I fear that the Greek people are being saddled with a curse that will survive many generations, sort of like predatory pay-day loan storefront lent legitimacy by central banks’ underwriting that traps people down on their luck in a vicious and unending cycle, pushed into a coup d’Etat. The most optimistic estimates predict, I heard, for repayment—just getting back to zero and being broke again (the condition that most countries cling precariously to) and not in arrears or receivership—is at best a hundred years and that is contingent on a period of peace and stability that has not been enjoyed in a long, long time.
Tuesday, 14 July 2015
meanwhile, back at the agora oder unsichbares hand
catagories: ๐ฉ๐ช, ๐ฌ๐ท, ๐, economic policy, foreign policy
Tuesday, 19 May 2015
bypass or great big convoy
Via the ever-excellent Kottke comes this rather profound study and projection of how self-driving vehicles will alter the economy and particularly the gas-food-lodging infrastructure built to support commercial trucking. While it does not take much boldness to imagine a phalanx of safer, more efficient robot guided convoys taking truckers out of the drivers’ seats as it has already come to pass, but the impact does not of course stop with this last lament of middle-class bread-winners.
The article is written from an American perspective and by analogy compares the seismic changes that could occur to those communities that the interstate freeway system passed by and withered for the sake of expedience, but I think the analysis is completely universal. With manufacturing increasingly retreating into yonder tightfistedness, goods are forever being shuttled back and forth. Consuming merchandise created and delivered by machine, vast swathes of the human workforce (and ultimately, all of it) become redundant and without access to meaningful employment. The untenable situation is accelerating to an important junction, wherein either there is no demand to satisfy the production-capacity because no one has the tender to pay for it or money becomes a rather meaningless trifle and in a utopian society, humans are at last allowed to enjoy the fruit of their labour. I suppose that’s precisely the point of progress but it is hard for me to imagine that the robber-barons might herald this event joyfully—especially if they knowing ushered in their own severance. What do you think? Will those automated cars drive us all off a cliff or make our existence better by abolishing capital?
catagories: economic policy, labour, philosophy, revolution, technology and innovation, transportation
Wednesday, 25 March 2015
five-by-five
once and future sins: a projection on how future generations might judge us a century hence
club med: a look at the Museum of European and Mediterranean Civilisations in Marseilles
the mads are calling: a chart to rate evil geniuses
she doesn’t even realise she’s a replicant: descend into uncanny valley with these interviews with robot and mind-clone, Bina 48
brainy, hefty, jokey: explaining secular stagnation through the lens of Smurf Village
catagories: ๐, ๐ก, ๐บ, economic policy, environment
Thursday, 22 January 2015
parity, parody
For more than a decade, the euro has outpaced the US dollar—consistently rising from a worth of under a dollar to this present inverted affair.
catagories: ๐ฉ๐ช, ๐ช๐บ, ๐ฌ๐ง, ๐บ๐ธ, economic policy
Friday, 5 December 2014
coolhunting or memetic
Via Kottke, Business Week magazine celebrates its eighty-fifth birthday with an articulated list of the eighty-five most troublesome concepts in the market-place.
catagories: economic policy, lifestyle, psychology, revolution
Thursday, 30 October 2014
energie-wende oder junck bonds
Lately, the press regarding the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership treaty has mostly been lately either smug resignation to the inevitable or nebulous fears that come across a bit feeble and embarrassing for the agreement’s opposition.
Naked Capitalism, however, delivers an accessible and literate summary of the arguments and developments that are coinciding with Germany turning sour on the whole deal with America with its perceptions and understanding of what’s at stake matured and appropriately jaded. Aside from the mutual watering-down of environmental- and labour-regulations and other concerns, there is more over the clear potential for corruption with revolving-door commissars and “judges” to act as the court of last appeal in disputes between member states and businesses. It is this last point that is focusing Germany’s awareness—what with the German government already at the mercy of the trade courts and one foreign energy concern’s self-interests over the country’s resolution to wean itself away from nuclear power. Germany faces reparations for losses the company will incur due to this decision—and the company’s right to seek compensation for its investors is already enshrined in legislation that could override a stand taken by the state. Settlement was eventually reached without invoking arbitration—which is a very Byzantine process by design—but if the legal framework is unraveled and corporate bullying is made easier and pushed out of view, it is not hard to imagine that Germany’s energy-reform could have taken a very different trajectory.
