tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38441141614117073552024-03-12T15:46:36.247-07:00The Troublesome EconomistAllan Schmidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18289840991736135902noreply@blogger.comBlogger360125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3844114161411707355.post-39929688819167852292015-12-19T09:08:00.000-08:002015-12-19T09:08:23.924-08:00Bank of Japan More Innovative than US Fed<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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Bank of Japan has begun a modest purchase of the stock of Japanese firms that expand
the economy by investing in their factories or by raising workers’ pay.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“The BOJ is doing what it can to support
capital spending and investment in human resources” says the Bank’s
governor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In contrast, the American
central bank buys billions of dollars buying bonds owned by banks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>U. S. “corporations have tapped the markets
for trillions of dollars in recent years, yet they have plowed relatively
little of the money into new operations.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>American firms have been on a binge of buyouts and mergers further
adding to oligopolies.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The stock
market and junk bond markets love this.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>“Business investment as a percentage of gross domestic product has
remained below historical levels since the Great Recession. “ The government
has not helped.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Public investment
spending as a share of overall economic activity has fallen to lows not seen
since the 1940’s.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(NYT Dec. 18, 2015 p.
B-8) This has pleased the Tea Party and other “know nothings.” <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But it has done nothing to fill road chuck
holes and repair dangerous bridges. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Meanwhile
American passenger rail lines are the laughing stock of Europe and its high
speed trains.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span>Allan Schmidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18289840991736135902noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3844114161411707355.post-6041077232826479482014-12-29T13:52:00.000-08:002014-12-29T13:52:51.485-08:00Does the World Get You Down?<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">This is my last blog</b>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
world is so fuXXed up that it is not possible to comment on all its
absurdities.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Besides it is too
depressing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The only way to preserve
sanity is to look at it with rose colored glasses, so I shall devote myself to
things of beauty such as poetry and literature.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If
you have not seen my historical novel, “The Quest for Land and Fortune,” may I
urge you to go to Amazon and get a copy while they last.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is narrative non-fiction, the people are
all real, but what they said to each other and what sort of blogs they might
have written, is fiction, I was not there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
New York Times of December 28, 2014, had a section entitled the “Year in
Pictures.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I list the cut-lines to illustrate
my point.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
01/09/2014<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Displaced people on ferry led fighting
between government forces and rebel in South Sudan.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
02/24<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Women took shelter from sniper fire in The
Ukraine.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
02/19<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Anti-government protestors burned barricades
in The Ukraine.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
04/17<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A protestor hurled a Molotov cocktail during
clashes with police, Caracas, Venezuela.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
04/30<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A lockdown drill to address the threat of
school shootings in a eighth-grade class, Belle Plaine, MN</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
03/12<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A girl was wounded between riot police and
anti-government protestors, Istanbul.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
05/05<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mourners attended funeral of Julia Izotova,
21, killed during clashes between Ukrainian troops and pro-Russian separatists.
