Without Comment

If you want comment, go here.

Without Comment

from another liberal shill - Jesse Ventura's official facebook page.

The Elites have failed

I know, it is something I have been harping on for some time. But I believe it is true and important to recognize. It could be the start of an epic civilizational change a la Toynbee, or the alarm bell that sparks some genuine reform. Or both? I'm not sure, but it should be an interesting time.

Every now and then I see something Steve Pearlstein has written that I like, partly because he hits the Democrats as hard as the Republicans in a logical honest way that pulls me back towards a more centered universe. I have a positively Hellenic passion for the Golden Mean.

Today's column by Pearlstein is a case in point. Just the title deserves a place on Sententiae. "The Epic Global Leadership Fail." Love it. The content is even more pointed:

The global financial system teeters on the edge of collapse because European politicians refused to tell citizens of their crumbling economies that they could no longer guarantee them “la dolce vita” - the sweet life - they had come to expect.

Top executives at Olympus, one of Japan’s leading companies, resign in shame after acknowledging that for nearly 20 years they used a complex accounting scheme to hide billions of dollars in speculative trading losses.

A revered coach and a respected president at Penn State are fired because they were more concerned about protecting their own reputations, and that of their school, than protecting young boys from an alleged sexual predator.

And a former governor, senator and head of Goldman Sachs resigns as chief executive of MF Global after bankrupting the broker-dealer with overleveraged bets on European sovereign bonds.

Welcome to this week’s exciting episode of “Failures in Leadership.”

Read the whole thing. Unlike most of the stipendiary punditocracy he offers some solutions. Let's hope he is as realistic as I think.

me, as an historian: I'd just as soon miss a civilizational change.

.

New phrase alert

Actually, it is an old phrase but one I only heard for the first time a few years ago and still find interesting. It economically implies a host of things economic.

And political. From Wikipedia:

The simplest definition of rent-seeking is the expenditure of resources attempting to enrich oneself by increasing one's share of a fixed amount of wealth rather than trying to create wealth. Since resources are expended but no new wealth is created, the net effect of rent-seeking is to reduce the sum of social wealth.

Rent-seeking generally implies the extraction of uncompensated value from others without making any contribution to productivity. The origin of the term refers to the gaining control of land or other pre-existing natural resources. In the modern economy, a more common example of rent-seeking is political lobbying to receive a government transfer payment, or to impose burdensome regulations on one's competitors in order to increase one's market share

.

Of course, it is more complex than this. Much more complex than poor Clemens can figure out. So I think I will go lay down to think about it.

Bank of America, the home state bank

Once North Carolinians were proud to call Bank of America a Tarheel bank. It seemed well run and actually avoided many of the moral and professional lapses of most other banks. The ones that nearly destroyed the world economy and put paid to Western Civilization.

That was then.

Now - they are an embarrassment. This is just the latest installment of the Bank that can't shot straight.

not only too big too fail, too big to run efficiently: Clemens' First Law of Bureaucratic Growth.

Gee. He's not a Republican after all

The Pope that is.

This from NPR:

Those who read the pope's 2009 encyclical "Caritas in Veritate (Charity in Truth)" will not be surprised by this new document. In that encyclical, the pope decried "corruption and illegality" among economic and political elites in both rich and poor countries. He told financiers they must rediscover the ethical foundation of their activity and stop abusing savers. He wants a radical rethinking of economics so that it is guided not simply by profits but by "an ethics which is people-centered."

Benedict notes that economic "inequalities are on the increase" across the globe. He does not accept the trickle-down theory, which says that all boats will rise with the economic tide. Benedict condemns the "scandal of glaring inequalities" and sees a role for government in the redistribution of wealth.

Katherine Jean Lopez is NOT pleased.

I, on the other hand...

.

Those wonderful folks who helped break our economy

This time let's focus on one of the "foreclosure mills" that selflessly works to kick people out of their homes, the Steven J. Baum law firm.

Yes. I know. Attacking lawyers is too easy and I should be ashamed of myself.

