American politics are two extremes, the right and the crazies. Only America is protectionist and only America is racist according to the gospel of media. Great comment.
Have to agree, a bunch of uber-rich people get together to discuss how to structure the world. What's wrong with this picture? I think you mean CNBC, not CNBS.
All that tax money we never see going straight into the military-industrial complex. Really? When they are demanding austerity and fighting 24/7 about debt ceilings? As we hear talking heads ramble on about cutting Social Security, school funds, infrastructure, unemployment benefits for the nearly homeless or dead, let's think about the cash being burned as we transport French troops to Mali. Don't hear Mike Bloomberg talking about it, but do hear him wanting more immigration, more laws against Americans, and more surveillance of law-abiding citizens. Almost like using foreign wars to control the domestic population. I'm sure that's a first in history.
What decade is this? Americans and French in a former colony once governed by France. We're not fighting, but advising. No worries, Mali will welcome the French and other foreigners with open arms. Of course all the insurgents must be Al-Qaeda controlled and can easily be isolated in a desert country (forgetting the lie that they are all Al-Qaeda linked - they aren't, insurgents can flee to other nations, areas, blend in, have friends + allies and many beefs that have nothing to do with Al-Qaeda). It's the war against terror, us vs. them, good vs. evil. Simple maxims play well on Fox and CNN, not in real life. I'm still waiting for that peace dividend. I was sure we'd see it after the wall fell down. But then Iraq I, Somalia, Iraq II, Afghanistan, Libya, chasing Kony in Uganda, Mali, Democratic Republic of the Congo, etc.
Ever notice the way the plutocrats and politicians on TV never criticize these wars but are quick to criticize Americans and our social safety nets? That's because they know they make money in these things and the powers that profit from them are their allies. How much money did these folks launder for Malian officials, Iraqi officials, Afghan officials? How much of that money is helping arm both sides in these conflicts? But we're "lazy" and don't even deserve jobs or Social Security? What utter garbage.
It's fine for Crony Capitalist China to force American companies stupid enough to manufacture over there to hire locals, share critical IP, etc. Of course, to no one's surprise, the IP is quickly stolen and the "American" company is now competing with a cheaper version of its own product that can be manufactured even more cheaply, sold cheaper, and distributed worldwide. And the Japanese also know all about protectionism (the 80s were awesome for Japan and they loved dumping goods on us through their national protectionism - things haven't gone well for Japan's economy since then). And India today, same deal. How about their labor "protectionism"? Many nations require that certain percentages of locals work on crews and will only allow expatriate bosses to work there until locals can assume the duties. In Japan and other nations, it's not common for foreigners to work in Japanese firms, and in fact, foreigners will more likely be teaching English in Japan and abroad, not working in Japanese factories and firms. Try visiting Russia or Japan or China and work there off the books. Ain't happening and if you're caught, well, Japan is probably the best best because they'll treat you well. Russia and China, yeah, best of luck. Try getting caught over there without proper visas. Oh, most unpleasant. Ask Georgians or others in Russia how they are treated. Sure, the media talks about Depardieu and Russia's taxes, but the news over here rarely, if ever, covers violence against minorities, immigrants, corruption, the killing of those who speak out, including journalists, etc. in Russia. India, nope, not fans of foreigners working there in white or blue-collar jobs. Mexico, nope, they don't like people from neighboring countries working there at all but the government sure is quick to bash us and have meetings with our "leaders" to form pro-Mexico economic policies at our expense.
But oh man, all these countries do love complaining about the US and its foreign worker and production policies. They do insist on easier visas, that everyone here illegally stay here as long as they want, and that every single position in academia, white collar, blue collar, and every other collar be open to foreigners, even if Americans had those jobs, want those jobs, or could be trained for those jobs. In fact, it doesn't even matter if the person that wants that job can't speak English, needs a visa, and can't perform the job. According to these other nations and our sell-out corporate-owned politicians, they are "entitled" to everything they want, even if they are the ultimate hypocrites that don't care about America or its citizens. So who's protectionist and who's just full of it?
