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Rush Limbaugh Will Be Returning To Television In The Near Future? Inquiring Minds Would Like To Know.
Over 2 Million Tea Party Patriots March On Washington D.C.–The Second American Revolution–9/12 Project!
So says Jean-Philippe Bouchaut in a Nature (subscription) essay:
Compared with physics, it seems fair to say that the quantitative success of the economic sciences has been disappointing…Of course, to paraphrase Isaac Newton, modelling the madness of people is more difficult than modelling the motion of planets. But statistical regularities should emerge in the behaviour of large populations, just as the law of ideal gases emerges from the chaotic motion of individual molecules. To me, the crucial difference between modelling in physics and in economics lies rather in how the fields treat the relative role of concepts, equations and empirical data.
Classical economics is built on very strong assumptions that quickly become axioms: the rationality of economic agents (the premise that every economic agent, be that a person or a company, acts to maximize his profits), the ‘invisible hand’ (that agents, in the pursuit of their own profit, are led to do what is best for society as a whole) and market efficiency (that market prices faithfully reflect all known information about assets), for example.
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Physicists, on the other hand, have learned to be suspicious of axioms. If empirical observation is incompatible with a model, the model must be trashed or amended, even if it is conceptually beautiful or mathematically convenient. So many accepted ideas have been proven wrong in the history of physics that physicists have grown to be critical and queasy about their own models.
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The supposed omniscience and perfect efficacy of a free market stems from economic work done in the 1950s and 1960s, which with hindsight looks more like propaganda against communism than plausible science. In reality, markets are not efficient, humans tend to be over-focused in the short-term and blind in the long-term, and errors get amplified, ultimately leading to collective irrationality, panic and crashes. Free markets are wild markets.
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Reliance on models based on incorrect axioms has clear and large effects. The Black–Scholes model, for example, which was invented in 1973 to price options, is still used extensively. But it assumes that the probability of extreme price changes is negligible, when in reality, stock prices are much jerkier than this. Twenty years ago, unwarranted use of the model spiralled into the worldwide October 1987 crash; the Dow Jones index dropped 23% in a single day, dwarfing recent market hiccups. Ironically, it was the very use of a crash-free model that helped to trigger a crash.
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Surprisingly, classical economics has no framework through which to understand ‘wild’ markets, even though their existence is so obvious to the layman. Physics, on the other hand, has developed several models that explain how small perturbations can lead to wild effects. The theory of complexity shows that although a system may have an optimum state, it is sometimes so hard to identify that the system never settles there. This optimum state is not only elusive, it is also hyper-fragile to small changes in the environment, and therefore often irrelevant to understanding what is going on.
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The prerequisites for more stability in the long run are the development of a more pragmatic and realistic representation of what is going on in financial markets, and to focus on data, which should always supersede perfect equations and aesthetic axioms.
Web based interface is rapidly replacing the traditional desktop based or terminal based applications. The growth of web based applications denotes the trend in the market and latets users. The new users are more comfortable using the web based system as compared to the old traditional desktop applications. Integration to browser has made user’s life a lot simpler, but has it made application programmer’s life simpler? well you will have joint yes and no votes here. Some people would agree to this and some will not. However the truth remains unchanged that the web applications have taken charge or previous single or multi user desktop based applications. How long they gonna travel ? that’s a big questions. I came across one good article about web application development while trying to explore this topic. These guys also seem to advocate the web bases applications along with the pro’s and corn’s for using and developing them. However to what extent they succeed is topic for debate and i am still not clear what approach to take for traditional business models ? Because you have to think in terms of Security first then Accessibility, HTML/CSS validation, Performance, Load, Stress, Usability, Cross-browser and other factors.
It’s fact that webbased applications have same process for development, testing, integration as other especially desktop based appliations but since just the client differs the application developers have a freedom in developing the applications. But can we really call that a freedom ? as compared to visual C++ and Delphi based applications ?
Al Roth at Market Design, “Reserving spaces in crowded places,” notes that authorities are cracking down on the illegal practice of reserving prayer spaces and renting them out to worshipers. He quotes from the Saudi Gazette:
“It is forbidden to reserve places in the mosques, unless the person has left for urgent reasons and intends to return soon, as otherwise it is tantamount to taking something by force,” Al-Fawzan told Okaz newspaper on Thursday. “It is also forbidden to rent a reserved place, and the authorities should put a stop to this vice (munkar).”
Note that in a market for prayer spaces, high-income and low-income persons can benefit. The low-income person (or more specifically, a person with facing low opportunity costs) can earn money by holding a desired prayer spot and trading it to a high-income person just before prayer times. The banned practice would seem to create net economic benefits – price-based rationing tends to be efficiency enhancing – but this observation neglects any external spiritual or economic benefits that might accrue from high-income persons spending more time waiting in mosques.
Banning the practice seems to benefit the middle at the expense of the extremes, the middle being those people too busy to arrive too early, but too poor (or too pious?) to pay for a good spot. Henceforth, to signal piety or just get an otherwise desirable location, worshipers will have to show up early.
It would be interesting to know whether political connections (governmental or clerical) can obtain a desirable prayer spot without waiting. Can the right connections and a little influence buy what money cannot under the rules?
(Notice the similarity to rock concerts: when concert tickets are in excess demand and scalpers are prohibited, fans have to show up early. In the case of rock concerts in public stadiums, at least, a good political connection and a little influence usually secures a good seat.)
It seems quite simple, really, and it has nothing to do with capitalism and everything to do with bad lawmaking and government privilege.
The problem is limited liability.
Now, there is nothing wrong with bondholders having limited liability, and even some stockholders possessing the privilege. This is well within the natural right of contract law, assuming the owners have agreed to such an arrangement.
What is not within the right of contract law, however, is the ability of multiple individuals to get together and write a contract that absolves ALL parties from liability. Liability may be divided equally, among several parties, or placed on one individual, but it cannot be contracted away entirely, in the same way that I cannot write a contract for myself that absolves me of responsibility for a crime that I will commit. Individuals cannot form a ‘corporate entity’ and place liability solely on it. Unfortunately, this is how the law currently treats corporations.
The way I see it, it doesn’t matter how many people are liable, as long as someone is held liable. That person will then have the incentive to make sure his business operates morally and responsibly (both socially and financially). If he does not, he and his business will lose everything.
In such a case, contracts would be written so as to give those with greater liability (whether it be a sole proprietor or some form of partnership) greater ownership, as no one who is liable will want to forfeit his control (and his fate) to an individual who is not held liable.
Instead, the corporations of today are amorphous collectivist entities in which executives are able to gamble away shareholder money and still make off with millions of dollars, without anyone ever paying the price for it. Incentives are distorted even further by the notion of “too big to fail” and the assurance of government bailouts, which transfer the wealth of ordinary citizens to these failing giants through taxation and Federal Reserve-funded inflation. In a world without this type of limited liability, I wager we would have far more responsible corporate decision making, sounder management, and perhaps even a larger number of smaller, more specialized and efficient organizations.
In my view, this single lapse of government is one of the biggest flaws in today’s economic system, and is at the root of many injustices and instabilities in the market. It is not a flaw of free market capitalism, but of law. Natural moral law is the foundation of good economics, and when these laws are violated, we pay the price. You want a real regulatory overhaul? Eliminate limited liability, end the bubble-blowing Federal Reserve System, and free the market.
Last week, in Rome, a little-known agricultural symposium took place – the World Seed Conference. The conference is held under the auspices of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization. Although the conference does not receive much press, it is perhaps the most important conference to farmers in the developing world. Two themes were clearly depicted among the talks from UN figures, government officials, and industry representatives: technology enhanced seeds, and intellectual property rights on genetic resources in poorer countries.
The event turned out to be more or less a meeting among agricultural big wigs to figure out the best way to take advantage of small farmers in poor regions of the world. The biotech industry, along with big agri, are trying to tighten their grip on the world by extending their monopoly rights towards plants created by natural reproduction that cannot be easily manipulated by technology. The outcome of the conference may have a very negative effect on small-scale farmers in developing countries.
