An economics, investment, trading and policy blog with a focus on Modern Monetary Theory (MMT). We seek the truth, avoid the mainstream and are virulently anti-neoliberalism.
What a boorish and loathsome individual. The mistakes and stupidities of other political parties is put down to his great political and strategic intelligence, when in fact he's known to be a rather stupid and crude with stupid and crude politics.
Witness how desperate the British electorate has become. The major parties have deserted the working classes in huge areas of the country, particularly the old industrial areas of England which were solidly behind the Labour party.
Nigel Farage's minuscule intelligence is able to grasp one thing, however: desperate people do desperate things, like vote for a crypto-neo-fascist party staffed by former members of violent neo-Nazi organisations. The desperation is palpable. Just like the boorishness, crudity and stupidity of Nigel Farage.
Matt, the major political parties have divested themselves of any care and consideration of the British working classes let alone actively proposing and doing anything for them. So Farage's crude rhetoric does, as you say, work. Farage doesn't offer anything. He just blabbers total nonsense and stokes the insecurities engendered by the mainstream politicians. He's an English version of Bill O'Reilly or Rush Limbaugh. And as crudely entertaining as O'Reilly or Limbaugh presumable are, it gets tiresome and nauseating because you know it's dimwitted gibberish. We've had to put up with Farage's circus freak show for far too long. Unfortunately, it looks as if he'll be with us for some time to come. Our mainstream parties are trying to cobble together a way of remaining within the EU. That means Farage and UKIP do well.
Malmo, as expected gutless Bernie proves what an obvious fraud he is. For all his faux socialism, look at how this phoney voted in the House and in the Senate. At least Trump doesn't fold like a cheap suit.
Matt, Malmo, we've had our political differences, but can I count on you boys giving me good letters of reference for US citizenship so I can leave this madhouse and join your madhouse?
If only Bernie had left the Democrats and started an independent party, or joined the greens, but to back Hilary, that's outrageous, he's backing a right wing neoliberal hawk. That's doing the opposite of what he stood for in his campaign. Millions of young people were hoping on him, how could he let them down?
He's at the end of his career and he doesn't need the money. All the liberals, the young, and the socialists would have loved him, and what campaign it would have been. An event for history. But perhaps Stephen Lendman is right, he was a phoney. Well he has to be to back Hilary, the war bitch. He could have brought the world towards peace, now we are moving closer towards war.
Other than on the webisphere, most of the day to day face to face interactive life, even here in the Chicago area, is pretty much non political. It really isn't a madhouse at all.
And another thing. I have far more lefty friends than right wing ones, yet I like em all--a lot. We also talk a lot about the sexy skirts trolloping around these parts too :) Man do I love summer.
Malmo, Chicago has summers? Well that expands the choice to three: Santa Fe, New Orleans or Chicago! But I wouldn't be able to decide between the Cubs or the White Sox. Ah, the only truly great American game is baseball!
Looks like I'll have to decide between the magical scenery and weather of Santa Fe or the great food and great music of New Orleans.
You guys may not have noticed it, but the UK is tearing itself to shreds over the EU referendum. Old vs young. Graduates vs non-graduates. Middle class vs working class. City vs country. The list goes on. The major political parties are at it too. And the scary part is the EUphiles are quite openly preparing to remain in the EU! The thinking is that anything other than minor tinkering to full EU membership will be voted down in parliament. You see, whatever is negotiated must then be passed by a fanatically EUphile parliament: of the 650 MPs, at least 500 MPs are EU worshippers. Parliamentarians are currently fobbing off the public and telling them what they want to hear while they contrive a political dead-end to fulfilling the democratic will of the people.
Now, because of this unconcealed and manifestly engineered stalemate by the anti-democratic EUphiles, there would have to be a second referendum, by which time most of the population would become raving EU fanatics. Violence would then erupt: the democratic will of the people expressed in the first referendum would have been clearly overturned by the transparent political machinations of the elites. As I said in another thread, the EUphiles have been erecting this anti-democratic monstrosity for nearly half a century. Do you think they're going to accept the will of people they despise and treat with contempt every second of the day?
I bet they're all mad at Cameron. With the banking of the press he decided that it was worth taking a gamble. Tony Blair often spoke about referendums, but never held any.
Ralph, Farage's insults get him airtime. Perhaps that's his aim, he's so in love with himself. Perhaps he just can't help himself because he's such a goddamn boorish and crude dimwitted thug who believes he's Churchill or some such nonsense. And the oddest thing of all is that his insults are so pitifully awful! The best Farage could come up with was, what, Van Rompuy has the charisma of a damp rag? You hear better insults on a playground. Evidently, Farage doesn't have the intelligence of an angry child with a limited vocabulary.
As for the anti-Brexiters, they predictably descended to mindless foolishness because they are mindless fools. They can't help it. Did you have the displeasure of watching the unimaginably harebrained ramblings and interjections of Eddie Izzard? The man knows nothing. Or how about all those other celebrities blabbering about how they feel European or how wonderful it is not to have to change money when moving across national borders? I suppose Tracey Emin's horror at changing currencies is as good a reason as any to torture Greece.
