, anyone
home?" (Oct 28, '11)
US risks Pacific turnaround
Testimony to the US House Armed Services Committee: If the United States
slashes defense spending because congress will neither confront Chinese
mercantilism nor develop domestic energy to rekindle economic growth, the
tables will turn in the Pacific sooner than Washington thinks. - Peter Morici
(Oct 27, '11)
SINOGRAPH
Save the euro, bomb Rome!
Italy, at the heart of the present economic crisis, won't be able to break its
bonds by itself. The European Union will have to force Rome to take the
political measures necessary to prevent a national and international meltdown.
- Francesco Sisci (Oct 26, '11)
Tunisia takes an Islamist
turn
The moderate Islamist victor of Tunisia's first multi-party elections since
1956, the Ennahda party, has pledged to balance religion with modernization in
rebuilding law and order and the economy. With the youth passionately
protective of "their" revolution and the world focused on outcomes in the Arab
Spring's epicenter, Ennahda and its leader Rachid Gannouchi need to overcome
fears of a roll-back of secularism. - Mounira Chaieb
(Oct 26, '11)
Dark inventory and the death
of markets
Inside knowledge of yet-to-be-produced commodities opaquely leased to
"inflation hedger" investors following the 2008 global crisis created massive
profits for middle-men . However, the market forces unleashed by manipulating
demand in the "dark inventory" now threaten a collapse of commodity markets. - Chris
Cook (Oct 25, '11)
THE BEAR'S LAIR
Less is more
There will be little room for celebration on October 31 when the world's seven
billionth inhabitant is born as the risk of population exceeding the planet's
carrying capacity is all too real. Absent an achievable reduction by economic
and cultural means, the not-too-distant future looks bleak. - Martin Hutchinson
(Oct 25, '11)
SPEAKING FREELY
What happens to liberal
values in hard times?
Millions of Asians have made the West their home. What are the likely social
and psychological consequences for us "others" in these hard times? With no end
to bad economic news, how many Europeans and Americans will retain or abandon
liberal values? If more of the latter, which members of society are likely to
become victims of growing intolerance and injustice? - P Pushkar
(Oct 25, '11)
REUVEN BRENNER
Europe pays for lost
character
Europe is paying the price of two decades of handing out money to countries
that barely had a pulse - a far cry from when J Pierpont Morgan argued that the
sole criterion for extending a loan should be the "character" of the borrower.
(Oct 21, '11)
BOOK REVIEW
The human face of World War
I
To End All Wars: A Story of Loyalty and Rebellion, 1914-1918 by Adam
Hochschild
An exploration of how World War I became so protracted and bloody, this book
also retells how pacifists braved jail and lynchings to reject the carnage. By
focusing on individuals like the vain generals who ordered a whole generation
into deadly storms of steel, the author offers a timely reminder that blindness
to war's realities leads to unparalleled loss. - Jim Ash
(Oct 21, '11)
THE ROVING EYE
The US power grab in Africa
Libya - where United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made a
whistle-stop visit on Tuesday but didn't get to see the devastation in Sirte -
is just one angle of a multi-vector US strategy in Africa. Washington's Uganda
surge, where 100 "advisors" now have their boots on the ground, is a classic
Pipelineistan gambit and it's not hard to fathom where that country's oil
contracts will eventually land. - Pepe Escobar
(Oct 20, '11)
SPEAKING FREELY
A European future
For Europe, the future really should be bright. Yet there is one vital
ingredient missing - a sense of self-confidence. The sort of self-confidence
for which the United States is renowned, and China seems, in the past few
years, to have rediscovered. - Dafydd Taylor (Oct
20, '11)
QE4 - forgive the students
As the markets hunger for a fourth round of quantitative easing, what better
than a $1 trillion write-off of student debts. It would create jobs, boost tax
revenues, and give young people a fair shot at the American dream, a dream that
has become a mirage for 99% of the population. - Ellen Brown
(Oct 20, '11)
Germany's pillars of growth
Publicly owned banks were central to Germany's rise from the ashes of World War
11 to be the world's biggest exporter. That was not enough to save them from
being stripped of their key strengths by European authorities, but should be
sufficient for the United States to take notice and learn. - Ellen Brown
(Oct 19, '11)
THE ROVING EYE
Occupy World Street
Occupy World Street wants that forests won't be mowed down, the air won't be
polluted, banks won't be double-crossing their clients, and citizens should be
totally engaged in the running of public life. This implies sensible laws
managed by honest and impartial people should be in place. It's not happening -
thus the swelling ranks of the Indignados International. - Pepe Escobar
(Oct 18, '11)
THE BEAR'S LAIR
The importance of
destruction
The late Steve Jobs built success on perpetually creating new products and
doing away with the old, exemplifying the destruction that is essential to
truly free market capitalism. European and US policymakers should learn that
lesson as they drown in debt. - Martin Hutchinson
(Oct 18, '11)
THE ROVING EYE
Obama, the king of Africa
The mineral rush in Africa is already one of the great resource wars of the
21st century. China is ahead, followed by companies from India, Australia,
South Africa and Russia. The West is lagging. The name of the game for the
United States and the Europeans is to pull no punches to undermine China.
