Tuesday, November 24, 2009

things to be thankful for

11-24-09—The proportion of US homeowners who owe more on their mortgages than the properties are worth has swelled to about 23%.—WSJ A1
--reports of hate crimes against gays and religious groups increased sharply last year—WSJ A1
11-23-09--Surely by now you know that the greatest crisis facing this country isn’t the economy of war, but the perilous states of the Michigan and Notre Dame football teams...and no one’s stepping up and offering the smoothest, wisest solution to their troubles: Merger! The Notre Michigan Irish Wolverines. WSJ B10

Sunday, November 22, 2009

weekend update

11-21/22-09—Michigan ... came out more hateful [as opposed to Ohio State] in 10 of the 15 tasks. Finally, the Wolverines have something to celebrate. WSJ W4

11/21/09—We’ve been living with the illusion that manufacturing—making things—is so 20th century --Prof. Shaiken, NYT A17

--There are more hired American contractors in [Iran and Afghanistan] than there are military personnel. –Wills, NYRB, Dec. 3, 2009 p 8.

--you must beware of melancholy: it’s a vice.—Flaubert to Guy de Maupassant

--In the meantime, perhaps we should try and think of a name for the new economic system, which certainly isn’t capitalism: that’s remember, is ll about “creative destruction” and the freedom to fail. That’s exactly what we don’t have. The most accurate term would probably be “bankocracy.”—LRB Nov. 5 2009, p26.

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

perhaps the nation is not yet entirely mad

11-18-09—Americans don’t want to shoulder the cost of President Obama’s health care overhaul themselves. They think the rich should pay for it.—AP, SBT A3

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

is this a great country or what?

--11-17-09-- The number of Americans who lived in households that lacked consistent access to adequate food soared last year, to 49 million, the highest since the government began tracking what it calls “food insecurity” 14 years ago, the Department of Agriculture reported Monday.--NYT

(Nov. 16) -- It's federal law: All seriously injured emergency and trauma patients must be given equal lifesaving care, whether or not they can pay for it. But that's not happening, according to a new report. The study, conducted by Children's Hospital Boston research fellow Dr. Heather Rosen and colleagues from three other hospitals, found that uninsured trauma victims ages 18 to 30 are dying at an annual rate 89 percent higher than insured victims with identically severe injuries. --AOL

London calling

LONDON REVIEW OF BOOKS, 22 October 2009
--The argument of [THE SPIRIT LEVEL] is easy to summarize: among rich countries, the more unequal ones do worse according to almost every quality of life indicator you can imagine. ...this pattern holds inside the US as well, where states with high levels of income inequality also tend to have the greatest social problems. ...the US has the worst record of any rich country by [in the matter of imprisonment where a log scale must be used, otherwise it is “off the chart, even off the page”] ... rich English patients [in unequal England are] more vulnerable than poor Swedish ones [in egalitarian Sweden] p. 3
--The Republican party of 2009 ... has become the party of wars and jails, and its moral physiognomy is captured by the faces of John Boehner and Mitch McConnell, faces hard to match outside Cruikshank’s drawings of Dickens’ villains, hard as nails and mean as dirt .... Equality in the United States in the early 21st century has become a gospel preached by a liberal elite to a populace who feel they have no stake in equality. ... For Obama to do the courageous thing and withdraw [from Afghanistan] would mean having deployed against him the wrath of the mainstream media, the oil interest, the Israel lobby, the weapons and security industries, all those who have reasons both avowed and unavowed for the perpetuation of American force projection in the Middle East. Pp. 7,10

Sunday, November 15, 2009

weekend update

--11-15-09When President Obama visits China for the first time on Sunday, he will, in many ways, be assuming the role of profligate spender coming to pay his respects to his banker. NYT A1
--While President Obama’s decision about sending more troops to Afghanistan is mimarily a military one, it also has substantial budget implications that are adding pressure to limit the commitment...NYT A1
—G W Bush , who made it an early goal to push conservatives into the judicial pipeline and left a strong stamp on the courts, had already nominated 28 appellate and 36 district candidates at a comparable point in his tenure. By contrast, Mr. Obama has offered 12 nomination to appeals courts and 14 to district courts. ... There are nearly 100 vacancies on federal courts....NYT A19
--Instead of marking Veterans Day or Armistice Day on Nov. 11, Germany on Sunday observes Volkstrauertag, its national day of mourning for soldiers and civilians who did in war, as well as for victims of violent oppression.—NYT WK1
--Not too long ago, Mr. Gosse said, a 20-year something male wouldn't admit to dating a woman over 40. “Now it is a badge of honor,” he said. NYT ST 14
--11-13-09—The growing influence of Brazil and China in the world economy received further recognition this week when the most commonly used benchmark for emerging-market stocks—and the mutual funds that track them—increased the weighting of companies in those nations. –WSJ C13
--11--07-09Fewer Harvard MBA graduates took jobs on Wall Street this year compared to 20008. And ... it actually could be a good thing... SBT C6

