Personally, I don’t have much to say about today’s U.S. Jobs Report… it was a trade-off of fake QE money for fake jobs before the elections. The ruling politicians decided to go with the latter once again (statistically adding 400k+ jobs to the print), so the fiending markets and investors will have to sacrifice the former. [see Who Killed the Money Printer?]. What I’m more concerned with today is a story out of Reuters about how Brazilian federal authorities have
Read More...Ilargi: I recently picked a comment out of the TAE comments section and turned it into an article , because it struck me as something more people should read than just those that read that section (everyone should, of course, but some are slow to catch on…). That article was our friend Skip's Cuckoo in the Coal Mine. In a somewhat Escherian chain of events, there was another comment to that article that caught my eye just like Skip's had
Read More...Ilargi: Long time TAE afficionado Skip Breakfast, whom we met in New Zealand 2 months ago, wrote a piece that I think will resonate with many of you, since trying, as many undoubtedly have done, to warn people away from foolish decisions based on equally foolish perceptions of continuing growth, economic recovery just around the corner etc., is neither an easy nor a grateful task. And especially when loved ones and close and dear friends are concerned, it can be
Read More...We're gonna get a bit controversial on the TAE blog today. I know for a fact that some people will be very offended by this posting, written/compiled by Surly of the Doomstead Diner. Therefore, I'd like preface it with a disclaimer, so to speak. I am going to introduce the issues involved here and give you a few of my thoughts on why they are so important to be considered at this point in time. The long and short of
Read More...I’m using this commentary to ruminate on a thought-provoking statement written by TAE reader alfbell and re-posted to the comment forum by reader Candace: alfbell says… “No system will ever be successful until the human mind, and the spiritual being that utilized it, have been isolated and fully understood. Psychiatry, psychology, psychoanalysis, et al. have failed in this area as well. Very too bad because THIS is the key to man’s future survival. Find the source of evil and
Read More...The Belle Isle Park Aquarium in Detroit circa 1905. Its cavernous spaces and glass viewports afforded aquatic life a fascinating peek at the bipedal terrestrial creatures known as homo sapiens. Detroit Publishing Co. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (“FWS”) is the federal agency in charge of “listing” most species under the Endangered Species Act (“ESA”). This legislation was passed in 1973 and explicitly stated its goal was “to protect critically imperiled species from extinction as a ‘consequence of economic
Read More...Warning: This commentary is not for the faint of heart. I thought I’d start this particular Monday morning, May the 14th, with a little rant. Sometimes it helps to ditch the uber-rational, cool-headed analysis and remind people just how screwed up things are on this third toxic landfill from the Sun. F.U.B.A.R. is a military acronym from WWII – it stands for, “FUCKED UP BEYOND ALL RECOGNITION/ANY REPAIR/ALL REASON”. I can already hear the critics and naysayers chirping – “But,
Read More...Gordon Parks We need more growth! Spring 1943 "A Harlem scene, viewed from the subway entrance" I read a piece on The Huffington Post today that got me thinking. In fact, it got me thinking how curious it is that so many well-meaning and relatively intelligent people arrive at such a diversity of curiously faulty ideas and conclusions, even when starting from what seem to be similar origins. It’s an all too familiar phenomenon, one that frequently has me wondering
Read More...People often ask at our globe-trotting lectures how to go about building community, after we've emphasized the importance of doing exactly that. I wanted to share the best example we've come across so far – Hulbert Street in Fremantle, Western Australia. Its success is a tribute to the two people who made it happen in the ultimate grass-roots experiment – Tim Darby and Shani Graham. The point is that you can be the change you want to see in the
Read More...G.G. Bain Wingmen October 1919 "Transcontinental air race, Roosevelt Field, New York. Col. A. Miller, Lt. E.C. Kiel, Sgt. F.K. McKee" This is Jerry McManus' follow-up to his very insightful article, Modeling Collective Behavior, and it delves into the scientific meaning of a commonly-used, but sometimes misunderstood term of complex systems theory – "tipping point". I have briefly added to his discussion of tipping points in forest ecosystems and financial systems by referencing a recent report produced by Goldman
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