More Half-Measures from Europe from the Editorial Board of the Washington Post
"Quite simply, Europe needs an approach to its problems as massive and as confidence-inspiring as the Troubled Assets Relief Program and related measures were for the United States in the fall of 2008. And it still either can’t, or won’t, devise one."
Why Berlin Is Balking on a Bailout (Hans Werner Sinn) from the New York Times
"It’s no wonder, then, that President Obama is urging Germany to share in the debt of the euro zone’s southern nations. But in doing so, he and others overlook several critical facts."
I post this editorial because I think the views presented showcase perfectly the intellectual box German policy makers have put themselves in. The author puts forth a range of largely philosophical and/or legalistic reasons, such as this one: "[bailouts] violate the liability principle, one of the constituting principles of a market economy, which holds that it is the creditors’ responsibility to choose their debtors. If debtors cannot repay, creditors should bear the losses." Apologist orthodox do-nothing analysts like this one shut down any meaningful or creative response to the current crisis, missing, in my view, the larger crisis that is washing over Europe: the return of fascism. Average people will not tolerate (not in the developed world anyway) 50 percent unemployment rates among the young -- with no end in sight. Such people become the playthings of demagogues. In his handwringing over precious "market principles,", he (like many others) misses the fundamental threat this crisis poses to the moderate political world that allows those market principles to function in the first place. In the US we already have the faintest whiff of what can happen with the emergence of the fear-mongered, off-the-rails nutiness of the Tea Party. It looks like Hungary and Greece are already tripping down this road. Folks like this European commentator need to WAKE UP!
Two Worlds Cracking Up (Thomas Friedman) from the New York Times
"It turns out that Turkey these days is neither a bridge nor a gully. It’s an island — an island of relative stability between two great geopolitical systems that are cracking apart: the euro zone that came into being after the cold war, and the Arab state system that came into being after World War I are both coming unglued."
A Humanitarian Disaster Threatens To Unfold In Greece (Nicos Devletoglou) from Forbes Magazine
"European leaders further persist in deliberately suffocating all prospects for growth in Greece. They insist that even in the midst of a deepening five-year recession in this beautiful country, their two memoranda of ruthless austerity must nonetheless be strictly adhered to – or else. This strikes one like the widespread medieval practice of first bleeding all patients, irrespective of varying complaints."
China's Demographic Crunch (Michael Richardson) from the Japan Times [in English]
"Just four years from now, China will pass a milestone. Its huge workforce will peak and start shrinking. This will make it more difficult for the world's second largest economy to continue the turbo-charged growth that has played a key role in the rise not just of China, but also its Asia-Pacific trade and investment partners like Japan."
Wealth Erased from the Editorial Board of the New York Times
"While the Great Recession officially ended in 2009, the recovery, so far, has been an effort to climb out of the very deep hole it blasted in the economy. A continued struggle, or worse, backsliding, is almost inevitable, unless Congress and the Federal Reserve provide more aid."
George Zimmerman's Wife Arrested, Charged with Perjury from the Orlando Sentinel
"... prosecutors say Shellie Zimmerman spent the days before that April hearing shifting tens of thousands of dollars out of her husband's account, then deliberately lied to the judge. On Tuesday, she was arrested on a perjury charge and booked into John E. Polk Correctional Facility. It's the same jail her husband has called home since the deception was revealed earlier this month, leading the judge to revoke his bond."
I still don't know if Zimmerman is guilty of murder -- but it's clear by now that he and his wife are guilty of being really stupid.
Justice Department Sues Florida Over Voter Purge from the Associated Press via the Huffington Post
"The governor's contentious push to remove thousands of potentially ineligible voters from Florida's lists has been met with a lawsuit from the Justice Department and handled very differently by the state's independent election supervisors, many of whom questioned the accuracy of the effort."
Newsflash: None of the Recent 'Game-Changers' Have Changed the Polling (Nate Cohn) from the New Republic
"Despite what you might expect based on conventional wisdom, polling suggests that a tumultuous month has done little, if anything, to alter the contours of the race: Obama continues to hold a narrow but relatively consistent lead in polls of registered voters (RV), but Romney fares better in polls of likely voters (LV)."
1980s TELEVISION NUGGET!!
Larry Hagman, Linda Gray, Patrick Duffy on the Glory Days of ‘Dallas’ (Maria Elena Fernandez) form the Daily Beast
TNT’s new ‘Dallas,’ which premieres Tuesday, has cast original actors Larry Hagman, Linda Gray, and Patrick Duffy as regulars. The three friends got together with Maria Elena Fernandez to spill some secrets from the Southfork Ranch."
BOOK TECHNOLOGY VIDEO NUGGET!!
Middle Ages Tech Support from YouTube
This is really hilarious!! YouTube seems to be having some issues today -- so if you have trouble seeing the clip, try later.
Ever Wished You Could Live Like Barbie? Artist Turns Derelict Building into Life-Size Dolls House with Huge Wall of Glass from the Daily Mail [of the UK]
"While driving to the nearest city of Brandon, Manitoba, to get art supplies she spotted the crumbling former home and pulled over to get a closer look. To anyone else, the house was a decrepit wreck, but to Heather it held a world of possibilities. She said: 'When I saw the house through the windows, I saw a life sized dollhouse. I thought to myself, that should be the main project I work on while I'm in the area."
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