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
05/11<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Civil War set of a vast food crisis, among
the malnourished were a mother and her 5-month old. Malakal, South Sudan.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
07/09<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mexican authorities deported miners on a
flight back to El Salvador.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
07/24<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Relatives look into a hospital operating room
at those injured in an Israeli air strike. Gaza Strip.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
08/15<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Palestinians prayed in the rubble of a
mosque. Gaza City.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
07/01<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A Jewish woman prayed during the funeral for
three Israeli teenagers who were killed in the West Bank.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
07/02<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Migrants traveling toward the US on a train
known as “The Beast” because of violent crime.Tenosique, Mexico</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
09/23<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A marina owner on the boat dock in the
dried-up Huntington Lake CAL.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
08/25<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Michael Brown Sr. mourns as his son’s coffin
is lowered, St. Peters Cemetery, Normandy.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
08/27<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yameen Ritaj, 16, left her abusive husband
during her pregnancy. Refugee camp, Jordan.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
09/05<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Medical workers took James Dorbor, 8, into a
Ebola treatment center. Liberia.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
011/25<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Police clash with pro-democracy
demonstrators, Hong Cong.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
11/28<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Senator Mitch McConnell re-elected from
Kentucky. (He has declared global warming a hoax spread by those who dislike
his state’s coal.)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
10/18<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Displaced persons camp where 140,000 have
been uprooted. Myanmar.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
09/27<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A cradle left behind by Kurdish refugees
along the Turkish-Syrian border.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
11/28<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Protest because Grand jury decided not to
indict Daren Wilson in the killing of Michael Brown, Delwood MO.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
12/08 Protestors against police
brutality in the wake of Michael Brown, Berkeley.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
12’16<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Women mourn Mohammed Ali Khan, 15, one of 130
students killed during a Taliban attack on a school, Peshawar, Pakistan.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
11/18<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ultra-Orthodox Jews listened to a eulogy for
a Rabbi Killed in a synagogue by Palestinian gunmen. Jerusalem.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
12/06<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A four-year-old known as Sweetie, one of
thousands, monitored for symptoms of Ebola. Sierra Leone</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
I add one event that does not photograph--the new Republican Congress has vowed to cancel Obama's Affordable Care Act. I suspect that much of the opposition is a continuing racist reaction to the Black President. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
See what I mean.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>During the Vietnam War, depressed by the
daily body count, I stopped listening to network news.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I never began again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Today, I canceled my subscription to the New
York Times.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
Thanks for following my blog. If you want more, I recommend following Bill Moyers and Robert Reich.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<br /></div>
Allan Schmidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18289840991736135902noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3844114161411707355.post-53201344320114495222014-12-03T12:57:00.001-08:002014-12-03T13:00:14.131-08:00Big Oil Spoils North Dakota<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
Big oil companies in North Dakota
said their impact on the environment would be minimal. They lied.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The citizens of Tioga witnessed the largest
land oil spill in recent American history in September, 2013.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Also in 2013, the locomotive of an oil train
derailed and exploded in a collision near Casselton.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This year North Dakotans discovered illegally
dumped oil filter socks, a source of hazardous radiation. A landfill with waste
from oil fields is near the banks of the Missouri River. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some families experienced dirty drinking
water. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“One company, in fact, sued three
activist landowners in 2011, seeking damages for trespassing after the men
tried to document what they believed was the cover-up of a saltwater spill.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Federal wildlife agents asked the oil
companies to cover their waste pits as migratory birds sometimes dived in.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They were refused.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thirty percent of the natural gas produced in
