How to Deter Corporate Crime Like We Mean It — John C. Coffee, Jr.

Over the past few decades, the US justice system has gone from effectively punishing white-collar crimes to slapping corporations on the wrist while senior managers avoid accountability. Fortunately, there are relatively simple ways to give resource-strapped prosecutors the tools they need to uphold the law.

Crime is essentially rent-seeking. It leads to economic inefficiency (waste) and skews market-based distribution, in addition to being unethical, immoral and illegal, hence, socially damaging.

Project Syndicate (may require subscribing)
How to Deter Corporate Crime Like We Mean It

John C. Coffee, Jr. | Professor of Law and Director of the Center on Corporate Governance at the Columbia Law School

Pioneer of healthy aging — Jonathan Woetzel

Using the tools it has today, China can transform its aging population into a vital social and economic force supporting the country’s growth, writes Jonathan Woetzel in China Daily.

Also applies to the US unfortunately. Medicare takes care of seniors, but that's often too late for healthy aging since a lot of damage has already been done. M4A would easily pay for itself" in terms of increased efficiency, effectiveness and productivity. (Nominal cost is not an issue for a sovereign currency issuer like the US.)

McKinsey & Co.
Pioneer of healthy aging

Jonathan Woetzel

Evo Morales: Lithium was the reason for the coup in Bolivia — teleSUR

Former Bolivian President Evo Morales spoke about his government’s project to industrialize the nation’s lithium reserves during a press conference in Uyuni. Morales underlined that this initiative was suspended during the 11 months of the de facto government of Jeanine Áñez; nevertheless, he has indicated that newly elected president, Luis Arce, will now take it up again.

After considering that throughout history, humanity has always struggled to control natural resources, the indigenous leader stated that he had come to realize that “the West, that is, the industrialized countries, only want us Latin Americans to provide them with their raw material.”

Along this line, he brought up a message published in social networks by Tesla’s executive director, Elon Musk, in which he said, in an apparent ironic tone, that they would launch a coup wherever they wanted, in response to a user who reproached him for the U.S. has carried out a “coup d’état” in Bolivia to keep his lithium....

MR Online
Evo Morales: Lithium was the reason for the coup in Bolivia

teleSUR (Venezuela state sponsored, with funding from Nicaragua and Cuba)

Life with purpose — Philip Ball

Biologists balk at any talk of ‘goals’ or ‘intentions’ – but a bold new research agenda has put agency back on the table.

Weekend reading. A new approach to agency, information and entropy puts some of the enduring questions back on the table scientifically. Fairly short, easy read.

Aeon
Life with purpose

Philip Ball

Wilhelm Kugelburg - 'Swedish strategy' as told by the public health agency of Sweden

Huawei selected to build Cambridge Wireless private 5G testbed

Telecoms research community Cambridge Wireless has refused to bow to UK political consensus by partnering with Huawei for its latest 5G venture

 Apparently, Huawei's 5G is the only real one available at the moment, all the others are 4.1G, etc. I've been told on twitter that Boris Johnson is pro Huawei 5G too, and he might be able to reverse his government's decision on Huawei when Trump has gone.

They will build a private 5G network at the Cambridge Science Park, which is owned by Cambridge University. The purpose of it is to provide a test environment for the CW community to muck about with things like autonomous vehicles, clean energy and remote surgery, as augmented by 5G technology.

Huawei selected to build Cambridge Wireless private 5G testbed

Fox Tumbles As Trump Urges Followers To Turn Away Amid Rumors About Rival Offering — Tyler Durden

Trump's comments probably had more impact since earlier today, Axios reported that the president has revived plans to launch his own digital media offering. Instead of a television channel, which would require enormous startup costs, the president is looking into a digital streaming project to rival Fox's "Fox Nation" digital-subscription service....

Rupert going to have competition?

Zero Hedge
Fox Tumbles As Trump Urges Followers To Turn Away Amid Rumors About Rival Offering
Tyler Durden

When a girl is scolded in the street for wearing Han-style clothing, what would people do？

Some people make anti-China videos on YouTube and say things like how the Chinese people are indifferent and don't care about other people. They say that if you get hurt on a street the Chinese will just walk by and ignore you. It isn't true. These YouTubers are right-wing racists. 

