by ilene - August 26th, 2010 11:36 pm
Courtesy of Yves Smith of Naked Capitalism
Normally, I don’t report on anecdotes from my immediate circle, but a set of conversations in less than a 24 hour period suggests that even those comparatively unaffected by the crisis are bracing themselves for the possibility of sudden, large-scale, adverse changes. And that sort of gnawing worry seems to be growing in New York despite being buoyed by TARP funds and covert bank subsidies.
When out on my rounds the day before yesterday, I ran into an old McKinsey colleague, who had subsequently had impressively titled jobs in Big Firms You Heard Of before semi-retiring to manage family money. He and his very accomplished wife were big Bush donors and had been invited to both inaugurations.
He made short order of niceties and got to the point: “We need more fiscal stimulus. Obama did too little and too much of what he spent on was liberal pork. We could and need to spend a lot on infrastructure. This is looking a lot like 1936. I’m afraid it could get really ugly. And I’m particularly worried that the Republicans will win big this fall. They’ll cut even deeper, that’s the last thing we need right now.”
No I am not making this up, and yes, this is one of the last people I would have expected to express this line of thinking.
Next day, I had lunch with a two long standing, keen observers and participants in the New York scene, as in very involved in some of the city’s important institutions. Both have witnessed the shift in values over the last thirty years and the rising stratification, particularly at the top end (New York has always been plutocratic, but it formerly had a large upper middle class and a much smaller and much less isolated upper crust).
They started by commenting on my Bill Gross post, which had mentioned the appalling Steve Schwarzman contention that taxing private equity overlords more on their carried interest was like HItler invading Poland. Schwarzman is not only not retreating from his remark, he is convinced that the reason the economy is so lousy is that rich men like him are not getting their way (this is if anything an understatement of their account. Both men expect his head to be the first…
Tags: Bill Gross, Democrats, PIMCO, Regime Change, Republicans, revolution, violence, Yves Smith
Posted in Phil's Favorites | No Comments »
by ilene - February 18th, 2010 3:34 pm
Courtesy of Karl Denninger at The Market Ticker
This is not the sort of thing you want to report on.
But I need to, because what looked like an accident originally – a horrible accident, with a plane on approach that had some sort of mechanical problem - now looks to be something else.
AUSTIN, TX (myFOXaustin) – A small aircraft plane has crashed into a 7-story office building in North Austin near Mopac and 183. The plane crashed into the Echelon building around 10 a.m. Thursday morning. Police have blocked off access roads around the building.
….
According to Corp. Scott Perry with APD several federal offices were located inside the building that was struck by the plane. Officials with NTSB say that IRS offices were some of the federal offices.
CNBS is reporting that there is "no indication that this was an act of terrorism or otherwise intentional." Oh really? Then how come CNBC is claiming on-air that the man involved set fire to his own house first? Oh, and Fox News just stated that the name of the pilot was…. Mr. Joe Stack.
Uh…. what’s this?
I know I’m hardly the first one to decide I have had all I can stand. It has always been a myth that people have stopped dying for their freedom in this country, and it isn’t limited to the blacks, and poor immigrants. I know there have been countless before me and there are sure to be as many after. But I also know that by not adding my body to the count, I insure nothing will change. I choose to not keep looking over my shoulder at “big brother” while he strips my carcass, I choose not to ignore what is going on all around me, I choose not to pretend that business as usual won’t continue; I have just had enough.
I can only hope that the numbers quickly get too big to be white washed and ignored that the American zombies wake up and revolt; it will take nothing less. I would only hope that by striking a nerve that stimulates the inevitable double standard, knee-jerk government reaction that results in more stupid draconian restrictions people wake up and begin to see the pompous political thugs and their mindless minions for what they are. Sadly, though
…
Tags: austin texas, government, IRS, Joe Stack, plane crash, violence, William Black
Posted in Phil's Favorites | 1 Comment »
by ilene - August 5th, 2009 6:42 pm
Intro, courtesy of Timothy D. Naegele:
"As the economic tsunami continues to take its toll globally, and as California suffers because of declining tax revenues and budgetary imbalances — which may spawn more crime, not less — the judges want to mandate that criminals are released. Wow!"