Were there half-decent arguments for remaining? Yes, there were, but you had to go searching for them. They were heavily outweighed by the reasons to leave, although even in that case the most intelligent and forceful reasons for leaving were all but hidden. Those who have had to live and endure the EU's lunacy understood the reality in daily life and didn't need any intellectual arguments. And those who did need rational arguments were all but deaf to them, enraptured as they were to the alleged EU benefits of cheap holidays and mobile calls and other mindless trinkets.
So we ended up witnessing a debate between liars, fools and numbskulls who couldn't out-think a jam sandwich. And it wasn't the so-called right of Boris, Gove and Johnson but the Blairite zombies who irked me so much: Chuka Umunna (whose self-satisfaction and self-righteousness is so revolting, so nauseating I run to the bathroom at the mere sight of him), Tristram Hunt (a smarmy little rich boy pretending to be a revolutionary thinker when in fact he's a neoliberal wan*er), Alan Johnson (as close to a fuc*ing moron as there's ever been), the laughable Angela and Maria Eagle sisters (created in a laboratory by a cretin who in turn was made by a cretin), Hilary Benn (a misfit constructed out of drivel whose sole function in life is to spew drivel), etc.
And it isn't over yet! The EUphiles are plotting, plotting, plotting for a negotiated settlement that is no different to full EU membership. The worst of these EUphile plotters are the self-declared "progressives", the Blairite zombies who claim the country needs a neoliberal EUphile government staffed by these permanently self-satisfied, self-righteous zombies. No, I don't think it does now, does it?
You look here where the Lord is rebuking the failed leadership in Mat 23:
"Progeny of vipers!"
this perhaps could be looked upon as a gratuitous insult... yet... He said it...
I think this form of rhetoric is not inappropriate IF the target of it actually IS wrong... I think one could effectively use it as long as the target is TRULY f-ing up...
Lets face it, the EU institutions are f-ups big time... so it works.. if the EU wasnt f-ing up, and was instead delivering the best economic outcomes, and you were just biased against the EU politically, then I would agree it would not be effective...
Think of the best sports player on a team you hate... if the player is reeeaally good and leads the team you hate to victory over your favorite team, if you are pissed off as a result, sometimes you see someone say "that guy stinks!" (but lets face it it rings hollow if the player is really a good player....)
Now that Bernie has gone Full Hillary, I wouldn't be surprised if Bernie's working-class supporters switch to Trump. Watching this video by John Harris that was made in May, I wanted to ask those Bernie supporters "Who you going to vote for now? Hillary??"
"Witness how desperate the British electorate has become. The major parties have deserted the working classes in huge areas of the country, particularly the old industrial areas of England which were solidly behind the Labour party. "
London swallows it all.
I tell you we are going the way of city-states and wastelands everywhere else. they are sucking the energy of the rest of the system to maintain their endless oligarchical corrupt-cracies.
This won't end well until there is a population revolt in those big cities (this reminds me much of earlier stages before Spanish civil war started with Barcelona rising up in arms against capital interests, which funny enough is happening again with 'radicals' getting to power in the big cities over here).
Until we see an uprise in cities like Berlin, Paris, Rome (also going up in arms as the radical party there got elected into power) and elsewhere in Europe we are super fucked.
Everything about the EU is rotten. The sooner a team of Greeks take a Spanish wrecking ball to the EU while Italian opera is played and pints of Guinness drunk, the better the lives of half a billion people.
Leaving aside Farage's own rottenness for a moment, what does he in fact do? Rather than using his position to make penetrating and damning criticisms, he dreams up insults that are atrocious at best. But that is Farage through and through: a shockingly inept politician who deflects attention from these glaring shortcomings by flinging cringeworthy insults. Given how much money he's made out of the EU in salary and expenses (approximately £4 million by 2014) and all the speaking fees, paid media appearances and articles for newspapers, I have a sneeking suspicion that he's as Europhile as they come, and takes every opportunity to undermine the Eurosceptic argument because he does so well out of it: the money, the media attention, the adulation by the naive or the desperate, the groupies, etc.
Not long before the referendum vote, Farage unveiled a poster straight out of Nazi propaganda. The damn thing wasn't similar - it was fucking identical. Farage was unapologetic and *defended* it. Now there really are only two explanations for this act of moral depravity. The first is that you are a knuckleheaded, knuckledragging pre-neanderthal who has somehow concluded that nobody will notice that you are using and proudly unveiling one of the most notorious pieces of Nazi propaganda. The second is that you are in fact a crypto-neo-fascist.
To be fair - and I do want to be fair - Farage could be both.
I really wonder about George Osborne. Yes, he's a terrible Chancellor. Yes, he's made the UK economy suffer unnecessarily. Yes, he's made the working class and the lower middle class suffer even more unnecessarily. But for the life of me, not that it matters, I cannot figure out whether he believes he's doing the right thing or is a sadistic class warrior for the 1%. Most of the time I'd say the latter, but every now then I get the impression he's brainwashed himself and is a true believer of the manifest nonsense that he showers us with. In intimate moments with his wife does he cry out "Ricardian equivalence!" or does he shout "Fucking Plebs!"? An anxious nation awaits an answer.