That's why Uganda is the perfect cover story for Barack Obama, the king of
Africa, to plunge a dagger inside Islamic Africa.
- Pepe Escobar (Oct 17, '11)
The all-American occupation
Even as the "Occupy Wall Street" movement spreads around the world, it would be
wrong to leap to conclusions about how long the movement might last and where
(if anywhere) it's heading. It would also be foolish to dismiss in the United
States the powerful tradition the demonstrators there have tapped into. - Steve
Fraser (Oct 17, '11)
REUVEN BRENNER
The vital few
The tendency of successful family businesses to rise and fall within three
generations is well documented. Countries can similarly squander resources. A
common element is the unwillingness of those in charge to consider what they
can put back into, rather than plunder from, their heritage.
(Oct 14, '11)
THE BEAR'S LAIR
Cloud over Wall Street
For better or worse, some of the "Occupy Wall Street" crowd's demands may
resonate in public life in the decades ahead. Mutualizing deposit-taking
institutions makes sense. Jacque Fresco's idea of replacing the profit motive
with the "progress motive" does not. - Martin Hutchinson
(Oct 12, '11)
THE ROVING EYE
Liquid modernity, solid elites
The Occupy Wall Street campaign is flying the flag for the peaceful rejects of
liquid modernity - all but the 1% solids, the fat-cat Masters of the Universe
who take all the cream but still don't have a clue that 99% of Americans are as
mad as hell and can't take it anymore. Derided as a bunch of nuts or criminals,
the protesters are defying the elites and challenging their logic in a movement
that could sow the seeds of a humanistic neo-Renaissance for the masses.
- Pepe Escobar (Oct 11, '11)
Pass the China Currency Bill
The United States' trade deficit is destroying more US jobs, yet President
Barack Obama and House Speaker John Boehner, for now, oppose the one measure
that could transform that situation - the China Currency Bill. - Peter Morici
(Oct 11, '11)
REUVEN BRENNER
Greek rescue - if only
There is a sensible way out of crisis for Greece (beyond revenues from
transporting the Mediterranean's natural resources), as Ireland has shown. But
there is nothing in it for the bureaucrats in Brussels and the International
Monetary Fund. (Oct 7, '11)
US majority faces another lost
decade
The past decade has been a washout, a decade from hell, for the American middle
class, long the pride of the country and the envy of the world, with only the
richest doing better. Life support is nowhere close to arriving and reversing
the yawning wealth gap could be the task of a lifetime. - Andy Kroll
(Oct 7, '11)
OBITUARY
Jobs era passes
The computer world and much of the wider global public are mourning the death
of Steve Jobs, whose genius transformed the computing and living experience of
millions of people around the world. - Antoine Blua
(Oct 6, '11)
Sheared by the shorts
Short sellers' bear raids reap fast profits at the expense of genuine
shareholders and investors. Shunned by regulators living out of brokers'
pockets, ordinary folk can fight back by ensuring they do not have margin
accounts that are plundered against their own interests. - Ellen Brown
(Oct 5, '11)
THE BEAR'S LAIR
Life after Kyoto
The 1997 Kyoto Protocol on climate change expires soon. Its considerable
failures point to what can now be done - bureaucracy of regulatory design
should be swept away, along with cap-and-trade and poorly directed subsidies.
