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The Lesser Depression
Even if Washington and Brussels succeed in avoiding immediate financial catastrophe, the deals being made will surely make the broader economic slump worse.
"For those who know their 1930s history, this is all too familiar. If either of the current debt negotiations fails, we could be about to replay 1931, the global banking collapse that made the Great Depression great. But, if the negotiations succeed, we will be set to replay the great mistake of 1937: the premature turn to fiscal contraction that derailed economic recovery and ensured that the Depression would last until World War II finally provided the boost the economy needed."Ben Bernanke did his doctorate on these things. Wilful blindness? -
Lucian Freud, Adept Portraiture Artist, Dies at 88
Mr. Freud, a grandson of Sigmund Freud, was called “the greatest living realist painter” by one art critic in the late 1980s.That was not then complimentary.These images are very accessible. I think that is necessary but I have been alone in that. Direct emotional contact has been a critical theme through the twentieth century. -
Start-Up Handles Social Media Background Checks
A start-up helps companies dig into potential employees’ activity online, from Facebook posts to e-commerce usage.This operation provides excuses not to hire.Corporate profit lies in minimal establishments.When the Quakers were inventing the mills of New England at the beginning of the nineteenth century their objective was to employ the surplus population. The rentiers of Boston and New York quickly forgot that. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rentier -
‘Haboobs’ Cause a Storm of Complaints in Arizona
A word more commonly used in the Middle East to describe a huge desert dust storm is irritating some residents.Freedom Fries!They will send the Sheriff after the weather service.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharifhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dust_Bowl A very few remember.
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Bonuses for Billionaires
Wow! The logic of the Tea Party caucus in the G.O.P. really grows on you. Who needs air traffic control, anyway?There is no cure for stupid.Demagogy is counter productive.Wilful blindness devalues sarcasm. -
Obama and Boehner Close In on Deal to Cut Debt Nearly $3 Trillion
Officials said that President Obama and the House speaker, John A. Boehner, were closing in on a package calling for as much as $3 trillion in savings.Boehner denies it. I believe him.The plunge protection team is working hard. -
Sewage Spill Renders New York Harbor Unfit
The health department declaration was made as million of gallons of untreated sewage were being discharged into the Hudson River.Last time it was Boston.I wonder why there was no fire suppression in the engine space?The diesels would be emergency backup power.Con Ed must be under real strain. -
Ex-Executives Dispute Testimony of James Murdoch
Two former executives of News International said they told James Murdoch of evidence in 2008 that hacking at the company’s tabloid newspaper was more widespread.I think this is the end of News Corp.It should never have been."A vast right wing conspiracy". -
The Grand Bargain Lives!
Even though the coming compromise to reduce the federal debt won’t please everyone, we all need to embrace it. The other options are worse.This is a return to 1937. We know how that played out.Demagogy is always viscous in it's result. -
Milk Campaign Withdrawn Amid Charges of Sexism
A humorously intended campaign aimed at men on the soothing effects milk might have on PMS riffed on a similar campaign in 2005 — before social media flexed its muscle.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_Games_%28film%29"The only way to win is not to play."
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Tiger Woods’s Caddie Steve Williams Responds to Dismissal
The firing of a longtime friend and confidant is quickly taking on the makings of a very ugly divorce.Tiger Woods saw Steve Williams actions as a betrayal of trust.Only Tiger Woods gets to do that. -
Debt Ceiling Uncertainty Puts States at Risk
States that rely on the federal government for assistance with Medicaid, unemployment and highway construction may be faced with tough choices if there is no agreement on the debt ceiling.Demagogy is always viscous in its results. -
Farm Felons Pick Off California Crops
With strong harvests, and reduced crime-fighting budgets, thefts of farm products have risen in California’s rural areas.My Nebraska Farm boy grandfather told a tale of a local Water Melon patch where the owner put out a sign "One of these Melons has been poisoned." The owner returned a few days later to find the "One" crossed out and replaced by "two".The Cossacks always raided after the harvest. -
Race to Moon by Private Companies
Spurred by the $30 million Google Lunar X Prize, 29 teams have signed up for a competition to become the first private venture to land on the Moon.Not going to happen yet. -
Euro Zone Leaders Clinch Rescue Plan for Greece
The 109-billion-euro aid package for Greece could push the country into default on some of its debt but would also give Europe sweeping powers to shore up struggling economies.Good Bye Euro.The U.S. ten year has a negative interest rate.Britain's ten year has a bigger negative rate. -
Food Crisis in Somalia Is a Famine, U.N. Says
Millions of people are on the brink of starvation and aid deliveries are complicated by the fact that militants control the famine zones.Total war.It is a solution of a kind to population pressure.Procrusteian solutions have been viewed as monstrous for millennia.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Procrustes -
Move Over Tequila, It’s Mescal’s Turn
Mescal, tequila’s rougher country cousin, takes a star turn, with artisanal versions attracting the notice of fashionable restaurateurs in Mexico City and beyond.Life must hurt for this stuff to improve it. -
Read My Lips: No New Taxes
The issue isn’t the pledge against tax increases; it’s Washington’s inability to deal with its own overspending.I don't want to have Yemen come to me.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_war_of_all_against_allThomas HobbesI show in the first place that the state of men without civil society (which state may be called the state of nature) is nothing but a war of all against all; and that in that war, all have a right to all things.
Taxes are the price of civil society. -
Can a Playground Be Too Safe?
Efforts to regulate playground equipment to prevent injuries may stunt emotional development, a new study suggests.Yes.Small adventures are part of growing.The trick is to keep them small. -
Playhouses: Child's Play, Grown-Up Cash
Even in a troubled economy, some parents of means are willing to spend significant — if not eye-popping — sums on playhouses for their children.It is a business.These things are like electric trains.Toys for adults that amuse children.The eighteenth century had a name for them: Follies.
Yes, They are a class of objects that sell themselves.Change the scale and they are the painted ladies of San Francisco.
http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/07/22/this-age-of-hicks/
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