TNR
This Year's Underground Sensation: Modern MonetaryTheory
Alex Yablon
Thursday, December 31, 2020
This Year's Underground Sensation: Modern MonetaryTheory — Alex Yablon
TNR
This Year's Underground Sensation: Modern MonetaryTheory
Noah Smith - Coronavirus Brings American Decline Out in the Open
Without fixes for infrastructure, education, health care and government, the U.S. will resemble a developing nation in a few decades.
The U.S.’s decline started with little things that people got used to. Americans drove past empty construction sites and didn’t even think about why the workers weren’t working, then wondered why roads and buildings took so long to finish. They got used to avoiding hospitals because of the unpredictable and enormous bills they’d receive. They paid 6% real-estate commissions, never realizing that Australians were paying 2%. They grumbled about high taxes and high health-insurance premiums and potholed roads, but rarely imagined what it would be like to live in a system that worked better.
When writers speak of American decline, they’re usually talking about international power -- the rise of China and the waning of U.S. hegemony and moral authority. To most Americans, those are distant and abstract things that have little or no impact on their daily lives. But the decline in the general effectiveness of U.S. institutions will impose increasing costs and burdens on Americans. And if it eventually leads to a general loss of investor confidence in the country, the damage could be much greater.
Bloomberg
Bacteria which can reduce appetite in obese people and ease ‘stress eating’ is identified
A strain of bacteria identified in UCC has potential to be used as a probiotic to reduce appetite in obese people and to ease “stress eating” associated with feeling overweight.
Known as Bifidobacterium longum APC1472, it also has huge implications for people with type 2 diabetes, notably in helping to control blood glucose, according research findings published on Friday
Irish Times
Bacteria which can reduce appetite in obese people and ease ‘stress eating’ is identifiedp
Bill Mitchell — Is the $US900 billion stimulus in the US likely to overheat the economy – Part 2?
The answer to the question posed in the title is No! Lawrence Summers’ macroeconomic assessment does not stack up. In – Is the $US900 billion stimulus in the US likely to overheat the economy – Part 1? (December 30, 2020) – I developed the framework for considering whether it was sensible for the US government to provide a $US2,000 once-off, means-tested payment as part of its latest fiscal stimulus. Summers was opposed to it claiming that it would push the economy into an inflationary spiral because it would more than close the current output gap. Today, I do the numbers. The conclusion is that there is more than enough scope for the Government to make the transfers without running out of fiscal space.…Bill Mitchell – billy blog
Is the $US900 billion stimulus in the US likely to overheat the economy – Part 2?
Bill Mitchell | Professor in Economics and Director of the Centre of Full Employment and Equity (CofFEE), at University of Newcastle, NSW, Australia
Bannon Rant
Big bru-haha in GOP right now over Wal-Mart tweet... pretty good rant from Bannon here taking down the right libertarians...
Woman arrested after filming empty Gloucester hospital
Think about it, would you walk into a hospital for no reason to be there, and then go to a ward and film stressed out doctors desperately trying to cope with patients who are suffering and dying? This is what Zhang Zhan did, and yet the Chinese authorities never made her take her YT video down. But in Britain you will get arrested for filming an empty hospital.
The Chinese authorities didn't know how bad Covid was going to be, and the last thing they wanted was frightened Wuhan residents fleeing all over the rest of China spreading it everywhere.
Zhang Zhan video
The West uses double standards.
Woman arrested after filming empty Gloucester hospital
Debbie Hicks, a 46-year-old woman, took the video of the Gloucestershire Royal Hospital on the 27th December 2020. It can be clearly seen in the video that the hospital is near deserted. There are no cars in the street, ambulances are parked up with paramedics cleaning out the backs, A&E is deserted, corridors are deserted, and there are even what look like building works going on outside.
The Daily Expose
Wednesday, December 30, 2020
Noah Smith - Coronavirus Brings American Decline Out in the Open
Without fixes for infrastructure, education, health care and government, the U.S. will resemble a developing nation in a few decades.
But the consequences of U.S. decline will far outlast coronavirus. With its high housing costs, poor infrastructure and transit, endemic gun violence, police brutality and bitter political and racial divisions, the U.S. will be a less appealing place for high-skilled workers to live. That means companies will find other countries in Europe, Asia and elsewhere a more attractive destination for investment, robbing the U.S. of jobs, depressing wages and draining away the local spending that powers the service economy. That in turn will exacerbate some of the worst trends of U.S. decline -- less tax money means even more urban decay as infrastructure, education and social-welfare programs are forced to make big cuts.
Bloomberg
Finian Cunningham - Europe Embraces Multipolar World With Nord Stream 2 and China Investment Deal
The U.S. political and economic system seems incapable of adapting to the new multipolar paradigm. Like a dinosaur it is doomed to perish because its mode of behavior and ideological depiction of the world are no longer viable.
Material need usually wins out against ideological creed. Necessity over dogma. Twice this week, the European Union demonstrated that maxim in practice when it rebuffed Washington over the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline with Russia; and then again over a major investment pact with China.
The United States’ political and economic system seems incapable of adapting to the new multipolar paradigm. Like a dinosaur it is doomed to perish because its mode of behavior and ideological depiction of the world are no longer viable in a changed political environment.
Alt World.
Finian Cunningham - Europe Embraces Multipolar World With Nord Stream 2 and China Investment Deal
Republican Christmas Christmas party, New York
No masks, no social distancing.
Absolute madness!
While in China they have been told to wear masks again because the new variant.
Man hospitalized for COVID-19 after Queens Republican club Christmas party
At least one person has been hospitalized for COVID-19 after attending an indoor Christmas dance party hosted by the Whitestone Republican Club earlier this month, the Eagle has learned.
James Trent, chair of the affiliated Queens Village Republican Club, was admitted to North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset where he is recovering from COVID-19, he said from his hospital room Wednesday morning.
Queens Daily Eagle
Dr Kerry Kennedy Meltzer - Vaccines Are Safe, No Matter What Bobby Kennedy Says
I love my uncle. But when it comes to vaccines, he is wrong
I recognize, with some trepidation, that people may wonder why I feel I need to speak out publicly about vaccines and against my uncle. The truth is, his name and platform mean that his views carry weight. After three hours, his Facebook post accusing government regulators of abdicating their responsibility to protect the public had 4,700 reactions, 2,300 shares and 641 comments.
As a doctor, and as a member of the Kennedy family, I feel I must use whatever small platform I have to state a few things unequivocally. I love my uncle Bobby. I admire him for many reasons, chief among them his decades-long fight for a cleaner environment. But when it comes to vaccines, he is wrong.
New York Times
Corporate Power and the Future of U.S. Capitalism — Shimshon Bichler and Jonathan Nitzan
Corporate power in the United States has risen to unprecedented levels, but the rate at which this power has grown is decelerating. Both facts have important implications for the future of U.S. capitalism.
