Pages

Pages

Wednesday, September 5, 2018

Links — 5 September 2018

CNBC
JP Morgan's top quant warns next crisis to have flash crashes and social unrest not seen in 50 years
Hugh Son

Conversable Economist
How US Multinationals Shifting Income to Foreign Countries Reduces Measured GDP
Timothy Taylor | Managing editor of the Journal of Economic Perspectives, based at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota

Bloomberg Opinion
How Real News Is Worse Than Fake News
Tyler Cowen | Holbert C. Harris Chair of Economics at George Mason University, and chairman and general director of the Mercatus Center

Irrussianality
Double standards and the Rules-based order
Paul Robinson | Professor, Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at the University of OttawaGeorge Mason University and serves as chairman and general director of the Mercatus Center

NEO
The Real Stakes of the USA China Trade Wars
F. William Engdahl

Mint News Press
One Year After Calling Idlib “Al Qaeda’s Largest Safe Haven Since 9/11,” the US Govt is Trying to Save it
Whitney Webb

Consortium News
Plutocracy Now!
Michael Brenner | Professor of International Affairs at the University of Pittsburgh

AntiWar
DM: Israel Won’t Honor Deals Reached on Post-War Syria
Jason Ditz

Sic Semper Tyrannis 
Col. W. Patrick Lang, US Army (ret.) 

SouthFront
China Is Nearing Mass Production Of J-20 Stealth Jets – Report

TRNN
Why is Argentina Entering into a New Economic Crisis?
Greg Wilpert interviews Mark Weisbrot, codirector of the Center for Economic and Policy Research

41 comments:

  1. “the U.S. company leases the rights to the intangible capital—the software, blueprints, and branding—to an affiliate in a low-tax country (say, Ireland) and it prices that lease at a value that is much less than its market value. ”

    The tax reform was supposed to discourage this but judging by today’s blowout trade deficit number there may be some sort of flaw in the wording of Trumps new tax law...

    ReplyDelete
  2. .
    “Why is Argentina Entering into a New Economic Crisis?”

    Argentine finance minister Nicolas Dujovne: “We are going to save $6 billion more that we won’t have to finance in the markets, and in 2020 we’re going to have a primary surplus of 1 percent of GDP, which will save us another $5.2 billion dollars.”

    As you can see, lies about sovereign finances occur wherever neoliberalism rules. The Argentine government does not need to “save pesos,” nor “finance” pesos, since the government creates infinite pesos out of thin air. Moreover a “budget surplus” means more austerity.

    Worldwide, seven billion peasants believe and defend the neoliberal lies that impoverish and enslave them.

    What makes you a peasant and a slave is not how much money you have or don’t have, but how you think.

    “Argentina will also be asking the IMF to immediately disburse a $50 billion credit line that had been approved last May, one of the largest such loans in IMF history.”

    More foreign debt creates an excuse to impose more austerity, which further widens the gap between the rich and the rest.

    “Ordinary Argentinians are taking to the streets to protest the increasingly harsh austerity and inflation in the country.”

    The nightmare has only begun. The Argentine economy will soon become even worse than the Greek economy, because of Argentina’s trade deficit, combined with the government’s neoliberalism.

    Mark Weisbrot: “The real problem is that the government has borrowed so much. Central government borrowing has gone from $63 billion to over $140 billion. And they really didn’t have to do it, because they could have borrowed domestically instead.”

    NO. Argentina’s imports far outweigh its exports. Foreigners who export to Argentina want to be paid in foreign currency, not in Argentine pesos. If the Argentine government borrows foreign currency from Argentine banks, then the government’s foreign debt remains just as bad, albeit with domestic creditors rather than foreign creditors. This is no advantage.

    Here’s the deal…

    When Nestor Kirchner became President in 2003, Argentine banks had robbed millions of their life savings, and Argentine society lay prostrate before the world, a bargain basement for anyone with a few dollars in his pocket.

    President Kirchner rebuilt the economy, such that average people began to re-acquire a sense of living in a functioning society. Argentina felt “sane.”

    This happened because [a] there was a commodities boom, and [b] Nestor Kirchner was not a neoliberal. For example, Kirchner repudiated the IMF debts run up during the Menem years (1989-1999). With some help from Venezuela, Kirchner faced down the financial vultures (e.g. Paul Singer) and told them to go to hell.

    Since Kirchner was not a neoliberal, the Argentine corporate media vilified him non-stop, led by the powerful Clarín media group (in which Goldman Sachs has a 20% stake).