catagories: ⚛️, ๐ฉ๐ช, ๐ช๐บ, ๐บ๐ธ, ๐, ๐ช️, economic policy, environment, food and drink, foreign policy, Star Wars
Sunday, 19 October 2014
two-bit, four-bit
catagories: ๐ณ๐ด, ๐, economic policy
Wednesday, 1 October 2014
blue light special or lender of last resort
A major American retailer has finally managed to run rings around regulators and public-interest groups and is able to additionally bundle bank-like services for its patrons, many of whom belong to the demographic where they cannot avoid this particular discounter and are not of the means to be courted by other financial institutions.
catagories: economic policy, labour
Thursday, 25 September 2014
it happened on the way to the forum: semper fideles or republican guard
Just as they say, Rome was not built in a day, neither was its downfall something sudden and decisive: a long, steady decline that lasted centuries characterised the collapse of the Western Empire after a turbulent succession of emperors. No single factor precipitated this erosion become avalanche, though there were certainly pivotal moments, but before indulging, to the point of obsessing over the next episode’s surprises, the History of Rome series from Mike Duncan, I had not considered military-coup as a cause.


catagories: ๐ฎ๐น, ๐, economic policy
Friday, 5 September 2014
superfecta or theatre-in-the-round
NATO representatives have gathered in Wales in order to reassert the relevance of their club and address a depressing array of threats to broader peace. Such short workshops rarely result in any lasting resiliency or reflection, and instead in greater polarisation for fear of admitting to motivations that lie beneath hidden by the beards of รฉminence gris—but that's the trident of institutional problems. Nationally endemic problems can happily be ignored in such an ideological environment, and provocation buffets attention from all corners: Western powers are making a calculated (even unto failure) to punish Russia's stance in the Crimea with economic sanctions that are curiously—if not backfiring—only punishing to the sanction-givers, as Russia has independent means and no shortage of other buyers—and oddly chosen rhetoric, like attributing the false hubris that it might take Russia as much as two weeks to take Ukraine, when in fact it would be much quicker.
catagories: ๐ง๐ช, ๐ฌ๐ง, ๐ท๐บ, ๐บ๐ธ, ๐, economic policy, foreign policy, revolution
Wednesday, 27 August 2014
who's who oder them
Not only does Austria get to host the EuroVision Song Contest next summer, the Interalpen Hotel, the venue of the secretive summit already in 1988, near the western Tyrolean village of Telfs will again accommodate the Bilderberg Conference.
catagories: ๐ฆ๐น, ๐ฌ๐ง, ๐บ๐ธ, ๐, ๐ถ, economic policy, foreign policy
Monday, 18 August 2014
it happened on the way to the forum: proletariat or body-politic
As no reliable, direct records of Roman history are extant prior to the sacking of the city by the Gauls in 390 BC, politicians and historians had considerable license in constructing the mythology, building prophetic parallels and claim firsts that may or may not have happened exactly in the Romans’ favour.
One example was in the creation of the Republic, which preceded the institution of democracy in Athens by a bald year—with the ousting of the city’s final monarch and the pledge of the populace never again to embrace monarch—and pain of death for any usurper. The democracy practiced among both great civilizations is quite different—with citizenship not a birthright, slavery and suffrage vested in only land-owning males—than contemporary democracies and were quite different in terms of leadership from each other. The composition of the consul evolved many times over the centuries, but in general, candidates were elected by their peers to a term of office of one year—no reelection could be sought for consecutive years and often there was the counter-balance of co-magistrates—each with the power to veto (I forbid) any decision of the other. Because the annual election to select new leaders was also subject to veto and considerable delay, usually a compromise was brokered—lest any politician be accused of hording too much power. No duly selected consul could claim emergency powers or institute martial-law, but such situations of course arose quite often. In order to manage the ship of state during war and invasions, a separate individual was selected—no campaigning—as dictator, given absolute power to prosecute the task he was elected for, and then expected to graciously retire. All dictators of Rome kept good to this oath—until Julius Caesar. Even with this new form of government, a large demographic, the majority of the population, were not free from tyranny, however, as the patrician class excluded the plebeians, the artisans and soldiers, from high office, both secular and religious.
