Saturday, November 26, 2011
Flying Robots Are Killing People
Huzzah.
ISLAMABAD (AP) — The Pakistani government has demanded the U.S. vacate an air base within 15 days that the CIA is suspected of using for unmanned drones.
The government issued the demand Saturday after NATO helicopters and jet fighters allegedly attacked two Pakistan army posts along the Afghan border, killing 24 Pakistani soldiers.
Musical Chairs
The banksters are informing their servants that they aren't going to eat big shitpile.
It might not be the best solution, but the reality is no one needs to eat it. They can just give everybody free money and have a big do over.
It might not be the best solution, but the reality is no one needs to eat it. They can just give everybody free money and have a big do over.
Convergence
America's Worst Law Enforcement official is in charge of the Penn State investigation and is the trustee for the MF Global bankruptcy.
He's found his niche: sometimes people value deliberate incompetence.
He's found his niche: sometimes people value deliberate incompetence.
Shitpile
Oh, sorry, crap assets.
We've seen this movie before. Our Overlords apparently slept through it.
Again.
Or maybe they've been wide awake the whole time.....
The balance sheets of European banks are piled high with legacy assets -- mortgages, real-estate, and other loans--that are tying up precious capital and constricting the banks' ability to make new, more productive loans.
At the same time, the banks' traditional sources of funding--other banks and institutional investors--have begun drying up as the European crisis intensifies.
This leaves the banks desperately needing to raise cash to survive.
The first plan was to sell off the crap assets.
But according to Gareth Gore in the International Financing Review, this plan has failed, because buyers won't pony up the prices the banks want them to pay.
We've seen this movie before. Our Overlords apparently slept through it.
Again.
Or maybe they've been wide awake the whole time.....
Friday, November 25, 2011
Musical Chairs
And we're playing that game again. The key is to bet on which financial organizations are not connected well enough to get the big bazooka of free money, and which ones are. The latter will probably eat the former, too.
Or just invest it all in Egyptian cotton futures.
Or just invest it all in Egyptian cotton futures.
Chump Change
It's fascinating, in an "oh my god our country is doomed" kind of way, how every single fantasy "centrist" "bipartisan" group gets endless free press from the official Court publications. It actually isn't news that a bunch of rich assholes have raised TWENTY TWO MILLION DOLLARS. That isn't actually real money in this context.
The Great And Glorious Empire
I gather we're entering another "clap louder you stupid hippies" phase.
Unemployment is at 9.0%. Nobody thinks it's going to be much better, or better at all, a year from now.
Nobody in charge thinks they should be doing much about that.
Unemployment is at 9.0%. Nobody thinks it's going to be much better, or better at all, a year from now.
Nobody in charge thinks they should be doing much about that.
Saving Money By Spending More Of It
Yes, if we encourage people to buy more expensive plans that do less for them, with much of the money going to overpaid executives, we will save lots of money.
Plutocracy
It is really what the leading lights at Kaplan Test Prep Daily want. The plutocracy we already have isn't good enough for them.
Also, too, monarchy.
Also, too, monarchy.
Farce
It really isn't very hard. Escort executives out, change the locks, point the free money bazooka at them, at let the game continue like nothing happened.
Instead we're just going to repeat this over and over again.
Instead we're just going to repeat this over and over again.
Thursday, November 24, 2011
It's Thursday, Thursday
Holiday posting schedule. Enjoy your turkeys. Try not to shoot anybody in the face.
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Wednesday Night
Have another video.
It occurs to me that the great thing about Thanksgiving is that it means that Life Day is just around the corner!!
It occurs to me that the great thing about Thanksgiving is that it means that Life Day is just around the corner!!
So Many Hostages
Government shutdowns, debt ceiling showdowns... Not sure why we're forgetting the cards Republicans have.
Connected Vultures Get First Dibs At The Carcass
No confidence that this will be the event that's the catalyst, it is going to take rich people screwing each other for there to be any real impetus for meaningful reform.
Thread
Sam Seder did a good interview with Dean Baker the other day, if you want to check that out.
Signed,
Not Atrios
Signed,
Not Atrios
Afternoon Thread
If you have to deep fry the turkey tomorrow, please do it at least 25 feet from a flammable structure.
One Thing We Know For Sure
The buck will stop with the lowliest person possible.
As the tent city on the University of California, Davis, tripled in size, Chancellor Linda P.B. Katehi insisted Tuesday that the school's police department defied her orders when it used force against students in last week's pepper-spray fiasco.
The Obvious Solution Is
Because it's working!!
Once upon a time too many economists had a social welfare function was basically W=GDP. Growth was good and the distributional effects didn't matter. Now apparently the social welfare function is just some function of the public deficit and the inflation rate. The rest of it is unimportant.
UK households are facing pay cuts in real terms of more than 3.5% as salary increases fail to keep pace with inflation, official figures reveal.