One of those buzz phrases coined by corporate lobbyists. First, Apple isn't really American due to their massive manufacturing in China. Second, Samsung is taking market share and yes stole patents and frankly Apple certainly "stole" a lot of ideas from elsewhere, including individuals. These corporate patent lawsuits are battles of the titans, have nothing to do with trade, everything to do with intellectual property law.
So, the battle is over IP, patents and protecting one's invention. Do I think some of the patent wars are simply corporate power, yes. Do I think innovation should be protected since it is much harder to innovate than copy? Absolutely.
We have knock off, ripoff out of China especially on IP daily. I have no idea what people are thinking manufacturing in China for their products and development will be reverse engineered.
I also think Samsung is proxy for Google. Also, the "ban" lasted not even six months and didn't matter. Mobile dev. moves so fast by the time they even get an injunction court ruling, the new model has come out.
Less would switch from Apple to Samsung if they manufactured in the U.S. Google, most of all, should manufacture in the U.S. They are the ones providing Samsung with the framework upon which they build the Galaxy models.
Who can forget the tranches of garbage filled up with toxic assets in such a way they were fraudulent and can never be proved?
It was global so if China has this, no surprise. They didn't do any reforms period and why Fisher's proposal to make SPVs considered an affiliated, the banks holding companies is very good. They would dump these CDOs into little SPVs then parked in the Cayman's or where-ever so no legal action, outside the law, plus tax haven status.
It's pretty basic, if you are big man or woman, the rules, no matter what they are, will never apply to you. Gun laws, protecting yourself, discussion/exercising your 1st Amendment or any other rights will only be held against you if you are a little person/commoner/non-elite.
Now, take "suspicious behavior" regarding buses, planes, etc. If you get off first and are in a hurry, that can be interpreted by a law enforcement officer, if they want, as an attempt by someone to get off the bus, etc. ASAP to avoid a search, detection, or based on nervousness. If you stay in the middle of the crowd, that could be seen as trying to "blend in" to avoid detection. And if you exit last, that could be seen as an attempt to convey "calmness" to fool officers and show that you have nothing to hide. See, no matter what you do, it could be interpreted against you. But if you are a big man or woman, no worries, you can do as you please and actually break laws and get away with it because you make the right donations, pay the right politicians, own media outlets or are a public personality that appears on TV screens or in political offices. In fact, you could actually launder money for terrorists and get away with it. You could hack phones and make profits from those activities. You could interfere in murder investigations. You could bribe police. And make profits from all of it and never get questioned, let alone arrested. Compare that to cases of individuals currently in federal prisons or state prisons for hacking a few phones (remember the Palin hacking case for one average guy that happened one time and he was convicted super quickly and sentenced to time), attempting or actually bribing police and other officials, and destroying evidence in one case one time. It's not what the laws say in the books, it's who you are (or aren't).
Apparently there's a growing problem in China with repackaged debt being sold through third-party brokers. It was a trend that used to be common in the US and UK too... remember the Collateralised Debt Obligation crisis?
I agree that many products manufactured in Asia are aimed to undercut US prices. As is well known, in China the government sets the renminbi at low levels specifically to boost exports. But this being said, there are many established companies producing competitive goods which should be given an equal footing in the global marketplace.
Apple's attempt to sue Samsung into being banned from selling its smartphone range in the US, for alleged patent infringement, could be an example of the long-term consequences of disabusing legislation for short-term gain.
A public opinion poll on 'buzz' around Apple and Samsung at the time of the lawsuits showed that many consumers switched their brand allegiance to Samsung as a result. http://www.brandindex.com/article/samsung-buzz-bounces-back-lawsuit
And - though it is probably not a phenomenon that will be repeated in 2013 - Samsung made a record £4.5bn operating profit for Q3 of 2012, largely on the back of its Galaxy range. This despite the fact it was barred from US markets. http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2012/oct/05/samsung-operating-profi...
So does America really want to 'protect' itself from all imports that compete with domestic industry? The danger of overt protectionism is that established sectors become complacent and inward-looking. The rest of the world moves on.
Granted, hedge funds act in a way that is always in their own interests...that's red-toothed free-market capitalism for you: someone will always spot the financial opportunity in what is a disaster for others.
But if the ECB can't afford to buy all the sovereign bonds of struggling countries like Spain, it falls to private investors to pick up the slack. It's not necessarily predatory.