For someone so expensively educated, you'd think by now he'd be able to read and understand the procession of numbers - you know bigger numbers are, er, bigger than smaller numbers. So when there is a bigger number than before you would say that the number has increased, right George? "No," says George, "that's a common misunderstanding." And his replies are so emphatic, you start doubting the laws of arithmetic. George triumphantly declares that the deficit is smaller when in fact it is bigger. The numbers are bigger, George! But George pays no attention. I mean, who's to say whether the laws of arithmetic are true? They may not be, and George may be right: bigger numbers are in fact smaller than smaller numbers.
But in all honesty I am apoplectic with rage, and as I witness every day these shabby machinations I get more and more apoplectic. Just imagine watching the vast majority of your elected representatives, drowning as they are in their own self-righteousness and self-satisfaction, openly engineering an anti-democratic stalemate so that the will of the people is undermined and that the country is forced to rejoin against its will an anti-democratic supranational political union. For an American like you that's probably impossible to imagine because this couldn't be done to the US, and not because of the much touted defence of sovereignty. The people would march on Congress and stab every conniving quisling Judas with a pitchfork, or shoot them up with assault rifles. Unfortunately, we here are much too polite and spineless to even confront and demand that they uphold the democratic will of the people as voiced in a referendum.
Santa Fe, New Orleans, Chicago and Toronto will have to fight it out for the pleasure of offering me a new home!
They may not be, and George may be right: bigger numbers are in fact smaller than smaller numbers. 0.00000000000000001 is a bigger number then 0.1 and yet it is smaller. Or is it merely lengthier?
Matt:"dont you think that is what has been being done by the elite MMT types and perhaps others for like 20 years or wtf and they have gotten NOOOOO-WHERE? It manifestly doesn't work that way..."
It takes time. All revolutions, especially intellectual ones, take time and active engagement. If it was easy, it would have been done by now.
And Farage's infantile insults definitely don't get you anywhere: he's only prominent because of the fumblings of the mainstream parties. I was listening to a prominent journalist on television yesterday telling an interesting story. He made the point that when working class trade unionists who live in the same community as those voting UKIP engage with them, they connect in a way that no one else possibly could because of who and what they are. A snobby columnist writing for a metropolitan elite newspaper isn't going to make any connection no matter how insightful they may be, although they never are. University professors, no matter how approachable and down to earth they are, are probably in the same position: their positions, their class status, their way of speaking or whatever it is just may not connect with, say, a working class steel worker. But another working class steel worker who does read Bill and Randy and Mike and Stephanie and whoever else will be able to make that connection.
Look at how far the MMT paradigm has come! Mike tells the funny but sad story of how it wasn't that long ago Warren Mosler introduced him to MMT at a seminar. What was Mike's reaction? He was furious that anybody could say something so outrageous, and let's not forget that Mike's as smart as they come. What did Warren do? He kept plugging away, trying to do the responsible and ultimately only humane thing and that's to educate and save as many as possible form the grips of the Petersons, Kotlikoffs and Mundells.
In any case, as loath as I am to quote Lenin, he did have that nice line: "There are decades where nothing happens; and there are weeks where decades happen." Things can and do change quickly. I do appreciate that you've been slogging away at this for years and you've yet to see any appreciable advance. I don't doubt that's true, but at least the information is out there now. Twenty years ago it wasn't, and for the life of me I don't know how you guys figured this stuff out. People like me are unimaginably lucky: this blog, Bill's, Randy's, New Economic Perspectives, the books, YouTube videos, etc.
And we have to give credit where it's due. Bill and Randy have now done every undergraduate economics student something almost imaginable: they've written a textbook that will give them a different paradigm. Perhaps Bill and Randy and the rest of the MMTers do give lectures to trade unionists and activists, but that really isn't their job. I now appreciate Bill's defence that you expect too much of academics if you expect them to be leading the masses. We do what we can and we organise. And anyway, what't the alternative?
To quote Samuel Beckett: "You must go on. I can't go on. I'll go on."
Check out British Columbia. The West Coast is much more laid back the the East and Central Canada is freezing in winter, which is much of the time.
BC is beautiful. Mountains, Pacific Ocean, and it has some temperate microclimates.
Vancouver is a world-class city but pricey. but not more so than London. Victoria, which is on Vancouver Island, is considered "quaint" and "English." Actually quite a few people from the UK retire there.
Plus it's a has and skip down to The Northwest US, also scenic and with great cities like Seattle and Portland. Not much further to drop down to California, too.
This is some of the most beautiful country in North America.
Don't listen to Tom! The West Coast is referred to as the Wet Coast, which means it rains most of the year. If you want to check out BC, try the interior - everything from alpine settings to desert country. If you prefer 'laid back' then the Maritimes are your best bet.
The West Coast is referred to as the Wet Coast, which means it rains most of the year.
True but I figured that folks from the British Isles won't notice this. They might even see some improvement.
In addition, there are different weather patterns that produce microclimates. Some research will show this. Of course, expect to pay more for RE in more temperate and drier microclimates, too.
When looking at location in Canada it's pretty much, do you prefer rain or snow?