The video below is a spoof where a Chinese girl dresses up in a traditional Hans costume and a passer by, an actor, verbally abuses her, but the Chinese people come to her rescue.

In this video a Chinese girl wears a short dress and pretty clothes, and her boyfriend tells her off. But the Chinese people in the street stick up for her, telling him not to be so prudish and that she looks pretty. One old woman says times have changed and China is not what it used to be. 

When a girl gets yelled at by her boyfriend for dressing in public, what will passers-by do?

Fighting the twin evils of racism and the new Cold War against China

 As a socialist country with an essentially planned economy, China's success is dismantling free-market dogma and residual white supremacy — we must be ready to derail any attempts at division and war sown by a declining capitalist West, writes CARLOS MARTINEZ

We were told there was no alternative. The neoclassical economists said their system would bring the greatest growth and benefits. Privatise all public industries and the profit motive of the entrepreneurs would bring massive efficiencies and new growth. In the new privatised industries lots of workers got made redundant and new jobs didn't pop up to replace them. CEO bonuses grew big but with so many unemployed businesses lost customers. Then wages were held back and pensions became inferior, and for many they disappeared completey. This all takes money out of the economy. There has to be a balance, but the neoliberals went for austerity. 

CAPITALISM is in turmoil. Ongoing economic stagnation, alongside the startling failure of the major Western countries to contain the coronavirus pandemic, is producing a crisis of legitimacy and a corresponding sense of panic among the ruling class.

The leading capitalist power, the US, is the worst affected. Although it remains for the time being the world’s largest economy in GDP terms, its quality of life indicators are deteriorating. The poverty rate has reached 15 per cent, the highest it’s been for 50 years. Infrastructure is crumbling.

As a socialist country with a Communist Party government and an essentially planned economy, China is dismantling the established wisdom that Western free market liberalism is the perfect way to organise society.

The Morning Star

https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/f/fighting-twin-evils-racism-and-cold-war

Bill Mitchell — ABCD, social capital and all the rest of the neoliberal narratives to undermine progress

I was in a meeting the other day and one of the attendees announced that they were sick of government and were looking at other solutions such as social capital and community empowerment to solve the deep problems of welfare dependency that they were concerned about. The person said that all the bureaucrats had done was to force citizens onto welfare with no way out. It had just made them passive and undermined their free will. It was a meeting of progressive people. I shuddered. This is one of those narratives that signal surrender. That put up the white flag in the face of the advancing neoliberal army intent on destroying everything in its way. The ultimate surrender – individualise and privatise national problems of poverty, inequality, exclusion, unemployment – and propose solutions that empower the individuals trapped in ‘le marasme économique’ created by states imbued with neoliberal ideology. The point is that the Asset-Based-Community-Development (ABCD) mob, the social capital gang, the new regionalists, the social entrepreneurs are just reinforcing the approach that creates the problems they claim they are concerned about. The point is that it is not the ‘state’ that is at fault but the ideologues that have taken command of the state machinery and reconfigured it to serve their own agenda, which just happen to run counter to what produces general well-being. That is why I shuddered and took a deep breath....

Bill Mitchell – billy blog
ABCD, social capital and all the rest of the neoliberal narratives to undermine progress
Bill Mitchell | Professor in Economics and Director of the Centre of Full Employment and Equity (CofFEE), at University of Newcastle, NSW, Australia

McKinsey — The next frontier in Asia payments

In our view, five fundamental themes are reshaping Asia’s payments landscape (Exhibit 2). These trends are not new, but they are evolving rapidly, and COVID-19’s impact over recent months has reinforced several of their trajectories. For instance, the pace at which acquirers are onboarding small merchants to accept card payments—creating a true “connected commerce” environment—has accelerated. As a result, cash usage, which remains well above global averages in most Asian countries, is dropping rapidly, with significant opportunities for further reduction. The next decade will see the continuation of these trends, which include industry consolidation as well as the emergence of specialized players addressing evolving needs and capitalizing on business models built on adjacent revenue streams....