According to the theory of capital as power (or CasP for short), the quest for capitalized power – and for more and more of it – is the key driving force of modern capitalism. Capitalists, CasP argues, particularly dominant ones, judge their power differentially. They measure it by the size of their earnings and assets – but they do so not absolutely, but relative to others. Driven by power, their goal is not simply to amass more money, but to do so faster than the average. Their ‘bottom line’ is not maximum accumulation, but differential accumulation....
And here lies the problem. Dominant capitalists and corporations cannot stop trying to increase their power. The need to beat the average and grow faster than others is ‘in their nature’. And that has consequences, because rising differential earnings require greater threats, sabotage and violence against the rest of society. If this relentless pressure is not counteracted by effective democratic resistance, U.S. subjects are likely hear much more about the benefits of ‘economies of scale’, the imperatives of ‘global competition’ and the dictates of ‘national security’ – processes that, they will be told, require them to accept ever larger corporations and a much more authoritarian society.
Capital As Power
Corporate Power and the Future of U.S. Capitalism
Shimshon Bichler and Jonathan Nitzan
Research Note, December 2020
Corporate Power and the Future of U.S. Capitalism
Shimshon Bichler and Jonathan Nitzan
Research Note, December 2020
A Hard Look at Rent and Rent Seeking with Michael Hudson & Pepe Escobar
Naked Capitalism
A Hard Look at Rent and Rent Seeking with Michael Hudson & Pepe Escobar
Interview with Michael Hudson & Pepe Escobar
$600 payments
They’re not booing... they’re saying Maaaahhhnooooooooch...
The $600 being credited to US person bank accounts this morning already... (I guess he didn’t do a part 2/2?)...
I’ve read the $600 individual payments will total about $166B for US Treasury... I’m interested to see what they do or don’t do to adjust the TGA balance in response to these withdrawals...
.@USTreasury has delivered a payment file to the @FederalReserve for Americans’ Economic Impact Payments. These payments may begin to arrive in some accounts by direct deposit as early as tonight and will continue into next week (1/2)
— Steven Mnuchin (@stevenmnuchin1) December 29, 2020
Mask Wearing Is 99.9 Percent Effective At Retaining Large Droplets When Worn Properly, Study Finds
A lab experiment which used mechanical mannequins to test the efficacy of face masks in reducing the spread of large droplets when coughing and speaking has found that they can block 99.9 percent of drops when worn properly. The findings were published in the journal Royal Society Open Science
Mask Wearing Is 99.9 Percent Effective At Retaining Large Droplets When Worn Properly, Study Finds
Tuesday, December 29, 2020
Bill Mitchell —Is the $US900 billion stimulus in the US likely to overheat the economy – Part 1?
Comments made last week by the former Clinton, Obama and now Biden economist Lawrence Summers contesting whether it was sensible for the US government to provide a $US2,000 once-off, means-tested payments was met with widespread derision and ridicule from progressive commentators. There were Tweets about eviction rates, bankruptcy rates, poverty rates, and more asserting that the widespread social problems in the US clearly meant that Summers was wrong and a monster parading as a progressive voice in the US debate. I didn’t see one response that really addressed the points Summers was making. They were mostly addressing a different point. In fact, the Summers statement makes for an excellent educational case study in how to conduct macroeconomic reasoning and how we need to carefully distinguish macro considerations from distributional considerations, even though the two are inextricably linked, a link that mainstream macroeconomics has long ignored. So while Summers might have been correct on the macro issues (we will see) he certainly wasn’t voicing progressive concern about the distributional issues and should not be part of the in-coming Administration. This is Part 1 of a two-part analysis. In Part 2 we will do some sums. In this part, we will build the conceptual base....Bill Mitchell – billy blog
Is the $US900 billion stimulus in the US likely to overheat the economy – Part 1?
Bill Mitchell | Professor in Economics and Director of the Centre of Full Employment and Equity (CofFEE), at University of Newcastle, NSW, Australia
Polarization, Then a Crash: Michael Hudson on the Rentier Economy — Lynn Fries interviews Michael Hudson
Naked Capitalism
Polarization, Then a Crash: Michael Hudson on the Rentier Economy
Lynn Fries of GPE Newsdocs interview with Michael Hudson
Finland's Champion Nokia Is Letting the Side Down on Huawei and 5G
If Europe and the U.S. are to compete effectively with China and Huawei, they need Nokia to start getting 5G right.
It's a shame, Nokia betted on a superior chip, which would have been better for consumers and engineers, but it was more expensive, so Nokia lost out, but it still has a chance.
Finland's Champion Nokia Is Letting the Side Down on Huawei and 5G
“Cash Management!”
Pop up Cash Management Bills offerings they keep announcing almost every day.... they have over 1.5T in TGA yet they still think they have to so-called “manage cash!” ???
They could send out all of those $2k checks for $500b and STILL have $1T in TGA... they have never really explained why they are continuing to do this imo...
US Commercial Bank Residual $130B reduction
Oh ... I guess now you guys will say “well the US banks didn’t want to save the foreign money anymore!”...
Yeah right...
Zhagn Zhan disrupting police at their work when trying to protect civilians from Covid
As you can see many countries around the world won't allow people to endanger public safety.
Monday, December 28, 2020
MoA - The 'Mighty Wurlitzer' - How U.S. Financed 'Human Rights' Organizations Create Anti-Chinese Headlines
According to Moon of Alabama the Chinese authorities were right to imprison Zhang Zhan as she had endangered the lives of many people; and potentially millions as she could have spread the virus to other parts of the country.
The Chinese authorities had behaved within the guidelines of WHO for pandemics, where fake news which endangers public safety needs to be fully countered.
Shortly before the man asked Zhang Zhan what she was doing she had knocked over the traffic barrier.
Holding libertarian rants against pandemic measures and knocking over quarantine barrier while providing videos for anti-Chinese outlets is presumably 'citizen journalism'.
Wuhan had soon defeated the pandemic.
MoA
The Perpetual Problem With Interest Rates — NeilW
The single interest rate lever is supposed to be Pavlovian in its stimulus/response. When the rate goes down that means “spend”. When it goes up it means “don’t spend”. That’s the belief, which fiscal policy is supposed to follow along behind like a faithful hound.New Wayland
What’s amusing is that this response process doesn’t appear to take into account expectations....
The Perpetual Problem With Interest Rates
NeilW
SMCP - All EU member states back China investment deal, sources say
Agreement ‘could be reached’ this week following movement on major sticking point
No country had raised ‘stop sign’ clearing way for political endorsement, diplomat says
The deal would give Beijing much-needed diplomatic breathing space as US president-elect Joe Biden prepares to forge stronger ties with European partners to confront growing Chinese assertiveness.
Under the deal, European businesses would enjoy a more privileged investment environment in China than their American counterparts, according to trade specialists.
SMCP - All EU member states back China investment deal, sources say
.
Polarization, Then a Crash: Michael Hudson on the Rentier Economy
This Michael Hudson interview is excellent!
The covid conspiracists blame the Lockdowns for harming the economy, but Michael Hudson says it's the financial sector that is stopping us from coping with the pandemic effectively because it is syphoning off too much money.
