The measure was meaningless yet believe this or not, the White House blocked it so now shareholders have zero say, regardless that it was not binding, on executive pay.
Is this bill one of the worst examples to show how corrupt and complicit our government is?
See how worried one of our worst Zombie banks is on financial reform? They are planning on raising $3 billion for their new hedge and private equity funds.
Beyond business as usual, obviously Citigroup doesn't believe either Lincoln's amendment or the Volcker rule will be in the final bill.
Center for American Progress has a link to a study confirming what we have know about 'Middle Class' or we should say 'good job' destruction. The charts show a collapse in the statistical middle of what would be a bell-shaped curve of income distribution. Most disturbing is the acceleration of job loss over the last
generation.
Good post on Nigeria. The same spill story has been repeated in Nigeria as in the Ecuadorian Rain Forest. The Gulf Spill is a big deal because now it happens the the U.S.
Those other 'small people' do not count as much as the small U.S. people. All of this has a Conrad Heart of Darkness feel. Brutal and neo-colonial.
California out right banned offshore drilling after the 1969 spill of Santa Barbara.
Now comes the really bad news about Big Gas. A documentary called GasLand will appear next week on HBO. The fracking story sets kitchen faucets on fire.
A contemporary American story would not be complete without an outsourcing angle. No domestic supertankers exist and ships need be sent from around the world because no U.S. Tankers are made in generations. The sole U.S maritime company is Maersk-Sealand. Obama cannot order the Danes. Jones Act will not allow trans-shipping between U.S. ports.
Doesn't the Invisible Hand manage all these crises? The Supply Chain as an industrial model just does not work in war time or in any kind of national emergency. Either we start to make things or else start liking this mess.
...by "mainstream" economics. I am probably the person here (judging by what was said in the article and in some of the comments) that likes BOTH Veblen and Marx and is highly influenced by both. In my study of economics I have found hetreodox approaches to be the only ones that satisfactorily explain what is going on right now.
I check out shadow stats, esp. on labor, but I'm unsure of the history, accuracy, in part because I have no idea how shadowstats is cranking their numbers or where they are getting everything, whereas if I dig in deep enough I can find the raw source and methods with the gov. stats.
There is a lot of statistics behind the scenes in government data, including seasonal adjustments, some questionable, such as the infamous birth/death model. That said, it's a not seasonally adjusted number and even worse, it's clear on U.S. population, the number of illegals, the number of foreign guest workers, the BLS/DOL is stuck in the stone age on what they count and do not. It's not realistic, they focus on numbers from the 1960's, ignoring today's global labor arbitrage and demographics are more dependent upon immigration status vs. ethnicity. They are also clearly ignoring other forms of work that are not W-2. Not saying they should not collect that too but they are missing so much data. They even miss layoffs...
and no one collects raw data on jobs being offshore outsourced or....how many jobs are being created by U.S. based MNCs...abroad instead of the U.S.
One of the worse is how only 48% of working people can even qualify for UI. All of this talk about extending UI, when it doesn't even address over 50% of the workforce....who are hurting!
We had, hopefully he'll post again, another guy tallying online real time data, which is also missing from a lot of government data collection methods.
But I'm personally cautious on most of this. I believe you have some federal workers behind the scenes, simply collecting data, it's not this huge plot to fake out the people, more they need to increase budgets and improve raw data collection methods.
I started writing these things up because I saw such crap "feel good buzz headines" in the press as well as seemingly a lot of writers plain getting it completely wrong. i.e. mixing seasonal and unseasonal adjustments, seeing a statistical adjustment vs. a structural change that is skewing the numbers...stuff like that.
It's a psycho world. Lawyers, lobbyists, "imaging", "messaging", the world is run on empty images, empty rhetoric, empty phrases. When it comes to managing, legislation, while they are some valiant fighters out there, we're out numbered.
But it's often an effort to cover up the truth. This is turning into a case study of that. I share your attitude toward governance, as it exists today. Where are Gilbert & Sullivan?