McKinsey & Co.
The next frontier in Asia payments
McKinsey Report

Rubio: GOP must rebrand as party of 'multiethnic, multiracial, working class' voters — Joseph Choi

This is not only a good idea but it has to happen owing to demographics if the GOP wants to survive over the next decades as the US becomes increasingly multi-ethnic. But the transition is not likely to be easy or quick. There appears to be considerable resistance to it.

However, such a transition would force Democrats back to their working class roots and aid the progressive wing which is the only moderately left cohort in the US.

Then the two parties would more closely reflect the make-up of American population.

 and the distribution might eventually become similar.

The US tends to be a centrist country and should this occur there would be a center-right and center-left party, with fringe extremes. In close elections, those fringes could make a difference.

The Hill
Rubio: GOP must rebrand as party of 'multiethnic, multiracial, working class' voters

Joseph Choi

The Strange Demise of the American Herald Tribune — Philip Giraldi

Censorship watch. 

Philip Giraldi credentials are impeccable as are those of and other dissident former intelligence officers like Ray McGovern and former diplomats like Craig Murray. The notion that they are Russian bots or dupes is preposterous. 

Giraldi was also marginalized — ostracized really — on the grounds of being antisemitic for criticizing US Israeli policy and relations and the US Israel lobby, which is nonsense. This is a matter of politics and policy — "Zionism" as  Israeli domination of its region and its treatment of Palestinians — rather than on the basis of ethnicity or religion. 

Why do these people publish on their own blogs and "non-acceptable" venues that are excluded from popular social media sites? They have no good alternative beyond the reach of those attempting to control the narrative.

Dissident Voice
The Strange Demise of the American Herald Tribune

Philip Giraldi, former CIA counter-terrorism specialist and US military intelligence officer, now Executive Director of the Council for the National Interest and founding member of the Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity

The Saker — Understanding the Outcome of the War for Nagorno-Karabakh

Backgrounder.

The Vineyard of the Saker
Understanding the Outcome of the War for Nagorno-Karabakh
The Saker

Sputnik — After Years of Undermining Other Country’s Elections US Now Looks Stupid

 Someone had to say it.

Sputnik International — Opinion
After Years of Undermining Other Country’s Elections US Now Looks Stupid

Tommy Sheridan, Columnist

Nuclear vs Solar: The Race For Renewable Dominance — Alex Kimani

We have discussed the gains being made in the development of advanced nuclear reactors that use thorium instead of uranium. Thorium is now being billed as the great green hope of clean energy production, producing less waste and more energy than uranium. Thorium is meltdown-proof, has no weapons-grade by-products, and can even consume legacy plutonium stockpiles.

The United States Department of Energy (DOE), Nuclear Engineering & Science Center at Texas A&M, and the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) have partnered with Chicago-based Clean Core Thorium Energy (CCTE) to develop a new thorium-based nuclear fuel they have dubbed ANEEL. ANEEL, which is short for "Advanced Nuclear Energy for Enriched Life", is a proprietary combination of thorium and "High Assay Low Enriched Uranium" (HALEU) that hopes to solve some of the knottiest problems nuclear power faces, including high costs and toxic wastes.

That said, we pointed out that the main sticking point to the promotion of thorium as a cleaner nuclear fuel is that it remains unproven on a commercial scale. Thorium MSRs (Molten Salt Reactors) have been in development since the 1960s by the United States, China, Russia, and France, yet nothing much ever came of them. Further, only about 50 of the world's 440 reactors can currently be configured to run on thorium.

We have also highlighted how scientists have finally broken ground by kicking off the five-year assembly phase of the massive International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER), the world's largest fusion reactor, in Saint-Paul-les-Durance, France. Funded by six nations, including the U.S., Russia, China, India, Japan, and South Korea, ITER will be the world's largest tokamak fusion device with an estimated cost of ~$24 billion and capable of generating about 500 MW of thermal fusion energy as early as 2025. Unfortunately, practical nuclear fusion remains a long-shot and could be decades away from becoming a commercial reality....

Whereas the nuclear sector comeback has its work cut out for it, solar power has clearly been on the ascendancy thanks in large part to falling costs.…

According to the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), solar installation costs have dropped by more than 70% over the past decade, opening up vast new markets and systems nationwide.... 

