Category: 03 Economy

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Reference (2): Income Inequality in the USA

03 Economy, 07 Other Atrocities, 11 Society, Commerce, Commercial Intelligence, Corruption, Cultural Intelligence, Government
Chuck Spinney Sounds Off

It is becoming increasingly clear that the United States passed through some kind of fork in the economic road in the aftermath of the Vietnam War and has now landed on onto an evolutionary pathway toward some kind of decline.  The questions of what interplay of chance and necessity created the turning movement in the pathway of socio-economic evolution, how enduring that new pathway is, or where it is leading no one can answer; but with the advantage of hindsight, it is becoming empirically clear that most of the adverse economic trends of de-industrialization, deregulation, increasing debt, a collapsing trade balance, the stagnation of real wages, rising income inequality, etc., took a systemic turn for the worse during the five years between 1977 and 1982.

Attached are two reports (in pdf format) on one aspect of anatomy of decline: rising income inequality.  They build on the seminal research (which can be downloaded here and here) of Professors Emanuel Saez's (Univ. of Calif. Berkeley) and Thomas Piketty (Paris School of Economics), which quantified and analyzed the size, nature, and effects of rising income inequality in the United States.

The first report has been  prepared by the democratic majority staff of the Joint Economic Committee in Congress and therefore may be discounted by some as partisan — to those readers inclined to dismiss this report, I suggest that they compare its results of the Saez-Piketty analyses before jumping to any conclusions.

The second report is a non partisan analysis produced by Frank Levy and Peter Temlin of Industrial Performance Center of MIT.

Reference A: The Senate Report (2010)

Reference B:  The MIT Report (2007)

See Also:

Journal: Financial Crime versus Financial Sense

Journal: Simpson-Bowles Deficit Reduction All Lies?

Journal: Rug Mechants & Tax Traps

Reference: Wall Street Does NOT Produce Value

Journal: Deficit Reduction Plan Hoses Everyone BUT the 10% at the Top

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NIGHTWATCH Extract: Japan and Search for Rare Earths (e.g. Lithium)

01 Brazil, 02 China, 03 Economy, 03 India, 08 Wild Cards, 10 Security, Strategy

Japan and the Search for Rare Earth Elements

India: The Japanese trading house Toyota Tsusho Corporation announced that it will begin construction of a rare earth processing plant in India in 2011 in an effort to secure suppliers beyond China, Kyodo reported.

The group company of Toyota Motor Corp. will build the plant in Orison State with plans to launch by the end of 2011. The plant will be constructed in collaboration with Indian Rare Earths Ltd., an affiliate of state-owned Nuclear Power Corp. of India, and with Japan's Shin-Etsu Chemical Co. Japan hopes the plant will produce and export 3,000 to 4,000 tons of rare earth elements each year beginning in 2012.

Bolivia: Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan and Bolivian President Eva Morales agreed during a meeting in Tokyo to cooperate on the development of commercial lithium extraction in Bolivia. Japan would like to help Bolivia develop its resources, Kan said.

Japanese Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Akihiro Oat said Japan was prepared to supply technology and infrastructure. Tokyo is also ready to contribute to the development of Bolivia's human resources, Oat said. Morales, who arrived in Tokyo on the 7th and Kan also confirmed their cooperation on a geothermal power plant project in Bolivia. Japan will extend loans to fund that project, Kyodo reported.

NIGHTWATCH Comment: Japan is taking long term action to reduce its dependence on Chinese supplies of rare earth elements, which China chose to manipulate for political purposes during the Senkaku Islands dispute. Japan is implementing its own version of economic colonialism in India and Bolivia to ensure secure supplies in the long run.

NIGHTWATCH KGS Home

Phi Beta Iota: While India is an obvious location poised to compete for Central Asian rare earths as well as help accelerate India's own discoveries, Bolivia is even more interesting because of its closeness to Chile, which is the only country we know of that is immediately capable of achieving infinite free energy.  For Chile (and Brazil) to fail to see the importance of leveraging near-by sources of rare earths is a strategic error of substantial import.

See Also:

What is rare earth and why is it important?

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Journal: US Internationally Illiterate

02 Diplomacy, 03 Economy, 04 Education, 10 Security, 11 Society, Civil Society, Key Players

David Del VecchioDavid Del Vecchio

Owner, Idlewild Books, New York City

February 17, 2010 04:10 PM

10 Books 10 Countries: The Best Translated Books of 2009

If you're reading this, it's probably because literature matters to you, because you agree with the Peruvian writer Mario Vargas Llosa that literature is “one of the common denominators of human experience through which human beings may recognize themselves and converse with each other, no matter how different their professions, their life plans, their geographical and cultural locations, their personal circumstances.”