This is playing out as expected. BP appears to be taking a public whipping and they've had to fork over $20 bil. Pretty light punishment for what they've done. They still have the disaster in waiting, Atlantis. Will they change their ways? They didn't after Texas City and they didn't after Prudhoe Bay. They won't now, I suspect.
Then there is Shell, that bulwark of the progressive Netherlands, which has destroyed the Ogoni people in the Niger Delta, even stood by while an activist was hanged with others on trumped up charges.
The only way that BP or any of them lose their sovereignty is to cease to exist. Nationalize them all.
The alternative energy option is ignored in the "American Power Act." The act is written as though solar energy is useless. Amazing.
Although the Joe Barton (R-TX) kissing up to BP was a fun story. He made the remarks at the start of the hearing and, by the end, was issuing an apology. The part left out was probably this - his office got several hundred/thousand phone calls, many from his district, that just ripped him a new one. His Dallas-Ft. Worth area constituents must have been furious. The alternative explanation is that he was intellectually honest: he reflected on his statement, recognized the error, and corrected it.
It used to be lawyers, now it's "finance people." Tony Hayward, the CEO, is a geologist, although obviously an incompetent one. How this company could be left in charge of the solution after they caused the problem is an ongoing question. That would be the equivalent of the government leaving the Wall Streeters in charge of fixing the financial crisis. Oh, wait... There is a certain consistency there.
I used the former name in the first two paragraphs because that's what it was called and BP throughout most of the article.
Whatever you call BP, it's a hideous company. From the colonial period through the present, it has been a pox upon any house that would have it as a guest.
Here's how they treat people. This is list of violations of worker safety from OSHA:
It is not, btw, Yanks versus the people of the UK. It's about predatory capitalism, crony capitalism, and a failure to regulate. Given BP's Texac City explosion and Prudhoe Bay, one wonders why the United States government allowed BP to stay in charge of the "fix" in the Gulf (or even drill there, for that matter).
The measure was meaningless yet believe this or not, the White House blocked it so now shareholders have zero say, regardless that it was not binding, on executive pay.
Is this bill one of the worst examples to show how corrupt and complicit our government is?
See how worried one of our worst Zombie banks is on financial reform? They are planning on raising $3 billion for their new hedge and private equity funds.
Beyond business as usual, obviously Citigroup doesn't believe either Lincoln's amendment or the Volcker rule will be in the final bill.
What does each line graph represent?
The House version had passed repeal on corporate tax incentives to offshore outsource your job.
If those were in the Senate version, assuredly that's the reason for the block.
generation.
Mike,
Good post on Nigeria. The same spill story has been repeated in Nigeria as in the Ecuadorian Rain Forest. The Gulf Spill is a big deal because now it happens the the U.S.
Those other 'small people' do not count as much as the small U.S. people. All of this has a Conrad Heart of Darkness feel. Brutal and neo-colonial.
California out right banned offshore drilling after the 1969 spill of Santa Barbara.
Now comes the really bad news about Big Gas. A documentary called GasLand will appear next week on HBO. The fracking story sets kitchen faucets on fire.
A contemporary American story would not be complete without an outsourcing angle. No domestic supertankers exist and ships need be sent from around the world because no U.S. Tankers are made in generations. The sole U.S maritime company is Maersk-Sealand. Obama cannot order the Danes. Jones Act will not allow trans-shipping between U.S. ports.
Doesn't the Invisible Hand manage all these crises? The Supply Chain as an industrial model just does not work in war time or in any kind of national emergency. Either we start to make things or else start liking this mess.
...by "mainstream" economics. I am probably the person here (judging by what was said in the article and in some of the comments) that likes BOTH Veblen and Marx and is highly influenced by both. In my study of economics I have found hetreodox approaches to be the only ones that satisfactorily explain what is going on right now.
I check out shadow stats, esp. on labor, but I'm unsure of the history, accuracy, in part because I have no idea how shadowstats is cranking their numbers or where they are getting everything, whereas if I dig in deep enough I can find the raw source and methods with the gov. stats.