Oilprice
Nuclear vs Solar: The Race For Renewable Dominance
Alex Kimani

Bill Mitchell – RIP Michael Perelman – October 1, 1939 to September 21, 2020

Its Wednesday and a light blog writing day. Today, I reflect on the recent death of one of the great economists who was a good friend and taught me a lot about things. I thought I would offer a few words about his life especially our interaction. And today is a special day in Australia – Armistice Day. And, there is another working paper available if you like reading pre-published academic material. It will come out soon in an academic volume....

Bill Mitchell – billy blog
RIP Michael Perelman – October 1, 1939 to September 21, 2020
Bill Mitchell | Professor in Economics and Director of the Centre of Full Employment and Equity (CofFEE), at University of Newcastle, NSW, Australia

Sputnik — 'Censorship': Indian Gov't Empowers Itself to Regulate Online News, Streaming Platform like Netflix

Until today’s order, the digital content and streaming platforms were not governed under law or by any autonomous body in India. The amendment gives the government the right to regulate and intervene in the content of OTT platforms such as Netflix, Hotstar and Amazon’s Prime Video.

I din't think this is necessarily censorship. Liberalism is not about drawing no line. Lines musts be drawn, child pornography pretty universally illegal, as well as advocating for violent overthrow of a state. 

Rights and responsibilities have to be balanced in a social system for the system to function well. The question is who draws the lines and how (based on what criteria). This is one of the paradoxes of liberalism. Freedom is not absolute. Freedom entails responsibility, and rights also have to be weighed against each other.

This is complicated by the relationship of traditionalism and modernism in still very traditional places.

Sputnik International
'Censorship': Indian Gov't Empowers Itself to Regulate Online News, Streaming Platform like Netflix

RT — Shenzhen becomes 1st Chinese city to make paid leave mandatory to reduce burnout

Leave it to China — well, Shenzhen, the Silicon Valley of China — to force workers to take a paid vacation. Outrageous — for workaholics and oligarchs.

RT
Shenzhen becomes 1st Chinese city to make paid leave mandatory to reduce burnout

TASS — Belarusian authorities arrest funds transferred to finance protests

No source of the money mentioned, other than the funds came through a "Western" bank.

TASS
Belarusian authorities arrest funds transferred to finance protests

Sputnik — TikTok Owner Asks Court to Block Trump’s Divestment Order, Cites Protections Under US Constitution

TikTok parent company ByteDance has filed a petition with the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia challenging the Trump executive order ordering it to divest from the video-sharing social networking service by Thursday, 12 November.

In its appeal, ByteDance states that the US government’s arguments that TikTok is a security threat are unlawful, and a violation of the company’s rights under the US Constitution.

Sputnik International
TikTok Owner Asks Court to Block Trump’s Divestment Order, Cites Protections Under US Constitution

My new podcast episode is out

Sputnik — S-400 Maker Delivers Batch of Advanced Air Defence System to Russian Military Ahead of Schedule

Russia is exporting S-400s too, in addition to S-300s. Oriented toward defense, Russia has a modest military budget.

Sputnik International
S-400 Maker Delivers Batch of Advanced Air Defence System to Russian Military Ahead of Schedule

See also at SE

A new, “almost absolutely” protected command centre for Russia’s strategic nuclear forces is nearing the final stages of construction, and will allow Moscow to issue a retaliatory attack order even after being hit in a nuclear first strike, Russian President Vladimir Putin has revealed.

“I have been informed that a new command post with almost absolute protection, including against strategic nuclear forces, is in the final stages of construction,” Putin said, speaking with officials from the Ministry of Defence, defence enterprises and other officials on Wednesday....

Russia has committed vast material and scientific resources to upgrading its nuclear arsenal over the past two decades, reacting to a number of US decisions, including Washington’s move to pull out of the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty in 2002, and the creation of missile defence systems in Eastern Europe. In the early 2000s, Pentagon planners began dabbling with the concept of a ‘Prompt Global Strike’ – or the idea of carrying out a massed precision-guided conventional strike to decapitate an adversary’s defences and nuclear response capability. Russia has responded by creating a range of nuclear-capable hypersonic weapons capable of outmanoeuvring any existing or prospective missile defence systems, hence guaranteeing a nuclear response capability.... 