catagories: ๐ฎ๐น, ๐, economic policy, foreign policy, labour, language, philosophy, religion, revolution
Wednesday, 13 August 2014
meanwhile, back at the ranch
Isn't it a enjoy how everything is delivered just in time and in a neat little package to assuage the capitalists?
catagories: ๐ฒ๐ฝ, ๐บ๐ธ, ๐งฌ, economic policy, environment, transportation
Sunday, 10 August 2014
autarky or war of words
It is strange how words become ammunition in reporting:
catagories: ๐ท๐บ, ๐, economic policy, foreign policy
Wednesday, 9 July 2014
montagsdemo oder wir sind das volk
Though never claiming to be the moral successor to the Montagsdemonstrationen, those peaceful rallies that took place in the late eighties in the public square of the Nikolaikirche in Leipzig, spreading to other cities, protesting the ruling party in East Germany and instrumental in making imminent the reunification, the German press is drawing parallels to a movement began this Spring in Hamburg called Vigils for Peace (Mahnwachen fรผr den Frieden).
catagories: ๐ฉ๐ช, ๐ฅธ, economic policy, foreign policy, revolution, Saxony, Wikipedia
Sunday, 6 July 2014
duress or just like a boss
Spiegel's International Desk (auf Englisch) features an interview with the one of the Fugitive’s lawyers and another former agency contractor regarding the US intelligence apparatchik's unflagging pursuit of complete, omnipotent surveillance and Germany's relationship as a junior partner. The short but insightful piece equates that drive to a form of state-sanctioned religion, having one self-same loftier aim of population-control, foiled with another much more mundane and human of having the economic upper-hand and influence over government regulation in business and for emerging technologies. Of course I rationally understood these sort of goals, especially being able to poll the mood of mergers and acquisitions or trade agreements before they were put before national assemblies or eked out to a public, with or without any input into the proposal, and adjust language and sciency-sounding reviews accordingly.
I knew that the US government and its branches were basically indentured servants, in peonage, to its corporate masters. I held on to one or two naรฏve beliefs, however, until hearing how the agency had enjoyed an uneasy but privileged spot in its host-nation of Germany since the conclusion of WWII, and all checks and balances and feet-dragging were summarily dismissed in the wake of 9/11, when even despite public renunciation of the aggression, Germany became an unquestioning staging-ground. Privately—at least among politicians—the grief and guilt that Germany had to bear over having allowed the 9/11 hijackers to reside in their country was something graver than the other guilt and shame that Germany already carried and had no choice in this polite world other than to acquiesce. That—for me, instantly dispelled any room for some fretful but ultimately benevolent ideology or unbridled patriotism driving America's businesses' posture and insatiable hunger for control and dominance at any cost. The public face of it, the Department of Homeland Security, the National Security Agency (nor of no other country neither), are just costly work-horses and can visit no end of humiliation and intimidation upon individuals—costly as well in terms of political capital and good-will, but that price is dwarfed by what corporations, which know no allegiance nor shame, stand to gain and tithe the government for its services. This exercise is far from one in security, and despite pretensions and campaigns to the contrary, it is solely concerned with maintaining and increasing treasure and comfort for the few.