the state was being treated as a byproduct and burned off, spoiling the air for
neighbors. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
oil drillers are lightly regulated by the three-member North Dakota Industrial
Commission composed of the Governor, Attorney General, and the Agricultural
Commissioner.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In their eagerness to gain
great wealth, the state largely let the oil companies police themselves.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The oil companies made contributions to the
governor’s campaign in 2012, a total of $550,000 from oil-related executives. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
A family signed a lease and saw
their first well drilled in 2008.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then
June, 2011, they were informed that Burlington Resources intended to create a
30,883 acre oil production unit that would override their lease agreement.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Instead of receiving royalties for their land,
the revenues would be split by all owners in the mega-unit. The mega-unit would
include part of the Little Missouri State Park (three storage tank batteries
inside park boundaries). The family learned that their consent was not
required.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Only 60 percent of the unit’s
owners were needed, and Burlington together with the Federal government land already
amounted to 60%.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This freed Conoco
Phillips, successor to Burlington, from boundary lines that required 200-foot
set-backs from the borders of each production unit. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The companies would not have to negotiate
easements or rights of way for pads, roads, and pipelines.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Dec 20, 2013, the commission approved the
mega-unit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This amounts to private eminent
domain—taking of land by private companies for their own benefit.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: .25in;">
Source: New
York Times, Nov. 23, 2014</div>
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<br /></div>
Allan Schmidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18289840991736135902noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3844114161411707355.post-62213868758372344592014-11-27T08:26:00.004-08:002014-11-27T08:26:59.873-08:00ThanksgivingThere are still some things to be thankful for--like not living in Buffalo NY. Apologies to buffaloes. Allan Schmidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18289840991736135902noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3844114161411707355.post-25066089883131470852014-11-24T12:45:00.000-08:002014-11-24T12:45:07.680-08:00Identity<br />
" In a world where 2 billion
more people have entered the workforce since 1989, the insecurity of
those suddenly forced to compete that much harder was always bound to
grow. If you’re one of the beneficiaries of this massive upheaval,
you’re fine. But for the millions who fear they are losing out, and who
see their town or country changing around them, including through
immigration, it’s natural to hold on tight to, and fiercely defend, an
identity that feels safe and familiar." Jonathan Freedland writing in the Guardian UK. 21 Nov 2014<br />
Cultural arguments are taking the place of what used to be bread and butter issues. The Republican party has exploited this very cleverly, while they turn the bread and butter toward the very rich. When will the 90 % figure it out? And, when will the Democrats figure out that identity politics is where it's at. Allan Schmidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18289840991736135902noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3844114161411707355.post-3644683305228821322014-11-16T09:49:00.001-08:002014-11-16T09:49:37.424-08:00Neo-liberals and the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA)Cass Sunstein was appointed head of OIRA from 2009-2012 and led it to delay and eviscerate a host of environmental regulations. Pres. Reagan created the office ostensibly to improve decision making by insisting on benefit-cost analysis of all rules, but industry used it to escape and delay regulation. An example of its over-reaching and bizarre twists is to count lost pleasure from smoking as an off-set to health benefits of reduced smoking. Besides, early death saves health care costs over the smokers' lifetime they claim! All of this is justified by the neo-liberal championing of what they call liberty-enhancement. If some want to kill themselves, they should be free to do so. This is a neat trick that diverts blame from systemic corporate malfeasance to individuals. <br />
This is documented in Robert Kuttner, "Obama's Obama" Harpers, December 2014." A must read by those interested in good government and avoidance of the siren song and paternalism of the neo-liberals. Obama does not come off well. Sunstein and Obama prove once again that smart and wise are not the same thing.Allan Schmidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18289840991736135902noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3844114161411707355.post-83861766929655341462014-11-16T09:07:00.001-08:002014-11-16T09:07:33.895-08:00Virunga, CongoOil companies are circling Virunga National Park in the Congo, home to several endangered wildlife species such as mountain gorillas. The oil company thugs stoop to bribery and murder. The Government is silent saying they must support anything that will lift their people out of poverty. One could be more impressed if they were putting a large part of their royalties into a trust fund for all its citizens, such as Alaska did. <br />
The Congo has been home to natural resource exploitation by the Belgians for generations and where are the jobs it was supposed to create? Any natural resource eventually runs out and the people who get rich are government officials and foreign companies.<br />
