titanomachy or primus inter pares

In a dispatch from the Swiss edition of thelocal, the central government of the Helvetic Confederacy in Bern is reluctant to share (otherwise befriend America) access to its electronic criminal records database with the United States. The arrangement is not reciprocal, mutual as Switzerland isn’t taking on the whole onerous burden of America’s security apparatus but Swiss authorities are expected to surrender all the vital information of its citizens, in case a native ne’er-do-well ever decides to visit the States, and the only thing that the Swiss people are getting in return for this openness and trust for the US to safeguard its information better than the US can keep track of its own is the right to travel to the States under the Visa-Waiver program, a government web-site that supposedly announces one’s plans and intentions well ahead of time but despite the publicity, one is asked the same stock questions by countless airport personnel coming and going, prodded and frisked just the same.

I think that Switzerland ought to resist submitting to this sort of security theatre, which while mining the demographics of dozens of other countries for something speciously actionable, goes on to treat each and every that’s participating in the Visa-Waiver program (and consequently, sharing their police dossiers) as if they cannot handle their own affairs—or connect the dots and have an over-abundance of domestic problems and are eager to export them to America. The US already bullied the banks into disclosing too much, ostensibly over money-laundering and terrorism, that made a shambles out of everything, as if the US had any business dictating to the Swiss how to manage money. Even after, through controlling the flow of wire-transfers, America became this hundred-handed Hecatonchires of the world’s financial system (or law-enforcement), it was still unable to forecast the knock-on effects of its gross mismanagement of its own business. Private and personal information, of breakers and abiders, is not being entrusted to good hands, I think, and the Swiss ought to allow their waiver program to lapse. Giving up all these records is something much more permanent than the daily fluctuations of the stock markets or the designs of some paranoid security czar. At least requiring a mutual visit to the embassy to apply for a Visa could be one thing that the Swiss could reciprocate in kind.

blue-plate special or everything’s up-to-date in kansas city

For the US presidential election less than a year out, I am guessing that the voting public and the public at-large has only been served the first loathsome appetizers of what rhetoric is in store for them in the coming campaign. Watching from a safer distance yet still not clear of the eruption of embarrassment and the rubber-necking over a profoundly expensive, corrupt and obtuse fight to secure the consent of an increasing narrow majority of the American voters--as much as can be fairly represented by gerrymandering, lobbyists and arcane institutions of indirect democracy.

Disappointment and hopes dashed from the last US election certainly make for a strong aperitif (or apparatchik) and the ultimate differences between the American political parties may only be as significant as that narrow, polarizing majority that either one holds, but the campaigning is already ugly and averting and I am sure that the next course will only be more unpalatable. Just like the farmer and the cowman, the tea-partiers and the occupiers should be friends, and both camps fighting against the establishment and would not revile one another so much if they essentially weren't fighting for the same thing. Whatever the culinary agenda, which I can't imagine would be very rife with surprises and some things are only for internal consumption, before it even begins in earnest, I bet Jesus and Mohammed (along with a whole host of others) are cringing at their summonses, much preferring words not be put into their mouths and dragged into the muck as casually as any other words of sophistry. It seems the attacks get more vicious every cycle, and I wonder when undisguised incivility reaches the point where it is no longer tolerated, stomached, when it becomes an insult to general intellect.

sopapilla oder net neutralität

Though SOPA, the bill in the US Congress that would outlaw parody, sampling and originality has nothing to do with anti-piracy measures and the opponents of the bill certainly are not endorsing common-sense copyright infringement and respect intellectual property and artistic integrity, a Swiss government commissioned study (auf Deutsch, en français, in Italiano, ed tar la rumantscha but with the story and analysis on the excellent and astonishing Boing Boing) is providing a refreshing counterpoint to the dishonest hysterics and censorship budding up elsewhere. Our friends in Switzerland discovered that casual downloading was not harming the industry and actually spurred sales for movie and concert tickets and well as media in many cases. The results of this study actually are helping to enforce the framework of laws safe-guarding individual privacy in the Confederation, including limiting internet service providers' ability to keep logs on users' activity and other questionable forms of tattling.