By Mike Zapler in the Mercury News
SACRAMENTO — In a decision that could dramatically reshape California’s criminal justice system, a panel of federal judges on Tuesday ordered Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and state legislators to find ways to cut the prison population by 40,000, or about one-quarter of all inmates.
The ruling was a stark milestone in the years-long saga of two lawsuits charging that California allows inhumane conditions to fester in its prisons because of severe overcrowding. Law-and-order advocates say such cuts would result in inmates being returned to the streets early or being turned over to cash-strapped counties to jail. The Schwarzenegger administration signaled that it would likely appeal the case to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The three-judge panel gave the governor and lawmakers 45 days to present a plan to cut the inmate population from about 150,000 to 110,000 over two years. The judges delivered a stern message about conditions that are so poor in some prisons that they violate inmates’ constitutional rights.
"The medical and mental health care available to inmates in the California prison system is woefully and constitutionally inadequate, and has been for more than a decade," the judges wrote in a 184-page ruling. "Tragically, California’s inmates have long been denied even (a) minimal level of medical and mental health care, with consequences that have been serious, and often fatal. … A significant number of inmates have died as a result."
The judges described some prisons operating at nearly 300 percent of capacity, with inmates housed in triple bunk beds placed in gymnasiums and day rooms.
"In these overcrowded conditions, inmate-on-inmate violence is almost impossible to prevent, infectious diseases spread more easily, and lockdowns are sometimes the only means by which to maintain control," the judges wrote…
Continue here >>
Tags: California, crowded prisons, early release, inmates' constitutional rights, violence
Posted in Phil's Favorites | No Comments »
by ilene - July 7th, 2009 4:43 pm
Sign up for a free subscription to Phil’s Stock World Report, click here!
One reason China stepped on the fiscal stimulus pedal was to help quiet millions of displaced migrant workers now out of a job. China’s concern over migrant workers was well founded as Violence Kills 156 in China, Hundreds More Detained.
China’s government said more than 700 people were detained after ethnic rioting in the capital of Xinjiang province killed 156 people. Overseas Uighur groups were responsible for the violence, the government said.
A curfew and traffic blockade remained in effect in Urumqi, capital of China’s westernmost province, until 8 a.m., a government press officer, Yang Guoqiang, said in an interview. Three armed guards checked every visitor and bag with metal detectors at the Sheraton Urumqi hotel.
China Central Television yesterday aired images of smoke billowing from vehicles, crowds overturning police cars and bloodied people slumped on sidewalks in Urumqi. More than 825 people were also injured after rioting broke out in the city late on July 5, and the toll is likely to rise, Xinhua cited Liu Yaohua, the region’s police chief, as saying.
As many as 30 million migrant workers have lost their jobs during the global financial crisis, as demand from the U.S. and Europe vanishes, exacerbating already simmering social tensions.
“It’s like Mao Zedong used to say, a spark can spread the fire into the prairie, and that’s the situation in Xinjiang,” said Jean-Philippe Beja, a senior researcher at the French Centre for Studies on Contemporary China in Hong Kong.
Fifty-seven bodies were retrieved from the streets, while the remainder were confirmed dead at hospitals, said Liu, the police chief. Rioters burned 261 vehicles and destroyed 203 shops, authorities said.
Nur Bekri, chairman of the Xinjiang regional government, said in a televised speech yesterday that the riot was triggered by the death of two Uighur workers in a factory brawl in Guangdong province in June, Xinhua reported. That incident also had ethnic overtones, with the Uighur workers fighting ethnic-Han workers, according to the news agency.
Mobs Take to Streets
Another day of violence is underway and China Tries to Calm Urumqi as Mobs Take to Streets.
Hundreds of Chinese from rival ethnic groups fought each
…
Tags: CHINA, fiscal stimulus, violence
Posted in Phil's Favorites | 2 Comments »
Courtesy of 
German
Spanish
French
Italian
Portuguese
Japanese
Korean
Russian
Chinese
Philip R. Davis is a founder Phil's Stock World, a stock and options trading site that teaches the art of options trading to newcomers and devises advanced strategies for expert traders...
Ilene is editor and affiliate program
coordinator for PSW.