Greek 101

there’s a broader lesson from Greece that is relevant to all of us — and it’s not the usual one about mending our free-spending ways lest we become Greece, Greece I tell you. What we learn, instead, is that fiscal austerity plus hard money is a deeply toxic mix. The fiscal austerity depresses the economy, and pushes it toward deflation; if it’s accompanied by hard money (in Greece’s case the euro, but a fixed exchange rate, a gold standard, or any kind of obsessive fear of inflation would do the trick), the result is not just a depression and deflation, but quite likely a failure even to reduce the debt ratio.
For comparison, look at everyone’s favorite example of successful austerity, Canada in the 1990s. Canada came in with gross debt of roughly 100 percent of GDP, roughly comparable to Greece on the eve of the financial crisis. It then proceeded to do a pretty big fiscal adjustment — 6 percent of GDP according to the International Monetary Fund’s measure of the structural balance, which is about a third of what Greece has done but comparable to other European debtors. But unemployment fell steadily. What was Canada’s secret?
The answer was, easy money and a large currency depreciation.  These offset the drag from austerity, allowing growth to continue.

http://economistsview.typepad.com/economistsview/ 

So why Tsipras is caving in to the austerians now is just plain baffling. Everyone with half a should understand by now: Austerity Does Not Work (OK, maybe when offset by massive monetary easing and currency devaluation but those are NA here).

In the pantheon of legacy-destroying and utterly baffling moves, Tsipras has joined Blair at the top of the pile.

... "The era of procrastination, of half-measures, of soothing and baffling expedients, of delays, is coming to a close. In its place, we are entering a period of consequences." - Winston Churchill, The Gathering Storm

America as Failed State

"leaders in both war parties are now looking at ways to get around the Pentagon spending limits in order to satisfy the insatiable appetite of the military industrial complex and their agents in Congress who want to bring home the weapons production bacon - the only real job creation program in the nation anymore.

One likely mechanism to get around sequestration is to use the Overseas Contingency Operations funds, or OCO, which isn't subject to the sequester. This process allows Congress to appropriate more money for war spending - outside of the traditional Pentagon annual appropriations which are impacted by sequestration.

All of this means that further vicious attacks will be made on social programs like food stamps, education, health care, infrastructure repair and more. We'll see more calls for local privatization of water and sewer systems, schools, roads and bridges and the like. Basically the continued hollowing out of the public sector. The standard of living will continue to plummet and practically the only jobs for young people will increasingly be in the military sector.

This is what is happening today in many other western client states where this formula of austerity cuts and militarization go hand-in-hand. The Democrats, the so-called party of the 'little guy', are meekly agreeing to this as they have become full partners in this decimation of the nation."




... "The era of procrastination, of half-measures, of soothing and baffling expedients, of delays, is coming to a close. In its place, we are entering a period of consequences." - Winston Churchill, The Gathering Storm

Warming could hit rates unseen in 1,000 years

We are standing on the edge of a new world where warming is poised to accelerate at rates unseen for at least 1,000 years.

That’s the main finding of a paper published March 9 in Nature Climate Change, which looked at the rate of temperature change over 40-year periods. The new research also shows that the Arctic, North America, and Europe will be the first regions to transition to a new climate, underscoring the urgent need for adaptation planning. Historical records show temperatures have typically fluctuated up or down by about 0.2 °F per decade over the past 1,000 years. But trends over the past 40 years have been decidedly up, with warming approaching 0.4 °F per decade. That’s still within historical bounds of the past—but just barely.

By 2020, warming rates should eclipse historical bounds of the past 1,000 years—and likely at least 2,000 years—and keep rising.
Faster and faster. That's called "acceleration".

Prediction by extrapolation is chancy; extrapolating accelerating phenomena is just a fool's game.


http://qz.com/359620/global-warming-could-hit-rates-unseen-in-1000-years/

..."and I'm just gettin warmed up!" -- Mother Nature
 



... "The era of procrastination, of half-measures, of soothing and baffling expedients, of delays, is coming to a close. In its place, we are entering a period of consequences." - Winston Churchill, The Gathering Storm

Boehner's achievements to date

Over fiveYears Ago, John Boehner promised to be "Laser Focused on Jobs and the Economy" 'jobs will be our top priority"
So what has the GOP House been up to?
House Bills passed:
46 Bills on Abortion
113 Bills on Religion ( anti gay)
73 Bills on Family Relationships ( anti gay)
36 Bills on Marriage ( anti gay)
72 Bills on Firearms
604 Bills on Taxation ( more obscene tax cuts for the rich)
437 Bills on Govt Investigations ( cost $14 million for nothing).
Bills attempted and failed to be passed even by the GOP:
33 attempts to Defund Obamacare.....Failed ( cost to the American tax payer $50 million)
15 attempts to Cut Funding for Planned Parenthood......Failed
3 Attempts to Cut Funding for VA Hospitals.......Failed.
GOP blocked bills:
Blocked bill to aid Small Business
Blocked Unemployment extension ( a loss of 250,000 peripherally related jobs)
Blocked Bank Reform Bills
Blocked Campaign Finance Reform and open Contributions Law
Blocked MULTIPLE Jobs Bills
Blocked Infrastructure Bill ( the nations crumbling infrastructure has a failing "D" rating)
Blocked Ending Tax Breaks for companies that Outsource Jobs ( blocked the "Bring the jobs back home measure)
Blocked Wall Street Reform
Blocked Energy Legislation
Blocked Mine Safety Bill
Blocked Oil Spill Liability Cap increase
Blocked Bill to lower Oil Company Tax Breaks ( 4 billion a year in tax payer subsidies )
Blocked Bill to impose charging American Oil Companies on Oil achieved in the Gulf
Held government hostage, economy lost $24 billion
Blocked Veterans jobs bills
Blocked Veterans benefits
Blocked Veterans health bills
Succeeded in cutting food stamps to 90,000 vets
Filibustered VA hospital funding
Filibustered 3 million unemployment extensions costing 250,000 peripherily related jobs, throwing families out of homes.
Number of TRUE Jobs Bills even allowed to come to a vote in the House....NONE.
http://thegavel.democraticlead...
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/ot...
http://articles.latimes.com/20...
http://thomas.loc.gov/home/Leg...
http://www.politicususa.com/20...

... "The era of procrastination, of half-measures, of soothing and baffling expedients, of delays, is coming to a close. In its place, we are entering a period of consequences." - Winston Churchill, The Gathering Storm