Even before the pandemic, people were made to think that it was their fault that they are not doing well financially, because they have been made to feel that if they were more clever and worked harder, then they would do well too. But Michael Hudson says that societies naturally fall into there being just a few winners with everyone else losing, unless monopoly capitalism and finance are better regulated.
Neoliberalism has made a few very rich, but China is doing the opposite of the West's austerity by spending lots of money on infrastructure and then subsidising it, which makes their businesses very competitive in the world.
Turkey pivots to the center of The New Great Game — Pepe Escobar
Backgrounder on Turkey and Central Asia.
The Vineyard of the SakerTurkey pivots to the center of The New Great Game
Pepe Escobar via Asia Times (paywall)
Clint Margrave - Is Anti-Woke Becoming the New Woke?
I don't know much about WOKE, except that at its extremes it seems crazy. I think it's mainly a few young people with problems, who will eventually grow out of it, but the Right has turned it into a conspiracy theory. Anyway, it's the Anti-Woke crowd who get me more into a rage, when they set straw-dolls by finding a few rare extreme examples.
Anti-woke outrage is now a brand and the new anti-woke justice warriors, with their large platforms, used mob intimidation to court likes and followers. A single Google search could now damage this professor’s reputation: based only on hearsay and a desire to smash the woke. Isn’t this the same tactic woke journalists employ, when they write hit pieces for Vox? Why was my own tribe doing this?
Clint Margrave - Is Anti-Woke Becoming the New Woke?
The Weaponising of 'Woke', by James Melville
Right-wingers have cultivated a bogus enemy of political correctness which they have now rebranded as ‘woke’. In effect, they are demonising common decency to legitimise bigotry
Progressives must however, never ever lose sight of the fact that being politically correct is not an insult. Political correctness gave us the NHS. Political correctness gave us democracy. Political correctness gave women the vote. Political correctness gave us freedom of speech. Political correctness gave us human rights. It’s called political correctness because it’s correct.
Political correctness was always about treating people with dignity and respect, including the weaker and more marginalised members of society. What sort of person are you to find that objectionable?
Duterte threatens to end US military pact if no vaccines
Philippine leader pressures Washington after procurement delays
President Rodrigo Duterte has threatened the U.S. that the Philippines will end a key military agreement if millions of vaccines against COVID-19 are not delivered.
Sunday, December 27, 2020
Paul Jay - Larry Wilkerson: No Evidence of Massive Russian Hack
Larry Wilkerson says the Military-Industrial Complex needs China and Russia as enemies to justify its massive budget. He says they are running a racket and that Russia-gate is a lie. But he's moderately optimistic for the future of the Republican Party as the new younger members have had enough of Trumpism and want the older more moderate party back. They are not racist, he says, and are far more open to progressive values.
'The emergence of a third party is among us' - Interview with Lincoln Project Co-Founder Rick Wilson
Rick Wilson left the Republican Party to set up an alternative. He says the party has moved too far to the right, is racist, authoritarian, and is anti-intellectual.
Joe Biden won the US presidential election with 306 electoral votes. But incumbent President Donald Trump has yet to concede, and the Republican Party seems to be at a crossroads after four years of Trumpism. What direction will the GOP take going forward?
The Lincoln Project's Rick Wilson offers a very bleak outlook into the GOP's future. He says 'the Republican party has sold out itself to Trump' and what follows Trump will be more dangerous, because it will be more sophisticated.
China orders Ant Group to rectify businesses — Zen Soo
This what the US should have done decades ago when tech monopolies were rising. Did China learn from the US experience not to ignore this? They aren't exactly nipping it in the bud, but they are taking action early enough to prevent a monopoly culture from solidifying.
Fortune
Chinese regulators order Ant Group to focus on payments, stop short of breakup
- "Monopoly is the condition of every successful business."
- "All happy companies are different: each one earns a monopoly by solving a unique problem. All failed companies are the same: they failed to escape competition."
Who creates monopolies? The state — through granting intellectual property rights the create artificial scarcity, and failing to regulate markets to prevent asymmetries.
Not that China doesn't have state-sponsored monopolies. These are the large state-owned companies. But the Chinese leadership has been forewarned by Russia's disastrous divesture on US advise at the time of the collapse of the USSR. China is look at developing a more measured solution that will safely introduce competition.
See also
Chinese regulators order Ant Group to focus on payments, stop short of breakup
Bloomberg
US risks confrontation with Russia — MK Bhadrakumar
There is insufficient awareness on the American side that the danger of a nuclear confrontation is growing....Gloves coming off.
India Punchline
US risks confrontation with Russia
MK Bhadrakumar | retired diplomat with the Indian Foreign Service.
See also
Veteran US diplomat Chas Freeman says that despite talk of a New Cold War between the US and China, the US in reality is reacting aggressively to a rising Chinese power whose economic gains threaten US global supremacy. “We’ve become accustomed over the past 75 years to be the overlord in East Asia,” Freeman says.
Duh.
Similarly with Russia. While China is an economic competitor across the board, Russia is primarily a competitor in energy and arms.
The GrayZone
Aaron Maté
Ouïghours : que se passe-t-il au Xinjiang ? — Entretien avec Maxime Vivas
Interview (in French) with Maxime Vivas, a reporter that spent time in Tibet and Xinjiang, on his book debunking the "fake news" propaganda of "the Atlanticists."
Investig'Action
Ouïghours : que se passe-t-il au Xinjiang ? Entretien avec Maxime Vivas
Investig'Action
Ouïghours : que se passe-t-il au Xinjiang ? Entretien avec Maxime Vivas
Veblen, institutions and ideas — Diane Coyle
Short review of Veblen: The Making of an Economist Who Unmade Economics by Charles Camic. Worth reading if into the history of economics and economic thought.
The Enlightened Economist
Veblen, institutions and ideas
Diane Coyle | freelance economist and a former advisor to the UK Treasury. She is a member of the UK Competition Commission and is acting Chairman of the BBC Trust, the governing body of the British Broadcasting Corporation
The Enlightened Economist
Veblen, institutions and ideas
Diane Coyle | freelance economist and a former advisor to the UK Treasury. She is a member of the UK Competition Commission and is acting Chairman of the BBC Trust, the governing body of the British Broadcasting Corporation
Saturday, December 26, 2020
GM-Wuling tiny car overtakes Tesla to lead China's EV market
China’s fast-growing electric vehicle market is the largest in the world.
After a slump earlier this year, the sale of electric cars nationwide is gaining speed again.
Chinese carmaker Wuling has overtaken Tesla as the top-selling electric vehicle in China. The brand is a joint venture with General Motors to target young consumers and less affluent drivers.
China's central bank wants a say in fintech's future as it grants new personal credit ratings license to state venture with internet firms — Zhang Shidong
Yahoo Finance
China's central bank wants a say in fintech's future as it grants new personal credit ratings license to state venture with internet firms
Zhang Shidong in Shanghai for SCMP
From Hobbes to Locke – and back again? — Diane Coyle
Short review of Diedre McCloskey and Art Carden, Leave Me Alone and I’ll Make You Rich: How the Bourgeois Deal Enriched the World.
