Greenpa
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“Sorry, but I would like to hear something smarter than this.”
Hey, now! This is absolutely cutting edge blather!
Sea level rise- I guarantee you, Hansen’s estimates are conservative. That’s a requirement for ANY academic attention and/or respect.
And none of these mention the potential; far from zero, of “unforeseen catastrophic ice collapse.” Unstable ice is quite capable of doing things humans have never seen, and therefore do not know can happen. Melt water flowing below glaciers – is like grease under an elephant’s feet.
Holy jumping Jehoshaphat Nicole! 🙂
You are among the top 5 most lucid and finely reasoned thinkers/writers I know of on the planet; and ranking the 5 would be silly. You consistently MAKE SENSE when 99.9% of all others DO NOT.
But jeepers. I’m too old to try drinking from a fire hydrant!! 🙂
“Morgan Stanley reported second-quarter results on Monday that were stronger than expected, as trading revenue and its wealth management business drove a 13 percent gain in net revenue.” https://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/21/business/dealbook/morgan-stanleys-profit-tops-estimates.html
Interesting. It means there are a large portion of the Owners who remain totally ignorant. In spite of study after study, year after year, decade after decade; proving that “financial advisors” never, ever, outperform blind monkeys – there are still many of the folks who need “wealth management” – who are still sheep. Enough to provide a 13% increase in already enormous revenue – for just one company.
Reuters News service is one of the more reliable, regarding veracity; yes? Most of the folks on the planet think so, anyway. And they’re immense.
But; today; their true colors are on display. Headlined “Special Report: The Man Who Cost Greece Billions.” – what follows is not about Goldman Sachs or any of the others who have pocketed billions; no, it’s a very professional hatchet job on Tsirpas.
Reuters News, you see, is part of Thomson Reuters – a truly vast multinational; which also provides business “statistics” to investors; and advice, and management, etc. Entirely owned by the Owners; who with this Tsirpas smear are showing that they are not stupid- it’s a blatant smear- on a news service with a solid reputation for not indulging in smears.
Must be important for the Owners to use a carefully concealed weapon.
Japanese – and Wall Street – and German – style corporate accountability:
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/20150719_08.htmlBooks cooked by Toshiba for years; so; regulators are thinking about – THINKING about it. With maybe a “fine”. So; stockholders will pay. Any executives to be fined? What a silly idea.
Quixotic airport: “The airport drove the Castilla-La Mancha savings bank, a 68% shareholder in the scheme, to bankruptcy, but not before it had handed out multimillion-euro payoffs to its directors.”
The same everywhere. And- quite legal, with no directors going to jail for this kind of direct theft from stockholders. Gad. We could hardly ask for more lucid proof of who is in charge of our legal systems.
And what will we do about it? Run Donald Gump for president, of course!
Silliness aside; exactly who has a plan to change this situation? One with any chance of actually working?
It would be well for all to remember that China, now in the spotlight, has a very long history of successfully dealing with exactly this situation. “When the rich become too rich” – an ancient phrase – they burn the entire country down to the ground, and start over. Sure would be nice if we could use our brilliant, advanced, scientific minds to find a less hideous and wasteful answer.
“Iceland’s government is probably being more heavily- or re- infiltrated with “advisers” as we speak, as these creeps don’t take “no” for an answer.”
100% correct. The Owners are always looking at the very long term- as in 50 years, minimum. When they have a little set-back – they smile, from their yachts, and start working on re-writing laws, and repealing regulation. Since; hm, 1000 BC that I’m familiar with; and I do not joke.
Prof- have you read him in the original 1500s Italian? Serious question; quite possible you have. I have a close professor friend who has spent years digging into European archives and insisting on reading the really-truly originals (and he had the credentials to get them) – and no real surprise; the great majority of translations were done with someone’s agenda twisting them. Over and over.
I have enough languages that I could probably read the original and get some sense of it; but certainly not enough to aim at even transliteration without a bunch of study on my part. But. I think it would be worth that effort.
“Princes and governments are far more dangerous than other elements within society.”
Niccolo MachiavelliI want to get a copy in the original; I’ll have to learn to read his vernacular; but it has to be worth it.
Hi, Nicole! Ever since I read Jimmy Carter’s only novel a couple years back- “The Hornets Nest” – about the American Revolution in the South- I’ve been digging further back and reading about the various fiscal collapses in antiquity. Carter used his exceptional access to original documents as President to make public a number of very startling things. In the fiscal arena it was his analysis that the vastly wealth lords in England who paid for ships and shovels to establish the Southern colonies – intended from before the very first ship set sail to arrange monetary flow so that poor people would take these risks of high mortality – and then not be able to finalize their land ownership, so the land would wind up the direct personal property of the lord. It was set up that way- from the beginning.