Source: NYT 16 Nov 2014Allan Schmidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18289840991736135902noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3844114161411707355.post-88761763964738900162014-11-08T07:33:00.000-08:002014-11-08T07:33:08.674-08:00Japan's FollyJapan's economy has been in the doldrums for years. So what are they doing? Their central bank is buying government debt just like the US Fed was doing. Supposedly, these purchases keep interest rates low and stimulate borrowing and growth. But the evidence is to the contrary in a country with zero interest rates and still little investment. If this policy worked it would have worked before now, but evidence be damned! We live in a world driven by ideology and bankers.Allan Schmidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18289840991736135902noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3844114161411707355.post-63669278185436299022014-11-08T07:25:00.002-08:002014-11-08T07:25:53.852-08:00Brussels RiotsRiots broke out a few days ago in Brussels as people protested the government's austerity policies. In Europe when people are fed up, they riot while in the U.S. our low income people accept their fate and believe it is their fault. Austerity policy has not worked anywhere in Europe, but they hold to it like a dog with a bone. Germany lost WW II but they dominate Europe and the EU and insist all countries should follow them no matter how different are their economies.Allan Schmidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18289840991736135902noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3844114161411707355.post-26279773850765462252014-11-07T13:58:00.001-08:002014-11-07T13:58:07.752-08:00Belief and ExperienceA post-election message by Harry Cook<br />
<div style="font-size: 14pt; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
"How
lovely it would be to trade belief and believing for experience and
reason. That was the great contribution of Franklin Delano Roosevelt who
birthed an America that, like the autumnal doe, takes care of its
young, its weak and those however disadvantaged through no fault of
their own.</div>
<div style="font-size: 14pt; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-size: 14pt; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
It
was not a hardcore belief system that informed Roosevelt. It was
experience. Experience is a far better guide than belief. The former is
rooted in what eye can see, ear can hear and heart can feel. The latter
is rooted in abstraction and, as often as not, self-serving."</div>
Allan Schmidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18289840991736135902noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3844114161411707355.post-37258129107056089652014-10-27T14:09:00.001-07:002014-10-27T14:09:25.499-07:00Obama PopularityWhy has Obama's popularity plummeted? He has accomplished a great deal that is not getting talked about. He is the victim of the press and his opponents (some racist) that keep chanting "Obama Care" is bad. This seems to stop further thinking about actual consequences. It reminds of Gov. George Romney whose campaign for the presidency coincided with the Vietnam War. He went on a fact-finding mission and came back and said he had been "brain washed" by the generals. Well, we can't have a president who can be brain washed and the press repeated this trope over and over again and Romney's quest for the presidency was over. The press and many people did not want to know more. <br />
Culture is a strange animal that is hard to understand. Words can enter the language, and no matter how misleading, they have a life of their own, albeit pushed along by opinion makers. Why is not "Affordable Care" is easy to say as "Obama Care?" But, then the opponents would have to admit that they simply don't want to give aid to the poor--they don't deserve it.Allan Schmidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18289840991736135902noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3844114161411707355.post-17878400271963167192014-10-24T08:47:00.001-07:002014-10-24T08:47:18.118-07:00GlitchesDue to computer glitches, there have been no posts for some time. Hopefully, the problem is fixed and posts will continue on a more regular basis. Thanks for sticking with the "Troublesome Economist."Allan Schmidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18289840991736135902noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3844114161411707355.post-25037827896607803772014-10-24T08:29:00.000-07:002014-10-24T08:29:06.166-07:00Louisiana Flood DangerLouisiana is slipping into the Gulf caused by oil company channels, drilling, and pollution that kills vegetation on coastal marshes. "Each day the state loses nearly the accumulated acreage of every football stadium in the N.F.L." John Barry is a public spirited citizen member of a regional flood protection board. The Board brought suit against the oil companies, but Republican governor Jindal persuaded the legislature to condemn the suit and order its cancellation. The oil companies applauded, even though they know that the next hurricane would destroy a lot of their property. There is a distinction between "dumb" and "stupid"--not acting on your own best interest. This is an example of the latter. <br />
Source: NYT Magazine, Oct. 5, 2014.Allan Schmidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18289840991736135902noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3844114161411707355.post-33465445639451093952014-10-24T08:07:00.001-07:002014-10-24T08:07:45.325-07:00ISISIf you want to be poor forever, keep doing what you are doing.<br />
An analysis suggests that people are recruited to your activities because they are searching for "Personal Identity."--People wanting some cause to give meaning to an otherwise meaningless life. Couldn't they find something less murderous?<br />
<br />Allan Schmidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18289840991736135902noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3844114161411707355.post-64531454364993875582014-07-31T17:09:00.000-07:002014-07-31T17:09:12.047-07:00Institutions and relative incomesImportant insight by Robert Reich--<br />
<span class="userContent" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}">"The
myth is you get paid what you’re worth. Yet for many occupations it’s
just the reverse: Pay is inversely related to the real benefits to
society. Social work, teaching, nursing, and caring for the elderly or
for children are among the lowest-paid of all professions, but the