Rather than focusing on a collaborative approach to get the best genuine biodiversity and protecting the rights of farmers, much of the discussion over the week came from the industry leaders trying to exploit economically poor, environmentally rich countries. There were, however, a few examples throughout the week that focused on an alternative agricultural approach to sustainable biodiversity, but unfortunately many laws and regulations have already been put in place that only ensures profit to big agri and the biotech industry with little gain for the small farmer.
I’m going to start a new recurring series that I’m calling “Help or Hurt” on various popular causes or initiatives frequently advocated by the Church, celebrities, the cognoscenti, etc. Today, we discuss HIPC or “Highly Indebted Poor Countries.”
Bono famously has called for massive debt relief for HIPC’s, and there is some logic to it. If these poor countries are under crushing debt, the it seems that removing some or all of that debt would be a vital step in their recovery. There are two issues here, though, that need to be thought out before diving in.
1. How did they get into debt in the first place? One of problems we’ve already seen with past debt forgiveness (both of countries and people) is that the most common outcome is the simple recurrence of debt. The underlying problem remained so as soon as the massive debt (which was prohibiting any new debt) was removed, debt simply increased again. If the problem is cleptocratic governments, then all we’ve done is line the pockets of the crony thugs who keep these people in power, and done little more than hand billions of dollars to bad governments to waste.
2. The thing these countries need the most is functioning debt markets. Felix Salmon has posted an open letter from Michael Shaheen, recently taken down by Johann Hari in the Independent as a heartless capitalist in search of even more money. Felix had written before about it as well.
So, what is happening here? Shaheen and others like him buy the debt of third world countries, usually very cheaply, and then take them to court to get the full amount back. Since they bought the debt so cheaply, they usually make money, even if they don’t get 100% of the face value. This does, on the face of it, seem to be rich capitalists exploiting poor countries.
But this is how debt markets are supposed to work. If it is deemed politically impossible to actually get your money back when you lend to a country (or a person) then nobody will lend to you. All these “vulture” funds are doing is spending the time and effort to force a country who borrowed to make good on a financial contract. Until these countries know that they will, in fact, have to pay back debt at some point, they will continue to run up large debts and then wait for them to get forgiven. Several Latin American countries have made this a core part of their fiscal policy and until they change it, their people are the ones who pay because it is dysfunctional. They simply spend and spend and spend until they are broke, claim they can’t pay and default. It is the classic tough love argument.
Now, I’m not taking one generalization (we should always forgive the debt of HIPC) and turning it into another (we should never do that). I’m just saying it’s more complicated. Perhaps a small amount of debt relief tied to required governmental reforms may be in order. But broad scale unconditional debt relief for governments does not seem to have brought the results we hoped.
If we really want to help our African neighbors, what we need is unconditional free trade, importing from them anything they want to sell us. But that’s a story for another day.
One of the more exciting things that I’m involved in at this time is the planning and editing of a new book, entitled “Handbook of Creative Cities.” It is to be published by Edward Elgar in 2011 (hardcover) and 2013 (paperback). My co-editors are Charlotta Mellander and Ake Andersson, both of the Department of Economics at Jonkoping International Business School. Charlotta Mellander is a frequent traveler to Toronto, where she is doing research within projects initiated by Richard Florida (in fact, she is used as an example of a “creative class” mother in Florida’s latest book; “Who’s Your City”).
One of my aims as co-editor is to stimulate discussions about the roles of planning (both public and private) and markets in urban development, and how it may change with the emergence of post-industrial society. To this end, we have invited contributors with different theoretical perspectives, with a possible clash of ideas, which I would find very exciting.
While I don’t want to divulge the identities of the contributors yet, suffice it to say that they are a diverse and creative lot, and they represent the following creative or not so creative cities as residents: Chicago, Copenhagen, Jena, Jonkoping, Kaohsiung, Kyoto, London, Los Angeles, Milan, New York, San Francisco, Stockholm, Toronto, Vancouver, Washington, and Wellington.
In Africa and India mobile phones have developed into a new form of technology , “mobile money” said to be the next thing in economic development. This is where, according to The Economist magazine , funds can be transfered from small store outlets in one village to the receiving outlet across in another village. Enabling banking access across parts of Africa where previously it was difficult to transfer cash.
The first wave was the distribution of mobile phones and network coverage this led to greater efficiencies. Now comes mobile money. What other inovaions can the developing world show us via technology.
If a civilization has the means to offer universal health care to its citizens then it must. For how can it justify spending billions to kill others in order to protect its citizens. Health care is also a form of protection. But unlike war, nobody has to die. The reason this has torn the country in two (again) is because some in the majority believes that this new president who they think represents minorities is trying to take their wealth and give it too the poor minorities. The most troubling part of this way of thinking is that much of it is dictated by overpaid news celebrities. Cable news is not unlike the WWE. The personalties you see may use their real names instead of clever monikers but the act they put on is the same. A lot of grand-standing, boasting and just outright lying. Unfortunately since many people were raised to trust the people that bring them the news they walk outside of their houses, hoist up a sign and repeat the lies they just heard on TV while the “characters” return to their spacious New York apartments. Well, they might stop for an appointment with one of the best physicians in the city first.
I implore people all over America and for that matter the world to stop busying themselves with the volatile dressing and focus on the real issue. Who should die and who shouldn’t? Many of thought America needed to kill more inoccent civilians to get to a few bad guys in order to PROTECT life in this country. We spent billions to do this. Billions of your money for what can be described as violent socialism. Just think about it for a moment—the government takes fractions from our money, balls it up in a big ball and uses that massive wad to purchase weapons that along with a volunteer army uses to kill others. Unlike peaceful socialism that hands out items, violent socialism hands out death. But it is excused because the death is necessary in order to protect the people. The irony present here is that many who oppose universal health care were advocates of the war in Iraq. Does that mean they only dig socialism if its purpose is death and not life?
One reason America is more competitive than Europe is that politicians only have access to one big source of money. But if they can add a value-added tax (a European-style national sales tax) on top of the income tax, that will allow them to finance a big expansion in the burden of government. Unfortunately, that’s exactly what they want, according to the co-chairman of President Obama’s transition team. Bloomberg reports:
“There’s going to have to be revenue in this budget,” said Podesta, Clinton’s former chief of staff and co-chairman of President Barack Obama’s transition team, said in an interview on Bloomberg Television’s “Political Capital with Al Hunt,” airing today. A so-called consumption tax would “create a balance” with European and Japanese economies and “could potentially have a substantial effect on competitiveness,” said Podesta. Value-added taxes in Europe and Japan encourage savings by taxing consumption. Podesta said such a tax may be regressive, but can be balanced by exempting some products and using “the money to support low-wage workers.”
Two weeks ago, with North Texas soaked thoroughly to the bone, our telephone service went out. We were scrambling to get James to the airport and off to another year of school in Wisconsin, so there was little we could do when it expired.
Later that Saturday, on a cell phone with a different carrier, I got through to a machine at AT&T that promised someone would come check the problem on the following Tuesday. Tuesday afternoon at just after 4:00 p.m. we got a note on our door that phone service was restored — and it was for about an hour.
Then it went out again. And it’s been out since.
After several days of unsatisfying robot answers, I found another number and got to a human who referred me to another human who said they were completely flattened by phone outages in the Dallas area after the recent spate of Noachic storms (we had something over 11 inches in a week — the rain gauge kept topping out). No, they said, it does not good to call again to complain — they’re working as fast as they can.
To AT&T’s credit, the internet service is fine. We have alternative telephones to use, though many of our family and friends don’t know the numbers.
But, two weeks in America without telephones? That could be a problem for many people, still, couldn’t it?
Or is AT&T becoming increasingly irrelevant in their own business?
Are you comfortable enough to answer these given questions with certain level of confidence and conviction?
For example,
What do you think gold prices will go up further?
Are you sure that crude oil prices are going to fall?
Have you heard that the soya crop this year is bad and will result in soya prices going up?
If you think that your answers and predictions have a good chance of coming true and are willing to bet some money on them, you could try your hand at playing the commodity futures market.
You might have heard about stock future trading quite often. Lets discuss about commodity futures, now..
The commodity markets have changed a lot from the poky, little hole-in-the-wall trading offices in narrow streets next to crowded markets where traditional dhoti-clad merchants used to trade.