Exactly as the flurry of unpayable mortgages recently were set up to default- allowing Owners to buy Detroit, and much else, at 1¢ on the dollar.
This also went on- exactly this- in Rome; as far back as we can see. Roman farmers would be conscripted into the army; kept from their farms for 5-10 years; their wives would not be able to keep the farm profitable- lenders would foreclose, the farm be seized as payment- and the army veteran soldier sold into debt slavery.
I’m quite sure you know all this. 🙂 My question : have you ever found a way to communicate effectively the historical depth of the problem? The vast majority of people today have no grasp of the realities of history; and don’t see it as vaguely relevant to “banksters today”. It makes a difference that the problem is literally ancient; and did not originate when this person became a sophomore in college.
Hm. Maybe a good movie series about “Undead Moneylenders!” – Monsters who survive from Sumerian times, feeding on the hopes of the poor…
Although I’m more interested in a serious answer. 🙂
“very interesting bookkeeping ” translation translation – highly immoral and sufficiently illegal that we hide what’s really going on.
The really good news!! https://in.reuters.com/article/2015/07/14/jpmorgan-results-idINKCN0PO18Q20150714
Read the fine print. Hidden in plain sight in this article: “Net income attributable to the bank’s common shareholders rose to ..”
Translation- which you need to learn how to do- “We aren’t telling you anything about “gross” income, which we can do very interesting bookkeeping on; nor about income “attributable” to – all the non-common shareholders; i.e., us big boys. None of your business, and you can bet grandma’s teeth we make way more than the commoners.”
In case you guys haven’t figured this out – Japan won WW II. Really.
Not in 1946- around about 1966, when Toyotas started to destroy Detroit. And oh yes, we know for a fact that Japanese CEOs thought in exactly that way; and still do.
Europe? Financial weapons have always been more effective and more certain than swords; of whatever kind.
Pray for Greece. People do eventually revolt. That is also historical fact. The results are always horrific.
From the NYT: “The agreement does not guarantee that Greece will receive its third bailout in five years. But it does allow the start of detailed negotiations on a new assistance package for Greece.”
Chess, anyone? 🙂 The longer Tsipras can keep the can rolling down the street, the better for Greece… Which does not mean I believe Tsipras is – anything. I just observe- the can has been kicked.
So- the Greek parliament still has to “pass”, “ratify” or whatever they’re calling it- the “agreement”. Yes? That means the agreement has not yet happened. I’ll wait and see what finally comes out of the meat grinder. Meanwhile- worth noting that with all the can-kicking, Greek banks are still in business.
China and New Zealand housing- oh, kids, it ain’t just China. The johnny-come-lately capitalists there just copy us: https://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/08/nyregion/stream-of-foreign-wealth-flows-to-time-warner-condos.html There’s a whole investigative series there.
What we DO know at this point; is that Varoufakis is laughing his nether portions off right now! He is SO glad he is not in the focal point of this big magnifying glass – now burning all the ants in view. He can, today anyway, sit on the sidelines and grin. And I’ll guarantee he’s grinning like crazy. 🙂 And good for him.
It could be construed as an insult to us all that I say this skit from Monty Python makes just as much sense as anything the pundits are currently propounding. But it’s not an insult- the amount of education, sense, and wisdom in this skit are far above average, under any circumstances. I’d be ecstatic to come close. Watch on Youtube if your browser chops the image: youtube.com/watch?v=ur5fGSBsfq8
Nothing cracks me up more these days than when some pundit, or editorial board, uses the word “must” in their title. LOL!!!
You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means. 🙂
Excellent. Wonderful to see, Ilargi.
I would suggest (idiotically, since I am far away from Greek realities) that the network of solidarity clinics should quickly get themselves incorporated (as a rigidly non-profit operation). The for-profit health corporations will be coming for them immediately- and the best, perhaps only, way to fight back, is with an equal entity.