And don't forget that they too have an obligation to their investors to seek the highest possible returns.
The knowledge is out there, it's available, and there's no excuse for the common man or woman to not know what's going on in so many realms. Now this isn't conspiracy stuff, or fringe talk, but facts, history, etc. Look at Mali. Now, counterinsurgency books (COIN that talking heads in media mention but didn't read anything about) talk about making friends with the locals, sealing borders, and the accepted ratio of troops to insurgents to crush it is 10:1 (could be wrong, but not critical). Listening to people in DC and on TV it's like counterinsurgency and foreign affairs are new concerns. Whatever they do, they can't read history, no, not like the Greeks or Romans or Turks or the Russians or Napoleon or the British or the US had experience with this for the last 2000 years. Books are bad, talking points and endless meaningless talk for ratings and votes is good.
Now look at Afghanistan. The Soviet's mistakes were written down in dozens of books. Their General Staff wrote about mistakes extensively and the books are available to anyone out there. Guess what? We went in and repeated the same mistakes. And the sad thing is we actually armed our future attackers during the 80s, helped harden them, helped foster Al-Qaeda and the Taliban during the 1980s. Too many tribal allegiances, impossible to seal borders, Afghanistan has a history covering centuries of repelling invaders/foreigners. Thousands of reports written, trillions spent that never got down to the US taxpayers, borders impossible to seal, and no one fired or canned or loses prestige in US. No one that dares speaks the truth is hired by the govt. or contractors and if they do say, "Why do we keep repeating the same mistakes and have endless meetings to repeat the same BS?" they are fired.
Mali? Mali? Best of luck. More billions going to waste. Impossible to seal borders (the country is twice the size of Texas). Insurgents aren't strictly Islamists, they also are composed of ethnic minorities pissed off. Africa filled with corruption so that creates insurgents everywhere. It's a desert country where people can melt away and come back after planes + bombs disappear. They can melt into surrounding countries. Who are we going to back up? France, with it's "wonderful" history in Africa? How about ECOWAS? Nigeria has its own massive fight with insurgents from Boko Haram. In addition, corruption in the Niger Delta (involving oil profits, massive environmental pollution) is keeping MEND going strong. Nigeria and other ECOWAS countries won't send troops and if they do, a few thousands won't and can't end an insurgency. And how would the Malians or Algerians feel about foreigners from other African countries "aiding" them? The Algerians' and French history is not a pretty one, and the Algerians' own civil war in the 1990s was also brutal and ugly but lacked international media coverage. But we're going down this road again? Do policy makers and corporate bigwigs and media lackeys not know how to read? Would that disqualify them from jobs in the US + UN and other organizations? Probably.
Remember this, the companies that make billions in Nigeria and elsewhere always complain about a US government that is too big and has too many regulations. Go ask the people in the Niger Delta how they feel about no environmental protections and massive corruption. How do they feel about foreign companies and their own govt. taking resources and they get nothing? And when things go horribly wrong, of course the US govt. (through the unemployed and overworked average taxpayer) now has to bail out the big CEOs that pray at the altar of Grover Norquist and Murdoch and Koch. They help fuel the mess and we get stuck with the bill. That, well, sucks.
Folks, I'm working on the mobile version of the site. I'd like to hear feedback on how it's working. My dev. is a WAP browser, going for the lowest denominator since that's where usability would fall apart most I think. If you have Android, tablets, esp. more unusual mobile, let me know how it's looks.
TBD: Comments - code rewrite to protect against spammers for anonymous comments
How much did election 2012 cost? $6 billion and that's pretty much wasted cash since most of Congress is in gerrymandered districts. I wouldn't say that terrorists are not real, they very much are, but exploiting it for political gain, oh yeah.
I had to blow away and restructure the Instapopulist. Tell us again why you use a term no one knows?
The comments work great too.
are workers, the America people. Imagine any regular workers, even scientists at Davos? Joke!
American politics are two extremes, the right and the crazies. Only America is protectionist and only America is racist according to the gospel of media. Great comment.
Have to agree, a bunch of uber-rich people get together to discuss how to structure the world. What's wrong with this picture? I think you mean CNBC, not CNBS.