benefits to society are considerable. We desperately need these people." </span><br />
<span class="userContent" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"> Couldn't say it any better. </span>Allan Schmidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18289840991736135902noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3844114161411707355.post-82026352059789893912014-07-26T14:13:00.000-07:002014-07-26T14:13:53.001-07:00Quest for Land and Fortune<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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Three hundred thousand books are published in the United
States every year. A few hundred, at most, could be called financial or
creative successes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Failure doesn’t
afflict only the lesser talents. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>John
Keats, now regarded as a great poet, who died at 25 with a collection of bad
reviews to his name, asked for his gravestone to read: Here lies one whose name
was writ in water. He died convinced of his obscurity.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
Help me avoid a similar fate: buy
a copy of my historical novel, “The Quest for Land and Fortune” at Chapbook
Press.com<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You can’t go wrong at $20,
about the cost of two movie tickets. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Search for Alfred Allan Schmid</div>
Allan Schmidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18289840991736135902noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3844114161411707355.post-7911982302739202502014-07-22T12:12:00.000-07:002014-07-26T14:15:19.878-07:00The Hobby Lobby Supreme Court decision"Benjamin I. Sachs, a law professor at Harvard University, notes that
while federal law lets union members prevent the use of their dues for
political purposes, shareholders do not have similar rights. “If we’re
going to say that collectives have speech rights, then we should treat
unions and corporations the same,” Sachs told me. Employees are even
more vulnerable. When companies like YUM! Brands, which owns KFC and
Taco Bell, campaign against minimum-wage increases, they are effectively
using the profits generated by their employees to limit the
compensation of those same employees. And of course, some of Hobby
Lobby’s 13,000 workers will now need to pay for contraception." NYT 20 July 2014Allan Schmidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18289840991736135902noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3844114161411707355.post-4269494258773832022014-07-21T12:15:00.000-07:002014-07-21T12:15:15.351-07:00For Shame America<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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For Shame America.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>More
than 57,000 young migrants have been apprehended, coming without parents, mostly
from Central America since October.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At great expense, we
have thousands of immigration control officers and elaborate fences.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I try to imagine the desperation of parents
to send their children north hoping to escape killing and rape by drug gangs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Do we need extensive interviews to determine
if these children are eligible for entry? We are ruining our neighbors.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The whole thing
is our fault.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If we treated our addicts,
the demand and profits of the drug trade would dry up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
Allan Schmidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18289840991736135902noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3844114161411707355.post-85257129685395689992014-07-05T13:57:00.000-07:002014-07-05T13:57:14.858-07:00Why We Have No High-speed Rail LinesAmerica is the only rich country in the world with no high-speed rail lines connecting our major cities. As any European tourist quickly notes, fast trains such as the Euro-Star and the French TGV are comfortable and reliable and cheaper than flying. And, you are not treated like a crimnal while boarding.<br />
Opponents of rail improvement argue that roads are self-sustaining via tolls and gas taxes. But, in fact the US Treasury yearly transfers from its General Fund to the Highway Trust Fund huge sums that do not equal all of the Amtrack subsidies for the past 40 years. Federal highway subsidies were $41 billion in 2013; aviation subsidies were $16 billion, while Amtrak received only $1.6 billion. (Reported in Harpers, July 2014) <br />
Wisconsin's Republican Governor rejected a Federal offer to build a high-speed rail line from Madison to Milwaukee. General Motors and Exxon and the oil exporting countries must have cheered this stupidity. Allan Schmidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18289840991736135902noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3844114161411707355.post-44617707767347299792014-07-05T13:36:00.000-07:002014-07-05T13:36:02.274-07:00Why Do Many Embrace Inequality?Papers and books describe the widening inequality in our society. They provide little understanding of why the 99% put up with it.<br />
The explanation of Prof. Justin Friesen et. al. suggest that "When we feel a lack of personal control, we compensate by looking for order or predictability in our environment. So we desire and perceive governments and gods to be particularly powerful. Those who suffer inequality often even defend the social system responsible, rather than accept that life has been unjust." (reported in the NYT June 22, 2014)<br />
The constant litany in our press and TV emphasizes that capital provides jobs, and we can't threaten it or it will go away. This slogan translates into no protest against the favorable treatment of capital gains and low effective tax rate for the super rich. <br />
It is just as true that labor provides opportunities for capital, but this is seldom noted. Our political energy is captured by the Tea Party who rails against big government (whatever that means) and ignores inequality with the lame excuse that doing anything about it would mean more government (whatever that means).<br />