A VERY large part of Germany’s economic success has been due to the fact they are forbidden to spend money on an army. Just like Japan has been; though Abe is trying to reverse that. Not only does no “defense” industry mean more money and workers for the real economy, it eliminates a huge amount of corruption, where industries bribe in secret to get contracts with no end…
Prickly; your link fellow there seems heavy on the opinion and ideology, short on any inside facts. And the “He lied to us!” thing is beyond naive. Syriza is in the middle of horse trading with Brussels. If you expect Syria to say “yes this horse is almost dead” – while trying to sell it- you don’t understand how bargaining works…
Chuck – very interesting, but I found this possibly the most telling: “Greek officers don’t speak to the Murdoch press…”
Oh, really? To me that’s a slight suggestion that Syriza has actually won over the Greek military. Hm.
Re: polar bears. It IS very sad; and has already been going on a very long time. https://littlebloginthebigwoods.blogspot.com/2011/10/mourning.html
Incidentally, if you eat cashew nuts- you likely contributed to the rhino extinction. Illegal planting in their preserves was a huge factor.
An evolutionary reality for the polar bears, though- their genes are very likely to survive, in the hybrid grizzly-polar bears already documented. In a real sense- the species will not be extinct; but submerged. It is quite possible a polar bear species could re-emerge from those hybrids- if the ice environment they are adapted to should ever return.
Well; if, of course, the hybrid “growlars” and “pizzlies” have not been wiped out in the meantime. Shell Oil is set to start drilling in the Arctic Ocean within days.
RaĂşl, I’d be extremely interested in the opinions there on the true motivations for Varoufakis’ resignation; if you can winkle any out of street noise. Various media report “removed”, “forced”, and “resigns” with accompanying suggestions it was entirely voluntary- etc. Amid the Fogs Of Fox it’s very hard to get a hint at this distance.
My own guess would be that his resignation was the result of careful calculation by the Syriza planners, and that Varoufakis was definitely in on the decision. And that they all have definite plans for what he does next. They’ve been very smart so far; I see no reason for them to stop being smart now.
I find too many disturbing parallels with the slave rebellions in ancient Rome- the 3rd, partially led by Spartacus, being the one Hollywood is most familiar with.
Debt slavery is exactly that. Slave Greece has now revolted. With exceptional leaders. But keep in mind how that turned out for the slaves; many thousands slaughtered in battle, and 6,000 crucified; slavery reestablished, harsher than ever. The Owners do not like being challenged; and retaliate. It’s how they stay in power. True across cultures and millennia; India, China, Maya, Aztec, Britain, USA – all slave based- either outright or via free-range slavery variants- and all vindictive as hell.
One difference here: I’m 100% certain (without actual proof) that Varoufakis is absolutely aware of all this. He’s exceptionally intelligent and educated- and active. I think his chances are better than Spartacus’ ever were- but- Rome hates him, big time. He will remain a target. I’d also bet he will remain an active force.
We’re cheering for you, Yanis. Stay alive.
Gird your loins for a Cosmic Pundit Orgy. 🙂 “The Future Of Greece Will Be…!”
It’s pretty opaque to me. Not unhopeful; the current leadership seems to actually have some idea both of what the problem is, and how the game is played. But- so many things can happen; and the future is NOT what it used to be. Our future is getting weird fast, on all fronts.
Yesterday I had the scary experience of watching children play on good playground equipment; happily, easily. Under a red, red sun. Which they did not notice. We’re living in a cloud of forest fire smoke here in Minnesota; from fires nearly 1,000 miles away in northern Saskatchewan – more fires and evacuations there today. Yes, the fires are caused by climate change. And the kids? They think it’s normal; and play on.
I envy you being right there; and really look forward to your first hand observations. I know perfectly well that what you see and hear can easily be just a fragment- but it beats the hell out of anything filtered through any media. 🙂
A brief look at Iceland’s economy; with interesting and unstated biases hiding in it.
I’m perpetually bemused by the easy reference of economancers to “the real economy” – which has some effects on “the economy”, but is basically a minor phenomenon in global considerations. They see that this bit is “real”, but don’t quite grasp that the other bit, in their own understanding, is then “other than real”. A very strange place they live in.
A purely for fun example of the utterly meaningless noises politicians constantly make – and brief, too! –
“Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe says Japan welcomes the agreement reached between the United States and Cuba. Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Abe said he hopes restored diplomatic relations between the 2 countries will bring stability and prosperity to the region.”
www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/20150702_19.html
Wow! Yippee! 🙂 It boggles the mind (well, my mind) that this timeless bit of forward movement for our species is now enshrined for all eternity in ever expanding, and permanent, digital ripples; to be searched, examined, and integrated by all generations of humans to come (if there are any.)