Now India’s boast of 3 major national level commodity exchanges
which are National Commodity and Derivative Exchange(NCDEX),
Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX) and National Multi
Commodity Exchange of India(NMCE).
These brand commodities exchanges have been set up and these are fully computerised.
More and more stock brokers are setting up commodity brokerages as well, and trading volumes in commodity futures is widely predicted to rival the volume of derivative transactions (futures and options) on the stock exchanges.
What’s more, you can also trade online.
Well first lets talk on the need and importance of commodities trading.
Why commodities trading?
Well, let’s suppose you want to buy gold because you believe that the price of gold will rise.
You could then buy gold ingots, store them, wait for them to go up in price, and then sell them at a profit.
But, you have to be sure that the gold you buy is pure, you have to find a place to store it, you have to provide the security, transport it to vault and other such hassles.
A far better way to invest in gold would be to buy gold futures from the commodities exchange.
Next Blog we would touch upon issues like how can we do commodity trading, what is the process and how it works
Stay Tuned for more and more on this
However For More latest Industry,Stock Market and Economy News Updates, Click Here
Today, while on my way out of school, I saw a cardboard sign that said ” Flood clean-up, 10-15 hours”. If you guys haven’t heard, Georgia suffered massive floods throughout the region. Lots of area were submerge in a mix of water, mud and debris.
It was ugly. Governor Sonny Perdue even had to ask President Obama to issue a state of emergency. Over at Kos, they are snikering about this, because you know, the South is so anti-federal government, so how dare they ask the federal government for help?!!! The author claims that Atlantans, who tend to lean more on the right, should rely on the government when disaster strikes since they villefy government. They should practically stand behind their convictions. Well, since the streets are not private property, why should Atlantans take care of it? The only thing most Atlantans own is their house/private property and they will respond accordingly. In fact, lots of houses suffered damages therefore, their owners will probably seek services that will help them fix their houses. Services like clean-ups and construction will be in high demand and there is, based on the sign that I saw, a responsive supply of companies waiting in the wings to provide such services. They will respond much faster and efficiently than the government ever could. This may even lead to an uptick of employment considering there were so much damages. Moreover, what happened in Atlanta (Alabama, Tennessee and other Southern regions) was not anticipated and could not be prevented, unlike New Orleans. In fact, the rain, at first, was a welcoming sight, considering that for two years the region was suffering from a drought. I have to admit, the city responded rapidly considering the fact that it is nearly bankrupt. All in all, we will see how faster the free market will respond to the clean up efforts of Georgia citizens compare to the government.
There’s great, untapped potential for superinsulated earthbag buildings in cold climates. Here’s a way to combine the best features of earthbags and yurts. The basic idea is to combine earthbag walls filled with lightweight insulation such as scoria (lava rock), with a traditional yurt roof frame that’s insulated with perlite or vermiculite.
Yurts (ghers) have been used in Mongolia and other areas for centuries. Traditional yurts are well suited for cold, windy places, in part because the wind just blows around them. They can, however, be made even more comfortable with extra insulation in earthbags.
Scoria is perfect for superinsulated earthbag walls: low cost, all natural, rot proof, fireproof, doesn’t attract pests, lightweight and easy to work with. Scoria is great for building walls since the aggregates tend to lock together and form stable walls. Tie courses together with twine for best results, and then cover walls with canvas.
Yurt roof frames are readily available through numerous suppliers, and fast and easy to assemble. The steel tension cable is strong yet light. They are very resource efficient, using minimal wood, but often lack adequate insulation. I recommend tying bags of lightweight insulation to the bottom of the frame. Perlite and vermiculite would be excellent choices for ceiling insulation since they’re very lightweight.
This design is portable, just like traditional yurts. The entire structure can be disassembled and transported if necessary. This would be a dream structure for places like Minnesota, Canada, Alaska, Siberia and Mongolia because it would be super comfortable, inexpensive, portable, wind resistant, owner built and could be built in many sizes. Add a skylight, rocket stove, small solar panel and composting toilet and then you can laugh at the wind howling by.
Concerned about the sustainability of its oil and gas reserves, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has been taking steps to diversify its economy and reduce its dependence on natural resource exports. The most eye-catching of these changes has been the rapid development of Dubai as a finance, services and travel hub in the last decade. A further plank in this strategy has recently been revealed: UAE plans to embark upon a nuclear power programme. Emphasising transparency and close cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), it hopes to have the first of its reactors on line by 2017.
Rather than taking the more tortuous route of developing indigenous expertise, the Emirates have been proposing joint-venture schemes with foreign contractors to construct and operate its nuclear power plants. Japan became the fourth such country to sign a bilateral nuclear cooperation agreement after France, the USA, and the UK. To secure their participation, and to maintain its image as an outward-looking, foreign investment-friendly nation, the Emirates has stressed that it will not enrich uranium itself but import nuclear fuel for its plants. These supplies will come from a foreign partner and, furthermore, the UAE will return all spent nuclear fuel rather than reprocess it. The IAEA will also have the right to conduct snap inspections and be allowed unlimited access to the nuclear sites. This stands in marked contrast to Iran, which persists with enrichment which can be used for producing weapons material despite claiming its nuclear programme is also aimed solely at generating electricity. To acquire nuclear weapons it is necessary to either pursue uranium enrichment or develop spent fuel reprocessing capabilities which can produce the necessary plutonium.
Given the furore over Iran’s nuclear programme, the UAE’s plans could potentially transform the landscape for nuclear power generation in the Middle East and beyond. Critics contend that even strictly civilian nuclear programmes could lead to nuclear proliferation in the region, especially given the risks of illicit trade and the UAE’s history of close ties with Iran. However, supporters argue that the UAE’s programme will set a good example for other potential developers of nuclear power in the Middle East, most notably Iran. At present, IAEA Director General Mohamed El-Baradei is among the many who believe that Israel is the only state in the Middle East to actually possess nuclear weapons and the means to deliver them. (Despite hiding behind a policy of so-called “nuclear opacity”, Israel is widely believed to possess between 75 and 400 nuclear warheads.) Indeed, in response to Israel’s suspected nuclear capability, many Arab states have frequently called for the Middle East and North Africa to be free of nuclear weapons. Given the lack of American pressure on Israel, Iran’s enrichment programme and the increasing number of countries exploring nuclear power in the region, this is unlikely to materialise.
Although the UAE has so far held discussions with various nuclear producers such as the United States, France, Britain, Germany, Russia, China and South Korea, this paper will focus largely on Japan’s role in the programme. Firstly, it will briefly examine the history of nuclear power in both the UAE and Japan. Thereafter, the motivations of Japan and the other foreign bidders will be considered before conclusions are drawn.
The six members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) – the UAE, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar and Oman – rely exclusively on fossil fuels for electricity generation and have been experiencing 5-7% annual demand growth in recent years. Given their locations, water desalination also consumes large qualities of oil and gas. A 2009 report estimates that electricity demand in the GCC block will increase 10% per annum to 2015, accompanied by desalination demand rising annually by 8%, in total requiring 60 gigawatts of electricity (GWe) of new capacity by 2015 (World Nuclear Association, ‘Nuclear Power in the United Arab Emirates’ June 2009).
To meet future demand, the GCC states announced in December 2006 that they were looking into harnessing nuclear energy. All six members are signatories to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), and France quickly signalled its willingness to cooperate, whilst Iran also promised assistance. GCC members, led by Saudi Arabia, agreed in February 2007 with the IAEA to launch a feasibility study into a GCC-wide nuclear power and desalination scheme, with Riyadh envisioning a programme emerging around 2009.
However, since the IAEA submitted a pre-feasibility study to the regional body in late 2007 there has been no progress in any joint GCC nuclear programme, and various member states have consequently signed their own bilateral agreements with established nuclear energy producers. Most recently, Oman signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Russian Federal Atomic Energy Agency (Rosatom) in July 2009. In January 2008, Qatar and France inked a similar deal. Bahrain subsequently sealed a nuclear energy MoU with the United States in March 2008, and Manama has also indicated it will forgo enrichment and reprocessing technology and equipment. As in the UAE, it intends to purchase nuclear fuel on the international market instead. Both Kuwait and Saudi Arabia are presently discussing the content and scope of their own bilateral nuclear cooperation deals with France. An agreement with Riyadh is likely to be signed by the end of 2009. Of the non-GCC members in the region, both Yemen and Jordan have signalled their interest in harnessing nuclear energy. Indeed, the latter already has nuclear cooperation agreements with Britain, Canada, France, the United States, Russia, China and South Korea.