Monday, November 9, 2009

wall fall

11-09-09--In a crazy double reversal, capitalism won over Communism, but the price paid for this victory is that Communists are now beating capitalism in its own terrain.
This is why today’s China is so unsettling: capitalism has always seemed inextricably linked to democracy, and faced with the explosion of capitalism in the People’s Republic, many analysts still assume that political democracy will inevitably assert itself.
But what if this strain of authoritarian capitalism proves itself to be more efficient, more profitable, than our liberal capitalism? What if democracy is no longer the necessary and natural accompaniment of economic development, but its impediment? ... When people protested Communist regimes in Eastern Europe, the large majority of them did not ask for capitalism. They wanted the freedom to live their lives outside state control, to come together and talk as they pleased; they wanted a life of simplicity and sincerity, liberated from the primitive ideological indoctrination and the prevailing cynical hypocrisy.
As many commentators observed, the ideals that led the protesters were to a large extent taken from the ruling Socialist ideology itself — people aspired to something that can most appropriately be designated as “Socialism with a human face.” Perhaps this attitude deserves a second chance. –Slavoj Zizek NYT A21

Sunday, November 8, 2009

weekend update

11-08-09—Ehrenreich herself posted a message on a cancer support site under the title “Angry,” complaining about the effects of chemotherapy, “recalcitrant insurance companies,” and “sappy pink ribbons.” –NYTBR 7
--11-07-0-9—Unemployment plus underemployment rate at 17.5%. NYT A1
--The American Health care system is more expensive than any other, without providing beter results. NYT A1

Friday, November 6, 2009

11-06-09

11-06-09—North by Northwest is 50 years old.—SBT D4 [ famous airplane scene near La Porte, Indiana]

--Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Morgan Stanley and Citigroup Inc. are among several large NYC employers that got doses of the H1N1 vaccine, which remains in short supply—WSJ A4 [any doubts left on who owns the USA and what it’s there for??]


--11-04-09—A landmark agreement aimed at giving the European union a global stature on par with major powers like the US and China cleared its last major hurdle on Tuesday... NYT A5 [actually, the week’s biggest news...]

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

this is the way the empire ends, not with a bang but a whimper

11-4-09--WASHINGTON (Nov. 3) -- Are America's youth too fat, dumb or dishonest to defend the nation against its enemies? The latest Army statistics show a stunning 75 percent of military-age youth are ineligible to join the military because they are overweight, can't pass entrance exams, have dropped out of high school or had run-ins with the law. So many young people between the prime recruiting ages of 17 and 24 cannot meet minimum standards that a group of retired military leaders is calling for more investment in early childhood education to combat the insidious effects of junk food and inadequate education.

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

sit down before reading

11-3-09—The health insurance industry likes to cite figures showing that 87 cents of every dollar in premiums is spent on medical claims.
But a new Senate analysis suggests that for-profit insurance companies are spending much less than that, especially for policies sold to individuals and small businesses. Instead, as little as 66 cents of each dollar paid in premiums goes toward doctor and hospital bills, while the rest covers administrative expenses, marketing and company profits, according to the analysis.
The data come from an analysis of regulatory filings by the Senate Commerce Committee from the largest for-profit companies, including WellPoint, the UnitedHealth Group, Aetna and Cigna. They spent about 74 cents out of every dollar on medical care in the individual market, according to the information released by Senator John D. Rockefeller IV, the West Virginia Democrat, who is chairman of the commerce committee.

--Crisis Compels Economists to Reach for New Paradigm. WSJ A1

--Arabs See US Tilt to Israel. WSJ A1

Monday, November 2, 2009

Halloween weekend

11-2-09—... Under Armour is teaching up with IMG Worldwide ... to run 100 training and evaluation combines for high school athletes in the US next year. Executives say the goal is to create an evaluation system in which everything from natural talent, to strength, to sport-specific ability, to nutrition and musculo-skeletal issues are reduced to a single SAT-like score. WSJ B10

--10-30-09—More states have lowered their academic proficiency standards than raised them, casting doubts on claims of educational progress. ... nearly all [states] used exams that feel short of federal testing benchmarks.... WSJ A1, A3