Takethe5th has been advancing the idea that the US, in a major departure from its democratic roots, has been in the process of becoming a Bautocracy. This is the process of the very wealthiest replacing one-man-one-vote with bought political access and therefore power. This buying of influence has been accomplished through unprecedented political access and...
Reuters has a story on investigation of S&P and Moody’s by Justice department for their role in the Mortgage meltdown of 2007-2008. Clearly the question is why is this probe starting up 3 years or more after the fact. Here are 5 possibilities: 1)It takes a long time to do Financial fraud prosecutions. Also GOP has...
Well Wall Street has spoken and they are demanding and betting big time as seen in the 3% rise in the DJIA today that Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke will be “printing money”. He did it last year just before the midterm elections with an annnoucement at Jackson Hole Wyoming financial conference in August...
The revelation in 2010 of 500o UBS tax avoiders in Switzerland at the UBS bank turns out to be the tip of the iceberg. CNBC has a slideshow showing the extent of tax evasion – the government reports nearly 500,000 thousand tax avoiders having secret and illegal offshore bank accounts. Despite a second round of...
In all the turmoil associated with the Euro debt crisis in Greece, Ireland, Portugal and now Italy, a major movement in energy policy has taken place. Germany has voted to re-align their energy development to replace their previous commitment to nuclear power with renewables- solar, wind and even geothermal. This is groundbreaking because this...
The Financial Press reported that both Apple and Microsoft had “blow out quarters” for their June 2011 end quarterly reports. The table below tells the tale: Comparison of AAPL-Apple and MSFT-Microsoft July 2011 Sales and Earnings Description AAPL Sales AAPL Profits MSFT Sales MSFT Profits Mar end 2011 $24.7B $6.0B $16.4B $5.2B Jun end...
The Republican party is built on a smorgasboard of special interests which are often at polar opposites. Here are a few examples: Immigration hardliners vs Small businesses on accommodating migrant workers Military Industrial Corporates vs Tea Party Deficit Hawks on spending cuts and war adventurism Tea Party Deficit Hawks vs Wall Street Financiers on...
News Corp International is the name of Rupert Murdoch’s media empire that stretches from his native Australia thru Europe with many interests based in England [including Harpers Collin Book Publishing, Sky Italia and other Sky TV networks, several newpapers including the Sunday Times and the just now...
This blog has been arguing that the Republican Party has over the past thirty years been engaging in deliberately irrational policies. It started with Ronald Reagan’s approval of the enticingly treasonous “Starve the Beast” government spending policy. Starve the Beast condones government spending increases which are not paid for by tax increases or spending...
NYTimes has a good article about Mitch’s Daniel’s Indiana and some of the heart rending tradeoffs Daniels has had to make in the face of recessionary winds: “People think great business climate, Indiana comes to mind. People think infrastructure, we’re exactly who they think of.”Because recessionary winds have not toppled Indiana’s house, this state...
Both fascinating and frustrating reading. The story of Joseph Needham collecting together the history and legacy of China's technological triumph's is utterly fascinating. But frustrating is the failure of Winchester to shed clear light on why a)China did not already have such a hitorical trove in Beijing and b) why did China miss out on the Industrial Revolution while Japan, even more reclusive, did not.