Notwithstanding, the deal with the UAE contains significantly more substance than the other bilateral nuclear cooperation agreements with other GCC members. Indeed, the UAE has been in the vanguard of such unilateral moves, and in April 2008 independently published a comprehensive nuclear energy policy outline. This white paper was assembled with input from the IAEA and the governments of France, the USA, Britain, Russia, China, Japan, Germany, and South Korea. It forecast electricity demand growing by 9% per annum from 15.5 GWe in 2008 to over 40 GWe in 2020, with natural gas supplies sufficient for only half of this. At present, around 98% of the UAE’s total capacity is derived from gas. Indeed, in 2008 Abu Dhabi, the wealthiest and biggest of the seven Emirates with the largest oil reserves, began importing natural gas from Qatar as its own deposits contain too much sulphur to make power generation cost effective. Imported coal was dismissed as an option to meet this shortfall due to environmental and energy security implications, whilst buttressing extant oil and diesel generation was also discounted due to environmental and cost concerns.
The reason for this increasing demand has been the urbanisation and construction boom of the last decade, as record oil revenues have fuelled economic expansion and population growth. Indeed, the UAE was one of the fastest growing economies in the world between 2000 and 2007, achieving a compound annual growth rate of 9.3% in the five years to the end of 2007. (Figures from Global Research, part of Kuwait’s Global Investment House.)
In particular Dubai, the largest city in the Emirates, has been at the forefront of these changes, as it strives to remodel its economy from reliance on almost depleted natural resource exports. For instance, the Dubai Mall is the largest shopping centre in the world and Dubailand will be the largest amusement park when it fully opens in 2012, two times bigger than Florida’s Disney World. The city is also slated to have the most comprehensive metro system, the biggest airport, the longest waterfront, and the largest indoor skiing facility. Perhaps the most startling of these developments are the three man-made Palm Islands (Palm Jumeirah, Palm Jebel Ali and Palm Deira) which will add 520 kilometres of beaches to Dubai’s coastline. A similar development is The World, an artificial archipelago of some 300 islands shaped in the image the Earth’s landmass, located 4 kilometres off the coast. Naturally, such huge projects require ever-increasing electric capacity to sustain them, straining the UAE’s power grid.
New England, DC area, and the Midwest are Fairing Better than Average.
15 states had double digit employment in August. Michigan still tops the list, coming in at 15.2% last month (a full 2% higher than the next on the list, which is Nevada). Only the Dakotas had sub-5% unemployment, and Nebraska was the only other state under 6%. Here is the full list:
In their rush to cut off funding to ACORN, America’s Congress critters wrote a bill so broadly based that it would also stop many defence contractors from working with the federal government.
If Congress Attacks the Mighty Oak of Contractor Misconduct, It Shouldn’t Just Settle for an ACORN
Last week, the House and Senate voted to prohibit the federal government from awarding contracts and grants to the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN
The House’s bill is called the “Defund ACORN Act”. The bill specifically targets ACORN, but it also applies to “any organization” or its employees who are charged with violating federal or state election, campaign finance or lobbying disclosure laws or filing a fraudulent form with any federal or state regulatory agency.
Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL) is particularly interested in the fraud provision. Recognizing that there are probably worse offenders than ACORN in this area, Grayson is looking for help in coming up with a list of organizations that have committed fraud against the government or employed someone who did.
(The) Federal Contractor Misconduct Database is a great place to start. At last count, it includes 87 instances of government contract fraud – federal and state – involving 43 contractors. You might want to focus on [b]Lockheed Martin, which has 11 government contract fraud instances, or Northrop Grumman with 9 contract fraud instances including this $325 million False Claims Act settlement from earlier this year.
Bear in mind that, since 1994, ACORN has reportedly received a total of $53 million in federal funds, or an average of roughly $3.5 million per year. In contrast, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman respectively received over $35 billion and $18 billion in federal contracts last year. (Their totals since 2000 are $266 billion for Lockheed and $125 billion for Northrop.)
Rep. Grayson’s list of federal contractors who have committed fraud will be attached to the bill that defunds ACORN. This list may then be used by a judge overseeing a case brought under the “Defund ACORN Act” to see which corporations in addition to ACORN have committed the same crimes.
You see, there is a teeny weeny bit of a problem with passing a bill that attacks a single corporation or individual – it is an unconstitutional “bill of attainder”. To prevent the “Defund ACORN Act” from being seen as a “bill of attainder”, the ‘crimes’ which it is supposed to have committed must be defined in a broad enough manner so that the provisions don’t apply only to ACORN – as written and passed by the House, there are many corporations that could be defunded.
Lori Wallach, director of Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch program, talks about what’s at stake at the G-20 economic summit to be held Thursday and Friday in Pittsburgh, Pa. Public Citizen was one of the many groups that wrote to President Obama last week, urging him to “advocate a global regulatory floor, and oppose any efforts to impose a ceiling” on re-regulation in the upcoming G-20 Summit.
You can prep for the G-20 over at the Public Citizen Web page.
Run, don’t walk, to David Bacon’s photo essay, “Factory Like A City”, posted at Z magazine. It’s about Toyota’s announcement of the closing of the NUMMI plant in Fremont, California after General Motors announced it was withdrawing from the partnership. It’s a good illustration of the exponential effects of the demise of manufacturing in the United States. From the essay:
The plant employs 4,500 workers directly, and the jobs of another 30,000 throughout Northern California are dependent on its continued operation. Taking families into account, the threatened closure will eliminate the income of over 100,000 people.
Frankly, I think that’s a conservative estimate. It’s probably based on the immediate results. The long-term effects (absent a replacement plant of similar nature) would be greater—just ask someone from the Rust Belt.
Keep this, and other stories of other soon-to-be or already shuttered plants in mind when reading about corporate bailouts. Those bailouts are not for—and were not meant to be for—the workers. Keep this in mind when you hear the ludicrous phrase, “jobless recovery.”
There is no such thing as a jobless recovery. Not for working people.
The Man Nobody Wanted to Hear. Global Banking Economist Warned of Coming Crisis. William White predicted the approaching financial crisis years before 2007’s subprime meltdown. But central bankers preferred to listen to his great rival Alan Greenspan instead, with devastating consequences for the global economy. White and his team of experts observed the real estate bubble developing in the United States. They criticized the increasingly impenetrable securitization business, vehemently pointed out the perils of risky loans and provided evidence of the lack of credibility of the rating agencies. In their view, the reason for the lack of restraint in the financial markets was that there was simply too much cheap money available on the market. To give all this money somewhere to go, investment bankers invented new financial products that were increasingly sophisticated, imaginative — and hazardous.
As far back as 2003, White implored central bankers to rethink their strategies, noting that instability in the financial markets had triggered inflation, the “villain” in the global economy. “One hopes that it will not require a disorderly unwinding of current excesses to prove convincingly that we have indeed been on a dangerous path,” White wrote in 2006.
In the restrained world of central bankers, it would have been difficult for White to express himself more clearly.
The Las Vegas of 2009 has become much more reliant on high-end customers looking to splurge.
It’s never quite accurate to describe Las Vegas as a ghost town. Even at five in the morning on a Tuesday, it’s liable to be more lively than your average main street or shopping mall. But when I arrived there for a brief getaway last November, it was not the same bustling town I’d been used to. My flight from Houston was barely a third full. There was no line at the taxi stand, and my cabbie told me that several of his friends had recently been laid off from construction work on a variety of new developments, many of which had been halted in midstream after financing dried up. And when I arrived at Las Vegas Boulevard in the heart of the Strip, I found as many locals handing out postcards for dodgy escort services as tourists.