While creating the new Instapopulist it looks like permissions became corrupted and so commenting might have been disabled. Sorry, working on the fix!
Her prosecution days are twenty years ago, although she left the same law firm to do so. I'm doubtful as well, although we should give her a chance.
Unions and their growth is a main reason why the middle class grew from 1935-1980.
All that tax money we never see going straight into the military-industrial complex. Really? When they are demanding austerity and fighting 24/7 about debt ceilings? As we hear talking heads ramble on about cutting Social Security, school funds, infrastructure, unemployment benefits for the nearly homeless or dead, let's think about the cash being burned as we transport French troops to Mali. Don't hear Mike Bloomberg talking about it, but do hear him wanting more immigration, more laws against Americans, and more surveillance of law-abiding citizens. Almost like using foreign wars to control the domestic population. I'm sure that's a first in history.
What decade is this? Americans and French in a former colony once governed by France. We're not fighting, but advising. No worries, Mali will welcome the French and other foreigners with open arms. Of course all the insurgents must be Al-Qaeda controlled and can easily be isolated in a desert country (forgetting the lie that they are all Al-Qaeda linked - they aren't, insurgents can flee to other nations, areas, blend in, have friends + allies and many beefs that have nothing to do with Al-Qaeda). It's the war against terror, us vs. them, good vs. evil. Simple maxims play well on Fox and CNN, not in real life. I'm still waiting for that peace dividend. I was sure we'd see it after the wall fell down. But then Iraq I, Somalia, Iraq II, Afghanistan, Libya, chasing Kony in Uganda, Mali, Democratic Republic of the Congo, etc.
Ever notice the way the plutocrats and politicians on TV never criticize these wars but are quick to criticize Americans and our social safety nets? That's because they know they make money in these things and the powers that profit from them are their allies. How much money did these folks launder for Malian officials, Iraqi officials, Afghan officials? How much of that money is helping arm both sides in these conflicts? But we're "lazy" and don't even deserve jobs or Social Security? What utter garbage.
It's fine for Crony Capitalist China to force American companies stupid enough to manufacture over there to hire locals, share critical IP, etc. Of course, to no one's surprise, the IP is quickly stolen and the "American" company is now competing with a cheaper version of its own product that can be manufactured even more cheaply, sold cheaper, and distributed worldwide. And the Japanese also know all about protectionism (the 80s were awesome for Japan and they loved dumping goods on us through their national protectionism - things haven't gone well for Japan's economy since then). And India today, same deal. How about their labor "protectionism"? Many nations require that certain percentages of locals work on crews and will only allow expatriate bosses to work there until locals can assume the duties. In Japan and other nations, it's not common for foreigners to work in Japanese firms, and in fact, foreigners will more likely be teaching English in Japan and abroad, not working in Japanese factories and firms. Try visiting Russia or Japan or China and work there off the books. Ain't happening and if you're caught, well, Japan is probably the best best because they'll treat you well. Russia and China, yeah, best of luck. Try getting caught over there without proper visas. Oh, most unpleasant. Ask Georgians or others in Russia how they are treated. Sure, the media talks about Depardieu and Russia's taxes, but the news over here rarely, if ever, covers violence against minorities, immigrants, corruption, the killing of those who speak out, including journalists, etc. in Russia. India, nope, not fans of foreigners working there in white or blue-collar jobs. Mexico, nope, they don't like people from neighboring countries working there at all but the government sure is quick to bash us and have meetings with our "leaders" to form pro-Mexico economic policies at our expense.
But oh man, all these countries do love complaining about the US and its foreign worker and production policies. They do insist on easier visas, that everyone here illegally stay here as long as they want, and that every single position in academia, white collar, blue collar, and every other collar be open to foreigners, even if Americans had those jobs, want those jobs, or could be trained for those jobs. In fact, it doesn't even matter if the person that wants that job can't speak English, needs a visa, and can't perform the job. According to these other nations and our sell-out corporate-owned politicians, they are "entitled" to everything they want, even if they are the ultimate hypocrites that don't care about America or its citizens. So who's protectionist and who's just full of it?
