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The Euro Widened the Culture Gap - Room for Debate
What the sinking euro tells us about the divide between 'Club Med' and Protestant Northern Europe.
http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/10/11/wise-words-on-europe/Wise Words On Europe
Kash Mansori has a very good piece on the eurozone crisis, making some points I’ve also tried to hit. Basically, he sees the peripheral countries mainly as victims of an overwhelming tide of cheap money from the core, who are now suffering whiplash when that inflow came to a sudden stop:
THE IMPLICATION IS that the very creation of the common currency area sowed the seeds for this crisis, not the behavior of the periphery countries. While these countries didn’t necessarily do everything right, they were playing against a stacked deck. But if the easy explanation for this crisis—namely, that it was due to the irresponsible behavior of the periphery countries—is not the right answer, then we need to reevaluate how it has been handled.
A small niggle: does nobody in the modern era understand the difference between principle and principal? Or, for that matter, between periphery and peripheral?"
To start with, if the crisis is the result of inexorable forces beyond the control of the periphery countries, it’s not appropriate to wag fingers or punish those countries through the bitter medicine of insufficient assistance. This crisis should not be turned into a morality story.
But more importantly, since the periphery of the eurozone bore the bulk of the systemic risks inherent to the common currency area, while the benefits were shared by both the core and the periphery, it’s deeply unfair that the burden of solving the crisis has been placed so overwhelmingly on the periphery countries through the debilitating austerity measures demanded by the core countries. The core eurozone countries like France and Germany were in the driver’s seat when it came to setting up this system, and they were happy to take advantage of the common currency when it was to their benefit. They now need to recognize that the responsibility for fixing this mess should really rest largely with them.
http://www.tnr.com/article/economy/95989/eurozone-crisis-debt-dont-blame-greece
"Nonsense, argue the grumblers. Clearly the crisis started because debt in the eurozone’s periphery—Greece, Ireland, Portugal, and Spain—became so large that investors grew frightened that entire countries were at risk of default. If those countries hadn’t racked up all that debt by shamelessly living beyond their means, then none of this would have happened. But this narrative misses a crucial element of the true origin of the eurozone debt crisis. In particular, it misses the fact that the very design of Europe’s common currency area not only caused, but was meant to cause the eurozone’s periphery to incur large amounts of international debt. Further, there was little that the governments of those countries could do to stop it. Far from causing the crisis, the peripheral eurozone countries were up against powerful forces outside their control, forces that probably made this crisis inevitable no matter how responsibly they behaved." . . . -
Are Voters Looking for an Isolationist? - Room for Debate
Mitt Romney wants more intervention abroad. Can another candidate court the voters who don't?Of course. The primaries will not start for a few more months. -
A Timely Debate of the U.S. Role in the World - Room for Debate
Whether the impetus comes from the Tea Party or progressives or a third-party candidate, the U.S. needs to come to grips with the geopolitical and economic changes that are reshaping the world.
Strange history."First, Iraq and Afghanistan have been for the U.S. what the Boer War was for Britain: costly defeats causing “imperial overstretch” and accelerating national decline."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_of_South_Africa"The Union of South Africa was founded as a dominion of the British Empire. The Union was governed under a form of constitutional monarchy, with the British monarch represented by a governor-general. The Union came to an end when the 1961 constitution was enacted. On 31 May 1961 the nation became a republic, under the name of the "Republic of South Africa"" -
TimesPeople recommended an article:Oct 12, 2011New iPhone Conceals Sheer Magic
I see the Pogue article.
I am not tempted.
My life is not terribly mobile just now.
You might find it very useful.
The GPS makes me nervous.The on board payment system makes me nervous.The meta-data on the pictures makes me nervous. -
Inside ’Martha Marcy May Marlene’
I am going to try to not over-think this.
I will just add it to the mix and move on. -
American Culture and A.D.H.D. - Room for Debate
Mental illnesses come and go as unique and deeply complicated combinations of culture and biology. But they are . . .
She is right about the mechanism.Closed loops that exist mostly in the mind.The loop's composition need more examination. -
Gregitz
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Doctor and Patient: In Search of a Better MCAT
Recently the college-age daughter of a friend talked to me about her dream of becoming a doctor. She was doing well as a psychology major and in her pre-medical courses, was working as a research assistant for a pediatrician at a nearby medical sc...It appears that medical students cannot dodge the exam in this country.My niece, the veterinarian, notes that her license allows her to treat every species on earth but one.One must have an accredited medical degree to be admitted to the boards and must pass the board examinations to be a licensed practitioner. There is a long history of quackery. Quackery for money can be prosecuted as fraud or as assault.
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Bert Gold, Ph.D., FACMG
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Does IMF Stand for Impressive Macroeconomic Flexibility?
So the IMF is holding a meeting on rethinking macroeconomic policy (I was invited but couldn’t make the timing work.) And the Fund’s chief economist has already made it clear that he’s open to some serious revision of the prevailing paradigm.They have the power but not the will or the resources to rescue Europe.
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JScottK
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Doctor and Patient: In Search of a Better MCAT
Recently the college-age daughter of a friend talked to me about her dream of becoming a doctor. She was doing well as a psychology major and in her pre-medical courses, was working as a research assistant for a pediatrician at a nearby medical sc...The MCAT is big but finite. There are good texts to help you study for it. There are professional tutors to help with the texts.A would be doctor must pass it to study in this country.We will need about one third more doctors in the near future.The rational schools know it.We must not steal them from the rest of the world.
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iPhone's Siri vs. My Human Assistant
The human is the better assistant.
Machines do not love, ever.
The iPhone is not sentient and cannot even recognize dependence.
A cat can do that.
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Franklin Kameny, Gay Rights Pioneer, Dies at 86
He found enough support to make a life of it.
Now that he is gone there is opportunity to continue the work.
I will leave that to those that can see the problem as I cannot. -
Tired of Wars, Bracing for More - Room for Debate
Romney’s call for higher defense spending is a path to Reagan-Bush red ink: low taxes and huge deficits.Romney's path leads to ultimate destruction.Its end is closer than he thinks. -
Lost in Paris
I will go there.
For a time I will be lost.
It will be a first in Paris.
Pierre L'Enfante has made it finite.
With a little help I can navigate Brooklyn. -
glenn_mcgee
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7 Months, 10 Days in Captivity
“7 Months, 10 Days in Captivity -Held by the Taliban http://bit.ly/39cl8S”Two and a half seasons.There must be a disease of goats that would turn those hills green.
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