And bogus "science" should be recognized for what it is. - Martin Hutchinson
(Oct 4, '11)
SPENGLER
Italy's future - a theme park
Historians have found that Roman tourists kept Sparta afloat half a millennium
after the civilization succumbed to demographic suicide, paying to watch the
last Spartans oil their hair, don red robes and play flutes until the 2nd
century CE. The same could be true of the Chinese and modern-day Italy.
However, Chinese visitors do not wish to merely gawk: they want to learn, buy,
and carry home the magic of Italy's most elegant manufacturers. - Spengler
(Oct 3, '11)
REUVEN BRENNER
Bees build a sweeter economy
Frugality does little to improve an economy, as Bernard de Mandeville made
poetically clear two centuries before he was championed (not altogether
accurately) by John Maynard Keynes. Remedies work when they are designed to
raise expectations and restart the entrepreneurial engine.
(Sep 30, '11)
DISPATCHES FROM AMERICA
The American dream, interrupted
Rising challenges from China and India confront an American dream that has been
soiled by an anemic economy and fears of a double-dip recession, giving
immigrants drawn to golden shores in boom times reason to wonder if the
struggle to make it here was worth the trouble. While the logic of history
seems to denude the myth of exceptionalism, the nation of immigrants is
searching for the next breakthrough that will send America soaring again. - Dinesh
Sharma (Sep 29, '11)
Free trade is failing America
No economic policy could better serve Americans than genuine free trade, but
open trade policies are failing Americans because President Barack Obama
permits China and others to cheat, unchallenged, on the rules of the game. - Peter
Morici (Sep 29, '11)
DISPATCHES FROM AMERICA
Freedom isn't free at the State
Department
The State Department crusades for the rights of bloggers abroad to challenge
government oppression, crediting their voices for the Arab Spring. Try the same
thing at home, or merely post a link to a WikiLeaks document freely available
elsewhere, and you could end up being treated like you'd stolen a Top Secret
report by dullards who fail to see the finer points of irony. - Peter Van Buren
(Sep 28, '11)
THE BEAR'S LAIR
The US needs Ordnungspolitik
Germany's post-war chancellor, Konrad Adenauer, believed in capitalism, but he
understood that it required order, embodied in the concept of Ordnungspolitik,
if it was to thrive. It is a lesson the United States urgently needs to
relearn. - Martin Hutchinson (Sep 27, '11)
Decline and fall of just about
everyone
Let's pick the bones of a broken system: middle classes in the Atlantic world
barely hang on in quiet desperation; in the Pacific, the middle class is giving
global capitalism a reprieve, for how long, we don't know; over in the Arab
world, the military machine tries to keep the US and Europe in the game, the
BRICS out, and the "natives" in their places. And globally, the whole world is
holding its breath for the next economic shoe to drop in the West. - Pepe
Escobar (Sep 26, '11)
REUVEN BRENNER
Make babies or die
How Civilizations Die: (And Why Islam Is Dying Too) by David P
Goldman
The author's demographics-mixed-with-religion dash through history displays the
erudition and sarcasm that marks his writing on this site ("Spengler") and
elsewhere. And demography may indeed be almost (sometimes fatal) destiny - but
pessimism may blind Goldman to what is adaptation and survival.
(Sep 23, '11)
Nondominium - the Caspian
solution
The unprecedented agreement of all 27 European Union nations to support the
proposed Trans-Caspian Gas Pipeline to transport Turkmen gas to Azerbaijan is
unlikely to find the support of Russia or Iran. An alternative, essentially
Gandhian approach, to the property conundrum is for a "nondominium", which
could revolutionize international economic relations. - Chris Cook
(Sep 23, '11)
Operation Twist in the Wind
The US Federal Reserve's decision to purchase US$400 billion in long-term
Treasuries will push down mortgage rates a bit, but it will have little impact
on real estate prices nor encourage consumers to start spending again. - Peter
Morici (Sep 22, '11)
CHAN
AKYA
Who needs banks?
The global financial system is sailing straight past its sell-by date as
confidence implodes within the sector. The main function of banks to take
deposits and make payments has already been under pressure for a while; and
things can only get only worse from here. (Sep 21,
'11)
THE ROVING EYE
Why the BRICS won't 'save'
Europe
As national egoism drags Western Europe into the financial mire, a cavalry of
emerging economies made up of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa is
mulling a bailout that could also accelerate the rise of the BRICS in global
influence. However, while China is still smarting over the economic impact of
the Libyan bombings, other BRICS say helping Europe would simply be a poor
investment - Pepe Escobar (Sep 20, '11)
Is Washington out of gas?
