Friday, January 13, 2012

@13:23, 01/12/12 2

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There is a group in our population that feels that the entire domestic product belongs to them.  This group looks to have captured the Republican Party. 
http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/12/hungary-update/
"January 12, 2012, 8:25 am

Hungary Update

Over the past month or so my Princeton colleague Kim Lane Scheppele has posted several times on this blog, reporting on the anti-democratic moves of the Hungarian government. When she started, there was near-silence from the news media on the story; but that has now ended, with extensive coverage in many newspapers.
And now the European Union is on the case:
BUDAPEST — Faced with what critics say is an alarming drift away from democracy by one of its members, the European Union gave the Hungarian government a final warning Wednesday that it would face the start of formal legal action by next Tuesday unless it modified a series of measures that threaten the balance of power in the country.
This is really an existential challenge to the EU, which is meant to be an alliance of democracies. We’ll soon see how effective it can be at maintaining that status."



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  • TimesPeople recommended a user:
    Jan 11, 2012
    John S.
    • John S. recommended a blog post:
      Jun 29, 2010
      The Conventional Superstition
      Calculated Risk points us to a speech by Kevin Warsh that strikes me as almost the perfect illustration of the predicament we’re in, in which policy is paralyzed by fear of invisible bond vigilantes. Warsh isn’t an especially bad example — but tha...

      "The point here is that Warsh’s argument basically rests on assertions not about what markets are saying now, but about presumed market reactions to policy. And these assertions about how markets will react are
      (a) not based on any actual evidence
      (b) actually assume that markets will behave irrationally
      This goes for both fiscal and monetary policy. Again, right now the bond market doesn’t seem worried about US solvency. And rationally, stimulus spending shouldn’t change that view: with the long-term real interest rate well below 2 percent, current borrowing has only a trivial effect on the long-run state of the budget.
      You may say that markets will see short-run austerity as a signal of our willingness to make long-run sacrifices; but why? What the United States needs to do in the long run, mainly controlling health care costs and increasing revenue, has nothing to do with the question of whether we have a second stimulus package.
      On monetary policy: again, the large expansion of the Fed’s balance sheet so far doesn’t seem to have worried markets: right now, the 10-year TIPS spread is 1.9, showing no sign of exploding inflationary expectations. And for that matter, a rise in inflation expectations would actually be a good thing right now, encouraging more spending — unless you believe that markets will someone react badly, for reasons not specified, to the Fed’s impaired “credibility” defined as … well, I’m not sure what.
      So what we’ve got here is an assertion that bad things will happen if you do certain things, without either any evidence to that effect or any explanation of why those things should happen. Yes, maybe bond markets will punish us if we don’t slash spending right now; also, maybe we’ll have bad luck if we step on cracks, or fail to turn aside when Basement Cat crosses our path. But why does this pass for judicious policy discussion?"
      The nominal bond rate is below two percent.  The real rate is negative.  This hole just keeps getting deeper.


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  • TimesPeople recommended an interactive graphic:
    Jan 11, 2012
    Your Street Style Photos: Tailored Coats - The New York Times
    A jacket is not a coat. Abbey Brandon is misfiled as is the Wermuth/Reuters Camel hair. The shoulder pads in that would be better on a gridiron.
    The boy's first long coat in black Is just ungenerous on the model.  Probably intentionally so.
    The cadet grey tunic by Sahar Noorai does not help her knees.  Bring the collar down a centimeter in the front. I doubt any woman could look good in that version of forties combat boots. Two inches more length and some art over the hips would help.  Buy her some other shoes! An inch of heel and perhaps a moccasin toe box with an exaggerated arch. 
  • TimesPeople recommended a video:
    Jan 11, 2012
    California's Coastline Controversy

    There is really no fight there. The fishermen have been too effective. They must back off. That means that they will have trouble meeting their loans. There will be fish for the future. Maryland figured this out a hundred plus years ago in the Chesapeake oyster fishery. They do not allow oystering under power. They still have wild oysters. Haiti has not figured it out yet. The reefs are naked. New York and Massachusetts know the problem but have trouble with the politics.
    Alaska is cautious.

    Canada has a long disaster with the collapse of the cod fishery.
  • TimesPeople recommended a video:
    Jan 11, 2012
    Louis C.K.: Anatomy of a Bit

    One does have to protect the children.
    The best way is to educate all of them.
    Eventually they escape and must protect themselves.
    Sometimes they can be rescued.
    Usually we just get to haul them in after they ask for help.
    If people do child rearing right the children know what help they can expect and what trouble looks like.
     
    That way we don't have to attempt the impossible, 
    protecting them from themselves.

    Sooner is better.____ As soon as you can is best.
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