    When Kirchner died in 2010, his wife Christina became President. Christina too was not a neoliberal, so the media constantly attacked her as well, calling her an “Iranian agent,” an “anti-Semite,” and so on.

    Meanwhile the commodities boom ended, causing Argentina to go from a trade surplus to a trade deficit. The resulting economic problems caused the Argentine masses to take a chance on Mauricio Macri as president. Macri, being a neoliberal, made the situation a hundred times worse for average people.

    The only way that Argentina can ever recover is to

    [1] Reduce its trade deficit via national self-sufficiency

    and

    [2] Overthrow the bankers and the oligarchs

    Otherwise Argentina will continue to become a wasteland.

    Mark Weisbrot: “Everything that Macri is doing is actually making things worse.”

    Only for average people. Things in Argentina have never been better for bankers and oligarchs. That’s neoliberalism’s function.

    ReplyDelete
  3. The law allows firms 7 years to repatriate offshore earnings but taxed at 15.5% while new US earnings are taxed at 21% so maybe they’re looking at as 15.5% is better for the next 7 years....

    OOOORRRRRR.... the offshore earnings are in Foreign currency so they can never “repatriate” them as they are not in USDs...

    But in any case, something is appearingvwrong.... the trade deficit should be going down by now...

    ReplyDelete
  4. “As you can see, lies about sovereign finances occur wherever neoliberalism rules”

    Should be: “as you can see, dogmatic dialectical trained Art Degree people keep advocating for a failed theory even in the face of repeated empirical evidence to the contrary...”

    There fixed it for you ...

    ReplyDelete
  5. Should be: "I, Franko, am a total moron who says stupid things in a desperate bid for attention."

    There fixed it for you...

    ReplyDelete
  6. “How Real News Is Worse Than Fake News”

    This article is pure sophistry.

    “The contemporary world is giving us more reality and more truth than we can comfortably handle.”

    Bullsh*t. All Russia-gate, all-the-time is not “reality and truth.”

    Endless neoliberal lies are not “reality and truth.”

    Endless propaganda about Assad being a “dictator who gasses his own people” is not “reality and truth.”

    Where dies this idiot live? Planet Franko?

    ReplyDelete
  7. “One year after calling Idlib ‘Al Qaeda’s largest safe haven since 9/11,’ the US Govt is trying to save it.”

    The Syrian government offered safe passage to Idlib for any U.S.-backed terrorists who agreed to lay down their arms.

    Now that all the rats are corralled in one spot (Idlib), the Syrian government is proceeding to exterminate them, and there’s nothing the Empire can do about it. “Operation Idlib Dawn,” as Damascus calls it, began yesterday (4 Sep 2018).

    Turkey has closed its borders to Idlib. There is no exit except to government-controlled areas. The vermin are trapped. They are praying for Satan to save them so they can resume their murder spree, but Satan cannot help.

    Poor little maggots.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Curious what the Russkies say about the Brit's accusations over the poisoning

    ReplyDelete
  9. Did you see the two pictures of the perps with the exact same time stamp?

    ReplyDelete
  10. Did you see the two pictures of the perps with the exact same time stamp?

    Craig Murray and Moon of Alabama are all over it.

    ReplyDelete
  11. They are Art trained Tom.... no consideration of time domain in their work....

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_domain

    I can’t even make this up....

    ReplyDelete
  12. @FRANKO Aside from stupidity, do you gave any other material competence? What are your educational credentials?

    ReplyDelete
  13. Competence? He sits in a closet all day at the Franko Institute for Imbeciles, chanting “Art major! Finger painting! Art major! Finger painting! Art major!”

    The pathetic buffoon just wants attention. Don't feed him.

    ReplyDelete
  14. He's probably got a liberal arts degree.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Oh and maybe about 1/2 an MS....

    Also btw, you don’t need a Science degree to understand Education methodologies... in fact probably an BA in Education would be ideal...

    ReplyDelete
  16. .The curricula in electrical engineering and computer engineering are designed to educate students in the fundamentals of engineering, which are built upon a foundation of mathematics, science, communication, and .the liberal arts..

    I knew it.

    ReplyDelete
  17. This blog didn't used to be so aggressive...

    ReplyDelete
  18. This blog didn't used to be so aggressive...

    Symptom of the times?

    As I said, war is now baking it. The crazy is starting to go exponential.

    ReplyDelete
  19. "As I said, war is now baking it" should be "war is now baked in."

    ReplyDelete
  20. "This blog didn't used to be so aggressive..."

    Agreed. Franko's stupidity and feeble insults tend to spoil things.

    Most people here ignore that idiot until he (or she) starts attacking them.