The sticking point is determining the limits of individual liberty. Even the hardest core Libertarians agree that some lines need to be drawn. They suggest the non-aggression principle as necessary and sufficient. But is it? What would be the criteria for determining this? How would these criteria be selected?
The Enlightened Economist
From Hobbes to Locke – and back again?
Diane Coyle | freelance economist and a former advisor to the UK Treasury. She is a member of the UK Competition Commission and is acting Chairman of the BBC Trust, the governing body of the British Broadcasting Corporation
The Enlightened Economist
From Hobbes to Locke – and back again?
Diane Coyle | freelance economist and a former advisor to the UK Treasury. She is a member of the UK Competition Commission and is acting Chairman of the BBC Trust, the governing body of the British Broadcasting Corporation
How Money is Created in the UK — NeilW
For the past few months I’ve been working with Andrew Berkeley and Richard Tye helping them complete “An Accounting Model of the UK Exchequer” which has been published online by GIMMS as a working document.New Wayland Blog
The study is a tour-de-force of research and history by Andrew and Richard, and I’m very grateful to have been invited in to assist with the accounting and systemic analysis of the structures that lie at the heart of the UK monetary system and add my little bit to the document. However I do stand on the shoulders of giants.
The study proves conclusively that the source of ‘moneyness’ in the UK is the Consolidated Fund, and that the whole of the Sterling currency area derives from its activities - to the extent that we can show that the ‘net financial wealth’ of the non-government sector that arises from the MMT viewpoint is precisely balanced by a ‘sui generis’ asset that sits on the balance sheet of the Consolidated Fund. A balance sheet that is never fully drawn up anywhere....
How Money is Created in the UK
NeilW
Here is the paper (161 pages).
An Accounting Model of the UK Exchequer
Andrew Berkeley, Richard Tye, Neil Wilson
See also
Accounting and the UK Exchequer
Richard Murphy | Professor of Practice in International Political Economy at City University, London; Director of Tax Research UK; non-executive director of Cambridge Econometrics, and a member of the Progressive Economy Forum
China to leapfrog U.S. as world's biggest economy by 2028, report says
China will overtake the United States to become the world’s biggest economy in 2028, five years earlier than previously estimated due to the contrasting recoveries of the two countries from the Covid-19 pandemic, a think tank said.
The CEBR said China’s “skillful management of the pandemic,” with its strict early lockdown, and hits to long-term growth in the West meant China’s relative economic performance had improved.
The Japan Times
China to leapfrog U.S. as world's biggest economy by 2028, report says
Friday, December 25, 2020
_erry Christ_as
Well I wanted to wish everyone here a _erry Christ_as today but... “we’re out of M’s!”
;p
Thursday, December 24, 2020
Bill Mitchell — No justification for public sector wage freezes during the pandemic
I provide a lot of research support for trade unions in wage determination cases in Australia, where wage agreements are uniquely decided in judicial processes. The cases are onerous and highly contested and as an expert witness I am often grilled for lengthy periods by the employers’ barristers in the evidential phase. One of the things that has been relevant in the last year or so has been the wage caps and freezes that government employers are placing on their workforce as a way of ‘saving money’. Prior to the pandemic they were forcing real wage cuts or zero real wages growth on workers under their wage cap strategies as part of their pursuit of fiscal surpluses. Now they are imposing freezes to reduce the size of their deficits. And, the same is happening in other jurisdictions such as the UK. Not only were the wage caps in the public sector damaging the well-being of public workers, in some cases, the lowest paid (cleaners etc), but they were also providing ‘wage guidance’ to the private sector, at a time when household debt is at record levels and consumption growth wage faltering. At a time when consumers are already wary and saving higher proportions of their disposable income, freezing wages is not a responsible thing to do in a pandemic. The UK government, for example, does not need to ‘save money’. But as part of the recovery from the pandemic, the government will benefit from households having been able to pay down debt while saving more and from the maintenance of their real purchasing power. There are no grounds for freezing wages – public or private....Bill Mitchell – billy blog
No justification for public sector wage freezes during the pandemic
Bill Mitchell | Professor in Economics and Director of the Centre of Full Employment and Equity (CofFEE), at University of Newcastle, NSW, Australia
The Countries Set To Win Big On The Lithium Boom — Robert Rapier
Australia has by far the largest reserves.
Oilprice
The Countries Set To Win Big On The Lithium Boom
Robert Rapier
What Lifted Trump Could Sink Biden — Brad DeLong
Donald Trump managed to receive 74 million votes despite countless failures for the simple reason that he presided over three years of a high-pressure economy in which wages grew rapidly. If the Democrats ignore this lesson or listen to fiscal hawks already pushing for austerity, they will face a painful reckoning in 2024....Is anyone at Democratic Party HQ listening?
Project Syndicate
What Lifted Trump Could Sink Biden
Brad DeLong | Professor of Economics, UCAL Berkeley
Johannes Drooghaag - LAED – Backdoors, double standards and political agendas
Backdoors can be used by cybercriminals!
In case you have not studied LAED, let me give you a quick summary. LAED stands for Lawful Access to Encrypted Data Act, a bill introduced on June 23rd in the United States, which is nothing short of a frontal attack on encryption in any form. When passed, this bill can force tech providers to create a backdoor that allows law enforcement and intelligence agencies to access encrypted data. So, this means that devices, operating systems, apps, servers, protocols, routers, websites, and portals which offer encryption must have a backdoor!
Besides the fact that the LAED Act takes the crown of bad ideas, there is a lot of irony which simply can not be ignored. The United States of America, which accuses Huawei of building backdoors into their technology and bans their technology over these unsubstantiated claims, is now in the process of forcing tech providers to build backdoors into their technology… One can only wonder if the U.S. will force Huawei to build backdoors in their tech under the LAED Act! Backdoors which under the LAED Act can lawfully be used to spy on foreign subjects, which ironically is also what the U.S. is accusing Huawei of without providing a single shred of evidence. Maybe all the talks about the alleged backdoors in Huawei technology inspired these Senators to draft the LAED Act…?
Johannes Drooghaag - LAED – Backdoors, double standards and political agendas
Wednesday, December 23, 2020
2020 Is The Worst Year For Contrarians Ever
Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaatttttt?!?!?!?!?
2020 Is The Worst Year For Contrarians Ever https://t.co/numVHBuaVy
— The Watchman (@MMCAnchor) December 23, 2020
New Business with the New Military
These two articles below give you some idea how huge the US Industrial-Military Complex actually is. It sprawls out into vast sections of the non military consumer business sector too, for instance, like stationery, IT, and medical equipment, etc. No wonder the US is addicted to war.
This is a pro military-industrial Complex article looking at the opportunities for private businesses.