catagories: ⚖️, ๐ช๐บ, ๐บ๐ธ, ๐ฅธ, economic policy, foreign policy, labour
Friday, 4 July 2014
one percenters or singing for your supper
Although there have been recent developments in the court room that seem to favour hyper-capitalism, I suspect that litigation between the government of Argentina and a hedge-fund manager is far from over. When the South American nation's economy was down-and-out and on the verge of collapse, a band of merry angel investors bought up bonds at a few pennies on the dollar. Now that the Argentine economy is back on its feet and the bonds have matured, from being not worth the paper they were printed on to being worth billions of dollars (on paper) and the hedge-fund team is demanding payment in full. Never mind that making this payment would destroy the Argentine market all over again and the their initial predatory investment did not in anyway help the country to extract itself from the financial mess, which is ostensibly why countries expose themselves to such vultures in the first place. US judges have again ruled that the hedge-fund manager has the right to his claim—though it would be nothing more than a Pyrrhic victory. Though smug and satisfied with this impossible ruling, I think that they would like nothing more than to see the proceedings drag on and only threaten to foreclose on Argentina, since that's what banks do best. As sad as this tale is, it is not unique.
With historically low interest rates, banks are disinclined still to lend to mere mortals when or conduct the non-swash-buckling daily work of the institutions, being that the banks themselves can afford to borrow money from central banks the world over at say one percent interest and use that loan to purchase government bonds and securities, which pays dividends back to the bank of two to three percent, effectively making the government pay banks for this bit of the banksters' entertainment. Why would the bother with anything else than this safe and secure scheme? Government and the markets conspire to keep this economic theatre going, making cosmetic adjustments here and there when the system looks in danger of collapse.
catagories: economic policy, labour
Wednesday, 2 July 2014
comptoir national d'escompte
Already facing bullying by US authorities for violating (US) economic sanctions imposed against certain unfriendly nations during the past decade, France's diplomatic judgment and will is being freshly questioned by America. It’s a tragic irony that a nation’s banks and military-industrial complex, instead of the crown and sceptre, have become the synecdoche for a government, people and posture. Told it would be unwise to allow the sale of a new warship to Russia, the French government appears to be the victim of blackmail—by some estimations. Given that the fines for sanctions, in the billions and far exceeding the bank’s annual profits, were already reduced in exchange for pleading guilty to charges of falsifying records and conspiracy (bad behavior certainly, but unrelated to the indictment of doing business with Iran, Cuba et. al) and the punitive scolding of denying the bank the ability to conduct dollar transactions was dropped, it seems like it can’t be anything else than extortion and backing out of a deal with Russia might bring the judgment down further.
catagories: ๐ซ๐ท, ๐ท๐บ, ๐บ๐ธ, ๐, economic policy, foreign policy
Tuesday, 1 July 2014
terms-of-trade
America’s chief export, with the hearty support of an endless string of industrialists and fund managers (whose livelihoods are fully vested in keeping up appearances and maintaining the status quo) and legal and political framework of intimidation and opportunism that is in every way constituted to ensure the enduring favourable market conditions, has been war and strife for quite some time. The trade has not been limited, of course, to proxy fighting but such business is easily over-shadowed by more direct lines of engagement in recent years.
Ukraine’s request to lift the cease-fire, with the professed backing of America, was apparently promulgated by a resolution announced by the EU condemning Russian suppression of Ukrainian pro-Western factions. Explicitly or implicitly, all of this looks to be orchestrated by America—including the sovereign government of Ukraine, whose opposition has just-cause to fear, considering who might have installed it and decrees its loyalties. America’s vying for compassion is not to promote Democracy (not even, I think, in the face of Communism) but only hegemony, ensuring its interests and markets are protected and that competition is eliminated. If Russia’s pulled asunder—over this tug-of-war pitch called Old and New Europe, then the US faces one less rival and dissenting voice. What do you think? Both sides have convincing spokespeople, I think.
catagories: ๐ท๐บ, ๐บ๐ธ, ๐, ๐ฅธ, economic policy, foreign policy, labour, revolution
Tuesday, 24 June 2014
gold doubloons and pieces of eight
Kottke shares an interesting project to help pull up its boot-straps about the developing phenomenon of alternative currency. Using Bit-Coin as a point of departure, the documentary in the making aims to not just demonstrate how any one with a computer can create a tiny bank in full faith and with credit but also to question what the public deign as fiat and therefore trustworthy and exchangeable.
catagories: economic policy, networking and blogging, psychology, revolution