July 2011 archive

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One way to distract the markets

  One thing we can all agree upon is that the debt-ceiling stand-off in Washington is a totally manufactured “crisis”. It is a financial crisis of choice. If I was a little more cynical and Machiavellian, I would think they were trying to distract us away from a real financial crisis.

 In fact, there is a real financial crisis happening in Europe. Until a week ago it was all over the front pages – Greece’s default.

 Perhaps you heard something about a bailout of Greece. That news came out right about the time that Greece dropped from the headlines.

 Problem solved, right?

Wrong.

  The bailout plan almost immediately ran into problems.

For starters, the rating agencies downgraded Greek debt to default levels BECAUSE of the bail-out plan.

 Rating agency Moody’s has downgraded Greece’s credit rating from Caa1 to Ca after the deal brokered July 21 by European leaders that included voluntary losses taken by creditors…

 

One way to distract the markets

  One thing we can all agree upon is that the debt-ceiling stand-off in Washington is a totally manufactured “crisis”. It is a financial crisis of choice. If I was a little more cynical and Machiavellian, I would think they were trying to distract us away from a real financial crisis.

 In fact, there is a real financial crisis happening in Europe. Until a week ago it was all over the front pages – Greece’s default.

 Perhaps you heard something about a bailout of Greece. That news came out right about the time that Greece dropped from the headlines.

 Problem solved, right?

Wrong.

One way to distract the markets

  One thing we can all agree upon is that the debt-ceiling stand-off in Washington is a totally manufactured “crisis”. It is a financial crisis of choice. If I was a little more cynical and Machiavellian, I would think they were trying to distract us away from a real financial crisis.

 In fact, there is a real financial crisis happening in Europe. Until a week ago it was all over the front pages – Greece’s default.

 Perhaps you heard something about a bailout of Greece. That news came out right about the time that Greece dropped from the headlines.

 Problem solved, right?

Wrong.

The Wealth Gap

Cross posted from The Stars Hollow Gazette

The Pew Research Center published its report on the widening wealth gap between Whites, Blacks and Hispanics. It’s not a very good picture.

    The median wealth of white households is 20 times that of black households and 18 times that of Hispanic households, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of newly available government data from 2009.

    These lopsided wealth ratios are the largest since the government began publishing such data a quarter century ago and roughly twice the size of the ratios that had prevailed between these three groups for the two decades prior to the Great Recession that ended in 2009.

    The Pew Research analysis finds that, in percentage terms, the bursting of the housing market bubble in 2006 and the recession that followed from late 2007 to mid-2009 took a far greater toll on the wealth of minorities than whites. From 2005 to 2009, inflation-adjusted median wealth fell by 66% among Hispanic households and 53% among black households, compared with just 16% among white households.

    The collapse of the housing market and home values were the main cause hitting Hispanics worse that any other demographic for two main reasons, where their money was invested and geographics:

    Nearly two-thirds of Hispanics’ median net worth in 2005 came from home equity, according to the report, and when the housing market collapsed, so did their wealth. Median home equity for Hispanics fell by 51 percent in the period of the survey. The drop was compounded by the fact that Hispanics tended to live in the places that were hit hardest in the recession, like Florida and California, the report said.

    Dr. Thomas Shapiro, the Pokross professor of law and social policy at Brandeis University on The Rachel Maddow Show, discussed with guest host Melissa Harris-Perry the racial legacy of the wealth gap.

    Meteor Blades at Daily Kos pointed this out in his article

    While the recession worsened the wealth gap, the trend has been headed in that direction for a long time. A study conducted in 2007 by the Institute on Assets and Social Policy found that middle-income whites had less wealth than high-income African Americans in 1984, but by 2007 they had accumulated four times as much wealth. Tom Shapiro noted that this period coincided with lower tax rates for more affluent Americans. That has been one of the main contributors to the wealth and income inequality that now plagues the United States in a ratio that is-or should be-more akin to banana republics than mature industrialized nations.

    Currently 1 percent of the population owns 40 percent of the wealth and 25 percent owns 87 percent. During the so-called “recovery” from the recession, which officially ended 25 months ago, 88 percent of the rise in income has been captured by corporate profits, while only 1 percent has gone to wage-and-salary earners. That kind of income disparity adds to the gap in a country where wealth is already distributed more unequally than anywhere else in the developed world.

    Given the attitude toward cutting taxes on “job creators” now prevalent in Washington, there’s every reason to believe this situation will worsen.

    (emphasis mine)

    We are now just waiting for the ground at the bottom of the cliff we have already driven off.

    Cartnoon

    Sylvester and Tweety MysteriesGo Fig, Episode 13, Part 2

    Six In The Morning

    On Sunday

    Syrian unrest: ‘Many deaths’ as army attacks Hama

    The Syrian army has begun an assault on the city of Hama in northern Syria, with residents saying that dozens of people have been killed.

    The BBC  31 July 2011

    Hama has been in a state of revolt and virtually besieged for the past month.

    Locals said more than 20 people were killed in “intense gunfire” after forces moved in from several sides.

    The army is signalling that it will not tolerate large-scale unrest ahead of the month of Ramadan, when protests are expected to grow, correspondents say.

    Syria has seen more than four months of protests against the authoritarian four-decade rule of President Bashar al-Assad’s Baath party.




    Sunday’s Headlines:

    China rail crash families accept compensation as Beijing moves to silence furore

    Kenya is on the brink of its own disaster

    Europe’s Right-Wing Populists Find Allies in Israel

    Campaign puts Mexico teachers union leader back in spotlight

    Meanwhile

    As there is extremely little private economic growth investment, not a surprise there as our now capitalist society isn’t built on private growth investments, and the government is locked into not investing, that’s only going to get worse, others are quickly taking over what we once were:

    Millions of green jobs created in China… probably

    Late Night Karaoke

    Worst President Ever is hearing Obama’s footsteps

    It’s taking longer than it should for people to recognize what a complete disaster Barack Obama is.  We are trapped in a cycle of stupid:

    Photobucket

    The death penalty for flirting (aka gay panic)

    Let’s go back to February 12, 2008.  Brandon McInerney (14) decided to take his father’s .22 to E. O. Green Junior High School in Oxnard that day.  In his first period class in the computer lab, he sat behind Larry King.  He pulled the trigger and shot Larry King in the back of the head.

    This got the attention of the entire class and the teacher.  With everyone watching, he shot Larry King in the head again.

    McInerney has been described as being “popular and athletic”.  King was small, shy, half-black and effeminate.

    King (15) wore high heeled boots and make-up to school, was completely open about his homosexuality and believed that the way to deal with his tormentors was to flirt with them.

    One student testified that McInerney had told a group of students, “Say goodbye to your friend Larry because you won’t see him after tomorrow.”

    Today on The Stars Hollow Gazette

    Our regular featured content-

    This featured article-

    These weekly featured articles-

    these special features-

    Today’s qualifying runs for tomorrow’s Grand Prix in Hungary in Budapest.

    The Stars Hollow Gazette

    This is an Open Thread

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