the other shoe

What is going on with the United States of America and its legislative foundry? I realize that partisans like news that validates their own tastes and worries and reporting is prone to exaggeration, but the States have lately taken on these strange airs with all the busy, bossy tyranny of a domineering and wicked step-sister. Maybe it is the throes and rattle of a collapsing empire and dynasty, desperate and clawing--but undeniably and unequivocally, America seems to be assaulting those freedoms and achievements that made it relevant (if not great) with a perverted prejudice and uncertain prospects. It all sounds unreal.  At the behest of the entertainment industry, it was revealed that America was intent on denuding the internet, making it a very difficult to publish original work or sample the creations of others without establishing an onerous chain-of-custody and provenance except for those artists whom are already discovered and can afford the up-keep of membership and registry. Next, in quick succession, the US is considering broadening the definition of battlefield to cover the whole folksy Homeland, this front just added to the Global War on Terrorism a few months after it was deemed acceptable that America's Cyber-Command could launch an offensive fight and respond not in kind to virtual threats but answer them with real-world guns and bullets. These creeping powers of the military and the all-encompassing playing field would allow for detention of anyone anywhere without trial or due process for an unlimited period of time, not just American citizens in America.
The last and latest insult is the natural consequence of unrelenting attacks on the arts and sciences in the States but is now assuming its final form with the failure of the Congressional Super-Committee to trim the government budget. I suspect that no one had much faith that the Super-Committee would succeed, so some analysts saying that the failure was a good fiscal outcome as automatic reductions have been put into motion is not a very genuine endorsement. Perhaps brute enforcement will force some choices and some discipline but programs targeted on contingency of this breakdown are, besides social programs, funding for art programs and research and development. Squandered inspiration and neglected imagination are intolerable wastes, and these proposals, in triplicate, even if overstated, are dangerous and would generate little in return, regardless who champions them. What gain, anticipated and delivered, could even begin to replace what's been lost? The torment in the end, like an overbearing and favoured step-sister however, may be just as listless and a paper-tiger as the tormentor.

cloudy gray times, you are now a thing of the past

The American Stock Market Panic of 1893 was overshadowed by the Great Depression during the interbellum and the hand-wringing of today, but notably was also precipitated by a bubble, in railroads--speculation and over-building led to too many trains and inability to profit and compete, and the first spectre of quantitative easing in the mandate for the US government to absorb the seigniorage (fiat) in backing up the Gold Standard with silver certificates and coin. The crisis was not defused until the discovery of gold reserves in the Klondike and the right-sizing of the transportation industry. These events inspired at least one Broadway melodrama called The War of Wealth by playwright Charles Turner Dazey in 1896. Though Dazey portrays economic turmoil and runs on banks portentously, insolvency did not really hit the financial system as a cause rather than an effect until the Panic of 1907, but I suppose few are interested in seeing the theatrics on Main Street, Wall Street or on Broadway.

you used to ride on your chrome horse with your diplomat

This morning on the drive into work, I was listening to the news in the background, not really paying attention to it. The anchor was reporting on the broad field of Republican presidential candidates for next year’s election in the States, and garbled the name of a former top US diplomat who apparently had been offered in jest a cabinet position, his old post, in the administration.

The reporter named Secretary of State--Außenminister(in)--Hillary Kissinger as having reacted graciously and with good humour to the proposal. That would be a strange mash-up of policies and missions that I can’t even begin to imagine (but would make some good speculative fiction), much less the message and logistical feasibility having reinstating such a figure would entail.

utopian gesture

More toxic yet, I believe, than politicians and their squabbles, though sometimes and in some places they are genuine and productive--the growing pains of democracy and inclusion--but mostly rightly adjudged as corrupt and self-interested, is the attitude, best exemplified in the sentiment of American Exceptionalism and the unsinkable promises and aspiration to maintain the chauvinism and clout of days and decades past (but the USA does not have a monopoly on hubris nor is the USA alone with her illusions of perpetuating institutions as they are). Despite what the prophets of doom are preaching, Europe and America are secure and can provide for their people, but dominance and even identity (tradition within bounds but also grandeur and influence out of proportion) have been supplanted by business and the bets that dictate the limits of sway and how far one can involve or distance oneself.  Crafters of State ought to recognize whether the effort expended is bent on re-capturing old glories--manifest destiny and merry old England, preserving values and norms, or if all that energy is re-directed towards making the landscape favourable for business that knows no borders, cultural or political.  National arrogance, insistent and potentially seductive, is dangerous enough on its own in any context but has the capacity for more damage when aims of peace and true prosperity are edged out by trade and economic demands that would preserve institutions (the topography) at any cost, delusional and empires without end.