None of this, I suppose, should have been surprising: November was the nadir of the worst recession since the Second World War. Nevertheless, conventional wisdom has long held that gambling is recession-proof. In Las Vegas, it’s been anything but. Gaming revenues received by local casinos were down 12 percent in 2008 as compared with a year earlier. (This figure and all others in this article are reported on an inflation-adjusted basis.) And 2009 will be even worse: So far, revenues are off almost 15 percent from 2008’s already depressed figures. The recession, then, appears set to cost Las Vegas more than a quarter of its business.
This is sobering news not just for those who have purchased property in Las Vegas — economist Tyler Cowen recently stated that the real estate market would not recover there for another twenty years — but also for cash-strapped state legislatures that are turning to casino gambling as a way to raise revenue. Delaware, which already offers horse racing and slot machines, now plans to extend its law to permit table games like blackjack and, more controversially, sports betting. In July, Ohio governor Ted Strickland signed an executive order to permit slot machines at horse tracks, while California began to allow offtrack betting on horse races for the first time. Philadelphia will soon become the largest American city to permit casino gambling within city limits, although play will initially be limited to slot machines. And in Texas — where, ironically, no legal game of Texas hold ‘em is available — gaming advocates are hoping that Kay Bailey Hutchison will defeat gambling-averse incumbent Rick Perry in next year’s governor’s race, which would empower the state legislature to consider casino gambling there.
But desperate state governments looking to casinos to bail them out of their budget nightmares are likely to be disappointed. The same may be the case with trying to tap other “sins” for revenue. Nationally, sales of alcohol for off-premises consumption were down significantly last year, an unprecedented 9.3 percent in the fourth quarter, according to the Commerce Department. The largest previous drop had been just 3.7 percent, between the third and fourth quarters of 1991.
Alcohol consumption can at least be expected to bounce back a bit — right? — but a lot of the potential customers of the new casinos may be tapped out. The year 2008 was the first time in history that total casino gaming revenues declined throughout the United States (by about 5 percent according to industry estimates). In most jurisdictions, gambling revenues max out quickly. In Atlantic City, for example, which opened for business in 1978, gaming revenues were no higher in 2008 than they were in 1986, and 2009 is on pace to be the slowest year since 1983. Gambling revenues peaked in 2002 in Illinois, in 2000 in Mississippi, and in 2006 in Detroit, which had only begun to permit gambling ten years earlier. The boom years in Vegas, when revenues nearly doubled, between 1989 and 2006, might have led states to misread casino gambling’s upside potential.
What we’ve witnessed, indeed, is something of a race to the bottom. Shortly after President Reagan signed the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act in 1988, which expressly permitted Indian tribes to open casinos under tribal-state compacts, states like Mississippi, Illinois, and Colorado — seeing no reason to split their profits with the Seminoles or the Cherokee — decided to permit their own state-run facilities. Neighboring states, worried about losing their customers across state lines, then followed suit: Louisiana a year after Mississippi, Indiana and Missouri three years after Illinois, Michigan two years after Ontario, Canada. Meanwhile, the Indian tribes continued to up the ante, their casino revenuesapproximately tripling from 1997 to 2006.
The End of Poverty: Economic Possibilites for Our Time
Jeffrey D. Sachs
December 2005
Penguin
416 pages
Nonfiction, Economics
Reading The End of Poverty really illuminated for me the fact that economics is just not my thing. I may care about these issues, I may be passionate about the idea of ending poverty forever, and I may THINK that this book will help me to reformulate my ideas and beliefs about how this can happen. While all these things are true, I still had a really, really hard time with this book.
I hate that. I feel as though I’m not smart enough to grasp the concepts Sachs set forth here. I know that’s not true, but this econ thing is just not for me.
Why don’t I attempt to explain the premise of the book? Basically, after Jeffrey Sachs spent twenty-some-odd years advising different countries on how to deal with their economic issues, he decided that it’s actually possible, and in fact would be remarkably simple, to eradicate poverty on this planet if we do the right things. Sachs first spent several chapters detailing the work he’s done in other countries, what’s been accomplished in some of the poorest places in the world and what has yet to be done, and then puts together a systematic and common-sense analysis of what we can do, what we NEED to do, to eradicate extreme poverty from the face of the earth for good.
I most enjoyed the chapters detailing Sachs’ work with different governments and economics experts around the world. I found it fascinating to read about the progress that has been made in some places, in such short time periods, with little aid from other countries. Obviously a lot more needs to be done, in those countries and others, or he wouldn’t have had to write the book, but the progress that’s been made in some places is remarkable to read about.
But when Sachs starts talking facts, figures, and graphs, my eyes start to glaze over and I have a hard time getting the information into my brain (and making it stay there). I’m sure most of what he put forth makes perfect sense, but I had an extremely rough time analyzing his arguments. I am just not good with all the numbers, plain and simple.
I feel like I’m smarter for having read and attempted to understand this book. And there were parts I definitely enjoyed, definitely learned something from. But generally, economics is just not my thing, and I suppose I need to be okay with that.
If you missed today’s show on Straight Talk Wealth Radio with Bruce Weide (870 KRLA AM, Los Angeles), here is the audio file (mp3).
Straight Talk Wealth Radio, Sept. 20, 2009
Almost every investment advisor you encounter is going to show you the 70-year history of the stock market to foretell what you can expect from the future. The the last 10 years we’re completely unlike the prior 70, and the next 10 will be even more so.
The economic world is going into new demographics and new risks, and new opportunities, where we have never been before.
Next week’s radio show, Sept. 27 at 5 p.m. PST on 870 KRLA AM, looks at the revelations of special guest renowned author Leonard Renier from his book “The Defining Moment” along with me. Hope you listen in!
According to Sports Illustrated Magazine, within two years of retirement, 78 percent of former NFL players are bankrupt or under serious financial distress. Moreover, within five years of retirement, an estimated 60 percent of former NBA players are bankrupt.
This is as the minimum salary in 2009 for an NFL rookie stood at $310,000. Two year veterans make an even healthier $460,000. As for the NBA, the minimum rookie salary in the same year stood at $457,588 with two year veterans earning $825,497. So what could possibly account for these athlete’s financial troubles?
The Business Insider studied this question and compiled ten common ways athletes lose their assets. They include:
Putting cash in a Ponzi scheme | Making bad investments | Getting divorced | Trying to run a business | Doing drugs | Having too many children | Using the wrong advisors |Investing too much in real estate | Fighting dogs | Acting dumb
Journalist Chris Chase explains,
The 78 percent number is buoyed by the fact that the average NFL career lasts just three years. So, figure a player gets drafted in 2009, signs for the minimum and lasts three years in the league: He will have earned about $1.2 million in salary. Factor in taxes, cost of living and the misguided belief that there will be more years and bigger paydays down the road, and it becomes a lot easier to see how so many players struggle with money after their careers end. Nobody plans on playing just three years in the NFL, you know?
SuchirIndia Executives in discussion with President Rajapaksa - photo courtesy CDN
The Sri Lankan economy that does not show significant attraction from foreign investors even after the war was declared over in May this year, is being subtly manoeuvred by Indian investments with different companies making discreet entries with numerous projects.
While the SL government itself is making overtures for Indian investments with its Minister of Investment Promotion, Navin Dissanayake making a tour of India looking for Indian investment, India’s National Thermal Power Corporation has tied up with the Sri Lankan electricity board to construct a 1000 MW coal power plant in Sampur, Trincomalee. Sampur is one village that came under attack by the SL security forces early 2008 and its people made to flee.
Minister Navin Dissanayake said, Sri Lanka attracted a total FDI of USD 889-million in 2008, out of which India’s contribution was USD 126-million. This was when the international community was reluctant to support the SL government over HR violations with its escalation of the war.
This year, Sri Lanka is expecting a foreign direct investment (FDI) from India to the tune of USD 100-million by end-December.
Meanwhile Minister Dissanayake had said SL is prevailing on Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries for exploration of oil in the island nation.
Cairn India had already taken one block for US $ 400 million for oil exploration in the Mannar sea and Reliance could also have about the same size of the deal in exploration of another bloc, the minister had said.
In another business deal worth US $ 250 mn, SuchirIndia, a Hyderabad based group, in collaboration with NEB Rapid Infrastructure Projects will construct a 40 storied building in Battaramulla close to the parliament complex through a special purpose vehicle SUCHIRNEB Projects Pvt Ltd.
