“The most unfiltered news you can find is going to be in the Financial Press,”-Noam Chomsky.
I’ve found that true time and time again. And although I haven’t found time to write a new column as of late (One is coming). I do find time to read the Financial News. And in that spirit, I’m going to be using my blog to link some of the stories I found of interest this week and why they merit a wider audience!
1)The externalities of Climate Change, Water Scarcity, Air Pollution, Biodiversity Loss and Ecosystem Degradation have been measured and nature is deeply in the red!
We’ve known for a long time that what are called “externalities” in economic equations are the source of a lot of what is wrong in our world. As a matter of fact, there is an economist from the University of Chicago-Ronald Coase who built his entire career on ignoring externalities! The Coase Theorem states that externalities should be ignored if property rights are defined, the number of people affected is small, and bargaining costs are negligible.
When we look at the environmental devastation inflicted on our planet, and this is a comprehensive business oriented paper that does just that, we find a cost of at least 6.6 Trillion (2008) Dollars with 2.15 Trillion of that being inflicted by the 3000 richest publicly traded companies. The Coase Theorem certainly does not apply!
The study concludes that there is a substantial long term risk to portfolios (and the workers and retires who own them) if things remain as they are. An estimated 28 % of World GDP (not US, but World) will be devoured as environmental externalities by 2050 if these trends are not reversed!
2)Wal Mart co exists just fine and profitable with unions-as long as they are not in the United States!
It’s been a long known policy of Wal-Mart that it will shut down a store before it allows it to unionize. This is brazenly illegal, but that does not stop the policy. Wal-Mart would rather pay the fine, screw over towns whose businesses have been demolished by Wal-Mart’s policies, and build somewhere else than allow a union to exist in one of it’s U.S. stores.
But when it comes to unions overseas, they recognize the rights of workers with no problem! China-Totalitarian China-can have union representation at their Wal marts, but the most free country on Earth can not!
3)Efforts to end “Too big to fail” have failed
An out going FDIC Chairman has just declared victory on her way out. Kind of like William Bennett declaring victory in the War on Drugs before stepping down as Drug Czar, when a Washington bureaucrat says the problem has been solved, expect the exact opposite!
4)But JP Morgan Chase’s Jamie Dimon still cries about modest changes
The greatest financial implosion since the Great Depression, and this asshole wants his casino back. Not only that he claims that it will hurt the economy for him to not be able to gamble with other people’s money and then be bailed out by taxpayers!
5)Dow Jones Business News commentator offers a scathing criticism of Ayn Rand and the effect she is having on our markets and world!
The conflict between Jesus Christ’s and Ayn Rand’s ideology is not something the Republican party can ignore! It needs to be addressed publicly!!Seriously, Democrats, RAM THIS DOWN THEIR THROAT!!!
6)The unfulfilled 2008 campaign promise to stop companies from moving good paying jobs overseas is about to hurt more Americans. Also it decreases our taxbase while giving nothing back!
It is time for Barack Obama to pay attention to what he promised in 2008 if he wants to motivate the people who put him where he is to give him another 4 years!
And the threat of Deflation (the Greek "crisis") didn't happen! An economy the size of New Jersey did NOT sink the global financial system through Deflation! Also, Ben Bernanke did not bring on Weimar-style Hyperinflation, now that we start feeling the effects of QE2! The people who want you to panic can't make up their mind if you should panic because of inflation or deflation.
I don't know about you but I laughed!