There are areas in Canada where there is little snow because it's arid. As for summer, much of Canada is dominated by the humid continental climate zone. Perhaps I should say no more.
The euro elites are completely delusional. I worry for their health. I just watched a "debate" on france24 between euro deputies and it's stunning, I only got through half of it. Other than some minor disagreements about minor tweaks around the edges, it was one big circle jerk of ass licking sycophants (takes talent to do all that simultaneously). It was nonstop "Europe must inspire the people" and "the people don't know how wonderful Europe is" "we can only talk about our beloved Europe in a special way since it's a project we're building". The disdain and contempt for "le peuple" was incredible. Even the host finally said "so the elites are just more enlightened?" And of course their overriding concern is "les marches financiares". And they wonder why shit's not working.
For temperate weather and microclimates, check out either Victoria or the Sunshine Coast (adjacent to Vancouver) and the facing eastern shore of Vancouver Island around Nanaimo, which is accessible to Vancouver by ferry and ofc air. Unless one is a mountain person or a metropolitan, these are the best of Canada, IMHO.
I am done with metropolitan living, although I used to love it. Too many issues as I got older esp. too much pollution. But for metropolitan living in a world-class city, it's Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal and Quebec City, all of which are really great places if you are into all that.
While Victoria is smaller, it is a tech hub, and it has the most temperate weather. Victoria compares to San Diego, in the US, which has great weather and is a nice city without being a metro hub with all the issues that involves.
Joe, we are approaching the Maria Antoinette moment.
They are like dead man walking, every steep they take makes the people more and more angry. And they cannot grasp that they don't have any bunker where they can hide when the pitchforks come...
Regarding Canada and the rain or snow, I'll take the snow any time. Spent one whole summer in Vancouver one year and let me tell you that it freakin' rained almost every day -- don't think I ever witnessed one clear, sunny day without a bloody cloud in the sky. I knew something was up when, soon after arriving in Vancouver, I noticed stores that only sold umbrellas and other assorted rain stuff ("rain paraphernalia"?).
As far as Montreal is concerned, only three months really suck -- November (wet and cold) and January/February (so cold that you face the risk of your nuts snapping off!) Why not December? Well, you want the snow in December: because WHITE XMAS. Mind you, the pretty French women have the ability to take your mind off said awful months :)
English people would probably like it though, especially Londoners used to a big cosmopolitan city.
Ottawa is also a metro area but it is the capital of Canada and highly oriented toward government. Having spent a number of years in DC, I'm not a fan of cities whose major function is government.
Victoria has a better climate than Vancouver, as it's not up against the coastal mountains. It is so mild even in winter that palm trees can survive.
I lived in Kamloops for awhile. Blue collar town, not pretentious (or as expensive) as Kelowna. The older I get, the more I appreciate the benefits of an arid climate ;/
Ioánnis Phokás (Greek: Ιωάννης Φωκάς), better known by the Spanish transcription of his name, Juan de Fuca (born 1536 on the Ionian island of Cefalonia; died there 1602[1][2]), was a Greek maritime pilot in the service of the King of Spain, Philip II. He is best known for his claim to have explored the Strait of Anián, now known as the Strait of Juan de Fuca, between Vancouver Island (now part of British Columbia, Canada) and the Olympic Peninsula (northwestern Washington State, United States).
You see, any Greek worth his weight in olive oil knows who Juan de Fuca was ;)
The problems we now have are international. There is no refuge from this madness, no safe harbour, not even picturesque Santa Fe or Toronto. If the storm hasn't yet engulfed these islands of tranquility, it won't be long. So there is no option but to stay and fight. If not, these vultures will turn us into Greece or something worse - a huge Detroit. And the worst thing about the fight ahead are the rats and snakes in our own camps, the "progressive" neoliberals and the gutless pretenders who cave at the first signs of battle.
What a boorish and loathsome individual. The mistakes and stupidities of other political parties is put down to his great political and strategic intelligence, when in fact he's known to be a rather stupid and crude with stupid and crude politics.
ReplyDeleteWitness how desperate the British electorate has become. The major parties have deserted the working classes in huge areas of the country, particularly the old industrial areas of England which were solidly behind the Labour party.
Nigel Farage's minuscule intelligence is able to grasp one thing, however: desperate people do desperate things, like vote for a crypto-neo-fascist party staffed by former members of violent neo-Nazi organisations. The desperation is palpable. Just like the boorishness, crudity and stupidity of Nigel Farage.
"the boorishness, crudity"
ReplyDeleteIt works...
Not for me, I much prefer the softly spoken and considerate Putin. This western bellicose stuff is tiresome.
DeleteSpeaking of duplicitous asshats:
ReplyDeletehttps://twitter.com/business/status/746304902771712000
Matt, the major political parties have divested themselves of any care and consideration of the British working classes let alone actively proposing and doing anything for them. So Farage's crude rhetoric does, as you say, work. Farage doesn't offer anything. He just blabbers total nonsense and stokes the insecurities engendered by the mainstream politicians. He's an English version of Bill O'Reilly or Rush Limbaugh. And as crudely entertaining as O'Reilly or Limbaugh presumable are, it gets tiresome and nauseating because you know it's dimwitted gibberish. We've had to put up with Farage's circus freak show for far too long. Unfortunately, it looks as if he'll be with us for some time to come. Our mainstream parties are trying to cobble together a way of remaining within the EU. That means Farage and UKIP do well.