wallet inspector or nickel-and-dimed

Rarely I think new policies are introduced without calculated unpopularity, and I think that this is the case with the announcement of one of the biggest banks of America (recursively named) that it will begin charging its customers a nominal monthly convenience fee for using their point of sale debit cards.

All the outrage and resentment that have been generated over this relatively harmless move might be the final straw that causes the public to move their money and quit enabling these too-big-to-fail. If such a mildly unsettling PR failure can bring about revolution, then I am happy for it, but I think the message was instead designed to make the public at large forget about all their past transgressions and focus on this new tangible and across the board policy: never mind all the billions in tax-payer bailout assistance, predatory loans, aggressive and faulty repossessions, casually firing tens of thousands from its own workforce, being generally unrepentant about abetting the whole global financial , and now they have the nerve to nickel-and-dime people for the privilege of using their own money (merchants already pay a premium for renting debt-card machines), which the banks profit from by holding it. I think it will backfire.  One would do better to always use cash: all those electronic trillions in sovereign debt and corporate assets the world around could not fit physically fit into all the bank vaults of the world, if this trend snowballs and that’s quite something for cash-on-hand.

negative reinforcement or forever blowing bubbles

The reigning coalition in Germany has been compelled to make some difficult decisions and try to apply some sophistical cheer to an approach to the debt crisis that's been shown to be a costly failure. The public needs convincing that their tax monies are not being squandered and that this rescue package is not just a furtherance (kicking the can) of the same game, same irresponsibility and same greed that's bigger than the public's interests or hopes or aspirations. Such dishonesty and futility is being broached, I'd venture, mostly because of the berating and scolding that the European Union as a whole received from a very paternal and ironic United States: blamed for the global financial crisis and blamed for perpetuating fear and manufacturing and hiring timidity through its inaction. A lot of unsolicited advice has been traded since the public became aware of this Great Game but never in the form of an official rebuke and lecture. I hope the EU does not fold to this sort of pressure, since its only in the interest of the States and the Elite Them to stoke a virtual euro bubble. It's all hearsay.

Speaking of economic bubbles, Magic Eight Ball is indicating that the next boom and bust cycle may lie in the agricultural business--in food and drink. Cows and cars are already competing over fodder, leading to shortages and price inflation all around. I'm afraid that there will be a land-grab of the limited suitable fields and pastures, just like the exuberance that accelerated property prices during the Housing Crisis only to fall and to dash greed as well as livelihoods. There will probably also be action to turn more small farms into franchisees of agribusiness conglomerates, like the unstinting corporations that have put genetically modified crops, biofuels and corn-syrup into the food-chain. There are more of us to feed and only so much space left to grow what we need, without further decimating the environment. Hitching up home prices to a dangerous and unsustainable height was bad enough--it's scary to try to imagine how the situation might look with more immediate and needful provisions.

marching orders

This is not the timeliest reporting, but after being in effect for eighteen years, it is nice to actually see the repeal (DE) in print and on official stationary. Of course, what comes after all the talk, debate and vitriol is important and mending, but this final formality seemed already in place and triumphant for quite a while. The memo was just now disseminated to our level, and though that's a rather typical internal pace, news does find other avenues and outlets.

cogitative bias

The waves of panic in European banking stocks and in the overall American market over EU fiscal discipline and future of the currency-bloc seems to me a bit disingenuous. Battering the creditworthiness of certain big banks or the ability of some member states to adhere to their imposed self-improvement plans. After all, it is in America's interest to promote this particular sort of torment and agony, since it masks its own regulatory and supply-side shortcomings and, moreover, it is in the better interest of the USA to keep the euro over-valued and the dollar weak. Should the euro wane, the American export market would suffer from cheaper European competition, and resources, priced in dollars, would become more dear. Defaults and the perception of defaults might hurt business profit in the short-term but not people, productivity and the marketplace in the long-term, and the policies and mechanisms that will be developed to redress bankruptcy will ultimately translate to a strong and stable European economy.