****
To most people, the military is all about the “tooth”—the warfighters and weaponry they see on the nightly news. The tooth, however, cannot succeed without the “tail”—the complex, costly chain of goods, services, and facilities that sustains combatants, support personnel, and military families. Both face heavy budget pressures and are undergoing institutionwide transformation. But it is in the tail that most companies will find their prospects. By understanding the logic of military transformation, executives can identify and create business opportunities. By using a simple framework, they can develop strategies for capturing part of this huge, distinctive market. And by mastering certain principles, they can build profitable long-term relationships.
What Military Transformation Means for Business
The “military-industrial complex” that President Eisenhower first recognized is taking new form. Then, the Department of Defense (DoD) and the four military services (the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, and Air Force) were closely tied to a few major weapons contractors that managed large programs within a labyrinth of detailed regulations and specifications. Now, the military is turning to nontraditional business partners to meet a wide range of needs, from health care to housing to information technology. In essence, the long-standing government monopoly on every aspect of national security is being replaced by a more businesslike model in which DoD’s warfighting capabilities are supported through outsourcing and business alliances for numerous noncombat functions.
New Business with the New Military
This Map Shows Where in the World the U.S. Military Is Combatting Terrorism
The infographic reveals for the first time that the U.S. is now operating in 40 percent of the world’s nations
Less than a month after the September 11 terrorist attacks on the United States, U.S. troops—with support from British, Canadian, French, German and Australian forces—invaded Afghanistan to fight Al Qaeda and the Taliban. More than 17 years later, the Global War on Terrorism initiated by President George W. Bush is truly global, with Americans actively engaged in countering terrorism in 80 nations on six continents.
Who’s Afraid of MMT? — James K. Galbraith
It is not surprising that current and retired central bankers feel threatened by Modern Monetary Theory. With deep roots in the Keynesian tradition and a consistent commitment to achieving full employment, MMT shows that good economics and sound policy doesn't have to be shrouded in obscurantist cant....
Good post. Short, too.
Project SyndicateWho’s Afraid of MMT?
James K. Galbraith | Lloyd M. Bentsen Jr. Chair in Government/Business Relations and Professor of Government at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs, The University of Texas at Austin
Bill Mitchell — My Op Ed in the mainstream Japanese business media
It’s Wednesday and my blog-light day. Today, I provide the English-text for an article that came out in the leading Japanese business daily, The Nikkei yesterday on Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) and its application to the pandemic. Relevant links are provided in the body of the post. The interesting point I think is that ‘The Nikkei’ is the “the world’s largest business daily in terms of circulation” and has clear centre-right leanings. The fact that they are interested in disseminating ideas that run counter to the mainstream narrative that the centre-right politicians have relied on indicates both a curiosity that is missing in the conservative media elsewhere, and, the extent to which MMT ideas is becoming more open to serious thinkers. I have respect for media outlets that come to the source when they want to motivate a discussion on MMT rather than hire some hack to write a critique, which really gets no further than accusing MMT of being just about money printing....Bravo, Bill!
Bill Mitchell – billy blog
My Op Ed in the mainstream Japanese business media
Bill Mitchell | Professor in Economics and Director of the Centre of Full Employment and Equity (CofFEE), at University of Newcastle, NSW, Australia
Scarcity and plenty — John Quiggin
Peripherally related to MMT based on availability of real resources.
John Quiggin's Blog
Scarcity and plenty
John Quiggin | Professor and an Australian Research Council Laureate Fellow at the University of Queensland, and a member of the Board of the Climate Change Authority of the Australian Government
John Quiggin's Blog
Scarcity and plenty
John Quiggin | Professor and an Australian Research Council Laureate Fellow at the University of Queensland, and a member of the Board of the Climate Change Authority of the Australian Government
Lie of the Year: The Downplay and Denial of the Coronavirus
Mankind is the most brightest creature on the planet, but also the most dumbest.
President Donald Trump fueled confusion and conspiracies from the earliest days of the coronavirus pandemic. He embraced theories that COVID-19 accounted for only a small fraction of the thousands upon thousands of deaths. He undermined public health guidance for wearing masks and cast Dr. Anthony Fauci as an unreliable flip-flopper.
But the infodemic was not the work of a single person.
Anonymous bad actors offered up junk science. Online skeptics made bogus accusations that hospitals padded their coronavirus case numbers to generate bonus payments. Influential TV and radio opinion hosts told millions of viewers that physical distancing was a joke and that states had all of the personal protective equipment they needed (when they didn’t).
It was a symphony of counter-narrative, and Trump was the conductor, if not the composer. The message: The threat to your health was overhyped to hurt the political fortunes of the president.
Meanwhile, the coronavirus has killed more than 300,000 in the United States, a crisis exacerbated by the reckless spread of falsehoods.
Tuesday, December 22, 2020
Paul Jay - The Democratic Party and the War Machine : Vijay Prashad
The Analysis-News
Paul Jay believes people really have become more enlightened in modern times. He says that up until WW2 Western people really believed it was okay to plunder the world. He believes that if people could get the real news the majority of them would want to stop the wars. For instance, he adds, most people don't know that the US chose Hiroshima and Nagasaki for nuclear destruction because they had firebombed to the ground all of Japan's other cities. They don't teach this in the schools, and they don't tell us about Jeffrey Butler either. Anyway, it's really great to see Paul Jay back.
The roots of the Democratic Party’s foreign policy are found in WWII, the atomic bombing of Japan and militarization during the Cold War. Biden supported the Iraq War but fought for the nuclear agreement with Iran. What should we expect from his administration? Vijay Prashad joins Paul Jay on theAnalysis.news podcast.
Animal Spirits In A Monetary Model: Initial Comments — Brian Romanchuk
Roger E.A. Farmer and Konstantin Platonov published "Animal Spirits in a Monetary Model" in 2019 (link). This is a continuation of Roger Farmer's research programme of working with DSGE-style models but with a notion of multiple equilibria. Within the framework, the final solution is pinned down by "animal spirits": beliefs about the future evolution of the economy.Bond Economics
My comments here are tentative, as I am in the process of working through the mathematics of the paper. My objective is to spend some time with models like the one in this paper in the second volume of Recessions.
Animal Spirits In A Monetary Model: Initial Comments
Brian Romanchuk
Markets are moving away from a 'Darwinistic' phase
Oh... yeah... okay...
Markets are moving away from a 'Darwinistic' phase: Morning Brief https://t.co/BigLAHqW0K by @MylesUdland pic.twitter.com/QMkpFLpB9g
— Yahoo Finance (@YahooFinance) December 22, 2020
Monday, December 21, 2020
Debt is not a sustainable policy decision — Sen. Rand Paul
If you are looking for more COVID bailout money, we don't have any. The coffers are bare. We have no rainy-day fund. We have no savings account. Congress has spent all of the money. Congress spent all of the money a long time ago...
The stuff of genius. (snark)
Stephen Roach falls into a similar hole.