ReplyDeleteMalmo, as expected gutless Bernie proves what an obvious fraud he is. For all his faux socialism, look at how this phoney voted in the House and in the Senate. At least Trump doesn't fold like a cheap suit.
Matt, Malmo, we've had our political differences, but can I count on you boys giving me good letters of reference for US citizenship so I can leave this madhouse and join your madhouse?
If only Bernie had left the Democrats and started an independent party, or joined the greens, but to back Hilary, that's outrageous, he's backing a right wing neoliberal hawk. That's doing the opposite of what he stood for in his campaign. Millions of young people were hoping on him, how could he let them down?
DeleteHe's at the end of his career and he doesn't need the money. All the liberals, the young, and the socialists would have loved him, and what campaign it would have been. An event for history. But perhaps Stephen Lendman is right, he was a phoney. Well he has to be to back Hilary, the war bitch. He could have brought the world towards peace, now we are moving closer towards war.
John,
ReplyDeleteOther than on the webisphere, most of the day to day face to face interactive life, even here in the Chicago area, is pretty much non political. It really isn't a madhouse at all.
And another thing. I have far more lefty friends than right wing ones, yet I like em all--a lot. We also talk a lot about the sexy skirts trolloping around these parts too :) Man do I love summer.
Malmo, Chicago has summers? Well that expands the choice to three: Santa Fe, New Orleans or Chicago! But I wouldn't be able to decide between the Cubs or the White Sox. Ah, the only truly great American game is baseball!
ReplyDeleteLooks like I'll have to decide between the magical scenery and weather of Santa Fe or the great food and great music of New Orleans.
You guys may not have noticed it, but the UK is tearing itself to shreds over the EU referendum. Old vs young. Graduates vs non-graduates. Middle class vs working class. City vs country. The list goes on. The major political parties are at it too. And the scary part is the EUphiles are quite openly preparing to remain in the EU! The thinking is that anything other than minor tinkering to full EU membership will be voted down in parliament. You see, whatever is negotiated must then be passed by a fanatically EUphile parliament: of the 650 MPs, at least 500 MPs are EU worshippers. Parliamentarians are currently fobbing off the public and telling them what they want to hear while they contrive a political dead-end to fulfilling the democratic will of the people.
Now, because of this unconcealed and manifestly engineered stalemate by the anti-democratic EUphiles, there would have to be a second referendum, by which time most of the population would become raving EU fanatics. Violence would then erupt: the democratic will of the people expressed in the first referendum would have been clearly overturned by the transparent political machinations of the elites. As I said in another thread, the EUphiles have been erecting this anti-democratic monstrosity for nearly half a century. Do you think they're going to accept the will of people they despise and treat with contempt every second of the day?
I bet they're all mad at Cameron. With the banking of the press he decided that it was worth taking a gamble. Tony Blair often spoke about referendums, but never held any.
ReplyDeleteKevin.
Ralph, Farage's insults get him airtime. Perhaps that's his aim, he's so in love with himself. Perhaps he just can't help himself because he's such a goddamn boorish and crude dimwitted thug who believes he's Churchill or some such nonsense. And the oddest thing of all is that his insults are so pitifully awful! The best Farage could come up with was, what, Van Rompuy has the charisma of a damp rag? You hear better insults on a playground. Evidently, Farage doesn't have the intelligence of an angry child with a limited vocabulary.
ReplyDeleteAs for the anti-Brexiters, they predictably descended to mindless foolishness because they are mindless fools. They can't help it. Did you have the displeasure of watching the unimaginably harebrained ramblings and interjections of Eddie Izzard? The man knows nothing. Or how about all those other celebrities blabbering about how they feel European or how wonderful it is not to have to change money when moving across national borders? I suppose Tracey Emin's horror at changing currencies is as good a reason as any to torture Greece.
Were there half-decent arguments for remaining? Yes, there were, but you had to go searching for them. They were heavily outweighed by the reasons to leave, although even in that case the most intelligent and forceful reasons for leaving were all but hidden. Those who have had to live and endure the EU's lunacy understood the reality in daily life and didn't need any intellectual arguments. And those who did need rational arguments were all but deaf to them, enraptured as they were to the alleged EU benefits of cheap holidays and mobile calls and other mindless trinkets.
So we ended up witnessing a debate between liars, fools and numbskulls who couldn't out-think a jam sandwich. And it wasn't the so-called right of Boris, Gove and Johnson but the Blairite zombies who irked me so much: Chuka Umunna (whose self-satisfaction and self-righteousness is so revolting, so nauseating I run to the bathroom at the mere sight of him), Tristram Hunt (a smarmy little rich boy pretending to be a revolutionary thinker when in fact he's a neoliberal wan*er), Alan Johnson (as close to a fuc*ing moron as there's ever been), the laughable Angela and Maria Eagle sisters (created in a laboratory by a cretin who in turn was made by a cretin), Hilary Benn (a misfit constructed out of drivel whose sole function in life is to spew drivel), etc.