Sputnik InternationalPutin Unveils New Command Post for Russia’s Strategic Nukes as New START’s Fate Hangs in Balance 

See also

"Despite the changing nature of military threats, it is the nuclear triad that remains the most important, key guarantee of Russia's military security, and if we look more broadly, of global stability," Putin said. "Maintaining this balance of power negates the threat of a large - scale military conflict, in fact makes any attempts to blackmail or pressure our country meaningless," the President added.

Russia — Islamic World

Putin: Russia to continue to modernize its nuclear triad

Sputnik — Alibaba Single's Day Sales Top $74 Billion in Opening Hour Amid ANT Group Suspended IPO

In the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, consumption shifted to an online-based model more than ever before, as e-commerce made shopping safe and its whole concept perfectly complied with a range of COVID-related restrictions. According to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development data centre, the share of the US e-commerce spiked to 16.1 percent between the first and second quarter of 2020. Similar changes are also observed for China, where the share of online retail in total accumulated retail sales between January and August 2020 reached 24.6 percent, up from 19.4 percent in August 2019 and 17.3 percent in August 2018.

Online sales killing it.

Sputnik International
Alibaba Single's Day Sales Top $74 Billion in Opening Hour Amid ANT Group Suspended IPO

Trump Is Staging A Coup — Why Are Dems Not Sounding The Alarm? David Sirota

 Of course, the GOP believes in turn that the Democrats staged a coup from the moment of Trump's election in 2016, about which they would be right. On the other hand, the GOP did everything possible to remove Bill Clinton from office, in part as payback for the removal of Nixon. And Bush's victory in the Supreme Court can also be viewed as coup. So there is a long history to this inter-party feud. 

Complicating the matter is the rank and file of both parties has become so politicized that they demand extreme measures from their leaders, even if anti-democratic. Sop view much of what is now happening on the political stage in the US as posturing for the base.

In any event, the losing side will not accept the legitimacy of the election.

Banana republic?

Defend Democracy
Trump Is Staging A Coup — Why Are Dems Not Sounding The Alarm?

David Sirota

Here is the counter narrative.

Zero Hedge

US Color Revolution: The Not So Phantom Menace
Tom Luongo

See also

Meanwhile we all, as bystanders, will have to up our popcorn supplies to sustain the next two month.

Amen, bro.

Moon of Alabama
How Trump Might Still Win

See also

Actually, Fox News is talking of Biden as "president-elect" while Fox opinion is promoting the voter fraud narrative as real, even though no evidence is cited and the number of votes in question offers no path to victory. 

The issue Fox (Rupert Murdoch) faces is maintaining creditability as a news organization and keeping Trump supporters as their bread and butter.

The Intercept
Split Screen: Fox News Swings From Refuting to Hyping Trump’s Voter Fraud Nonsense
Robert Mackey

Also

Zero Hedge
70% Of Republicans Say Election 'Was Not Free And Fair'
Tyler Durden

Also

Constitutional crisis?

AlterNet
'We're in for rough seas': Why this legal scholar really fears Trump's attempt to keep power no matter what
Cody Fenwick

Facebook, QAnon and the World’s Slackening Grip on Reality — Alex Hern

How does anyone fall for this kind of stuff? And it is just one example of things I am asked about regularly these day by people I had supposed intelligent. Usually it doesn't take more than one click to debunk it. They don't know how to do Internet search?

Another factor is the monetary value of clicks that multiplies in direct proportion to the sensationalism. Moreover, the preps seem to have discovered that the more outrageous the lie, the better clickbait it becomes.

People are loosing their minds. It's a dangerous trend with no clear solution other than social media censorship, which is probably going to ramp up for this and other reasons having to do with challenging the narrative.

QAnon is only one instance of a trend that has been growing for some time. The US is now bifurcating into cohorts dwelling in alternate and opposing imaginary worlds.

The Guardian
Facebook, QAnon and the World’s Slackening Grip on Reality

Alex Hern

See also

If this gets to the Supremes, the decision will almost surely be in favor of US corporations, in this case Goole.

