A quick note - with the new New York Times policy of only 20 articles per month for a non-subscriber [i.e you] I am being sparing in including Times stories.....so if one is included like this article on Libya it's a good one....
Take a step back from watching the media talking heads prattle on about Libya, and read this column from Thomas Friedman that puts it all in perspective. What's at stake, and what is really going on in the whole region....
There is an old saying in the Middle East that a camel is a horse that was designed by a committee. That thought came to my mind as I listened to President Obama trying to explain the intervention of America and its allies in Libya — and I don’t say that as criticism. I say it with empathy. This is really hard stuff, and it’s just the beginning.
When an entire region that has been living outside the biggest global trends of free politics and free markets for half a century suddenly, from the bottom up, decides to join history — and each one of these states has a different ethnic, tribal, sectarian and political orientation and a loose coalition of Western and Arab states with mixed motives trying to figure out how to help them — well, folks, you’re going to end up with some very strange-looking policy animals. And Libya is just the first of many hard choices we’re going to face in the “new” Middle East.
Stephen Colbert is one of the cleverest people on TV - here he is interviewing Michael Moore, who copes pretty well with Colbert's schtick.....6 minutes.....
Occasionally you need to do a deep dive about economics and the doodoo we are in because of our dysfunctional political system - if you feel the calling of the economy bird, try this column from James Kwak about how fair taxation is the only answer to the deficit....pretty good......
Here’s my solution to our national debt. We have a one-time, 100 percent tax on all wealth (net worth) of all United States residents, with a $10 million per-person exemption. With household wealth at around $60 trillion, that should be plenty to pay off the accumulated debt and shore up Social Security and Medicare for the next century.* The government promises never to do it again. Since we only care about future behavior, a one-time wealth tax should have no impact on people’s incentives to work, and hence no distorting effect on the economy.
Don’t like that idea? How about this one. The Federal Reserve creates $20 trillion in money but, instead of crediting it to large banks’ accounts at the Fed, it credits it to Treasury’s account. Again, no more debt. Again, the Fed promises never to do it again.
Yes, those are stupid ideas. They are stupid because no one would believe that the Treasury or the Fed would never do it again. If the Treasury were to go and confiscate wealth from billionaires and double-digit millionaires, they would leave the country (along with many other people who wanted to be double-digit millionaires).**
A DDD favourite - The Killers with "Mr. Brightside"......great song but the overall decadence of the video, set in what appears to be a brothel in Egypt or similar, makes it interesting.....more than a video really - there's acting in here too.....3 minutes.....
Ah Florida
Last week in a disgusting and disgraceful move the pond scum in the legislature voted to abolish restrictions on "leadership funds" so corporations can give unlimited amounts directly to political parties.....
This week they want to be able to accept tens of thousands [previous limit $500] directly to individual politicians campaign funds....
Amazing.....the corruption is blatant....good Scott Maxwell column......
Florida lawmakers are among the most innovative pimps you'll ever meet.
Just when you think they've exhausted every possible way to prostitute themselves, they come up with something new.
The latest proposals have politicians trying to raise campaign-donation limits — by stratospheric proportions — and setting up political slush funds where they can accept unlimited amounts of cash.
Sure, our state is in a financial crisis. And yes, there's talk of de-funding everyone from veterans to the disabled. But darn it, if legislative leaders can't find an easier way for Big Sugar or the billboard industry to give them $50,000, what's the point of being in office
The property market
Interesting but depressing slide show of the most foreclosed cities in America.......and yes there's one in Florida.....
On the cover of their most recent issue, Fortune declares the "return of Real Estate" to be upon us. With the national housing market wrecked by low sales and marred by high foreclosure rates, the optimistic sentiment seems odd. Have they not seen the scores of empty homes?
Across America, these abandoned homes have formed into something more disturbing: ghost towns. In Las Vegas, a city that The Economist calls the "foreclosure capital of America," over eighty percent of mortgages are underwater. Detroit, another declining city, has watched the city's population drop 25 percent over the last decade. Modesto, California -- just 90 miles east of San Francisco -- has one of the highest foreclosure rates in the country. Even one small town in New York have watched property values come crashing down.
In February, new home sales have plunged to record lows, down 28 percent from the year prior, according to new government data.
Economists and analysts, however, think things may actually get worse. According to Lender Processing Services, around 6.9 million homeowners were either delinquent or in foreclosure proceedings through February, and 1 in every 577 housing units received a foreclosure filing last month, finds data provider RealtyTrac.
Nationwide, empty houses are leading to empty neighborhoods, especially in Arizona, California, Nevada and Michigan. The slide show below shows a few examples of the results: once vital communities reduced to empty living rooms and overgrown weeds.
Todays video - bad morning?
Todays joke - puns.....I love puns!
Those who jump off a bridge in Paris are in Seine.
A man's home is his castle, in a manor of speaking.
Dijon vu - the same mustard as before.
Practice safe eating - always use condiments.
Shotgun wedding - A case of wife or death.
A man needs a mistress just to break the monogamy.
A hangover is the wrath of grapes.
Dancing cheek-to-cheek is really a form of floor play.
Does the name Pavlov ring a bell?
Condoms should be used on every conceivable occasion.
Reading while sunbathing makes you well red.
When two egotists meet, it's an I for an I.
A bicycle can't stand on its own because it is two tired.
What's the definition of a will? (It's a dead give away.)
Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.
In democracy your vote counts. In feudalism your count votes.
She was engaged to a boyfriend with a wooden leg but broke it off.
A chicken crossing the road is poultry in motion.
If you don't pay your exorcist, you get repossessed
With her marriage, she got a new name and a dress.
The man who fell into an upholstery machine is fully recovered.
You feel stuck with your debt if you can't budge it.
Local Area Network in Australia - the LAN down under.
Every calendar's days are numbered.
A lot of money is tainted - 'Taint yours and 'taint mine.
A boiled egg in the morning is hard to beat.
A man's home is his castle, in a manor of speaking.
Dijon vu - the same mustard as before.
Practice safe eating - always use condiments.
Shotgun wedding - A case of wife or death.
A man needs a mistress just to break the monogamy.
A hangover is the wrath of grapes.
Dancing cheek-to-cheek is really a form of floor play.
Does the name Pavlov ring a bell?
Condoms should be used on every conceivable occasion.
Reading while sunbathing makes you well red.
When two egotists meet, it's an I for an I.
A bicycle can't stand on its own because it is two tired.
What's the definition of a will? (It's a dead give away.)
Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.
In democracy your vote counts. In feudalism your count votes.
She was engaged to a boyfriend with a wooden leg but broke it off.
A chicken crossing the road is poultry in motion.
If you don't pay your exorcist, you get repossessed
With her marriage, she got a new name and a dress.
The man who fell into an upholstery machine is fully recovered.
You feel stuck with your debt if you can't budge it.
Local Area Network in Australia - the LAN down under.
Every calendar's days are numbered.
A lot of money is tainted - 'Taint yours and 'taint mine.
A boiled egg in the morning is hard to beat.
A pun is its own reword.
He had a photographic memory that was never developed.
A midget fortune-teller who escapes from prison is a small medium at large.
Once you've seen one shopping center, you've seen a mall.
Bakers trade bread recipes on a knead-to-know basis.
He had a photographic memory that was never developed.
A midget fortune-teller who escapes from prison is a small medium at large.
Once you've seen one shopping center, you've seen a mall.
Bakers trade bread recipes on a knead-to-know basis.
Santa's helpers are subordinate clauses.
Acupuncture is a jab well done.