Following news reports during the past few days revealed some details about these business deals between India and Sri Lanka.
(01)
Sri Lanka expecting USD 100-mn FDI from India by end-December
Sri Lanka is expecting a foreign direct investment (FDI) from India to the tune of USD 100-million by end-December, a senior Lankan Government official said on Thursday.
“We are targeting FDI worth USD 1,000-million by the end of this year (2009) and India’s contribution this year is expected to be around USD 100-million,” Sri Lanka’s Minister of Investment Promotion, Navin Dissanayake, said here.
He was in the city to meet with Indian investors, including big conglomerates such as the Tata group.
In 2008, Sri Lanka attracted a total FDI of USD 889-million out of which India’s contribution was USD 126-million, he said.
“Last year, out of the USD 126-million FDI which came from India, a major share of around USD 100-million came from Bharti Airtel,” Dissanayake said.
India’s largest mobile operator, Bharti Airtel, has started its mobile services in Sri Lanka under the Airtel brand.
The company has announced a total investment of USD 200-million till 2012 in Sri Lanka. 17 Sep 2009, 1558 hrs IST, PTI
(02)
US $ 500 million power deal between Sri Lanka and India
Sri Lanka is expected to sign a commercial agreement with India next week to build a 1000 MW coal power plant in Sampur, Trincomalee.
Sampur (circled) strategically located neighbouring Trincomalee harbour
This will be the country’s largest coal power plant and the total investment of the project is USD 500 million a media release issued by the Ministry of Power and Energy revealed.
The coal power plant is a joint project of India and Sri Lanka. An agreement on power purchasing of the new coal power plant will also be signed between India and the Ceylon Electricity Board, the statement said.
The project will consist of two phases and the first phase is expected to be completed by 2012. Initial planning of the project has been completed and it is expected to commence the construction work of the coal power plant in November, the statement said.
Construction work of the coal power plant will be done by India’s National Thermal Power Corporation and the Ceylon Electricity Board will monitor the engineering work of the project.
By NNN-News. LK, 18 September 2009 – 4:57pm.
(03)
Sri Lanka Wants India’s Reliance Industries for Oil Exploration
The Sri Lankan government wants to rope in Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries for exploration of oil in the island nation.
“(We) are in talks with Reliance for petroleum exploration,” Sri Lankan Minister for Investment Promotion Navin Dissanayake told reporters at a CII function.
He said he would be visiting Mumbai on Tuesday to meet senior RIL officials.
“We have identified couple of blocks exclusively for India,” Dissanayake said, adding that RIL had shown interest in the Sri Lankan oil fields.
“For exploration Cairn India took one block for US $400 million. So, if Reliance [will agree to explore] it will be [at] that figure at least,” he said about the size of the deal.
The oil blocks which Sri Lanka had offered to RIL were located in Mannar and Southern basins, the visiting minister said.
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
(04)
Indian company bags $ 250 mn building project in Colombo
An Indian construction company SuchirIndia has entered into a collaboration with Sri Lankan firm NEB Rapid Infrastructure Projects to implement a 250-million-dollar project in the suburbs of Colombo. SuchirIndia, a Hyderabad-based group, in collaboration with NEB Rapid Infrastructure Projects will construct a 40 storeyed building through a special purpose vehicle SUCHIRNEB Projects Pvt Ltd in the first phase.
The project is to construct a tower complex that would comprise a 40 floor commercial complex and a 70 floor Residential tower (in the second phase) at Battaramulla in the Colombo suburbs. The 1.2 million sq feet structure is expected to be completed in 30 months, company officials said.
When contacted, SUCHIRNEB Director Y Kiron told PTI that the first project of a 40-floor complex is estimated to cost USD 110 million, the second phase of a 70-floor Residential tower is expected to cost USD 140 million. “Working in close association with Sri Lanka, its various government representative bodies and officials has been a pleasure in view of their unending willingness to support and help on all counts,” he said.
“We hope to establish our foot print into Colombo with this project and hope to extend it further and further into new areas,” he said. The project will also involve the Sri Lankan government.
Steven A. Camarota, Director of Research at the Center for Immigration Studies, presents an in-depth analysis of the actual impact of insuring the estimated 6.6 million uninsured illegal aliens in this country.
He writes that although HR 3200 states that illegal immigrants are not eligible for the proposed taxpayer-funded program, there is no enforcement provision in the bill. An amendment was defeated by the House Ways and Means Committee that would have required the use of the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) program, used by almost all other means-tested programs of this kind.
We urge you to read this report: Illegal Immigrants and HR 3200: Estimate of Potential Costs to Taxpayers.
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Book Title
A Course in Game Theory
A First Course In Abstract Algebra 7th
A First Course In Differential Equations With Modeling Applications
A First Course In String Theory
A First Course In The Finite Element Method 4th
A Quantum Approach to Condensed Matter Physics
Adaptive Control 2nd Edition
Adaptive Filter Theory 4th Edition
Advanced Accounting 10th Edition
Advanced Digital Design With The Verilog HDL
Advanced Engineering Mathematics 3rd
Advanced Engineering Mathematics 6th
Advanced Engineering Mathematics 8th
Advanced Engineering Mathematics 9th
Advanced Macroeconomics
Advanced Modern Engineering Mathematics 3rd
Aircraft Structures For Engineering Students, 4th Edition
Algebra Lineal
An Introduction to Database Systems 8th
An Introduction To Ordinary Differential Equations
An Introduction To Signals And Systems
An Introduction to the Finite Element Method 3rd
Analysis And Design Of Analog Integrated Circuits 4th Edition
Analytica Mechanics 7th
Antenna Theory: Analysis and Design, 3rd Edition
Antennas For All Applications 3rd
Applied Linear Statistical Models 5th
Applied Mathematics and Modelling for Chemical Engineers
Applied Numerical Analysis 7Ed
Applied Statistics and Probability for Engineers 3rd
Applied Strength of Materials 4th
Assembly Language for Intel-Based Computers 3rd
Assembly Language for Intel-Based Computers 4th
Auditing & Assurance Services 2nd
Auditing And Assurance Services 12th
Automatic Control Systems 8th
Basic Electrical Engineering 2nd
Basic Engineering Circuit Analysis, 8th Edition
Basic Probability Theory
C++ How to Program 3rd
Calculus 10th Edition
Calculus 5Th Ed
Calculus 8th Edition
Calculus And Its Applications 11th Edition
CALCULUS Early Transcendentals,7th edition
Calculus With Analytic Geometry 4th
Calculus: A Complete Course 6th
Calculus: Multivariable 4th
Chemical and Engineering Thermodynamics 3rd
Chemical Engineering: Solutions For Volumes 2 and 3
Chemical Reaction Engineering Handbook
Chip Design for Submicron VLSI: CMOS Layout and Simulation
Classical Dynamics of Particles and Systems 5th
Classical Dynamics: A Contemporary Approach
Classical Electrodynamics – 2nd Ed.
