“Before now, I had never really understood how the 1930s could happen. Now I do. All one needs are fragile economies, a rigid monetary regime, intense debate over what must be done, widespread belief that suffering is good, myopic politicians, an inability to co-operate and failure to stay ahead of events.” Martin Wolf.
Recall This: Gov. Walker raised $30.5 million - 66% of that from out-of-state - to his opponent’s $3.9 million – only 26% from out-of-state. Guess who won. Welcome to the brave new world of one dollar, one vote.
Pieces In Our Time: A 'NATO' missile ploughed into a house in Afghanistan's Logar province, wounding two civilians (according to NATO) or killing 17 civilians including women and children as well as six or seven Taliban 'militants' who were nearby (according to Al Jezeera and the Afghan government). Elsewhere in the US war on nearly everybody, CIA drones continue to target rescuers responding to drone strikes, and funerals for those killed earlier by drones (in at least one case hitting a mosque, killing 3 civilian worshipers)– in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Yemen (where a US drone killed between 8 and 26 civilians in the middle of May)
Null And Void: There is no evidence in the entire history of capitalism to support austerity as a remedy for economic conditions similar to today's. Europe's leaders know – or should know – that their policies will not work. So why do they persist?
Imagine America As A Dictatorship…. Oh, wait... is this that thing they call satire?
Be Afraid: Forget the melting ice, the rising seas, the hurricanes, droughts, floods – that stuff is just the prelude. The main event, within a generation or two, will be the collapse of earth's entire ecosystem. 22 top scientists have combined to issue a paper in Nature that a tipping point could be reached this century that would push the biosphere into a swift and irreversible change with disastrous results for mankind. No, it won't be televised.
Quit While You Are Ahead: The headline asked “Is America Healing Fast Enough?”, which was two words too long.
Don't Ask, Don't Tell: The Chinese government wants “foreign governments” to stop releasing data on China's air quality. The American Embassy in Beijing posts data via Twitter, from an air sensor at the embassy. Friends don't let friends expose bad stuff.
Hotel California: Getting bailouts from the EU/ECB/IMF has, for Ireland, Greece, Portugal and Spain, been “like a roach motel” - impossible to leave. So says PIMCO's Mohamed El-Erian
Tell Me A Story... Crossroads GPS, a tax-exempt front group that does not have to reveal who it is or where it gets its money, is spending millions on a new campaign to spread lies about the national debt, without mentioning that the main reasons for the growth of the debt are the Bush tax cuts and the Bush wars. Even with these handicaps, under Obama government spending as a portion of GDP keeps dropping. If you like the way big money is perverting the United States electoral process, send your 'Thank You ' notes to Chief Justice Roberts, c/o any big corporation.
Don't Sweat The Details: Exxon Mobil says we should stop worrying about things like health and safety and global warming and ecological degradation, chuck the regulations and let the professionals get to work. We'll find out eventually whether we need to regulate things.
100 A Day: We've been bad. Spectacularly bad, judging by the 30,000 secret wiretap warrants the government gets every year. Wonder what good all this snooping into the citizenry is doing, and for whom.
Unmentionable: Ten minutes of thought will convince anyone but a banker that Wall Street's financial wizards most certainly have found a way to make billions handling the drug trade's money. The profits are not smuggled out of the country as $10s and $20s– what would they do with bales of bills in Cartagena?
The Parting Shot:
The path leads on…
6 comments:
Quiet around here lately.
Um, are these parting shots taken from local scenery or do you lift them from the net?
They look familiar as I am a New Englander too. (In as much as they look kind of swampy!)
Gegner - Yeah, quiet. But beneath it you can hear a tic, tic, tic...
The Parting Shots are mine own handiwork, taken in a local patch of woods - except for June 5th's 'Store Bought' which was taken in the dining room.
Other than to say, no not New England, I think I'll let the evolving shots give slow hints as to the location.
ckm
Whistle Blows!!!!!!!!!
Party Foul.
"government spending as a portion of GDP keeps dropping"
Specious argument.
GDP is being constantly inflated with borrowed money. If most of the GDP is B.S. profiteering on money ejected by Helicopter Ben and the Republican House refuses to add to the total of Gov spending then of course Gov spending falls relative to GDP.
So what, big deal. When the S.H.T.F. the ratio explodes exponentially the other way.
FC CKM assessed penalty of re-write or may elect to acknowledge that all DEMS and REPS are equal in blame for working only for the 1% at our expense.
2 wrongs don't make any of this right.
ckm rejects penalty, claims lack of responsibility for the claims made in referenced article. Would feel worse if article was about GDP etc, and not about big money's perversion of the electoral process (and yes, the money doesn't care - it'll buy both sides). Yes, we have the best two-headed one-party system around.
The whole concept of GDP is specious to start with... So, too,in the long run, is democracy.
ckm
Okay, so the bottom-line is $30M vs. $3M spent in Wisconsin -- spent on what? TV ads? I can't believe that inundating the Wisconsin TV with ads supporting Walker would have influenced anyone to vote to keep Walker. So what did they spend the money on? Bribes? To whom? The people running the voting machines? Just what really happened?
Classof65 - i suspect the money was spent on "advertising" - but I also suspect that money spent on political advertising is mostly wasted and has little impact on outcomes. He with the most money wins, but not necessarily because he has the money but rather that the money flows to the likely winner. Stolen from tomorrow's SAR is this: most independents are not - they've made up their minds but don't want to let on that they have. It well may be that once a candidate has statewide - or even district-wide name recognition, money is pretty secondary.
The best answer for the recall election's outcome is (again stealing from tomorrow's SAR) envy.
Stay tuned. - ckm
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