Archive for August, 2009
Environmental Stuff (Not Pretty)
Peak Water? Thanks to Naked Capitalism The “Great Pacific Garbage Patch” pinpointed at last. Thanks again to Yves Smith. Ever-more bizarre geoengineering proposals. Why can’t we just consume sustainably instead? Finally, speculators and oil markets. Thanks to Economist’s View.
Friday's Indicators
US personal income was .1% lower in July, reflecting continued weakness in the job market, but private sector wages were actually up $6.7 billion after a big decrease of $24.5 billion in June. July consumer spending rose .2%, powered by cash-for-clunkers, and the June figure was revised upwards to an increase of .6%. For the ...Read more.
The Afghanistan Quagmire
Though this Reuters article is hardly one of the best I’ve read on the topic (for that, I’d refer to The Independent’s Patrick Cockburn and Robert Fisk, and The Nation’s Christian Parenti, among others), Afghanistan is a subject I think we’ve neglected on this blog. And with casualties higher in Afghanistan than Iraq for the ...Read more.
Obama's Neoliberal and Elitist Educational Policy
From Danny Weil, who’s writing a book on elite-led educational reform, at Counterpunch. Not to disrespect the dead, but it must be remembered that No Child Left Behind was endorsed by the late Senator Kennedy…Neoliberalism, Charter Schools and the Chicago ModelObama and Duncan’s Education Policy:Like Bush’s, Only WorseBy DANNY WEIL In his first major speech ...Read more.
On Shrinking the City
Two FT pieces today on regulating international finance. The first covers some rather remarkable statements by the head of Britain’s Financial Services Authority (the regulator of financial services in the UK) on the place of the City of London in the UK’s economy. Lord Turner, the head of the FSA, says nothing less than that ...Read more.
FDIC Bled by Bank Losses, Sets P.E. Rules
First, the NYT on the scary FDIC banking report. As the article notes, the warnings about large numbers of banks should be contrasted with the financial sector’s surge on Wall Street. And then there’s Reuters’ Rolfe Winkler on new FDIC capital-adequacy rules for private equity firms. Interesting commentary concerning the FDIC’s slipping and sliding regarding ...Read more.
Thursday's Indicators
Weekly new jobless claims in the US fell 15,000 to 565,000, and continuing claims dropped by 80,000 to finish the week ending 15 August at 6.133 million. How many unemployed workers exhausting benefits, thereby contributing to the fall in existing claims, must be considered here, however. US 2Q GDP was revised upwards to minus one ...Read more.
German Consumption: Can't Win for Losing
Germany has long been castigated for its relatively restrained consumer spending habits (though it’s definitely a thoroughly consumerist place), and the emphasis of its policymakers, still shellshocked by the Weimar years, on monetary ueber-prudence. But, as this FT article documents, German consumption, spurred on by cash-for-clunkers as well as a governmnet-financed job-saving scheme and generous ...Read more.
Quantitative Easing Fails To Get Banks To Lend
Analysis from FT Alphaville. Here are the main ideas: The Deputy Governor’s remarks on ‘quantitative easing’ (QE) suggest the Bank of England has abandoned any hopes it might have had that its asset purchases would lead to a revival in bank lending. If QE is purely and explicitly aimed at flattening yields, it also raises ...Read more.
Israel/Palestine: "Breakthrough" Imminent?
Two UK broadsheet dailies seem to be saying so: From The Guardian From The Independent