Carbon: “Watch the policy makers as you would a professional entertaining magician” – I like it; a useful approach. 🙂
Rapier – yes, those things are true; but there are many cases where politicians still make lots of public noises about things they cannot really affect- when they refrain from making noises; that is also information. 🙂
“Abe should go” – Abe is as dangerous as they come. He is working effectively to revive Japan’s weapons manufacturing. And we do know where that leads.
Once you have a good weapon factory – you need more customers. It’s so easy to generate new customers- just start a little brush fire war somewhere far away. Profits for years. Then what? Well; “more”. And keep in mind the Japanese now make truly excellent machines and electronics…
As a person trained in Ethology – a branch of science for which 2 seminal workers were awarded a (real) Nobel, but which is now nearly forgotten – I tend to look at what creatures DO – see it and record it without pre-judgements, and with every attempt to see it without filtering it through my own expectations. Then look at the creature’s records, and look for patterns.
If you do that with Obama – you would never expect him to intervene between the Euro Owners and their prey. While his mating calls are all apparently to attract The Common Man (aka Krill ); his actions are uniformly on the side of the Owners. Witness his serious pushes to get the “fast track” for TPP powers authorized.
“Why” he does what he does is not a profitable question to ask. Ask rather, what are his consistent choices?
As a Common Man myself, I find his mating calls attractive. Some of his behaviors do not fit into standard expectations; which makes him interesting to watch. But- you can see he has several times cuddled up with The Owners, and their vast filter-feeding jaws.
Two basic hypotheses I’d suggest to explain the dissonance between mating calls and observable behavior- either he is actually an Owner who operates as a Krill mimic; or; the Owners have some hold on him not visible to the rest of us Krill – in the vernacular, they’ve got him by the balls. We have no data to choose between those two.
Incidentally, in the Stooges Side Show: “Another Japanese trading firm, Itochu Corporation, spent about one billion dollars 4 years ago to buy shares in a US resources company to develop shale gas fields.
But mounting losses caused Itochu this month to sell the shares back to the company for one dollar and leave the business completely.”
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/biztec.html
I still love NHK as a news source- the current Abe administration has done everything it can to muzzle, castrate, and gut them – but they continue to put out News-
I saw Klein speak, at length, in February of this year.
Meh.
I was not impressed with her actual intellectual grasp of – well, anything. And boy, she accents the “mi” in Naomi, a lot. No question though- she does draw crowds.
“Second, the losses for the EU lenders are truly eye-watering. The two bail-out packages for Greece amount to €215.8 billion.”
Yah, yah; but the Lenders (Owners) know perfectly well, those Billions are only digital ones and zeros – which they themselves created a short time ago. What having to rearrange the digits means- they won’t be able to buy those factories in Romania this year – they’ll have to wait until next year, when they can tinker up the digits again.
So I don’t think we’ll see any of them jumping from bank ledges, this time.
I love that they cite “Economists with PhDs and hedge-fund traders” as the clearly most exalted sources of True Understanding regarding how capital works and resources flow.
Um. It’s wonderful that the Bloomberg writers can ignore what they wrote themselves, during the 2008-9 Crash; that “no economists saw this coming!” – a mantra they repeated for about a year, then carefully shelved, as they started quoting Economists once again as the sources of their insights. The same economists.
And the hedge fund managers? Recall: really truly studies of performance show repeatedly – blindfolded monkeys DO perform better than hedge funds – year, after year, after year. https://www.marketwatch.com/story/how-hedge-fund-geniuses-got-beaten-by-monkeys-again-2015-06-25?link=kiosk
And! The experts themselves keep pointing this out – and keep ignoring it.
Personally, I think the Earth is being operated as an Interstellar Entertainment Show; entitled “The 7 Billion Stooges!!” Beings on other planets are rolling on their floors in spasms of laughter. 🙂
Incidentally; if I were China… 🙂
I might casually offer Greece an interest free “bridge loan” – to prevent all the potential harm of a default. Due for repayment – or renewal – in say, 10 years.
So many reasons; and no real skin off their noses. Now that would be an interesting move on the world chess board.
“Unofficially, it has done nothing else.”
“• For The First Time Ever, QE Has Officially Failed (Zero Hedge)”
Well. It depends which goals you’re looking at. Regarding the “For Public Media” goal of “growth” and “jobs” – yes, it never worked. For the actual, and I think intended from the outset, goals of the Owners; it has been stunningly successful; enabling them to buy more and more of the actual physical assets of the world. Might be nice to see an analyst providing graphs on the progress of both agendas; the Public Mythology and the Private Grabs, side by side.