And it isn't over yet! The EUphiles are plotting, plotting, plotting for a negotiated settlement that is no different to full EU membership. The worst of these EUphile plotters are the self-declared "progressives", the Blairite zombies who claim the country needs a neoliberal EUphile government staffed by these permanently self-satisfied, self-righteous zombies. No, I don't think it does now, does it?
What do you think of the Chancellor, George Osborne?
ReplyDeletep.s. Canada has a summer too. And we have beer and BBQ.
Canada had its own moment when ordinary people rose up and defeated an initiative backed by the elites: the Meech Lake Accord.
ReplyDeleteRighteous rants John!
ReplyDelete"Farage's insults get him nowhere "
ReplyDeleteI think there is more to it Ralph...
You look here where the Lord is rebuking the failed leadership in Mat 23:
"Progeny of vipers!"
this perhaps could be looked upon as a gratuitous insult... yet... He said it...
I think this form of rhetoric is not inappropriate IF the target of it actually IS wrong... I think one could effectively use it as long as the target is TRULY f-ing up...
Lets face it, the EU institutions are f-ups big time... so it works.. if the EU wasnt f-ing up, and was instead delivering the best economic outcomes, and you were just biased against the EU politically, then I would agree it would not be effective...
Think of the best sports player on a team you hate... if the player is reeeaally good and leads the team you hate to victory over your favorite team, if you are pissed off as a result, sometimes you see someone say "that guy stinks!" (but lets face it it rings hollow if the player is really a good player....)
Speaking of duplicitous asshats:
ReplyDeleteNow that Bernie has gone Full Hillary, I wouldn't be surprised if Bernie's working-class supporters switch to Trump. Watching this video by John Harris that was made in May, I wanted to ask those Bernie supporters "Who you going to vote for now? Hillary??"
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/video/2016/may/12/why-people-vote-donald-trump-indiana-death-american-dream-video
"Witness how desperate the British electorate has become. The major parties have deserted the working classes in huge areas of the country, particularly the old industrial areas of England which were solidly behind the Labour party. "
ReplyDeleteLondon swallows it all.
I tell you we are going the way of city-states and wastelands everywhere else. they are sucking the energy of the rest of the system to maintain their endless oligarchical corrupt-cracies.
This won't end well until there is a population revolt in those big cities (this reminds me much of earlier stages before Spanish civil war started with Barcelona rising up in arms against capital interests, which funny enough is happening again with 'radicals' getting to power in the big cities over here).
Until we see an uprise in cities like Berlin, Paris, Rome (also going up in arms as the radical party there got elected into power) and elsewhere in Europe we are super fucked.
Everything about the EU is rotten. The sooner a team of Greeks take a Spanish wrecking ball to the EU while Italian opera is played and pints of Guinness drunk, the better the lives of half a billion people.
ReplyDeleteLeaving aside Farage's own rottenness for a moment, what does he in fact do? Rather than using his position to make penetrating and damning criticisms, he dreams up insults that are atrocious at best. But that is Farage through and through: a shockingly inept politician who deflects attention from these glaring shortcomings by flinging cringeworthy insults. Given how much money he's made out of the EU in salary and expenses (approximately £4 million by 2014) and all the speaking fees, paid media appearances and articles for newspapers, I have a sneeking suspicion that he's as Europhile as they come, and takes every opportunity to undermine the Eurosceptic argument because he does so well out of it: the money, the media attention, the adulation by the naive or the desperate, the groupies, etc.
Not long before the referendum vote, Farage unveiled a poster straight out of Nazi propaganda. The damn thing wasn't similar - it was fucking identical. Farage was unapologetic and *defended* it. Now there really are only two explanations for this act of moral depravity. The first is that you are a knuckleheaded, knuckledragging pre-neanderthal who has somehow concluded that nobody will notice that you are using and proudly unveiling one of the most notorious pieces of Nazi propaganda. The second is that you are in fact a crypto-neo-fascist.
To be fair - and I do want to be fair - Farage could be both.
Bob, Toronto here I come!
ReplyDeleteI really wonder about George Osborne. Yes, he's a terrible Chancellor. Yes, he's made the UK economy suffer unnecessarily. Yes, he's made the working class and the lower middle class suffer even more unnecessarily. But for the life of me, not that it matters, I cannot figure out whether he believes he's doing the right thing or is a sadistic class warrior for the 1%. Most of the time I'd say the latter, but every now then I get the impression he's brainwashed himself and is a true believer of the manifest nonsense that he showers us with. In intimate moments with his wife does he cry out "Ricardian equivalence!" or does he shout "Fucking Plebs!"? An anxious nation awaits an answer.
For someone so expensively educated, you'd think by now he'd be able to read and understand the procession of numbers - you know bigger numbers are, er, bigger than smaller numbers. So when there is a bigger number than before you would say that the number has increased, right George? "No," says George, "that's a common misunderstanding." And his replies are so emphatic, you start doubting the laws of arithmetic. George triumphantly declares that the deficit is smaller when in fact it is bigger. The numbers are bigger, George! But George pays no attention. I mean, who's to say whether the laws of arithmetic are true? They may not be, and George may be right: bigger numbers are in fact smaller than smaller numbers.