The Pandemic's Long Economic Shadow
Stephen S. Roach| | faculty member at Yale University and former chairman of Morgan Stanley Asia
Bill Mitchell — Further evidence undermining the mainstream case against fiscal deficits
Yesterday, I discussed the results of recent research that demonstrated the ‘trickle down’ hypothesis, which has been used to justify the sequence of tax cuts for high income recipients, was without any empirical foundation. While mainstream economists have been enchanted with that hypothesis, heterodox (including Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) economists have never considered it had any validity – neither theoretical nor empirical. But it is good that mainstream researchers are now ratifying that long-held view. Today, I am discussing another case of the mainstream catching up. When I say catching up, the implications of these new empirical studies are devastating for key propositions that the mainstream macroeconomists maintain. The ECB Working Paper series published an interesting paper (No. 2509) yesterday (December 21, 2020) by an Italian economist from the Bank of Italy – Losers amongst the losers: the welfare effects of the Great Recession across cohorts. In brief, the research found that younger people bear disproportionate burdens during recession in the short-run, but also, face diminished prospects over the longer-term. The paper bears on some of the major fictions that have been propagated to disabuse governments of using fiscal deficits to smooth out the economic cycle – namely, the alleged burden that is created by the current generation’s excesses (the deficit) for their children and grandchildren (who according to the narrative have to pay back the debt incurred by the excesses). This is another case of evidence being produced that ratify the analysis that MMT economists have been advancing for the last 25 years....Bill Mitchell – billy blog
Further evidence undermining the mainstream case against fiscal deficits
Bill Mitchell | Professor in Economics and Director of the Centre of Full Employment and Equity (CofFEE), at University of Newcastle, NSW, Australia
Bob Wylie - BANDIT CAPITALISM
Carillion and the Corruption of the British State
The collapse in January 2018 of the construction giant Carillion, outsourcer of huge Government building contracts, is one of the great financial scandals of modern times. When it folded it had only £29 million in the bank and debts and other liabilities adding up to a staggering £7 billion. When the total losses were counted it was established that the banks were owed £1.3 billion in loans and that there was a hole in the pension fund of £2.6 billion.That left British taxpayers picking up the tab to salvage the pensions owed to Carillion workers.
On one level, this is a familiar story of directors who systematically looted a company with the aim of their own enrichment. But in a wider context the Carillion catastrophe exposes everything that is wrong about the state we are in now – the free-for-all of company laws which govern directors’ dealings, the toothless regulators, the crime and very little punishment of the Big Four auditors, and a government which is a prisoner of a broken model born of a political ideology which it cannot forsake. Through the story of Carillion, Bob Wylie exposes the lawlessness of contemporary capitalism that is facilitated by hapless politicians, and gives a warning for the future that must be heeded. Bandit Capitalism charts, in jaw-dropping detail, the rise and rise of the British Oligarchy
Birlinn
Fiscal Dominance As Obfuscation — Brian Romanchuk
One phrase that keeps being used by mainstream economists is "fiscal dominance." This is a fuzzy term that is being used to express disapproval but yet appearing to be a neutral technical term. However, the simplest way to view the discussion is that neoclassical economics was ambushed by reality, and that they are hiding behind jargon to distract from this....Bond Economics
Fiscal Dominance As Obfuscation
Brian Romanchuk
The incredible ibex defies gravity and climbs a dam | Forces of Nature with Brian Cox - BBC
What a world - I hope there's a reason for it all!
And I'm scared of heights, so it was even hard watching it
The CIA Is Running Death Squads in Afghanistan
Reports of atrocities supported by the American intelligence agency underscore the need to end America’s longest war.
Trump wanted to bring the troops home, so his administration loosened the rules of war and sent in the CIA to set up Afghan paramilitary units to subdue the Taliban.
A report in The Intercept, written by reporter Andrew Quilty, documents the horrifying consequences of this policy: Afghan paramilitary units, known as 01 and 02, have acted as death squads, launching raids against civilians that have turned into massacres. Many of these raids have attacked religious schools, the famous madrassas, leading to the death of children as young as 8 years old.
The Nation
Deglobalisation in the context of United States-China decoupling — Alicia García-Herrero and Junyun Tan
Overall, it is too early to confirm the depth and the sustainability of the current wave of deglobalisation, but an increasing number of signals suggest a trend of deglobalisation is underway.Bruegel
Deglobalisation in the context of United States-China decoupling
Alicia García-Herrero and Junyun Tan
See also
US Commerce Department Lists 103 Russian, Chinese Companies With Alleged Military Ties
Trump Enacts Sweeping New Sanctions on China, Iran, Venezuela. Biden Promises More To Come
Alan Macleod
The Arctic Ocean Is a Russian Lake — Patrick Armstrong
Russia Observer
THE ARCTIC OCEAN IS A RUSSIAN LAKE
Patrick Armstrong
See also
Moscow presumes that US under Biden to regard Russia as an adversary, says ambassador
Putin signs decree to transform Northern Fleet into military district
TASS
Putin says Army’s provision with advanced weapons guarantees Russia’s security
AI use in controlling weaponry in future will largely determine battle outcome — Putin
Putin instructs to focus on developing all components of nuclear triad
Kremlin Sees US Sanctions on Nord Stream 2 as Start of Hybrid War
President Vladimir Putin Calls for Urgent Response to Western Missiles Deployment at Russian Borders
TASS
Russia officially denies involvement in hacker attacks on US institutions — Kremlin
Latest Buk-M3 anti-aircraft missile systems go on combat alert in Siberia
RUSSIAN CODE SUPREMACY MEANS THERE’S ONLY ONE SECRET THE US GOVERNMENT HAS LEFT – THAT THE GOVERNMENT HAS NO SECRETS FROM RUSSIA
John Helmer
Research Arm of Congress Confirms that Mnuchin Never Released Bulk of CARES Act Money Earmarked for Fed’s Emergency Loans — Pam and Russ Martens
Wall Street On Parade
Research Arm of Congress Confirms that Mnuchin Never Released Bulk of CARES Act Money Earmarked for Fed’s Emergency Loans
Pam Martens and Russ Martens
Nas Dailly - Be Careful of Al Jazeera
Nas Dailly says that the English speaking Aljazeera puts out liberal views, but for its own domestic audience back home it does the opposite.
Could this be happening with other state broadcasters?
Stalkers
So WE do mRNA now of course THEY have to do mRNA... they are not spies and hackers and “strategic adversaries!”.... they are deranged stalker USD zombies... get a life already...
China’s First-Ever mRNA #COVID19 Jab Plant Breaks Ground https://t.co/WppoowxzFF pic.twitter.com/XwDu64tKCb
— Yicai Global 第一财经 (@yicaichina) December 21, 2020
China Ex-Minister Sees Curbing of Fintech, Bank Tie-Ups: Report Bloomberg News
China is getting a grip on its financial centre before it's too late.
China should consider further tightening control over fintech giants by restricting the number of banks they can partner with, the Securities Times cited a former finance minister as saying.