try to remember that kind of september

Pausing to reflect on the events of 11 September and recalling the sorrow shared over the fact that the perpetrators, whomever they might be, felt that what they were doing would result in a greater good, however that might be measured. The events and the reverberating response, magnfied and rippling through the years, are tragic and with little solace.

The conditioning (the "new-normal"), posturing and policy that came about through loss and fear projected should not be coddled and commemorated like the endless state of war and blind vigilance these prevailing attitudes have inspired. For those who suffered personal loss on 11 September or in the decade of conflict and incarceration that followed should never be expected to forget or move on and should be allowed to grieve in their own ways, but no matter how sadness is screwed up into revenge, hate, vitriol and unthinking, I do not believe that the legacy of those losses of that day and of the days and years that followed should be transmuted into practices and protocol that have radically changed things for the worse, bred intolerance and curtailed liberties.

That's the other shared sorrow, and that is no tribute and a grave dishonour. Too many words already lost their meaning in theatre and farce.  If anything the solidarity and the recognition that we all belong to one another, should be the point-of-departure of 11 September and not what's been sown.

9/11^10

This is morning in America. Ten years on as the anniversary of the attacks approaches, and I have to wonder if all the devotion to security theatre, terrorism has become a rather specious subject, methods and efforts vilified by a marked absence.

Marshalling armies for such a pageant has not left an abundance of resources for calling together militias for other causes that have been eroding during the past decade. What happens in the within the American sphere of influence is far from all gloom and grime and there are still much charity and vision coming from there, but from the periscope of living abroad and what pushes the news, it seems like a national will has been lost and edited away like it was never there to begin with. Potential for earning a livelihood is anemic, the disparity of wealth has spread, citizens in terms of values and priorities have never been more polarized and desperate for demagoguery, communities are at odds with one another, infrastructure is crumbling and little has been invested for the future. Maybe the legacy of 11. September is not in heightened security, mistrust, loss of privacy but rather in the demotivation of reactionaries, always struggling to respond--irrespective of scope or scale, instead of building that is enduring and comprehensive. Very serious people in very serious forums, not lampoons or satires, are spouting off all sorts of causes to rally around that really defy belief: security theatre has expanded to all sorts of absurdities that Americans can be bothered to heed. That's another morning in America.

manifest destiny

 In an unrequited display of nostalgia for fading imperial muscle, the US Internal Revenue Service is poised to unleash a slew of regulations and reporting requirements that will make foreign banks and businesses unwilling agents of tax-collection. This cannot end well--given that--following the example in the article, a foreign bank with American holdings, investments, bonds, treasuries, has to expend caution, time and resources on the citizenship of each and every depositor-- and the money-lenders and underwriters may well avoid doing business with Americans altogether. Bankers and economists all over are deriding this parasitic hubris, not wanting to take the responsibility for doing a job that the US government cannot manage itself. America's tax regime, for individuals at least, is overly-ambitious and unique in that in seeks its share of earnings, regardless of where they were earned and where one lives--and this they demand outside of the arrangement of any standing tax treaty.

Shirking one's obligations harms others, especially when one expects to be afforded the protections and support of one's country--however, I think this whole proposal is vindictive and misguided and won't repatriate revenue, the IRS already cannot handle its regular caseload though it expects to shift through the wisps of international banking, and also given that the US government might try to shake down, strong-arm and intimidate individuals for loose-change yet demand no taxes from its huge corporations, whose continued profits through tax-payer funded bailouts (Rettungspakets) have neither translated to creation of new jobs nor market stability.

nom de guerre or incite-a-riot

Some European politicians are making well-intentioned calls, with the massacre in Norway and street riots in England fresh on the public conscious, that networking sites and commentary refuse made-up names or (pseudo) anonymous contributions in order to prevent circulation of hate-speech or organizing chaos. Some instigators have always cowered behind anonymity when disseminating destructive suggestion to avoid catching any of the blame when things end badly, and though most faceless pontiffs only go so far, speech and expression are protected, for one, to keep tyranny in check. The paradigms of the Arab Spring do not owe their existence solely to tweets and spasms but the democracy movement certainly would have managed a different pace without networking tools and the privacy that the internet can afford. Mobilization of thuggery, as characterized by some, is a frightening thing but internet crowd-sourcing and crowd-control has not completely managed to transform the population into lemmings.