" using his position to make penetrating and damning criticisms"
ReplyDeletedont you think that is what has been being done by the elite MMT types and perhaps others for like 20 years or wtf and they have gotten NOOOOO-WHERE?
It manifestly doesn't work that way...
Matt, I aim to please!
ReplyDeleteBut in all honesty I am apoplectic with rage, and as I witness every day these shabby machinations I get more and more apoplectic. Just imagine watching the vast majority of your elected representatives, drowning as they are in their own self-righteousness and self-satisfaction, openly engineering an anti-democratic stalemate so that the will of the people is undermined and that the country is forced to rejoin against its will an anti-democratic supranational political union. For an American like you that's probably impossible to imagine because this couldn't be done to the US, and not because of the much touted defence of sovereignty. The people would march on Congress and stab every conniving quisling Judas with a pitchfork, or shoot them up with assault rifles. Unfortunately, we here are much too polite and spineless to even confront and demand that they uphold the democratic will of the people as voiced in a referendum.
Santa Fe, New Orleans, Chicago and Toronto will have to fight it out for the pleasure of offering me a new home!
It manifestly doesn't work that way...
ReplyDeleteThe only thing obvious here is your emphatic use of the word "manifestly".
I would take one of Bill Mitchell's columns and have it delivered as a speech in Brussels. That should awaken a few minds among viewers.
ReplyDeleteThey may not be, and George may be right: bigger numbers are in fact smaller than smaller numbers.
ReplyDelete0.00000000000000001 is a bigger number then 0.1 and yet it is smaller. Or is it merely lengthier?
Matt:"dont you think that is what has been being done by the elite MMT types and perhaps others for like 20 years or wtf and they have gotten NOOOOO-WHERE? It manifestly doesn't work that way..."
ReplyDeleteIt takes time. All revolutions, especially intellectual ones, take time and active engagement. If it was easy, it would have been done by now.
And Farage's infantile insults definitely don't get you anywhere: he's only prominent because of the fumblings of the mainstream parties. I was listening to a prominent journalist on television yesterday telling an interesting story. He made the point that when working class trade unionists who live in the same community as those voting UKIP engage with them, they connect in a way that no one else possibly could because of who and what they are. A snobby columnist writing for a metropolitan elite newspaper isn't going to make any connection no matter how insightful they may be, although they never are. University professors, no matter how approachable and down to earth they are, are probably in the same position: their positions, their class status, their way of speaking or whatever it is just may not connect with, say, a working class steel worker. But another working class steel worker who does read Bill and Randy and Mike and Stephanie and whoever else will be able to make that connection.
Look at how far the MMT paradigm has come! Mike tells the funny but sad story of how it wasn't that long ago Warren Mosler introduced him to MMT at a seminar. What was Mike's reaction? He was furious that anybody could say something so outrageous, and let's not forget that Mike's as smart as they come. What did Warren do? He kept plugging away, trying to do the responsible and ultimately only humane thing and that's to educate and save as many as possible form the grips of the Petersons, Kotlikoffs and Mundells.
In any case, as loath as I am to quote Lenin, he did have that nice line: "There are decades where nothing happens; and there are weeks where decades happen." Things can and do change quickly. I do appreciate that you've been slogging away at this for years and you've yet to see any appreciable advance. I don't doubt that's true, but at least the information is out there now. Twenty years ago it wasn't, and for the life of me I don't know how you guys figured this stuff out. People like me are unimaginably lucky: this blog, Bill's, Randy's, New Economic Perspectives, the books, YouTube videos, etc.
And we have to give credit where it's due. Bill and Randy have now done every undergraduate economics student something almost imaginable: they've written a textbook that will give them a different paradigm. Perhaps Bill and Randy and the rest of the MMTers do give lectures to trade unionists and activists, but that really isn't their job. I now appreciate Bill's defence that you expect too much of academics if you expect them to be leading the masses. We do what we can and we organise. And anyway, what't the alternative?
To quote Samuel Beckett: "You must go on. I can't go on. I'll go on."
Bob: "0.00000000000000001 is a bigger number then 0.1 and yet it is smaller. Or is it merely lengthier?"
ReplyDeleteNice. I must remember to use that in future!
J, I think they will come up with something somewhat acceptable...
ReplyDeleteToronto here I come!
ReplyDeleteCheck out British Columbia. The West Coast is much more laid back the the East and Central Canada is freezing in winter, which is much of the time.
BC is beautiful. Mountains, Pacific Ocean, and it has some temperate microclimates.
Vancouver is a world-class city but pricey. but not more so than London. Victoria, which is on Vancouver Island, is considered "quaint" and "English." Actually quite a few people from the UK retire there.
Plus it's a has and skip down to The Northwest US, also scenic and with great cities like Seattle and Portland. Not much further to drop down to California, too.
This is some of the most beautiful country in North America.