Lou said China needs to prevent a “winner-takes-all” and “too-big-to-fail” situation in fintech, according to the report. He joined a chorus of voices from the nation’s top financial regulators vowing to step up oversight over the industry’s giants. Authorities last month published draft rules overhauling the nation’s microlenders, which led to the abrupt halt to Ant Group Co.’s $35 billion initial public offering in Hong Kong and Shanghai.
China Ex-Minister Sees Curbing of Fintech, Bank Tie-Ups: Report Bloomberg News
Sunday, December 20, 2020
A Military-Funded Biosensor Could Be the Future of Pandemic Detection
If it wins FDA approval next year, the two-part sensor could help spot new infections weeks before symptoms begin to show.
I'm was arguing with the anti-vaxxers on twitter who say Bill Gates is going to inject everyone with biochips. I laughed, then this turns up.
The sensor has two parts. One is a 3mm string of hydrogel, a material whose network of polymer chains is used in some contact lenses and other implants. Inserted under the skin with a syringe, the string includes a specially engineered molecule that sends a fluorescent signal outside of the body when the body begins to fight an infection. The other part is an electronic component attached to the skin. It sends light through the skin, detects the fluorescent signal and generates another signal that the wearer can send to a doctor, website, etc. It’s like a blood lab on the skin that can pick up the body’s response to illness before the presence of other symptoms, like coughing.
Defence One
Bill Mitchell — More evidence against the ‘trickle down’ orthodoxy in macroeconomics
On December 10, 2014, I wrote this blog post – Trickle down economics – the evidence is damning. The discussion was about how inequality undermines growth and that redistribution of national income towards higher income groups does not stimulate income growth for lower income groups. It provided evidence that destroys the basic tenets of mainstream economics and supports a wider social and economic involvement of government in the provision of public services and infrastructure, particularly to low income groups. The ‘trickle down’ fiction was propagated in the late 1970s and early 1980s by the likes of Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan and dovetailed with the emerging dominance of supply-side thinking. Behind ‘trickle-down’ was a nasty neo-liberal plot to undermine state activity and rewind the gains made by the workers under the welfare states and unionism over the course of the C20th. Now a new report from researchers at the London School of Economics – The Economic Consequences of Major Tax Cuts for the Rich – repeats the evidence, and, perhaps because we are further down the road in realising how deficient mainstream macroeconomics is, new evidence of something that we have known since the ideas first came out of the sewers, might push the paradigm shift a little further.
Count on the mainstream to argue that it's because tax cuts have not been deep enough.
Bill Mitchell – billy blog
More evidence against the ‘trickle down’ orthodoxy in macroeconomics
Bill Mitchell | Professor in Economics and Director of the Centre of Full Employment and Equity (CofFEE), at University of Newcastle, NSW, Australia
Zero Hedge — Ghana Becomes First Country To Officially End MMT Experiment
Except the policy of central bank lending rather than fiscal spending is not MMT. More confusion about what MMT is. Hint: It is not about "printing money."
Zero Hedge
The Great Reset: BlackRock Is Fueling A $120 Trillion Transformation On Wall St. — Editor OilPrice.com
Big money is turning its back on companies that aren’t conforming to one simple idea…Capital gets (nature) religion.
Sustainability.
And it’s fueling one of the biggest transfers of capital the world has ever seen....
Plus, new kids on the block. (ESGs)
Yahoo Finance
The Great Reset: BlackRock Is Fueling A $120 Trillion Transformation On Wall St.
Yahoo Finance
The Great Reset: BlackRock Is Fueling A $120 Trillion Transformation On Wall St.
Editor OilPrice.com
A Child's Guide to Modern Monetary Theory: Keynesianism in an old bottle? — Sarath Mahatthaya
Another baseless "attack" on MMT by a central banker who thinks he is being clever.
DailyFT (Sri Lanka)
A Child's Guide to Modern Monetary Theory: Keynesianism in an old bottle?
Sarath Mahatthaya, an ex-officer of the Ministry of Finance and former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka
In Chile, Resistance Is Criminalised and Perpetrators of Crimes Against Humanity Are Absolved — Ramona Wadi
Chile "reform" fail?
Strategic Culture FoundationIn Chile, Resistance Is Criminalised and Perpetrators of Crimes Against Humanity Are Absolved
Ramona Wadi
A Pandemic of ‘Russian Hacking’ — Ray McGovern and Joe Lauria
BS Watch. Retired CIA officer Ray McGovern points out the obvious lacunae in the narrative.
Consortium NewsA Pandemic of ‘Russian Hacking’
Ray McGovern, co-founder of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity, and retired 27-year career CIA whose tasks included preparing and briefing The President’s Daily Brief and leading the Soviet Foreign Policy Branch, and Joe Lauria, foreign affairs correspondent and investigative reporter
See also
Then there is Military.com’s article, “Why Russia’s Hypersonic Missiles Can’t Be Seen on Radar,” which notes:The missile flies with an advanced fuel that the Russians say gives it a range of up to 1,000 kilometers. And it’s so fast that the air pressure in front of the weapon forms a plasma cloud as it moves, absorbing radio waves and making it practically invisible to active radar systems.The only hope to stopping an incoming Zircon missile – or any hypersonic missile for that matter – would be to detect it early enough and be able to react fast enough to throw up defenses in its flight path. Barring its ability to maneuver at the last moment to evade these defenses – there is the possibility of intercepting them.
U.S. Aegis missile interceptor systems require 8-10 seconds of reaction time to intercept incoming attacks. In those 8-10 seconds, the Russian Zircon missiles will already have traveled 20 kilometers, and the interceptor missiles do not fly fast enough to catch up.
But that’s if just one, or a few missiles are launched. Even a full-fledged US carrier strike group would be able to shoot down only so many of these missiles at one given time.The target is carrier groups protected by Aegis anti-missile systems.
The footage made available of the Zircon’s recent test flight shows it deploying from one of several vertical launch tubes meaning that in the future – multiple missiles will be aboard any given Russian military vessel – meaning that several vessels can launch several missiles at any given time.
With the possibility of altering their flight paths accordingly – large numbers of missiles could reach a potential target or targets simultaneously and from multiple angles, overwhelming even the best air defenses in a process known as saturation.
In many ways, Russia’s hypersonic missile – the Zircon – is not just a technological achievement or a newly acquired and formidable military capability – it is also a useful component of a much wider diplomatic effort to shift the world from the Western-dominated unipolar “rules-based international order” – one underwritten by Western military aggression – and toward multipolarism where the cost of conflict is higher than the cost of fair competition and cooperation.
It is also a relatively inexpensive defensive missile and delivery system that raises the cost of forward projection of power (characteristic of imperial forces) and acts as a deterrent.
Global Research
Russia’s Hypersonic ‘Zircon’ Missile Takes Flight. “Can’t Be Seen on Radar”. Strategic Implications
Russia’s Hypersonic ‘Zircon’ Missile Takes Flight. “Can’t Be Seen on Radar”. Strategic Implications
Brian Berletic
A New Congressional Budget Office Study Shows That Medicare for All Would Save Hundreds of Billions of Dollars Annually — Matt Bruenig
The most exhaustive study on Medicare for All just came out. Its conclusion: a single-payer system would guarantee health insurance to all people while reducing overall health spending by hundreds of billions of dollars every year.The fly in the ointment is that the US doesn't have the health care facilities or personnel to handle the suddenly increased number of people covered. That could be rectified but it would likely take several years, although this would be costless if funded by the federal government.
