News & current events
Dalai Lama sez..."If you have a Green Party, I want to join"
Submitted by Gregg Jocoy on Thu, 05/22/2008 - 1:47pm.The Dalai Lama was making a presentation at the University of Michigan, and was asked by a graduate student studying sustainability "What is your advice to help us maintain hope given the magnitude of the challenge?"
After explaining that the people all across the world have become more aware of environmental concerns in recent decades, and have organized around environmental concerns into Green Parties across the globe, he asks if there is a Green Party here. The audience chuckles, and the Dalai Lama says "If you have a Green Party, I want to join." I know! Amazing, right?
If you care to watch, the video is posted at Green News and Opinion.
Comic relief... and a 2nd more serious video
Submitted by Steve.Loebs on Mon, 03/31/2008 - 12:01pm.Here is a funny video of Robert Reich expressing his views on the economy. He will be one of the guests on "Real Time with Bill Maher" next Friday.
Although he is a loyal Democrat (nobody is perfect), he is one of the brightest of the mainstream voices.
The next video is 3 years old next Saturday, but Reich describes the cause of the economic problem from another angle.
The "I" word before the "D" word...then comes the "F" word
Submitted by Steve.Loebs on Thu, 03/27/2008 - 3:08am.This Reuters article does a pretty good job explaining the likely scenario that will set off the rapid rise of inflation that I predict will be stage #1 of the economic melt down.
However, if I am wrong, then stage #1 will be skipped and we will likely experience stage #2 sooner. Stage #2 being rapidly deflating asset prices -- i.e., economic depression.
Economic update -- ignoring the value of Sustainability
Submitted by Steve.Loebs on Mon, 03/17/2008 - 12:45pm.The Fed is desperately trying to keep the house of cards (aka the derivatives market) from collapsing. Unique to this time in economic history, a great portion of the credit market exists in the complex and shadowy world of over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives writing. Shadowy in that even the best auditors and analysts have a difficult time discerning the facts from the banks' financial statements.
Although the exchange-traded proportion of the derivatives market is huge and precarious on its own, it pales in comparison to the top-heavy, high-center-of-gravity OTC market utilized by and between the banks and other firms in the financial sector. Their instrument of choice: credit default swaps.
The collapse of the credit market in the US and globally appears to be staring us in the face like our moment with the Grim Reaper.
alternatives to Yahoo Mail
Submitted by Cameron on Mon, 03/10/2008 - 7:07pm.Yahoo Mail has been refusing messages from the commercial server which hosts twenty GP-US mailing lists. Nobody knows why. It's disrupting GP-US business. Yahoo Mail users who try to ask Yahoo what's up discover there is no customer support for a "free" commercial email account. Well, duh. The GP-US forum managers asked me to suggest some alternatives.
cramming the 'spoiler' rap onto a bumper sticker
Submitted by Cameron on Fri, 02/29/2008 - 12:29pm.Every newspaper article about Ralph Nader since 2000 mentions the imaginary Spoiler Effect, at least in passing. "Everybody knows" Nader caused the Bush administration. Of course it's a lie, but the argument is hard to make simple. I'm trying to squish it down to bumper sticker size. Here's a comment for the SF Chronic.
Nader chooses Matt Gonzalez
Submitted by Gregg Jocoy on Thu, 02/28/2008 - 1:14pm.Ralph Nader announced that Matt Gonzalez is his running mate in 2008. The announcement is at VoteNader.org
The announcement makes absolutely no mention of the Green Party.
Technorati Tags: Nader Matt Gonzalez Gonzalez Green Party Green Cynthia McKinney McKinney Ralph Nader independentGreen politics, Copyright Microsoft Corporation
Submitted by Cameron on Fri, 02/15/2008 - 5:15pm.Microsoft Corporation is trying to buy Yahoo Incorporated. If it succeeds, it will own email service to about half of North American progressive activists. Due to progressives' inexplicable preference for Yahoo Groups, it will own most electronic forums for and about progressive organizing.
What's wrong with a 'missile shield'
Submitted by Cameron on Sat, 02/09/2008 - 3:24pm.Kent Mesplay asked for policy advice about the current "star wars" weapons proposal.
"Missile shields" are an economic, technological, and foreign policy disaster.
Economy Forecast - Feb Update
Submitted by Steve.Loebs on Mon, 02/04/2008 - 2:27pm.Yesterday, Fortune Magazine published an article about the latest views from Jim Rogers. You may recall that I mentioned Rogers in an earlier blog post . His forecast for the US economy has become even gloomier. It, once again, explains why he chose to move his family out of the country to Singapore.
The Paradox of Taxation?
Submitted by Steve.Loebs on Mon, 01/21/2008 - 11:46pm.In another blog installment today titled Corporate Tax Jujitsu I advocated a tax reform that would increase personal income taxation on the high-income earners in a progressive fashion.
The current orthodox economic view of increasing taxation on the wealthiest is that it will harm the economy and paradoxically lower total tax receipts. Their assertion is that growth solves all economic problems; savings provides the engine for growth; and that the wealthiest save the most of their incomes. They conclude that lowering the taxes of rich people actually enables the Treasury to collect more taxes from a larger economy.
Corporate Tax Jujitsu
Submitted by Steve.Loebs on Mon, 01/21/2008 - 8:37pm.The business conservatives are screaming for a corporate income tax cut. They claim that the tax rate that US corporations must pay is far higher than their overseas competitors. They are right...kind of. Some are screaming for the rate to be dropped to 25%. We should publicly agree and take it to the extreme by calling for the rate to be cut to 0%.
The Green Party ought to apply a surprising jujitsu move by coming out strongly in favor of the complete elimination of corporate income taxation. After you lift your jaw up off the floor, hear me out.
Uncle Sam or Uncle Warren?
Submitted by Steve.Loebs on Mon, 01/21/2008 - 7:13pm.As we know, Martin Luther King, Jr day is a holiday on Wall Street. However, it was no holiday, today, for overseas markets.
The world's stock market exchanges had a dark day today. Maybe not a 'black' day, but certainly dark grey. The German DAX index dropped 7.2%. The UK's FTSE 100 dropped 5.5%. The French CAC 40 dropped 6.8%. Same kinds of numbers all over the world.
The Asian and European markets will experience their Tuesday before we in the US open tomorrow morning. In fact, as I write this the Tuesday far east markets are down 2-4% already. If they have another big day on the downside, we could see a 7-12% plunge here on Tuesday.
If the DOW drops 7% tomorrow, that would be a drop of 847 points! If the DOW drops more than 1000 points tomorrow, hold you breath and your loved ones.
Technorati Tags: Green economicsShort-term Fiscal Stimulus Frenzy on the HIll
Submitted by Steve.Loebs on Thu, 01/17/2008 - 2:18pm.Washington is a buzz with the idea of providing a short-term fiscal policy stimulus. The rhetoric regards "concern for Americans" and "doing the right thing for America." The reality is that this gimmick is about vote buying.
This tiny demand-side stimulus is far too small to have any lasting impact, likely to be taken back via the inflationary effect, and fails to address the real problem at hand: long-term income distribution.
OVC secure paper ballots demo'ed in SLO
Submitted by Cameron on Mon, 01/14/2008 - 2:38pm.OVC demonstrated a new version of its paper ballots-of-record voting system in San Luis Obispo yesterday.
Local newspaper story: http://www.sanluisobispo.com/news/local/story/244784.html
OVC email announcement:
http://www.openvotingconsortium.org/cgi-bin/dada/mail.cgi/archive/ovcann...