One of those buzz phrases coined by corporate lobbyists. First, Apple isn't really American due to their massive manufacturing in China. Second, Samsung is taking market share and yes stole patents and frankly Apple certainly "stole" a lot of ideas from elsewhere, including individuals. These corporate patent lawsuits are battles of the titans, have nothing to do with trade, everything to do with intellectual property law.
So, the battle is over IP, patents and protecting one's invention. Do I think some of the patent wars are simply corporate power, yes. Do I think innovation should be protected since it is much harder to innovate than copy? Absolutely.
We have knock off, ripoff out of China especially on IP daily. I have no idea what people are thinking manufacturing in China for their products and development will be reverse engineered.
I also think Samsung is proxy for Google. Also, the "ban" lasted not even six months and didn't matter. Mobile dev. moves so fast by the time they even get an injunction court ruling, the new model has come out.
Less would switch from Apple to Samsung if they manufactured in the U.S. Google, most of all, should manufacture in the U.S. They are the ones providing Samsung with the framework upon which they build the Galaxy models.
Who can forget the tranches of garbage filled up with toxic assets in such a way they were fraudulent and can never be proved?
It was global so if China has this, no surprise. They didn't do any reforms period and why Fisher's proposal to make SPVs considered an affiliated, the banks holding companies is very good. They would dump these CDOs into little SPVs then parked in the Cayman's or where-ever so no legal action, outside the law, plus tax haven status.
It's pretty basic, if you are big man or woman, the rules, no matter what they are, will never apply to you. Gun laws, protecting yourself, discussion/exercising your 1st Amendment or any other rights will only be held against you if you are a little person/commoner/non-elite.
Now, take "suspicious behavior" regarding buses, planes, etc. If you get off first and are in a hurry, that can be interpreted by a law enforcement officer, if they want, as an attempt by someone to get off the bus, etc. ASAP to avoid a search, detection, or based on nervousness. If you stay in the middle of the crowd, that could be seen as trying to "blend in" to avoid detection. And if you exit last, that could be seen as an attempt to convey "calmness" to fool officers and show that you have nothing to hide. See, no matter what you do, it could be interpreted against you. But if you are a big man or woman, no worries, you can do as you please and actually break laws and get away with it because you make the right donations, pay the right politicians, own media outlets or are a public personality that appears on TV screens or in political offices. In fact, you could actually launder money for terrorists and get away with it. You could hack phones and make profits from those activities. You could interfere in murder investigations. You could bribe police. And make profits from all of it and never get questioned, let alone arrested. Compare that to cases of individuals currently in federal prisons or state prisons for hacking a few phones (remember the Palin hacking case for one average guy that happened one time and he was convicted super quickly and sentenced to time), attempting or actually bribing police and other officials, and destroying evidence in one case one time. It's not what the laws say in the books, it's who you are (or aren't).
Apparently there's a growing problem in China with repackaged debt being sold through third-party brokers. It was a trend that used to be common in the US and UK too... remember the Collateralised Debt Obligation crisis?
I agree that many products manufactured in Asia are aimed to undercut US prices. As is well known, in China the government sets the renminbi at low levels specifically to boost exports. But this being said, there are many established companies producing competitive goods which should be given an equal footing in the global marketplace.
Apple's attempt to sue Samsung into being banned from selling its smartphone range in the US, for alleged patent infringement, could be an example of the long-term consequences of disabusing legislation for short-term gain.
A public opinion poll on 'buzz' around Apple and Samsung at the time of the lawsuits showed that many consumers switched their brand allegiance to Samsung as a result.
http://www.brandindex.com/article/samsung-buzz-bounces-back-lawsuit
And - though it is probably not a phenomenon that will be repeated in 2013 - Samsung made a record £4.5bn operating profit for Q3 of 2012, largely on the back of its Galaxy range. This despite the fact it was barred from US markets.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2012/oct/05/samsung-operating-profi...
So does America really want to 'protect' itself from all imports that compete with domestic industry? The danger of overt protectionism is that established sectors become complacent and inward-looking. The rest of the world moves on.
Granted, hedge funds act in a way that is always in their own interests...that's red-toothed free-market capitalism for you: someone will always spot the financial opportunity in what is a disaster for others.