Classical Mechanics (3rd Edition)
Classical Mechanics 2nd
CMOS Digital Integrated Circuits Analysis & Design 1st
CMOS VLSI Design: A Circuits And Systems Perspective 3rd Edition
Communication Systems Engineering 2nd Edition
Communication Systems: An Introduction to Signals and Noise in Electrical Communication 4th
Communications Systems 4Th Edition
Complex Variables And Applications 7th
Computational Techniques For Fluid Dynamics
Computer Networking A Top-Down Approach 2nd Edition
Computer Networking: A Top-Down Approach 4th
Computer Networking: A Top-Down Approach Featuring The Internet 3rd Edition
Computer Networks 2nd
Computer Networks 4th Edition
Computer Organization 3rd
Computer Organization and Architecture, 7th Edition
Computer Organization and Design 3rd
Concepts Of Programming Languages 7th Edition
Contemporary Engineering Economics 4th Edition
Control Systems Engineering 4th Edition
Cost Accounting: A Managerial Emphasis, 13th Edition
Cryptography And Network Security 4th Edition
Data And Computer Communications 7th
Data Communications and Networking 4th
Data Structures and Algorithms in Java, 2nd
Database Management Systems 3rd
de Física Elemental
Design Analysis in Rock Mechanics
Design and Analysis of Experiments 6th
Design of Analog CMOS Integrated Circuits
Design Of Fluid Thermal Systems 2nd
Design Of Machinery 3rd
Design With Operational Amplifiers And Analog Integrated Circuits 3rd
Device Electronics For Integrated Circuits 3rd
Differential Equations With Boundary-Value Problems 5th
Digital & Analog Communication Systems 7th (International Edition)
Digital Communications: Fundamentals And Applications (2nd Edition)
Digital Design, 3rd Edition
Digital Design, 4th Edition
Digital Image Processing 2nd Edition
Digital Integrated Circuits
Digital Integrated Circuits 2nd
Digital Signal Processing
Digital Signal Processing – A Modern Approach
Digital Signal Processing – Computer Based Approach
Digital Signal Processing 3rd
Digital Systems: Principles And Applications 10th Edition
Discrete Time Signal Processing
DSP First: A Multimedia Approach
Dynamics Of Mechanical Systems
Econometric Analysis Fifth Edition
Electric Circuits 8th Edition
Electric Circuits, 7th Edition
Electric Machinery 6th Edition
Electric Machinery and Power System Fundamentals
Electric Machinery Fundamentals 4th
Electric Machines: Analysis And Design Applying Matlab
Electrical Machines, Drives And Power Systems 6th
Electromagnetics For Engineers
Electronic Devices and Circuit Theory, 8th
Electronic Physics
Electronics 2nd
Elementary Differential Equations And Boundary Value Problems , 8th Edition
Elementary Differential Equations And Boundary Value Problems, 7Th Ed
Elementary Linear Algebra
Elementary Linear Algebra with Applications 9th
Elementary Mechanics & Thermodynamics
Elementary Principles Of Chemical Processes
Elementary Statistics 9th
Elements Of Electromagnetics 3rd
Embedded Microcomputer Systems: Real Time Interfacing 2nd
You lie? No. Barack Obama doesn’t lie. He’s too subtle for that.
He … well, you judge.
Herewith three examples within a single speech — the now-famous Obama-Wilson “you lie” address to Congress on health care — of Obama’s relationship with truth.
(1) “I will not sign (a plan),” he solemnly pledged, “if it adds one dime to the deficit, now or in the future. Period.”
Wonderful. The president seems serious, veto-ready, determined to hold the line. Until, notes Harvard economist Greg Mankiw, you get to Obama’s very next sentence:
“And to prove that I’m serious, there will be a provision in this plan that requires us to come forward with more spending cuts if the savings we promised don’t materialize.”
This apparent strengthening of the pledge brilliantly and deceptively undermines it. What Obama suggests is that his plan will require mandatory spending cuts if the current rosy projections prove false. But there’s absolutely nothing automatic about such cuts. Every Congress is sovereign. Nothing enacted today will force a future Congress or a future president to make any cuts in any spending, mandatory or not.
Just look at the supposedly automatic Medicare cuts contained in the Sustainable Growth Rate formula enacted to constrain out-of-control Medicare spending. Every year since 2003, Congress has waived the cuts.
Mankiw puts the Obama bait-and-switch in plain language. “Translation: I promise to fix the problem. And if I do not fix the problem now, I will fix it later, or some future president will, after I am long gone. I promise he will. Absolutely, positively, I am committed to that future president fixing the problem. You can count on it. Would I lie to you?”
(2) And then there’s the famous contretemps about health insurance for illegal immigrants.
Obama said they would not be insured. Well, all four committee-passed bills in Congress allow illegal immigrants to take part in the proposed Health Insurance Exchange.
But more importantly, the problem is that laws are not self-enforcing. If they were, we’d have no illegal immigrants because, as I understand it, it’s illegal to enter the United States illegally. We have laws against burglary, too. But we also provide for cops and jails on the assumption that most burglars don’t voluntarily turn themselves in.
When Republicans proposed requiring proof of citizenship, the Democrats twice voted that down in committee. Indeed, after Rep. Joe Wilson’s “You lie!” shout-out, the Senate Finance Committee revisited the language of its bill to prevent illegal immigrants from getting any federal benefits.
Why would the Finance Committee fix a nonexistent problem?
(3) Obama said he would largely solve the insoluble cost problem of Obamacare by eliminating “hundreds of billions of dollars in waste and fraud” from Medicare.
That’s not a lie. That’s not even deception. That’s just an insult to our intelligence. Waste, fraud and abuse — Meg Greenfield once called this phrase “the dread big three” — as the all-purpose piggy bank for budget savings has been a joke since Jimmy Carter first used it in 1977.
Moreover, if half a trillion is waiting to be squeezed painlessly out of Medicare, why wait for health care reform? If, as Obama repeatedly insists, Medicare overspending is breaking the budget, why hasn’t he gotten started on the painless billions in “waste and fraud” savings?
Obama doesn’t lie. He merely elides, gliding from one dubious assertion to another. This has been the story throughout his whole health care crusade. Its original premise was that our current financial crisis was rooted in neglect of three things — energy, education and health care.
That transparent attempt to exploit Emanuel’s Law — a crisis is a terrible thing to waste — failed for health care because no one is stupid enough to believe that the 2008 financial collapse was caused by a lack of universal health care.
So on to the next gambit: selling health care reform as a cure for the deficit. When that was exploded by the Congressional Budget Office’s demonstration of staggering Obamacare deficits, Obama tried a new tack: selling his plan as revenue-neutral insurance reform — until the revenue neutrality is exposed as phony future cuts and chimerical waste and fraud.
Obama doesn’t lie. He implies, he misdirects, he misleads — so fluidly and incessantly that he risks transmuting eloquence into mere slickness.
Slickness wasn’t fatal to “Slick Willie” Clinton because he possessed a winning, near irresistible charm. Obama’s persona is more cool, distant, imperial. The charming scoundrel can get away with endless deception; the righteous redeemer cannot.
This is something different — not economics- but I need assistance.
I have a computer problem, but I don’t even know how to search for help on the web.
I write with a 30 year old DOS program. Yes, but it is the best writing tool I know. Something happened, so that the non-alphanumeric characters almost all appear as a little box. Look at the one near entry 735. This does not happen with the DOS screen is maximized.
In any case, the little boxes replace characters I need to recognize, besides the line feed/carriage return that the 735 box represents.
Can I fix this in the registry; can I repair the whole cmd.com program?
Any help would be appreciated. Even if you can’t help, maybe you can tell me how search for help. I tried Google, but nothing I entered was remotely useful.
ACORN has been in the news lately for advising on how to pimp out underage girls from South America, but its real criminality goes much deeper and involves the Federal Reserve. Read the whole thing for the sordid details. Then you’ll understand how the government created the massive real-estate bubble that popped in 2008.
Fed-ACORN Criminality by Thomas DiLorenzo.
ACORN may be found guilty of the relatively petty crimes it is now being accused of, but there is a much larger issue that is being ignored. Over the past thirty years or so, ACORN has been a major player in what can be described as a legalized extortion racket administered by the Federal Reserve and the Comptroller of the Currency, among other federal government agencies. The racket started with Jimmy Carter’s 1977 Community Reinvestment Act (CRA), which empowered “community groups” like ACORN to effectively extort billions (yes, billions with a “b”) of dollars from banks. Much of the money is then used for ACORN’s political activities, which involve the mass registration of Democratic Party voters; supporting left-wing political candidates at all levels of government; organizing rallies, protests, and lobbying efforts for various planks of its “People’s Platform,” which is essentially the same as the Socialist Party Platform of 1922. The “People’s Platform” once promised, “We will continue our fight until the American way is just one way, until we have shared the wealth . . .” Accordingly, the organization has advocated the government takeover of the energy and healthcare industries, punishing taxation, massive income redistribution, pervasive price controls, and just about every asinine socialistic policy that one can think of.