Jacobin
A New Congressional Budget Office Study Shows That Medicare for All Would Save Hundreds of Billions of Dollars Annually
Matt Bruenig
Kim No-VAX Does DARPA — Pepe Escobar
Some questions still remain unanswered; for instance, if our race does not fit anymore the society it built, who’d guarantee that its machines are properly engineered? Who’d guarantee that intelligent machines act in our interest?The Unz Review
Kim No-VAX Does DARPA
Pepe Escobar
Originally at Asia Times (paywall)
See also
These stories invite considerations of stupidity. But who are the stupid ones? Putin & Co? The consumers of the stories? Or the story-makers themselves?
Strategic Culture Foundation
Stupid, Stupider, StupidestPatrick Armstrong
Fox News airs point-by-point fact check of wild election fraud claims during 3 of network's most pro-Trump shows — Elizabeth Preza
It gets even better. Fox forced to eat crow to avoid defamation suit.
In other news, the pendulum is swinging way far to the crazy. Gives new meaning to "conspiracy theory." Too political to post here. But it a thing now, and the trend is significant in that it suggests that the US has progressed past being a banana republic to being a cognitive-affective basket case (that is armed to the teeth). What could go wrong? I hope that if you live in the US and still have a few good years left, you have prepared an escape plan, preferably that includes the Southern Hemisphere. But I started saying that years ago.Elizabeth Preza
Sabine Hossenfelder - All you need to know to understand 5G
An interesting reply
Since the new frequencies are not ionizing and cannot penetrate deeply (a few mm at most) into the body, one must presumably concentrate on thermal effects. Far higher frequencies like infrared and light reach our skin in powers of 1-2kW/m², at noon in summer or close to a big campfire. This is what we perceive as "nice and warm". There is no way the small 5G radio cells will even come close to such energy densities.
So I tend not to see any danger in it.
However, I agree that this should be covered as soon as possible and comprehensively in studies to make absolutely sure that nothing is overlooked and to bring this discussion back to a factual level.
Thank you Ms. Hossenfelder, for your really well done videos. This is really a helpful contribution to the topic!
Saturday, December 19, 2020
Banana Republic Watch Updater
Can't make this stuff up.
After several days of progress toward a final coronavirus relief deal, the Senate GOP's last-minute attempt to insert language curbing the Federal Reserve's emergency lending powers is threatening to derail negotiations over a package that would extend soon-to-expire unemployment benefits, send another round of direct payments to many Americans, and provide funding for vaccine distribution.
Pushed by Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) with the backing of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), the provision would both terminate Fed lending programs authorized by the CARES Act and restrict the central bank's ability to aid states, localities, and small businesses in the future—prompting accusations that the GOP is attempting to hamstring the incoming Biden administration....
Common Dreams
Anger Mounts as Democrats Accuse GOP of Imperiling Covid Relief With Effort to 'Sabotage a Biden Presidency'
Jake Johnson
It's downhill from there.
On Friday night, as first reported by The New York Times, Trump discussed commandeering voting machines and appointing conspiracy-minded election lawyer Sidney Powell as special counsel to inspect the machines....Axios
Giuliani asks DHS about seizing voting machines
Jonathan Swan
According to the person familiar with Friday’s meeting, the animated gathering featured yelling and screaming, with the lawyers often accusing each other of failing to sufficiently support the president's efforts. Flynn and Powell both said they needed the Trump administration to do more to support their efforts to reverse President-elect Joe Biden's win. Giuliani and Powell also turned their ire on each other. The source said National Security Adviser Robert O'Brien, a successor to Flynn, participated by phone....Politico
Trump sought to tap Sidney Powell as special counsel for election fraud
Kyle Cheney and Josh Gerstein
Michael Flynn suggests Trump could deploy the military to “swing states” to “rerun” the election...
Salon
Michael Flynn says Trump could seize every voting machine across the country and "rerun" election
Igor Derysh
Crooks and Liars — Under Threat Of Lawsuit, Dobbs Suddenly Fact Checks His Voting Conspiracy Theories
Looks like that threat of suit we linked to previously paid off.
Crooks and LiarsUnder Threat Of Lawsuit, Dobbs Suddenly Fact Checks His Voting Conspiracy Theories
Ellen
See also
CREW (7 Dec 2020)
Economic damage could be worse without lockdown and social distancing – study
The worst thing for the economy would be not acting at all to prevent disease spread, followed by too short a lockdown, according to research based on US data.
New research from the University of Cambridge suggests that there is no absolute trade-off between the economy and human health – and that the price of inaction could be twice as high as that of a 'structured lockdown.
Friday, December 18, 2020
Weekend reading on Chinese youth
Interesting three part read about the younger generation in China. Like the younger generation in the US, they are more socialist ideas than their elders. Neoliberalism is running into demographic headwinds.
See also at Sixth Tone
China is also becoming more socially liberal. Not just LGTB either. Cisgender women are also on board with "vogue."
In China’s Voguing Houses, Queer Millennials Strike a New Pose
Wang Xuandi
Each post is short.
Sixth Tone (PRC independent media)
The New-Style Pop Histories Making Socialism Cool Again
Fed Up With Capitalism, Young Chinese Brush Up on ‘Das Kapital’
Why It’s Time to Rewrite China’s History Books
Wang Rui | associate professor of history at East China Normal University.
Sixth Tone (PRC independent media)
The New-Style Pop Histories Making Socialism Cool Again
Fed Up With Capitalism, Young Chinese Brush Up on ‘Das Kapital’
Why It’s Time to Rewrite China’s History Books
Wang Rui | associate professor of history at East China Normal University.
China is also becoming more socially liberal. Not just LGTB either. Cisgender women are also on board with "vogue."
In China’s Voguing Houses, Queer Millennials Strike a New Pose
Wang Xuandi
Fedspeak
What does she mean here by the figurative “pressure”? Can one of you Art Degree people help figure it out? Throw me a bone here...
"As shown in Figure 9, IOER is currently set at 10 basis points, well below the top of the target range. If undue downward pressure on rates were to emerge, the Federal Reserve could adjust IOER higher to lift overnight rates. Even if this downward pressure persisted, the ON RRP would maintain a strong floor by providing an alternative investment for money market participants and, if needed, by reducing the quantity of reserves held by the banking system to relieve pressure on bank balance sheets.”
I’m reading that sentence over and over.... to me it can read like she thinks “banks lend the reserves!” and by offering an alternative reverse repo facility it can remove “pressure” for banks to “lend the reserves” at lower rates... or I guess maybe not....
A Return to Operating with Abundant Reserves
December 01, 2020
Lorie K. Logan, Executive Vice President