Some Links, Dec 14
No cable released by WikiLeaks in the last 36 hours. Why?
WikiLeaks cables: Mervyn King plotted banks bailout by four cash-rich nations - Guardian
Six months before the world financial crisis reached its peak, forcing taxpayers to rescue collapsing financial institutions, King told US officials in London that the UK, US, Switzerland and Japan could jointly enable a multibillion-pound cash injection into global banks, overriding the "dysfunctional" G7 nations.
About time - someone takes on Krugman: Reconsidering Japan and Reconsidering Paul Krugman - TruthOut
Sane people: An Open Letter to President Obama - Afghanistan: Call To Reason
$52bn of American aid and still Afghans are dying of starvation - Independent
Former U.S. envoy in Afghanistan worried about insurgent havens in Pakistan - WaPo
He noted that the mayor of Kandahar offered to hire local workers to build roads for a quarter of what USAID was paying an international engineering firm, but the agency has been reluctant to provide funds directly to local officials because it is concerned about waste and corruption. "There's no way in the world that the Afghans could steal as much as we waste," he said.
Said better - "... could steal as much as much as the U.S. "contractors" are stealing."
No loss for mankind: Richard Holbrooke, veteran US diplomat dies aged 69
Annals of stupid headline writing: Ahmadinejad wields axe to cement his position - Independent
Pouring cement with an axe?
Posted by b on December 14, 2010 at 04:11 AM | Permalink
Chris Hedges has a fine article, City of Ruins, in The Nation. It's the story of how Camden, New Jersey has turned into another of America's post-industrial, urban ruins. Places like Camden are transforming into social dead zones. In a city of 70,000 there are no movie houses; and it is impossible to escape, even into a couple hours of film, to get away from the nightmare. Hedges writes that the next political weapon in the US will be food; in cities like Camden , where you can find only Church's Fried Chicken and donut shops, you have to go to the outskirts of the city to find a single supermarket. These kinds of dead zones will become more common; and we are being warned by this writer that we are confronting the rise of a neo-feudal order in this country.
As far as Japan goes, there's no question that it has advantages over the US, not the least of which is its health care. However, Japan's society is distressed by economic and societal stresses. For a long time I've been reading at Elaine Supkis' blog about Japan's problems. Just like here, there is a financial elite running Japan, and wages have been systematically suppressed, over the years, according to Elaine. And she tends to back up her observations on economics with sources and charts. She writes that the Japanese birthrate is declining, that Japanese young people have had to move in with their parents, that a young couple in Japan is stigmatized if they don't possess sufficient income together to run their own household; and that as a result, marriage is postponed.
Japanese youth achieve high marks in school and are proficient in math and science, but it adds to their stress levels. In Adbusters Magazine there are stories of troubled Japanese youth: young people under stress who cut themselves, young people who forgo everything to play video games and disappear in to worlds of virtual reality.
Maybe the article in Truthout glosses over some of the problems in Japan. Elaine Supkis also is critical of Krugman, for ignoring completely the issue of trade deficits, between the US and Japan. She doesn't think he is much of an economist.
Following up on the Krugman story line - from zero hedge - failing to prosecute wall street fraud is extending our economic problems.http://www.zerohedge.com/article/failing-prosecute-wall-street-fraud-extending-our-economic-problems?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+zerohedge%2Ffeed+%28zero+hedge+-+on+a+long+enough+timeline%2C+the+survival+rate+for+everyone+drops+to+zero%29
Posted by: anna missed | Dec 14, 2010 2:27:27 PM | 3
The cableleaks were updated again today. I guess they may be short of hands.
Posted by: ThePaper | Dec 14, 2010 2:58:47 PM | 4
b, the "Open Letter" link opens to a blank page (for me). Anyone else?
Good links today, thank you.
Posted by: Jeremiah | Dec 14, 2010 3:30:19 PM | 5
Here's a very interesting release today:
US Irked by Over-Eager Swiss Diplomats
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,734392,00.html
Posted by: Anthony | Dec 14, 2010 3:46:51 PM | 6
I just found out today your blog was open again. Welcome back! I've really missed your blog. I'm not going out tonight. I'll be spending the evening going through your recent posts.
Posted by: raj727 | Dec 14, 2010 9:57:52 PM | 7
The comments to this entry are closed.
Just reading your teaser to the links gives me heartburn... sigh, can someone pull this bus over I think I want to get off. Does anyone know where a whacko like me might catch a lift with a passing ufo? Just a thought.
To add to the madness, sometimes Karl at the Market Ticker makes some sense... I've a feeling he must have some democratic socialist running thru his blood:
Yet Another Idiotic "Policy" Crumbles: Drugs
Honestly, I've been reading his stuff for a year now, and he calls the bastards out and names-names of the idiots who've created the current mess. No, I don't always agree with his comments, but at least he seems open to a better system then the current one.
Damn it's good to be back. I am continually amazed at the quantity and quality of the material gathered here. Same goes for all you freaks posting :)
Peace
Posted by: DaveS | Dec 14, 2010 9:39:30 AM | 1