Allan Schmidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18289840991736135902noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3844114161411707355.post-23451110070861507782014-07-05T13:14:00.001-07:002014-07-05T13:14:38.763-07:00Merger Fever--the patient is sickThe Federal Reserve has gone to great lengths to keep interest rates low. So what have American firms been doing? Borrowing to build new plants and employ more people? Wrong! <br />
They are using retained earnings and borrowing to buy their own stock and other companies.<br />
Prof. Richard Roll of the University of California has formulated "the hubris hypothesis of corporate takeovers." "Lately Prof. Roll has been studying the role of narcissism--a personality disorder characterized by excessive self-love--in corporate takeovers. When executives are excessively self-involved, he said, they may ascribe unrealistic attributes to themselves, like great strategic vision or deal-making ability, leading them to extend their domains by seeking acquisitions and wheeling and dealing rapidly." (reported in the NYT Jun 22, 2014)<br />
And what are the results? Prof. Rene Stutz found that during the Merger and Acquisitions mania of the period 1998-2001 shareholders of public corporations over-all lost huge sums. <br />
Economic theorists have gone to great lengths to exclude psychology from economics, but it comes at a cost of reality. Just because psychology does not fit mathematical models is no reason to exclude it. Theorists deride the above as just telling stories. But, a good story is worth a lot of equations that miss the point.Allan Schmidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18289840991736135902noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3844114161411707355.post-81846854383568735022014-06-26T06:57:00.000-07:002014-06-26T06:57:03.403-07:00WW I and other Idiocies<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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It is the 100<sup>th</sup>
anniversary of WW I, one of the bloodiest and unnecessary wars in human
history.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The excuse for the war was the assassination
of the Austrian Archduke by a crazy man.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The Austrians demanded compensation (as if there is compensation for
murder).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When it was refused, countries
began to take sides based on historical and cultural ties—not unlike kids choosing sides on a
playground.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The tragedy was compounded
by the generals who did not understand machine guns.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Wave after wave of soldiers were sent to
slaughter on both sides.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The eventually “victorious”
Allies demanded huge reparations from the Germans. The consequence was bitter
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Among
the other idiotic moves was the drawing of uninformed boundaries in Africa.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We are still living with the consequences
such as ethnic wars. Another result was a revulsion against war that resulted in Western delayed response to the armed invasions by Hitler.</div>
Allan Schmidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18289840991736135902noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3844114161411707355.post-39460002867336953682014-06-26T06:12:00.001-07:002014-06-26T06:12:38.838-07:00Inequity and Hierarchy<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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“When we feel a lack of personal
control, we compensate by looking for order or predictability in our
environment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So we desire and perceive
governments and gods to be particularly powerful.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Those who suffer inequity often even defend
the social system responsible, rather than accept that life has been unjust.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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Based on
Friesen and Kay as reported in NYT 22 June 2013</div>
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Case in point, the popularity of
Putin in Russia and popular working class support for the Republicans who are anti-labor in US.</div>
Allan Schmidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18289840991736135902noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3844114161411707355.post-78240260864253888902014-06-19T10:28:00.000-07:002014-06-19T10:28:13.676-07:00Financing TerrorHow do terrorist groups finance the purchase of arms? With drug profits of course. Will the US wise up and treat addicts rather than build fences and hire guards? Our refusal to do so is ruining a lot of countries including Afghanistan and Mexico. It's bloody nonsense. <br />
The NY Times reports that along old African trade routes "Smugglers made deals with militants to protect their trafficking routes and their product. Thirteen percent of the European cocaine trade flows through Africa. That's about $4.2 billion a year." That would build a lot of shelter for the homeless.<br />
And perhaps the greatest irony is that many US voters support radical politicians who advocate a large military budget and irrelevant social policies on abortion. Allan Schmidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18289840991736135902noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3844114161411707355.post-74584031035674422412014-06-19T10:09:00.000-07:002014-06-19T10:09:17.969-07:00Boko HaramAlong the Nigerian border, the militant group Boko Haram is targeting children in its bid to establish an Islamic state. NYT June 15, 2014. <br />
Civilization is in a death struggle. And, of course that new Islamic state will subjugate women. And of course we will continue to invest in sophisticated jets, etc. that are useless against a determined foe willing to die and risk all.Allan Schmidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18289840991736135902noreply@blogger.com0