Those motivated for a cause can discern between leadership and cowardly advocates. Meanwhile, this Orwellian crack-down has already come to pass, autonomously--without discussion or policy-debate, locally enacted without a higher-mandate, which is illustrative of the mindset of some people, over the weekend on the platforms of the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) system in and around San Francisco, California. In response to the killing of two passengers by BART officers--which is another disturbing insight into the mindset of some, when a bus driver is licensed to kill--supposedly a protest rally had been organized. Though the planned rally did not take place, wireless services were disabled to prevent further, real-time coordination by the unruly mob. These broad powers to take a group or individuals offline because they might incite a riot is disturbing. No one wants authority figures to decide what is seemly and warranted--and I suspect that most listened when their mothers admonished, "if all your friends jumped off a bridge..."--but it certainly seems even more dangerous to let a protest escalate into a violent confrontation with multiple bystanders with no way to call for help.

sisyphus or the united states of austerity

The American economy, industry and stability has ventured into very uncertain territory. After the enduring the battle of the wills that nearly resulting in a suspension of government services and furlough, I kind of lost interest in the posturing and mime that pushes the crisis but affect no real positive good. Some have described the atmosphere in Washington as bellicose, and though the work of exercizing democracy is not meant to be neat and courtly and hard decisions face America, it seems that the will and welfare of the people is not what's being won by all these histrionics and summoned rage.

No long-term solution has been found, and while debt and spending are unsustainably high, erosion of employment opportunities and physical and social infrastructure impose a bigger threat. The notion of American identity is challenged by the loss of that fleeting American dream, American exceptionalism and also the loss of military supremacy. Public health is not being championed, but rather only the rolling, regimented faith and confidence of the broader markets, not allowing the fear and frustration other outlets of expression. Debt is fleet-foot, threatening to obligate everyone futures with the toil of money already spent. Rather than fostering ways for the country to grow itself out this tangle together, secretive panels have been deputized with the task of chipping away at a mountain of outlays. People won't so be able to look beyond the childish antics that staved off any real debate and transparency and won't ignore what's been eschewed, and the cycle has only been primed to continue. Insular or expansive, this drama will be carried out over a succession in a long run of bank holidays, beginning when America faces up to the task of drafting a budget for the next fiscal year, and then when austerity panels fail to meet the quotas, and the build up to the 2012 presidential elections, and then when the credit rating agencies--to maintain any semblance of credibility--downgrade the US, and so on.

evasive maneuvers

First seeing the headline that US pensioners might be affected by the looming national borrowing frontier, I scoffed a little, wondering why anyone would proffer such a new worry, reviving the fears and panicky behaviour of a few months ago of a government-services collapse. That was a battle-of-the-wills too, to see who would risk compromise or be obstinate on blame. I thought the pronouncement was only some reporter glomming on to one phrase and appeal that was not meant to be showcased--that is, until I heard the same scary news picked up by German broadcasters. Maybe it is still just a threatening projection, because I think too the rest of the world is prone to gawk at a country that would just shut-down or threaten to do so. I don't think there have been accords by the polarized political parties and talks have not progressed, but there have certain been some exercises in creative and critical think. Apparently, mostly without such theomachy, the US president has asked and been granted lifting the debt ceiling about one hundred times in the past, having exceeded what the US Congress had appropriated in the fiscal budget. Some are proposing a bit of theatre, legal fiction, to give the office of the president autonomous authority and responsibility to raise the legal borrowing limit, independent of congress. This does not create extra money or save social programs, but it allows for no deflection of responsibility (de facto but not in fact since all agencies are responsible for their own fund management). Further, this shifting of blame may prevent delay of the US government defaulting on its obligations (to creditors, and to its people) but taking on more debt, regardless--for example, in August, the government is scheduled to make $23 billion in Social Security payments but only expects to generate $12 billion in taxes on the day outlays come due, and unable to pawn more debt, the government can only spend what it takes in--only restores allocations' and appropriations' role, again threatening a government closure. I don't know what can be done but there is no choice between supporting corporate or public welfare and the two should not be stood up as warring standard-bearers.