And I would be if I hadn't read this little column by Joe Nocera about the firm's Halloween costume party. The one where they made fun of the folks they were foreclosing on.

I don't know who Steven J. Baum is, but I'm sure he is very proud to have his name attached to it. Or he would be, if a spokesman for the firm hadn't denied that it ever happened.


Now about those pictures....

UPDATE: After I posted this TPM ran a story, or rather reposted Nocera's story. You should look at it for the reader's comments. Here's a few for your entertainment.

I'm not shocked easily anymore but this took my breath away. The most uncivilized behavior I've seen by supposedly educated and successful people. I pity them for having to live with that kind of darkness in their hearts.

***

I am (nearly) speechless. In my time as a labor organizer, I have seen too many detestable companies, some familiar household brands, do too many despicable things, up to and including murder. This is the first time I have heard of such crass and amoral celebration of misery. Not only are the decision makers/profit takers making light of our national shame, but the workers/wage earners, who you can bet are one or two paychecks from being in the same predicament are reveling in it as well.

****

I just sold my house at a loss. I lost all my assets. The bank, my realtor and my lawyer all made a nice little packet off me, though. Maybe they'll throw a party with the proceeds.

Somehow, I doubt I'll be invited.

Some people have no sense of humor.

.

Without Comment

From Andrew Sullivan.

They're different from you and me

They lack a sense of proportion.

"By the time I feed my family, I have maybe $400,000 left over," - Rep. John Fleming (R-LA), in an interview on MSNBC, on why as a small business owner he can't afford a tax increase.

When I retire I hope I am down to my last $400,000.

Without comment

A rich man speaks

Warren Buffet, who certainly is a rich man.

Last year my federal tax bill — the income tax I paid, as well as payroll taxes paid by me and on my behalf — was $6,938,744. That sounds like a lot of money. But what I paid was only 17.4 percent of my taxable income — and that’s actually a lower percentage than was paid by any of the other 20 people in our office. Their tax burdens ranged from 33 percent to 41 percent and averaged 36 percent.

If you make money with money, as some of my super-rich friends do, your percentage may be a bit lower than mine. But if you earn money from a job, your percentage will surely exceed mine — most likely by a lot.

His conclusion:

My friends and I have been coddled long enough by a billionaire-friendly Congress. It’s time for our government to get serious about shared sacrifice.

Or you can support the no new taxes no matter what ever Republicans.

but what does Buffet know about anything?

Why income disparity might matter (to you and me)

Tom Friedman seems to be the foreign affairs columnist that everyone likes to take pot shots at. Easy target I suppose. But today he has an interesting column on why there are so many angry demonstrations and political movements in the world, from the Tea Party, to Egypt, to Israel to the burning streets of London. Here is his conclusion and any comments would be appreciated. It might turn out to be something I will ask my students to read next week. Here's his conclusion:

So let’s review: We are increasingly taking easy credit, routine work and government jobs and entitlements away from the middle class — at a time when it takes more skill to get and hold a decent job, at a time when citizens have more access to media to organize, protest and challenge authority and at a time when this same merger of globalization and I.T. is creating huge wages for people with global skills (or for those who learn to game the system and get access to money, monopolies or government contracts by being close to those in power) — thus widening income gaps and fueling resentments even more.

Pay attention to that widening income gap. The one many American politicians, mostly corrupt millionaires, tells us is not important.

Apres moi...

The High Cost of University

Our budget has been slashed by the state legislature by over 15%. This is on top of severe but not crippling cuts for about three years running. Now we are laying off staff (i..e. working folks, remember them?) and talking about making faculty who don't produce enough research teach another section. Last year the administration cut a day's pay out of our paychecks.

Still no word yet about pay cuts or lay offs among the administration positions, oddly. So this little news clip has some salience. Quoting an article by David Hogberg in Investor’s Business Daily:

Analysis of data from the National Center for Education Statistics shows that from 1989-2009 the number of administrative personnel at four- and two-year institutions grew 84%, from about 543,000 to over 1 million. By contrast, the number of faculty increased 75%, from 824,000 to 1.4 million, while student enrollment grew 51%, from 13.5 million to 20.4 million.