There is a lot of statistics behind the scenes in government data, including seasonal adjustments, some questionable, such as the infamous birth/death model. That said, it's a not seasonally adjusted number and even worse, it's clear on U.S. population, the number of illegals, the number of foreign guest workers, the BLS/DOL is stuck in the stone age on what they count and do not. It's not realistic, they focus on numbers from the 1960's, ignoring today's global labor arbitrage and demographics are more dependent upon immigration status vs. ethnicity. They are also clearly ignoring other forms of work that are not W-2. Not saying they should not collect that too but they are missing so much data. They even miss layoffs...
and no one collects raw data on jobs being offshore outsourced or....how many jobs are being created by U.S. based MNCs...abroad instead of the U.S.
One of the worse is how only 48% of working people can even qualify for UI. All of this talk about extending UI, when it doesn't even address over 50% of the workforce....who are hurting!
We had, hopefully he'll post again, another guy tallying online real time data, which is also missing from a lot of government data collection methods.
But I'm personally cautious on most of this. I believe you have some federal workers behind the scenes, simply collecting data, it's not this huge plot to fake out the people, more they need to increase budgets and improve raw data collection methods.
I started writing these things up because I saw such crap "feel good buzz headines" in the press as well as seemingly a lot of writers plain getting it completely wrong. i.e. mixing seasonal and unseasonal adjustments, seeing a statistical adjustment vs. a structural change that is skewing the numbers...stuff like that.
It's a psycho world. Lawyers, lobbyists, "imaging", "messaging", the world is run on empty images, empty rhetoric, empty phrases. When it comes to managing, legislation, while they are some valiant fighters out there, we're out numbered.
I think of the money wasted on all of the above.
They represent what the NYT should be. More years back than I care to remember, I attended a small dinner party with them. They were fascinating.
Excellent history, bookmarked! And this, "predatory jurisprudence" - a phrase I expect to use. Worth a hundred words at least.
But it's often an effort to cover up the truth. This is turning into a case study of that. I share your attitude toward governance, as it exists today. Where are Gilbert & Sullivan?
You don't see it and, with it below, you bury the evidence. Of all the reason for this, that makes the most sense.
Shadow Government Statistics
This is playing out as expected. BP appears to be taking a public whipping and they've had to fork over $20 bil. Pretty light punishment for what they've done. They still have the disaster in waiting, Atlantis. Will they change their ways? They didn't after Texas City and they didn't after Prudhoe Bay. They won't now, I suspect.
.
Then there is Shell, that bulwark of the progressive Netherlands, which has destroyed the Ogoni people in the Niger Delta, even stood by while an activist was hanged with others on trumped up charges.
The only way that BP or any of them lose their sovereignty is to cease to exist. Nationalize them all.
The alternative energy option is ignored in the "American Power Act." The act is written as though solar energy is useless. Amazing.
Although the Joe Barton (R-TX) kissing up to BP was a fun story. He made the remarks at the start of the hearing and, by the end, was issuing an apology. The part left out was probably this - his office got several hundred/thousand phone calls, many from his district, that just ripped him a new one. His Dallas-Ft. Worth area constituents must have been furious. The alternative explanation is that he was intellectually honest: he reflected on his statement, recognized the error, and corrected it.
Two links http://agonist.org/bpbankrupt
btw, someone must have linked to this at EP. It came out #1 on Google a minute or so ago.
It used to be lawyers, now it's "finance people." Tony Hayward, the CEO, is a geologist, although obviously an incompetent one. How this company could be left in charge of the solution after they caused the problem is an ongoing question. That would be the equivalent of the government leaving the Wall Streeters in charge of fixing the financial crisis. Oh, wait... There is a certain consistency there.
I used the former name in the first two paragraphs because that's what it was called and BP throughout most of the article.
Whatever you call BP, it's a hideous company. From the colonial period through the present, it has been a pox upon any house that would have it as a guest.
Here's how they treat people. This is list of violations of worker safety from OSHA:
It is not, btw, Yanks versus the people of the UK. It's about predatory capitalism, crony capitalism, and a failure to regulate. Given BP's Texac City explosion and Prudhoe Bay, one wonders why the United States government allowed BP to stay in charge of the "fix" in the Gulf (or even drill there, for that matter).
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