Yet here in the United States, we seem to be conversing mostly with ourselves. Even among those of us who love to read, we are largely cut off from the great dialogue that connects so much of the world (and missing some damn good books) due to the fact that less than three percent of what's published in this country is translated from other languages.

Three percent is low: in France and Spain, for example, both of which produce prodigious amounts of their own literature, more than half the new books published in a given year are translated from other languages. And even among the small number of foreign-language books that do make it into 
English in this country, about 300 to 400 titles in an average year, how many do you hear about?

If your main source for book news is mainstream media, the answer is: not many. Nine of the ten books on The New York Times's “Best Books of 2009” list were written by Americans (the tenth was by a Brit), as were nearly all the titles on their year-end list of 100 notable books. And very few of the books reviewed in any major American newspaper come from beyond our borders.

Read full article with list of books by country.

Phi Beta Iota: The author makes an very important point.  Read the entire post to see his thoughtfully selected examples of books Americans should be but are not reading.

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Journal: Financial Crime versus Financial Sense

03 Economy, 07 Other Atrocities, 11 Society, Analysis, Budgets & Funding, Civil Society, Collective Intelligence, Commerce, Commercial Intelligence, Corporations, Corruption, Ethics, Government, Methods & Process, Misinformation & Propaganda, Money, Banks & Concentrated Wealth, Policy, Power Behind-the-Scenes/Special Interests, Reform, Strategy
Chuck Spinney Recommends....

Financial Crime

December 7, 2010

From the Deficit Panic to the TARP Financial Collapse

Tales of Economic Apocalypse

By DEAN BAKER, Counterpunch

In short, the horror story collapses as soon as anyone gives it any serious thought. The Wall Street gang can hardly be faulted for trying cheap scare tactics for pushing its agenda; after all it worked so brilliantly with the TARP two years ago. At the time the plot line was that unless we immediately gave all our money to the Wall Street banks, with no questions asked, then the whole economy would collapse.

Dean Baker is the co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR). He is the author of Plunder and Blunder: The Rise and Fall of the Bubble Economy and False Profits: Recoverying From the Bubble Economy.

Read entire analysis.

Financial Sense

Joseph Stiglitz outlines a very sensible approach for placing the United States on a pathway toward correcting the problems paralyzing our political economy.  Of course, his ideas will never be seriously considered by the let-them-eat-cake oligarchs now running Versailles on the Potomac, because to put this plan into action, someone must smash the Hall of Mirrors that is distorting what passes for reality in our collective OODA Loops.  CS<

This Budget Would Never Pass

A five-part plan to cut the deficit, narrow inequality, and strengthen the economy—and why special interests would block it.

By Joseph E. Stiglitz, Slate, Monday, Dec. 6, 2010

Technically, reducing a deficit is a straightforward matter: One must either cut expenditures or raise taxes. It is already clear, however, that the deficit-reduction agenda, at least in the United States, goes further: It is an attempt to weaken social protections, reduce the progressivity of the tax system, and shrink the role and size of government— all while leaving established interests, like the military-industrial complex, as little-affected as possible.

Precis:  history includes massive increase in defense expenditures, growth in inequality, underinvestment in public sector including infrastructure, and growth in corporate welfare.  Remediation demands increased spending on high-return public investments, cut in military expenditures “not just funding for the fruitless wars, but also for the weapons that don't work against enemies that don't exist;” eliminate corporate welfare; create a fairer and more efficient tax system; 5% increase in taxes actually paod (focus on top 1%).

This article comes from Project Syndicate

Joseph E. Stiglitz, a Nobel laureate in economics, is University Professor at Columbia University. The paperback version of his latest book, Freefall: Free Markets and the Sinking of the Global Economy, with a new afterword, was published in October.

Read entire analysis.

Phi Beta Iota: The Deficit Commission has not produced any supporting documentation.  The public intelligence available, of which the above is a small sample, is overwhelming in suggesting that the deficit commission is a criminal fraud being perpetuated on the American public.  Wall Street and the two-party tyranny appear to believe that the public is both stupid and permanently inert, and that they can get away with this.  Time will tell.  We condemn it–and note that Joseph Stiglitz was appointed Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) in the Virtual Cabinet at Huffington Post.  We trust him.

See Also:

Journal: Simpson-Bowles Deficit Reduction All Lies?

Journal: Rug Mechants & Tax Traps

Journal: Navy Sinks, Congress Throws Money

Journal: Smoke, Mirrors, and Hades Burning on the Hill

Reference: Wall Street Does NOT Produce Value

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Event: 16–19 Jan 2011 Honolulu, Hawaii; Pacific Telecommunications Council 2011, Connecting Life 24/7

02 China, 03 Economy, 03 India, Commerce, Commercial Intelligence, Corporations, Geospatial, Mobile, Technologies
event link

PTC'11: Connecting Life 24/7

will examine how telecom is changed and challenged by always-connected users with new requirements and preferences, the transformation of the value chain, changing regulatory concerns, and new demands for high-performance infrastructure.