The median salary for a full-time worker in the UK rose 1.4% in 2011 to £26,244, against a headline CPI inflation rate of 5% or higher, according to the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings from the Office for National Statistics.
Once upon a time too many economists had a social welfare function was basically W=GDP. Growth was good and the distributional effects didn't matter. Now apparently the social welfare function is just some function of the public deficit and the inflation rate. The rest of it is unimportant.
Asked And...Answered?
Not sure congressional hearings are ever the place for actual information to see the light of day, but it will be interesting to see of Corzine agrees to show up and answer questions.
While I Was Sleeping Newt Become The Presumptive Nominee
Um, John? I think this was more than a "mild hotfoot" whatever that is.
Next week everything will be good news for someone else. Is it finally Ron Paul's turn?
Next week everything will be good news for someone else. Is it finally Ron Paul's turn?
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Help a Blogger Out
World o'Crap invented devastating left snark-blogging. Scott C is a standup guy hard up right now (which if we had a first-world healthcare system, it seems, he wouldn't be). Go give him all your money or Al Qaeda wins, red-snouts.
We All Know What The Solution Is
Austerity and tax cuts for rich people.
Also, too, in Spain.
So, don't borrow, cut cut cut!
The Commerce Department said Tuesday that the economy expanded at an annual rate of 2 percent in the July-September quarter, lower than an initial 2.5 percent estimate made last month. The government also said after-tax incomes fell by the largest amount in two years, reflecting high unemployment and lower pay raises.
Also, too, in Spain.
Spain paid more than Greece and Portugal to sell three-month bills as the newly elected People’s Party called for a European agreement to “save” the nation’s debt, saying the country can’t afford 7 percent interest rates.
So, don't borrow, cut cut cut!
Americans And "Americans"
When the Kenyan Muslim Socialist talks about lazy Americans (not that he actually did), he's talking about good, god-fearing, salt of the earth, hard working, Christian folk. When wingnuts do, they're talking about those other people.
America's Worst Law Enforcement Official
Gets an unbelievable fluffing in the Inqy.
Freeh's personal perspective may be as significant as his professional qualifications, said Howard Means, who cowrote Freeh's 2004 memoir, My FBI.
"He's the father of four children and he is an altar boy," Means said. "Louis is a very moral man, and has a strong relationship with the Catholic Church. He must have had a very visceral reaction when he first heard about this case. This is right down his alley - the alleged crime is one that would deeply offend him. He's a bulldog, and I think he'll wade in there and do everything he can to piece the story together."
LEEEAVE OUR POOR MILITARY CONTRACTORS ALOOOOOOOOOOONE
The issue is, of course, that "defense hawks" and "deficit hawks" are often the same people, and completely full of shit. There is a consistency, however, as both versions of hawkery involve the suffering of others.
Monday, November 21, 2011
Or Maybe A Trillion
Not really, but I really want to know how this story ends.
WASHINGTON—The court-appointed trustee overseeing MF Global's bankruptcy says up to $1.2 billion is missing from customer accounts, double what the firm had reported to regulators last month.
Happy Hour Thread
Get happy!
...ding dong the supercommittee is dead.
Hopefully we don't experience Supercommittee Returns: Supercommittee Cuts Stuff.
...ding dong the supercommittee is dead.
Hopefully we don't experience Supercommittee Returns: Supercommittee Cuts Stuff.
Text And Subtext
I've been seeing quite a lot of this lately, where if you read closely it's fairly clear that what (some of) our Galtian Overlords want is the big bazooka of free money, and not just for themselves. But they can't quite come out and say that.
How It Works
Digby:
Maybe one day they'll figure out that the median voter is not actually Fred Hiatt or Charles Lane.
In fact, the Republicans will be able to say quite honestly in their campaign ads that the Democrats want to cut social security and medicare and raise taxes.
Maybe one day they'll figure out that the median voter is not actually Fred Hiatt or Charles Lane.
It's Working! It's Working!
1) Destroy the economies of all of the people who buy your crap.
2) ???
3) Profit!!
2) ???
3) Profit!!
FRANKFURT (MarketWatch) -- Germany's central bank on Monday cut its forecast for German economic growth in 2012, projecting gross domestic product to expand by 0.5% to 1% versus an earlier prediction of 1.8%, Dow Jones Newswires reported.
The New Normal
You know, it should occur to some people that perhaps there's a wee problem with the way things are set up if we're living in daily fear of the banking system destroying the world.
Elections About Nothing
Conservatives won on the "we're not them" policy agenda in Spain. Election isn't soon, but opposition Labour party in the UK seems to be running with the "marginally better than the other guys" agenda. And in the US the distinction between Team D and Team R is?
I'm not doing a 'no difference between the parties' thing. I'm a high information voter. I know what the differences are, even if they aren't as great as I'd like. But what are they going to run on in 2012? What will the choice be for low and medium information voters?
I'm not doing a 'no difference between the parties' thing. I'm a high information voter. I know what the differences are, even if they aren't as great as I'd like. But what are they going to run on in 2012? What will the choice be for low and medium information voters?