Don't listen to Tom! The West Coast is referred to as the Wet Coast, which means it rains most of the year. If you want to check out BC, try the interior - everything from alpine settings to desert country. If you prefer 'laid back' then the Maritimes are your best bet.
ReplyDeleteTom is correct about central Canada - it sucks.
The West Coast is referred to as the Wet Coast, which means it rains most of the year.
ReplyDeleteTrue but I figured that folks from the British Isles won't notice this. They might even see some improvement.
In addition, there are different weather patterns that produce microclimates. Some research will show this. Of course, expect to pay more for RE in more temperate and drier microclimates, too.
When looking at location in Canada it's pretty much, do you prefer rain or snow?
There are areas in Canada where there is little snow because it's arid. As for summer, much of Canada is dominated by the humid continental climate zone. Perhaps I should say no more.
ReplyDeleteThe euro elites are completely delusional. I worry for their health. I just watched a "debate" on france24 between euro deputies and it's stunning, I only got through half of it. Other than some minor disagreements about minor tweaks around the edges, it was one big circle jerk of ass licking sycophants (takes talent to do all that simultaneously). It was nonstop "Europe must inspire the people" and "the people don't know how wonderful Europe is" "we can only talk about our beloved Europe in a special way since it's a project we're building". The disdain and contempt for "le peuple" was incredible. Even the host finally said "so the elites are just more enlightened?" And of course their overriding concern is "les marches financiares". And they wonder why shit's not working.
ReplyDeleteFor temperate weather and microclimates, check out either Victoria or the Sunshine Coast (adjacent to Vancouver) and the facing eastern shore of Vancouver Island around Nanaimo, which is accessible to Vancouver by ferry and ofc air. Unless one is a mountain person or a metropolitan, these are the best of Canada, IMHO.
ReplyDeleteI am done with metropolitan living, although I used to love it. Too many issues as I got older esp. too much pollution. But for metropolitan living in a world-class city, it's Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal and Quebec City, all of which are really great places if you are into all that.
While Victoria is smaller, it is a tech hub, and it has the most temperate weather. Victoria compares to San Diego, in the US, which has great weather and is a nice city without being a metro hub with all the issues that involves.
Joe, we are approaching the Maria Antoinette moment.
ReplyDeleteThey are like dead man walking, every steep they take makes the people more and more angry. And they cannot grasp that they don't have any bunker where they can hide when the pitchforks come...
A big exercise in collective stupidity.
Regarding Canada and the rain or snow, I'll take the snow any time. Spent one whole summer in Vancouver one year and let me tell you that it freakin' rained almost every day -- don't think I ever witnessed one clear, sunny day without a bloody cloud in the sky. I knew something was up when, soon after arriving in Vancouver, I noticed stores that only sold umbrellas and other assorted rain stuff ("rain paraphernalia"?).
ReplyDeleteAs far as Montreal is concerned, only three months really suck -- November (wet and cold) and January/February (so cold that you face the risk of your nuts snapping off!) Why not December? Well, you want the snow in December: because WHITE XMAS. Mind you, the pretty French women have the ability to take your mind off said awful months :)
P.S. Toronto and the Maple Leafs suck!
Toronto and the Maple Leafs suck!
ReplyDeleteEnglish people would probably like it though, especially Londoners used to a big cosmopolitan city.
Ottawa is also a metro area but it is the capital of Canada and highly oriented toward government. Having spent a number of years in DC, I'm not a fan of cities whose major function is government.
Only good thing about Ottawa, Tom, is that it's only a 90-min. drive to Montreal ;)
ReplyDeleteVictoria has a better climate than Vancouver, as it's not up against the coastal mountains. It is so mild even in winter that palm trees can survive.
ReplyDeleteI lived in Kamloops for awhile. Blue collar town, not pretentious (or as expensive) as Kelowna. The older I get, the more I appreciate the benefits of an arid climate ;/
The Toronto Make Beliefs
ReplyDeleteGreen during the summer
Dry up in fall
Blown away by winter
"Straight of Juan de Fuca"
ReplyDelete"Juan de Fuca Plate"
Just who was Juan de Fuca?
Ioánnis Phokás (Greek: Ιωάννης Φωκάς), better known by the Spanish transcription of his name, Juan de Fuca (born 1536 on the Ionian island of Cefalonia; died there 1602[1][2]), was a Greek maritime pilot in the service of the King of Spain, Philip II. He is best known for his claim to have explored the Strait of Anián, now known as the Strait of Juan de Fuca, between Vancouver Island (now part of British Columbia, Canada) and the Olympic Peninsula (northwestern Washington State, United States).
You see, any Greek worth his weight in olive oil knows who Juan de Fuca was ;)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_de_Fuca
That's the plate that causes enormous earthquakes from time to time.
ReplyDeleteThe problems we now have are international. There is no refuge from this madness, no safe harbour, not even picturesque Santa Fe or Toronto. If the storm hasn't yet engulfed these islands of tranquility, it won't be long. So there is no option but to stay and fight. If not, these vultures will turn us into Greece or something worse - a huge Detroit. And the worst thing about the fight ahead are the rats and snakes in our own camps, the "progressive" neoliberals and the gutless pretenders who cave at the first signs of battle.
ReplyDelete