PTC'11 Program Highlights

Monday, 17 January 2011

Carrier Transformation
Ihab Tarazi, VP, Global Network Planning, Verizon, USA
Joe Weinman, Communications, Media, and Entertainment, Hewlett-Packard (HP), USA
A Conversation with…
Vincent Paquet, Product Manager, Google Voice, Google, Inc., USA
A Conversation with…
Mark Dankberg, CEO & Chairman, ViaSat, Inc., USA
Data Centers
Jarrett Appleby, CMO, Equinix, USA
A Conversation with…
Scott Puopolo, VP, Global Service Provider Practice, Cisco Internet Business Solutions Group (IBSG), Cisco, USA
Mobile Impacts
Vivek Jhamb, CEO – Carrier Business, Vodafone, India
Suresh Sidhu, Chief Officer, Enterprise & Global, Dialog Axiata PLC, Sri Lanka
Shaping the Telecommunications Future: National Broadband Policies
Blair Levin, Communications & Society Fellow, Aspen Institute, USA
Masaaki Sakamaki, President, MCS Advisory LLC, Japan
Hongren Zhou, Executive Vice Chairman, Advisory Committee for State Informatization, People’s Republic of China
Featured Session 1: Wholesale Featured Session 2: Satellite Broadband: The Asian Perspective
Marc Halbfinger, CEO, PCCW Global, Hong Kong SAR, China Adrian Ballintine, CEO, NewSat, Australia
Stephen Ho, CEO, CPCNet, Hong Kong SAR, China Nongluck Phinainitisart, President, Thaicom, Thailand
Will Hughs, President & CEO, Telstra International – Americas, USA Mark Rigolle, CEO, O3b, USA
Neil Montefiore, CEO, StarHub Ltd., Singapore William Wade, CEO, AsiaSat, Hong Kong SAR, China

Continue reading “Event: 16–19 Jan 2011 Honolulu, Hawaii; Pacific Telecommunications Council 2011, Connecting Life 24/7”

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Journal: Simpson-Bowles Deficit Reduction All Lies?

03 Economy, 07 Other Atrocities, 10 Transnational Crime, 11 Society, Budgets & Funding, Collective Intelligence, Commercial Intelligence, Corruption, Cultural Intelligence, Government, Misinformation & Propaganda, Money, Banks & Concentrated Wealth, Power Behind-the-Scenes/Special Interests
Chuck Spinney Recommends....

Casting Light on “The Moment of Truth”

Where’s the evidence to back up the fear mongering? A challenge to the Fiscal Commission’s report.

James K. Galbraith

James K. Galbraith is General Editor of “Galbraith: The Affluent Society and Other Writings, 1952-1967,” just published by Library of America. He teaches at The University of Texas at Austin.

The report of the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, issued on December 1, 2010 by Chairmen Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson, is entitled “The Moment of Truth.” The words appear in block caps on the second page, weighty and portentous. They reappear in the first paragraph of the preamble:

EXTRACT:  These sentences set the tone. The first is a bald-faced lie, as a Westerner like Senator Simpson knows perfectly well. To the contrary, we have often fallen under the sway of robber barons, water barons, oil barons, bison-killers, clear-cutters and strip-miners, hell-bent on maximum pillage in the shortest time. Only occasionally have a few heroes like Teddy and Franklin Roosevelt, Gifford Pinchot and Harold Ickes Sr. emerged to battle for the most precious physical elements of our heritage — and then only with limited success.

EXTRACT:  Noticeably missing from the Commission’s plan are measures that would fall on the “leaders” themselves. The very richest pay cash for their houses. The commission would reduce, not increase, marginal income tax rates. There is no suggestion of a financial transactions tax.

EXTRACT: “…we spent the past eight months studying the same cold, hard facts. Together, we have reached these unavoidable conclusions. The problem is real. The solution will be painful. There is no easy way out. And Washington must lead.”

The reference to “studying” is suggestive. Are there any studies? White papers? Background analyses? Normally, one might expect a commission to produce some. In this case, it did not. The Commission’s web site makes no mention of any such thing.

Read entire article.

Phi Beta Iota: The most important point in our view is that there are no studies to back up the hyperbole and the recommendations, at the same time that it is clear the deficit reductions are Of, By, and For Wall Street, not We the People.  The White House and Congress continue to offer the public theater of the most absurd kind, lacking in all substance and assuredly not in the public interest.

noble gold