Deficitmania
If you'll let me be completely charitable for a moment, and take a break from assuming Villagers are all assholes who want granny to starve, and instead assume that their concerns about the deficit are genuine, then basically their presumption is Big Money beats Big Voters. That is, "entitlements" need to be cut because they know Defense can't be. Donors trump voters.
This Is How The World Ended
I suppose we'll ("we" broadly speaking) hit another crisis point in the not too distant future, when the world is about to collapse and all of the free marketers will inform us that, once again, free money for rich assholes is the only solution.
Silence
UC Davis Chancellor.
The Atlantic has been on this.
Franke-Ruta
It is hard to look at this kind of attack and think this is how we do things in America.
Madrigal
Our police forces have enshrined a paradigm of protest policing that turns local cops into paramilitary forces
Coates
When accused of police brutality cops often claim to be endangered, regardless of the facts of the situation.
Fallows
Notice the crowd.
Sunday, November 20, 2011
$1.2 Trillion In Deficit Cuts
So there's this bipartisan group of elected officials known as "Congress" that passed $1.2 trillion in deficit reductions into law. They also designated a random group of wankers to come up with some alternative $1.2 trillion in deficit reductions as a substitute. They didn't come up with a substitute. So we have the original path to deficit reduction as opposed to the potential substitute.
Why the press has mostly taken the position that some unspecified substitute would be better, or that cuts are implicitly good...
Why the press has mostly taken the position that some unspecified substitute would be better, or that cuts are implicitly good...
One True Technocrat
There is no "right" policy. There can be disagreed upon means for achieving agreed upon ends, but it's wrong to assume that there is in any way agreement on the ends, and even slight differences in desired ends can suggest fairly different means for achieving them. It's quite possible that Europe's "technocrats" know exactly what they are doing. Their ends may not be mine, or Brad's, and they may not be their stated ends, but it's possible they know exactly what they're doing.
That the social welfare function of someone who is willing to trade several points of unemployment for a point or two of worried about inflation might be a bit weird, or even sociopathic, does not mean that they are failing to maximize that social welfare function. Arguably the people who are in these jobs are in them for precisely that reason.
That the social welfare function of someone who is willing to trade several points of unemployment for a point or two of worried about inflation might be a bit weird, or even sociopathic, does not mean that they are failing to maximize that social welfare function. Arguably the people who are in these jobs are in them for precisely that reason.
PR And The University-Industrial Complex
Having spent lots of time in and around academia, I will say that there's a fundamental flaw, or at least thorn, in the model. The problem is that members of The Academy are committed to certain values, including a degree of honesty, whether or not they always live up to them, but of course The Academy is also made up of institutions with PR people and marketing departments and lawyers. That is, advertising and damage control, areas where The Truth is not necessarily a high priority. These worlds can collide. Also, too, militarized police forces.
A Boot On The Faces Of Hippies, Or Those Walking Nearby, Forever
Not that 'killing the protesting hippies' was ok either, but something often overlooked in contemporary discussions fo the Kent State shootings is that not everyone killed or wounded was even involved in the protests.
Occupied
If nothing else, managing to shift the conversation for a couple of months is a tremendous accomplishment. While right wing lunatics can kick the ball and have the press follow any time they want, it's almost impossible for anyone resembling lefties to do it.
To State The Obvious
If it's ok for police to torture people with pepper spray given the circumstances at UC Davis, it's basically always ok for police to torture people with pepper spray.
And if it's ok for university administrators to order such things in those circumstances, it's always ok for university administrators to order such things.
'Cause the flag still stands for freedom, and they can't take that away.
And if it's ok for university administrators to order such things in those circumstances, it's always ok for university administrators to order such things.
'Cause the flag still stands for freedom, and they can't take that away.
Today In Elections
Elections in Spain today. "The assholes who are worse but at least aren't you assholes" are favored to win.
Austerity rocks!
Austerity rocks!
They Aren't "Technocrats"
And, yes, we should retire the word. As Chunky BoBo columns go there are worse ones, but it's a decent moment to point out that the "technocrats" everyone keeps talking about in Europe are just ideologues of a certain flavor, ideologues who are likely to destroy the thing they're pretending to try to save.
Whatever the word is supposed to mean, "technocrat" is just this year's "Very Serious Person." In another words, just more assholes who like to destroy the world while patting themselves on the back for how brave and smart they are.
Whatever the word is supposed to mean, "technocrat" is just this year's "Very Serious Person." In another words, just more assholes who like to destroy the world while patting themselves on the back for how brave and smart they are.
Sunday Bobbleheads
This Week has Rubio, Chris Coons, and Rahmbo.
Meet the Press has Kyl and Kerry.
Face the Nation has Toomey, Manchin, and Paul.
Document the atrocities!
Meet the Press has Kyl and Kerry.
Face the Nation has Toomey, Manchin, and Paul.
Document the atrocities!
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