The disparity was worse at public universities and colleges, where personnel in administration rose 71%, faculty 58% and student enrollment 40%. Private schools also saw administration and faculty growing faster than student enrollment, although faculties slightly outpaced administration increases.

Interesting Pie Chart

Love pie charts. Don't know what they really mean but they sure are pretty. Here's one. It's from a commenter over on Frum Forum. No source given, but it sure is pretty.

now if I could only understand what it means.

.

Without Comment

Without Comment

Bashing the elites

Never let an opportunity go by to point out the fecklessness of our elites.

I don't usually read Paul Krugman but his column today caught my eye. By and large I agree with it - which means he is getting smarter! Here's the core of his argument:

... what we’re experiencing right now is a top-down disaster. The policies that got us into this mess weren’t responses to public demand. They were, with few exceptions, policies championed by small groups of influential people — in many cases, the same people now lecturing the rest of us on the need to get serious. And by trying to shift the blame to the general populace, elites are ducking some much-needed reflection on their own catastrophic mistakes.

He then goes on to name names. One theme that I repeat over and over on this blog is that the elites have all disgraced themselves in the era of the double aughts. And now they are trying to blame it all on you and me.

we should be ashamed of ourselves for causing all this mayhem.

.

They're different from you and me

Here is a report from TPM on one of our elected officials struggling to get by on his meager public salary:

At a town hall meeting in Polk County, Wisconsin earlier this year, Rep. Sean Duffy (R-WI) was asked whether he'd vote to cut his $174,000 annual salary. Duffy sort of hedged, and went on to talk about how $174,000 really isn't that much for his family of seven to live on.

So he's busy cutting the salaries of teachers.

Taxes and the Illegals

One of my favorite complaints about illegal immigrants is that they don't pay taxes.

Here is a little snippet from other the latest and last New York Times column by Bob Herbert:

A stark example of the fundamental unfairness that is now so widespread was in The New York Times on Friday under the headline: “G.E.’s Strategies Let It Avoid Taxes Altogether.” Despite profits of $14.2 billion — $5.1 billion from its operations in the United States — General Electric did not have to pay any U.S. taxes last year.

And perfectly legal too, thanks to friends in high places.

and I believe 41% of American citizens pay no income tax either.

.

Old News, very old news

This is one of those things, like the fact that TV commercials are louder than the programs, that we have always known, despite the fact that people whose income is involved tell us it's nonsense. Expensive wines are better than cheap wines because ...

.... because they're expensive.

Freakenomics Radio has the info. Here's my favorite quote:

One of these researchers is Robin Goldstein, whose paper detailing more than 6,000 blind tastings reaches the conclusion that “individuals who are unaware of the price do not derive more enjoyment from more expensive wine.”

Then there is the noted Princeton economist (and wine buff) Orley Ashenfelter quoted on the same site about expertise in general:

I mean, S&P, Moody’s, Fitch, these people all rated securities that apparently completely tanked. So there’s obviously something in the demand for expertise, the imprimatur, which is not really about the fact that they do a good job. By the way, those organizations are not transparent either, just as the Wine Spectator isn’t. So there’s some similarity here that I think probably gives us a little insight into things that are much broader than wine and food.

Which explains my contempt for most (not all) "consultants." It's something I learned when I worked for a big computer company.

But, practical use of this new found old news: Buy one really really expensive bottle of wine. Drink it. Preferably just you and perhaps one other. Then lay the bottle on your sideboard in full sight at your next wine party and serve the cheap but good Chilean wine you got at the grocery store.

In a decanter next to the empty bottle.

If my family contained anyone who actually liked good wine I would try it this holiday in that smelly old port city to our south.

Nota bene: Carmen makes objection to that last comment about the infamous port city. Just thought I'd let you know for the record.