Mint Press News
QAnon Legal Battle Against YouTube Could Transform Free Speech Online

Raul Diego

The Huawei war — Evgeny Morozov

Backgrounder. Detailed.

Bill Totten's Weblog
The Huawei war

Evgeny Morozov

Originally published at Le Monde diplomatique

John Weeks’s flawed criticisms of MMT. — Ralph Musgrave

His basic criticism is the not entirely invalid point that MMT is fine for large countries, but not so good for small ones. However, his article does have weaknesses.

He says, “funding expenditure via money creation…. the ability to do so requires that the currency be safe from speculation against the exchange rate. That requires either that the national currency serve as an international medium of exchange (reserve currency) or that the government possesses substantial foreign exchange reserves.”

Randy Wray addressed this criticism some time ago at New Economic Perspectives when it was still active.

See MMT AND EXTERNAL CONSTRAINTS.

See also at Levy Institute.

Fixed and Flexible Exchange Rates and Currency Sovereignty

The balance of trade, not payments, is true measure of a deficit's effects

Twin Deficits and Sustainability

See also Bill Mitchell

Balance of payments constraints

MMT and the external sector – redux

MMT economists do not claim that MMT is either a panacea or a carte blanche to spend. They emphasize that the real constraint is availability of real resources, which relates directly to financial constraints, including price stability and exchange rate. 

Economics and finance are aspects of a socio-economic system along with many other factors. The general case that MMT sets forth may not apply in the same way to special cases for a variety of reasons. Each case has to be judged on the basis of its own merits. But it is incorrect to claim, too, that MMT only applies to special cases like the US, with its huge economy and being the issuer of the global reserve currency. 

All countries can and do use MMT since there is no other option in that it is based on current institutional arrangements. If those arrangements should change, e.g., a return to the gold standard, then MMT would adapt its description of the current monetary system to those changes. As it stands, the world economy is functioning chiefly on a floating rate system even thought his doesn't apply to all countries equally, e.g., those that peg.

Ralphonomics
John Weeks’s flawed criticisms of MMT.

Ralph Musgrave

Side Effects Of Stability Of DSGE Models — Brian Romanchuk

The stability of the solutions of workhorse dynamic stochastic general equilibrium (DGSE) models is a major drawback of these models when trying to explain recessions. This article looks at the estimated linear New Keynesian model that was used in the previous discussion of the estimation of r* -- the Holston-Laubach-Williams (HLW) model. 

As I have noted a few times previously, more interesting behaviour can be obtained by nonlinear DSGE models. However, this flexibility comes at the cost of increasing the difficulty of fitting the model to data. There is an infinite number of models one can use to tell stories with.

Models are general descriptions of possible worlds. Only data can determine how closely the possible world described by a model may be to the real world, and data determining this correspondence are exogenous to the model. Data gathering, processing and processing into information have their own problems.

An analogy would be a nautical chart that does not have information about reefs and shoals. The chart is fine most of the time, but.…

There is tension between model building and data that can lead to various issues set forth in the literature. One problem is that modelers often disregard this literature, if they are even aware of it, e.g., owing to cognitive-affective bias, ideology, and lack of awareness of priors such as unstated assumptions and lurking presumptions as meta-assumptions.

Why, especially in the face of much criticism and professional critiquing? This question has a variety of answers, many about the modelers, e.g., silos and group think.

Bond Economics
Side Effects Of Stability Of DSGE Models
Brian Romanchuk

The Ex-Banker on Cocaine Binges & £600k Bonuses | Informer

 By hook or by crook, a look inside the City of London banking industry.

"It’s an industry that rewards psychopaths.”

 

As the global economy is potentially looking at a deep recession due to COVID-19 just after recovering from the 2008 financial crash, we hear from an ex-banker who worked in the City of London’s Square Mile from the mid-90s to 2008.

 

He lifts the veil on the sordid world of investment banking where he enjoyed thousand-pound meals, sex parties with colleagues and £600k bonuses for “pushing around bits of paper”. He believes psychopaths in suits gamed the system while damaging society in the process. 

Informer is a series where we hear the anonymised confessions and insights of people in positions of power on the inside of important institutions.