The United States' economic and military rise was fueled in part by its control
over the world's supply of oil; the country's decline coincides with oil's
relative fall off as a major source of energy. Ditching oil for the new energy
technologies should be America's top economic priority. - Michael Klare
(Sep 20, '11)
THE BEAR'S LAIR
The
impoverishment of the West
Median household income in the United States is barely above its value in 1989
and less than 7% above its level of 1973. For most households, an entire
working life of 38 years has elapsed with no significant increase in living
standards. - Martin Hutchinson (Sep 20, '11)
REUVEN BRENNER
Obama flunks education test
President Barack Obama wants to put throw an additional US$30 billion at
education in the United States. With the present institutional arrangements,
that will only add to spending, and will not produce any additional education.
Stricter student selection and an end to subsidies for future big earners would
be a better route. (Sep 16, '11)
A crack in the Great Wall
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has lost no time outlining how he
might coerce change in China's trade policies. It may merely be a political
maneuver - or indicate a determination to change important elements of
America's trade relationship with China. If the latter, Beijing should take
notice. - Benjamin A Shobert (Sep
16, '11)
Uncle Sam doesn't want you
As a new class of the marginalized grows in the United States, Americans can
continue to accept large-scale unemployment as "natural" and permanent - or
decide they have had enough of a political and economic order so bankrupt it
can find no use for many of them at any price. The Arab Spring set them an
example. - Steve Fraser and Josh Freeman
(Sep 15, '11)
SPEAKING FREELY
The Development Deception
There is a dangerous lie that permeates the media, government and general
discourse of nearly every single nation on Earth. That lie is the Development
Deception; it is grossly misleading for the nations who over-consume the
world's finite resources to be considered developed.
- Brendan P O'Reilly (Sep 15, '11)
Edward Gibbon at America's grave
Someday, a new Edward Gibbon in China or India will surely sit down to write The
History of the Decline and Fall of the American Empire. Hopefully it
will be but one volume in a larger, more progressive oeuvre - The Renaissance
of Asia perhaps - and not an obituary for a human future sucked into America's
grasping void.
- Mike Davis (Sep 15, '11)
CHAN AKYA
Europe - into the end game
Concerted action is required to resolve the eurozone's deepening woes, yet the
institutions in Europe and the United States required to play a key role are at
war with each other, while external intervention, say from China, has little in
the way of positive history. We are approaching, or are already in, the end
game for the euro project. (Sep 14, '11)
War - stimulus of last resort
Labor and resources are sitting idle in the United States while the "deficits"
bogeyman deprives people of the goods and services they could create. Diverting
war spending to peaceful use could add jobs while cutting the national debt and
balancing the government's budget. - Ellen Brown
(Sep 13, '11)
THE BEAR'S LAIR
The long
bend to recovery
Free-market economies have a surprising ability to recover, provided they are
not held down by misguided government policy. While United States citizens are
promised that "prosperity is just around the corner", administration ideologues
and the election calendar ensure that the corner will be a long one. -Martin
Hutchinson (Sep 13, '11)
SPEAKING FREELY
Clausewitz
and Sun Tzu after the neo-cons
Battles and even campaigns can be won following Sun Tzu, but it is difficult to
win a war by applying his Art of War principles which, unlike Carl von
Clausewitz's theories, didn't consider the post-war political-social landscape.