The Federal Reserve Board has been ACORN’s “partner” in this endeavor ever since 1977, when the Fed was given responsibility (along with the Comptroller of the Currency) for enforcing the CRA. For those who are not yet familiar with the CRA, which was significantly strengthened during the Clinton administration, it works like this: The ostensible purpose of the Act is to get banks to make more mortgage loans in “minority and low-income” neighborhoods. These loans have been defined by the government as “sub-prime” loans, implying that the borrowers have credit ratings just a tiny, tiny smidgen below the “prime” or highest-credit-rating borrowers. This of course is a farce, as nearly everyone now knows. The Fed keeps track of such loans, and gives each lender a CRA ranking. A poor ranking can destroy a bank’s plans for branch expansions, mergers, and other activities.
This book just keeps getting better. In this chapter, Jay Richards counters the “piety myth” – focusing on our good intentions rather than on the unintended consequences of our actions. The Bible is clear that Christians need to care for and help the poor. But “piety is no substitute for technique” (so said Etienne Gilson); that is, “having the right intentions…doesn’t take the place of doing things right” (35). We are called to exercise prudence, to use our minds, to recognize that actions have unintended consequences – and even though we can’t anticipate all of them, we should recognize the ones that we see and act accordingly. Richards quotes Henry Hazlitt’s famous line from Economics in One Lesson, “The art of economics consists in looking not merely at the immediate but at the longer effects of any act or policy; it consists in tracing the consequences of that policy not merely for one group but for all groups.”
So many Christians have the right desire – helping the poor – but go about accomplishing this goal (or promoting the accomplishment of this goal) in ways that are unjust, ways that actually harm the very ones we desire to help (see the book When Helping Hurts for more on this reality). Richards sets forth the minimum wage/“living wage,” “fair trade” coffee, foreign aid, and government-run welfare programs as examples where the intention is good, but the actual policy or practice is positively harmful.
Richards introduces in this chapter a concept vitally important to prudent economics: local knowledge. F. A. Hayek has written about this in what is arguably one of the most important pieces to read in order to be economically wise, “The Use of Knowledge in Society.” The closer one is to the problem, the more information one has in order to most prudently solve it; therefore they have the first and greatest responsibility to address it.
Richards has some wise words concerning big government and taxation in this chapter: “[T]here’s nothing in the Bible that says, ‘Government expenditures must never exceed 15 percents of the gross domestic product. Twenty percent is an abomination to the Lord.’ The Christian tradition doesn’t give us any direct guidance on this, either. So how big should government be? That’s a prudential question that doesn’t have a unique answer. Still, it doesn’t follow that there are no good or bad answers…The problem isn’t simply that taxes are too high. After all, not all forms of taxation are unjust. Every government has to collect taxes to form services beneficial to all – to maintain courts, protect citizens from domestic and foreign predators, enforce traffic law and contracts, and so forth. These government functions stem from our inalienable rights. We have a right to protect ourselves from aggressors, for instance, so we can delegate that right to government. We don’t have the right to take the property of one person and give it to another. Therefore we can’t rightfully delegate that function to the state. Delegated theft is still theft. Using the state to redistribute wealth from one citizen to another is different from general taxation for legitimate governmental functions, such as those enumerated in the U. S. Constitution…” (52-53).
Richards gives five responses to those who argue that government transfer-of-wealth programs do a better job of alleviating poverty than private charity. In the end, he says, there is only one cure for widespread, generational poverty: the creation of wealth, and capitalism is the best engine for creating wealth (56, 58). There is a place for effective charity (and even government action) in extreme relief-oriented situations; but for true economic development, what is needed is not another concert with Bono, but “property rights, rule of law, personal virtues like diligence and thrift, ingenuity, cultural values like trust, an orientation to the future, and a willingness to delay gratification…Ministries that treat humans as fully spiritual beings rather than mere mouths to feed, that encourage economic freedom rather than government largesse, that teach the poor to fish, that instill Christian virtues – which ultimately transform culture – will do far more to reduce poverty in the long run than all the cool celebrity-led campaigns put together” (57). This is very vanilla, as glamorous as plain oatmeal – but it is the best way to enable the hungry man to fill his stomach on a daily basis.
In the UK today, personal debt stands at £1,421,000,000,000,000. Interest repayments equal £257,000,000 daily. Banks, credit card lenders and mortgage companies, of course, make profit from lending money.
Sometimes, we mortals have no option other than to borrow; for example, when trying to buy a home. More commonly, we want to “have now and pay later.” This prevailing attitude let UK banks make £4.1bn this past year solely from penalty charges and interest on repayments missed by increasingly struggling borrowers.
All Over the Place it Seems!
However, everyone has heard about the credit crunch affecting the US, Western Europe and other parts of the globe. Too much money lent out that may not, or cannot, be paid back is pushing lenders to the brink of collapse.
Worried creditors have reduced the range of products they offer whilst tightening the criteria on who they will lend to.
Alarmingly, a recent U-Switch survey showed that credit card companies approved £17.3bn of credit applications in the last year despite failing to ask about, or verify, successful applicants’ income. Meanwhile, mortgage lenders reduced home-finance options in the past three or four months down to only 20% of what was previously available.
Creditors’ lending criteria are now all over the place and borrowers’ creditworthiness subsequently less predictable.
Credit Scoring and Status
When you ask for a bank loan or apply to a creditor for a card or finance, you will usually be “scored” in three stages:
Checking over your credit application to make sure you meet the lender’s criteria for borrowers
Looking at any past credit history with the lender
Assuming you pass the first two hurdles, contacting one of the major credit reference companies for information about you and your credit behaviour over the previous six years
Credit reference agencies hold information only on individuals and anyone associated with them financially (spouse, civil partner or anyone with a joint credit history). As well as credit repayment details supplied by other lenders, records also contain information gathered from the Electoral Roll and court records.
You can correct errors on your credit reference file. The UK Information Commissioner’s Office publishes an excellent booklet called “Credit Explained” detailing different credit reference agencies and explaining how to obtain or correct your record.
Protecting Your Credit Rating
Every lender is different and carries scores according to the degree of risk they will accept against potential profit. Credit scoring essentially tries to predict your behaviour in terms of borrowing and repayment patterns.
You can take steps to protect or even enhance your rating and here are some tried and tested suggestions:
Get a copy of your credit report at least once a year. The main three credit reference agencies are Experian, Equifax and Call Credit. Don’t apply too often though as this can reduce success with lenders suspicious of repeated report requests.
Ask prospective lenders for a “quotation search” rather than a “credit search” if you seek a specific quote for a loan.
If refused credit, check your report for mistakes. Make amendments where errors occur on record. It costs nothing to put a “Notice of Correction” (of up to 200 words) on your file and this should take effect within 28 days of submission.
Make sure you are entered on the Electoral Roll. Creditors need to confirm where you are registered as living – even if it is at your parents’ or partner’s home. Your local authority can help you with registering.
Make payments to creditors on time and as contractually agreed. Late or missed payments can be marked as defaults on your report and this will damage your status.
Check to ensure no-one has assumed your identity and made fraudulent credit applications. You may want to visit www.identityfraud.org.uk.
Be aware that the credit status of anyone you took out joint credit with in the past may still influence your own record today. You can inform credit reference agencies if you no longer have a financial connection with someone and they should remove all record of such associations.
Cancel unused credit and store cards as they can reduce your borrowing capacity in the eyes of lenders.
The above should help.
Dealing with an Ongoing Bad Rating
However, all is not lost even if you do have a bad credit rating – perhaps with court judgments – and want to do a repair job.
You could take out a more expensive “high risk” credit card – there are a few carrying interest of 30% and above – to use for between six months and a year. It is important to spend very little using the card and to repay in full each month (so that you don’t have to pay high interest and risk penalty payments for defaults). After about a year of punctual payments on the card, your credit status will improve and you should then be able to start accessing mainstream credit again.
Please note that there is no point in borrowing from doorstep creditors. They specifically target people with bad credit records and rarely register any repayment details with credit reference agencies.
Conclusion
More people now face stricter credit scoring in this difficult economic climate. However, the lending industry is not shutting down altogether and so the above advice should help.
If you have debt problems – and be honest with yourself – perhaps you ought not to borrow more but instead seek free money advice through Community Legal Advice.
There is never any need to pay for debt advice and so-called “debt repair” companies really are best avoided.
Good luck.
(This article is based on journalistic research. It does not constitute financial advice. Any information should be considered in regard to specific circumstances. All tips are followed at your own risk and should be followed up with your own research.)