    ReplyDelete
  21. If war is "baked in" they better hurry up because the longer they wait the worse it's going to be.

    I think it's really just Cold War 2.0, because it's all so very profitable. Of course that puts us inches away from a hot war where everyone loses.

    The military knows they are behind they eight ball. Their equipment is shit, their tactics are routinely thwarted, and they've had their asses handed to them repeatedly by pretty much everyone they've gone up against since 1946 (except maybe Grenada - Iraq and Afghanistan are now in year 15 and we haven't 'won' yet if you don't count the Trans Afghan Pipeline). And we didn't even beat Germany in WW2 - the allies faced 10-20 divisions in Europe, the Russians faced over 300 on their own turf.

    But WTF do I know, I only gave an arts degree.

    ReplyDelete
  22. If war is "baked in" they better hurry up because the longer they wait the worse it's going to be.

    That realization is setting in. The window of opportunity is closing.

    If they go for it, now, maybe, just maybe, the adversary will not yet be capable of nuking CONUS (continental US in military-speak). Maybe.

    Americans and Canadians better keep their fingers crossed.

    ReplyDelete
  23. @ Noah Way:

    “I think it's really just Cold War 2.0, because it's all so very profitable.”

    Yes. In May 1865 after the Civil War, 145,000 uniformed soldiers marched down Washington’s Pennsylvania Avenue. The same thing happened after WW I. After WW II there were large “victory” parades in NYC.

    Today there are no parades, since “victory” means permanent war, and permanent yearly increases in government money for military contractors.

    Those endlessly increasing billions go into the pockets of executives at Lockheed, Boeing, etc.

    Franko calls this theft "technological development."

    ReplyDelete
  24. “foundation of mathematics, science, communication, and .the liberal arts..”

    Correct I had to take maybe 25-30 credit hours out of about 137 total in Liberal Arts...

    How many Engineering credits do Art students have to take?


    ZEEEEERRRROOOOOOOO....

    Hence the imbalances that result....

    Art majors should have to take at least Statics, Chem or Bio labs, Intro to Thermodynamics, maybe a few other to even it out...

    ReplyDelete
  25. Franko calls this theft "technological development."

    It results in less deaths via precision strike and force protection... look how few have been killed in the GWOT.... should have been at least 100M dead and we’re only in 1000s maybe...

    ReplyDelete
  26. “This blog didn't used to be so aggressive...”

    Wrong....

    From 2011:

    https://www.cnbc.com/id/45765009

    “; Mike Norman Economics, which tends toward the combative...”

    ReplyDelete
  27. Good one.

    And I think that André has a point. It appears to me that the tone has been getting sharper. That may be a reflection of the times.

    ReplyDelete
  28. Hey just trying to fit in with the dialectic crowd Tom.. :o

    Artists uber alles!!!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  29. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  30. FRANKO™

    100% fact-free, guaranteed.

    ReplyDelete
  31. Yeah fact free is this right from toms link:

    “According to Joshua Goldstein, an international relations professor at the American University, The Global War on Terror has seen fewer war deaths than any other decade in the past century.[236]”

    You guys are so extremely biased anti war that somebody stubs their toe and you guys lose your shit... grow tf up....

    ReplyDelete
  32. “According to Joshua Goldstein, an international relations professor at the American University, The Global War on Terror has seen fewer war deaths than any other decade in the past century.[236]”

    Even one unnecessary death or life ruined is one too many.

    I wonder where historians get the relatively precise measurements of what happened in the past.

    There are a lot more people now so the absolute numbers may be higher but lower per capita.

    ReplyDelete
  33. "You guys are so extremely biased anti war that somebody stubs their toe and you guys lose your shit... grow tf up....> --Fatt Stanko

    Stanko, if you love war so much, then please sign up at your nearest recruiting station.

    If you become a victim of your beloved War Of Terror, you will not be missed.

    ReplyDelete
  34. I can take it or leave it.... you guys are biased big time....

    And I’ll tell you what , I’ll volunteer to push the button...

    ReplyDelete
  35. “Even one unnecessary death or life ruined is one too many. “

    This is an extreme view... VERY extreme...

    ReplyDelete
  36. Noah thinks there are less deaths in the GWOT because we have bad aim....

    ReplyDelete
  37. This is an extreme view... VERY extreme...

    I said I was extremely radical, but not a revolutionary. Revolutions don't have a great history of turning out well.

    As for violence in war, they that haven't seen war are unqualified to comment and should just STFU.

    People in government that have not seen war should not be making decisions about war, especially those whose history shows avoided serving during wartime and in particular when there was conscription.

    ReplyDelete