But if the ECB can't afford to buy all the sovereign bonds of struggling countries like Spain, it falls to private investors to pick up the slack. It's not necessarily predatory.
And don't forget that they too have an obligation to their investors to seek the highest possible returns.
Have you seen this flier for guidelines concerning 'suspicious behaviour' in internet cafes? While some of it seems self-evident, I wasn't aware that paying in cash was a behaviour only performed by suspected terrorists.
http://info.publicintelligence.net/FBI-SuspiciousActivity/Internet_Cafe.pdf
The knowledge is out there, it's available, and there's no excuse for the common man or woman to not know what's going on in so many realms. Now this isn't conspiracy stuff, or fringe talk, but facts, history, etc. Look at Mali. Now, counterinsurgency books (COIN that talking heads in media mention but didn't read anything about) talk about making friends with the locals, sealing borders, and the accepted ratio of troops to insurgents to crush it is 10:1 (could be wrong, but not critical). Listening to people in DC and on TV it's like counterinsurgency and foreign affairs are new concerns. Whatever they do, they can't read history, no, not like the Greeks or Romans or Turks or the Russians or Napoleon or the British or the US had experience with this for the last 2000 years. Books are bad, talking points and endless meaningless talk for ratings and votes is good.
Now look at Afghanistan. The Soviet's mistakes were written down in dozens of books. Their General Staff wrote about mistakes extensively and the books are available to anyone out there. Guess what? We went in and repeated the same mistakes. And the sad thing is we actually armed our future attackers during the 80s, helped harden them, helped foster Al-Qaeda and the Taliban during the 1980s. Too many tribal allegiances, impossible to seal borders, Afghanistan has a history covering centuries of repelling invaders/foreigners. Thousands of reports written, trillions spent that never got down to the US taxpayers, borders impossible to seal, and no one fired or canned or loses prestige in US. No one that dares speaks the truth is hired by the govt. or contractors and if they do say, "Why do we keep repeating the same mistakes and have endless meetings to repeat the same BS?" they are fired.
Mali? Mali? Best of luck. More billions going to waste. Impossible to seal borders (the country is twice the size of Texas). Insurgents aren't strictly Islamists, they also are composed of ethnic minorities pissed off. Africa filled with corruption so that creates insurgents everywhere. It's a desert country where people can melt away and come back after planes + bombs disappear. They can melt into surrounding countries. Who are we going to back up? France, with it's "wonderful" history in Africa? How about ECOWAS? Nigeria has its own massive fight with insurgents from Boko Haram. In addition, corruption in the Niger Delta (involving oil profits, massive environmental pollution) is keeping MEND going strong. Nigeria and other ECOWAS countries won't send troops and if they do, a few thousands won't and can't end an insurgency. And how would the Malians or Algerians feel about foreigners from other African countries "aiding" them? The Algerians' and French history is not a pretty one, and the Algerians' own civil war in the 1990s was also brutal and ugly but lacked international media coverage. But we're going down this road again? Do policy makers and corporate bigwigs and media lackeys not know how to read? Would that disqualify them from jobs in the US + UN and other organizations? Probably.
Remember this, the companies that make billions in Nigeria and elsewhere always complain about a US government that is too big and has too many regulations. Go ask the people in the Niger Delta how they feel about no environmental protections and massive corruption. How do they feel about foreign companies and their own govt. taking resources and they get nothing? And when things go horribly wrong, of course the US govt. (through the unemployed and overworked average taxpayer) now has to bail out the big CEOs that pray at the altar of Grover Norquist and Murdoch and Koch. They help fuel the mess and we get stuck with the bill. That, well, sucks.
Folks, I'm working on the mobile version of the site. I'd like to hear feedback on how it's working. My dev. is a WAP browser, going for the lowest denominator since that's where usability would fall apart most I think. If you have Android, tablets, esp. more unusual mobile, let me know how it's looks.
TBD: Comments - code rewrite to protect against spammers for anonymous comments
Instapopulist - it's coming!
How much did election 2012 cost? $6 billion and that's pretty much wasted cash since most of Congress is in gerrymandered districts. I wouldn't say that terrorists are not real, they very much are, but exploiting it for political gain, oh yeah.
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