eight-bit or the red-coats are coming

The military, especially the US army, has an expensive fashion-sense. I understand the role is of fatigues and battle-rattle to help keep soldiers safe and inconspicuous but a lot of changes seemed to be pushed through all at once, the repeal of DADT besides. The reviled standard issue black berets went away and combat boots changed, Velcro badges, and now the introduction of the latest camoufleur pattern to be field-tested downrange in Afghanistan. Surely, it is pricey for the government to award all these apparel contracts, and it’s at a cost to the individual solider too, who though issued uniforms end up paying for it on store credit (not to mention the dry-cleaning bills) like a carefree troop of novice flight-attendants. Here, a deploying unit is in formation with the rear-detachment, who will stay behind. The juxtaposition is interesting, and I do like the new retro-camouflage a lot better than the pixilated old one. One got used to it and I suppose the uniforms become invisible though no one really blends in. The new so-called multi-cam has a classic look, single and in the right sun, the colours almost look like a trained, super-imposition of an old Kodachrome photograph, instead of some cheap and over-done CGI special-effect.

national lampoon

A few weeks ago the Onion reported that a think tank in Washington concluded that all of America’s economic problems can be attributed to the fact it was built on top of an ancient Indian burial ground. A few weeks before that, some clever person through the looking-glass started collecting the musings and the outrage of people who do not realize that the Onion is a news parody, whose commentary probably is more telling that most journalism. That jokes and pranks can draw out the same sort of internet hissy-fits is pretty telling as well. What is truly funny does not go stale.

Vor wenigen Wochen gab die Onion ein Bericht, der kommt zu dem Schluss, dass die Depression der amerikanischen Wirtschaft erwächst vollständig aus der Tatsache, dass das Land liegt auf einem riesig, vorzeitlichem indischem Begräbnisfeld (wie im Film ,,Poltergeist’’ – hier findet man solche Kultkino Kreationen). Und aggregiert davor ein geschickt Gruppe den Empörung an Menschen ohne Kenntnisse dass die Onion haben die Nachrichten parodiert. Manchmal sagt Parodie mehr, als jede wahr Nachricht, genau wie Leichtgläubigkeit. Obwohl nichts Neues, versauern nicht was lustig ist.

good humor man or insular empire

The electronic edition of Der Spiegel (auf deutsch) picked up on a an overlooked interview on National Public Radio with a retired military commander about the grand reckoning of war costs. War is expensive all around and there are untold costs in human life and livelihood, but the economic price at least ought to be a knowable factor and bear semblance to reason and mission. It was established since years that the biggest single expense in waging wars in Iraq and Afghanistan was fuel, transportation of huge amounts of it even to oil-rich lands and keeping the mammoth fleet and patrols in operation, but the NPR interview expounded on the profane detail that maintaining air-conditioning in the desert heat across America's hundreds of camps costs forty billion dollars annually.

This sort of budgeting represents more than the annual allotment for NASA, and certainly more monetary support Public Radio has seen in its life time. It is astounding what other programmes for health and well-being are being defunded in the face of a budget crisis and diverted to dubious battles. I wonder what company is realizing profits with some sham comforts-of-home argument rather than working to bring soldiers actually back to their homes. Moreover, I am sure that all the logistics are contracted out to agents that wouldn't relinquish the job without a fight and let the military do its own terraforming--or choose to forego some measure of luxury. It makes me wonder what the value of forty-billion dollars is in the end, when the Greek Tragedy and the Tea Party Budget Impasse have erupted over less and that much can just be blown out as exhaust. Dollars, given freely and without stint, are not automatically something ennobled.