Military prowess, neo-conservative desires and the application of some Sun Tze
principles have been factors in the United States Army's military successes and
likewise in its obvious failures. - Andreas Herberg-Rothe
(Sep 13, '11)
REUVEN BRENNER
The Phoenix has yet to rise
The United States' recovery since 9/11 has been much slower than would be
expected given the strengths of its institutions and the history of the US and
other countries when faced with savage setbacks. Yet the defining, global
companies of the past decade have been from the US - not Europe or Asia. This
Phoenix will rise - eventually. (Sep 12, '11)
Tear down the Freedom Tower
Ten years into the new era, it is time for Americans to rip off the Band-Aid
off, tear down the Freedom Tower and end the misuse of the nearly 3,000 victims
in the guise of pious remembrance. In the name of humanity and decency,
invocation of the monstrous attacks to explain inexplicable wars has to stop. - Tom
Engelhardt (Sep 9, '11)
BOOK EXCERPT
Obama and Osama as archetypes
Barack Obama in Hawaii and Indonesia: The Making of a Global President
by Dinesh Sharma
The ashes and the bellowing smoke of 9/11 metaphorically touched all corners of
the Earth. They also touched the core of Barack Obama's identity as a would-be
senator, global citizen and progressive thinker who knew the world had been
pushed to a cataclysmic point and was determined to play a role in shaping
events. Moreover, in the minds of millions, the Obama-Osama bin Laden binary
opposition formed archetypes of good and evil. (Sep
9, '11)
Gene code promises crops for all
seasons
Chinese researchers working with Yale University have identified a potential
way to make crops produce year-round - no longer dictated by the seasons. The
key lies in altering genes that manage a plant's circadian rhythm, similar to
the body clock that regulates human sleeping patterns, and the end result could
be an end to world hunger. - Raja Murthy (Sep
9, '11)
Osama crippled the American
century
Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda appears to have largely succeeded in its hope of
bleeding America as a global power. The foreign-policy elite, with few
exceptions, believes the George W Bush administration "over-reacted" to the
attacks, driven by a close-knit group of hawks who seized control of Bush's
foreign policy even before the dust had settled over Lower Manhattan - and
played its hand as if it was following al-Qaeda's script. - Jim Lobe
(Sep 9, '11)
Post-9/11 America fishes for
answers
The United States is a different place since the deadly attacks of a decade
ago. One family's travels in the wake of the US Patriot Act illustrate how easy
it can be for law-enforcement officials to swallow terrorism red (or pickled)
herrings bait, hook, line and sinker. - Muhammad Cohen
(Sep 9, '11)
COMMENT
Snakes in the grass
Human trafficking is a lucrative business, worth as much as US$7 billion a
year, despite the attentions of customs officials around the world. Chinese
traffickers may rake in as much as half of the total. Yet the analytical tools
and intelligence are available to combat this business more effectively. It is
time to start using them. - Avi Jorisch (Sep
8, '11)
Was there an alternative?
The past decade, with its torture, renditions, black sites and drone
assassination campaigns, has had little to do with bringing anyone to
"justice", and especially not Osama bin Laden. Why was it, then, that the
Barack Obama administration chose to assassinate the al-Qaeda leader, rather
than bring him into a court of law? - Noam Chomsky
(Sep 7, '11)
SPENGLER
How the hijackers
changed American culture
There has been a six-fold increase in the total number of horror films released
since 1999. Starting on September 11, 2001, Americans were exposed to an enemy
that uses horror as a weapon. In its attempt to engage the countries whence the
terrorists issued, America has exposed its young people to cultures in which
acts of horror (suicide bombing, torture and mutilation) have become routine.
(Sep 7, '11)
THE BEAR'S LAIR
Regulation
taking its toll
Seven newly proposed regulations by US federal agencies would carry a total
cost of more than $109 billion. Even without obviously necessary changes in
monetary and fiscal policy, much of the US economy's natural robust health
could be restored by reversing the regulatory tide. - Martin Hutchinson
(Sep 7, '11)
Tequila taste buds in Asia
Twenty years ago, tequila was a drink that at best helped make margaritas and
invariably resulted in bad heads and stomachs, but it has been moving steadily
up-market. Now the top brands are finding a warm welcome in trendy parts of
Asia, not least Shanghai. - Ian Williams (Sep
1, '11)
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CREDIT
BUBBLE BULLETIN
Bernanke merits a rant
The United States economy is expanding, financial markets are strong and
consumer price inflation is rather undeflationary - yet Federal Reserve
chairman Ben Bernanke is again signaling he is prepared for additional
monetization. If it looks like a bubble, smells like a bubble ... (Jan
30'12)
Doug Noland looks at the previous week's events each Monday. |
Facebook heads for IPO
Social networking giant Facebook has at last moved towards selling its shares
to the public, seeking to raise a possible US$5 billion. The sale would propel
27-year-old co-founder Mark Zuckerberg to the top ranks of rich folk, with a
$28 billion stake. (Feb 3, '12)
Martin J Young surveys the week's developments in computing, gaming and
gizmos. |
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