tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23465471066703400442024-02-20T15:02:24.530-08:00Civilization's Last CallAletahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06275750761782938265noreply@blogger.comBlogger51125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2346547106670340044.post-21927424245732886032009-03-26T02:09:00.000-07:002009-03-26T12:47:39.818-07:00Michael Lewis, Part 2This piece on Iceland reminds me of what went on in Narvik, Norway. CNBC"s David Faber's recent special report on the subprime mortgage debacle, HOUSE OF CARDS (re-airs frequently on CNBC) explores:"just how far the effect of the credit crisis extended to Narvik, Norway, a town far above the Arctic Circle that was convinced it could solve its budget problems by investing in Wall Street's wares..Aletahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06275750761782938265noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2346547106670340044.post-53852666827861346892009-03-25T04:03:00.000-07:002009-03-26T12:39:33.736-07:00Michael Lewis, Part 1The End by Michael Lewis 20 December 2008 Issue Portfolio.comAletahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06275750761782938265noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2346547106670340044.post-32305551411564367152009-03-22T19:51:00.000-07:002009-03-26T12:37:57.270-07:00Meet Woody Tasch"The biggest opportunity that we have right now is to radically change people's awareness of the purpose of capital markets" Woody Tasch in Slow Money On the webSlow Money Alliance » Woody Tasch Woody Tasch is chairman and president of Slow Money, a 501c3 formed in 2008 to catalyze the flow of investment capital to small food enterprises and to promote new Aletahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06275750761782938265noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2346547106670340044.post-20224499269608833802009-03-20T04:24:00.000-07:002009-03-25T23:37:04.723-07:00Dogs Dying In The IditarodAnimal cruelty in the name of sport and entertainment is nothing new. From illegal cock fighting and dog fighting (ahem, Michael Vick) to horse racing, innocent animals perish, and the line between acceptable and cruel is often not as clear-cut as we would like.As it turns out, the Iditarod race is one of those instances. From its storied origin as a race to deliver diphtheria serum to the Aletahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06275750761782938265noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2346547106670340044.post-83169130892147637772009-03-20T03:27:00.000-07:002009-03-25T23:38:43.705-07:00Credit Crisis was a HeistFluke? Credit crisis was a heist Thanks to a complicit Congress, the reins were systematically loosened on the looters of the financial industry. And they're still at it, looking for new plunder. By Jim Jubak 3/20/09 Jubak's Journal, CNBC.com It was no accident. The folks in power in Washington and on Wall Street want to pretend that the current global financial crisis -- Aletahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06275750761782938265noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2346547106670340044.post-43729736769945809352009-03-17T16:20:00.000-07:002009-03-25T23:40:54.973-07:00Grassley: AIG Execs Should Quit or Commit SuicideThe Associated Press 17 Mar 2009 | 10:51 AM ET Iowa Sen. Charles Grassley suggested that AIG executives should accept responsibility for the collapse of the insurance giant by resigning or killing themselves. The Republican lawmaker's harsh comments came during an interview Monday with Cedar Rapids, Iowa, radio station WMT. They echo remarks he has made in the past about Aletahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06275750761782938265noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2346547106670340044.post-516243205187002432009-03-17T14:28:00.000-07:002009-03-25T23:43:30.367-07:00AIG "Retention" Bonuses Paid to Exec Who Already Left!WHAT????? Do the bonuses to the very people who destroyed the company & financial system ever stop? Is the U.S. Incompetent or what? United States asleep at the switch, or what? United States owns 80% of AIG, and has installed Edward Liddy as its own CEO, to watch over the interests of the government. He works for us, and is under control of the Congress, the Treasury, Geithner and Aletahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06275750761782938265noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2346547106670340044.post-72776440524476626232009-03-16T02:53:00.000-07:002009-03-25T23:44:53.350-07:00This Is Not a TestMarch 11, 2009 Op-Ed Columnist NY Times This Is Not a Test. This Is Not a Test. By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN It’s always great to see the stock market come back from the dead. But I am deeply worried that our political system doesn’t grasp how much our financial crisis can still undermine everything we want to be as a country. Friends, this is not a test. Economically, this is the Aletahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06275750761782938265noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2346547106670340044.post-52833423564560842002009-03-09T13:46:00.000-07:002009-03-25T03:43:30.599-07:00Meet The New Energy EntrepreneursThe Discovery Channel was so taken with Fred Krupp's best-selling book Earth: The Sequel—The Race to Reinvent Energy and Stop Global Warming that they decided to make a television special out it. This new, one-hour Discovery show, also called Earth: the Sequel, will air for the first time on March 11 at 10pm Eastern.This exciting new show could not have come at a better or more important time.Aletahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06275750761782938265noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2346547106670340044.post-48404306013961727192009-03-09T04:53:00.000-07:002009-03-25T23:59:00.688-07:00Historical Moment: 2008--- The Year the Great Disruption BeganAs humans come to their senses, the attendant shrinking in material output & trade will be a permanently downsized & right-sized global economy. No need to proliferate junk no one consumes----the reduction in manufacturing results in: those jobs are never coming back. Industrialization will be re-set back to more modest needs, to before humans justified doing things merely because they Aletahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06275750761782938265noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2346547106670340044.post-6285073657249151862009-03-09T04:21:00.000-07:002009-03-25T23:51:27.525-07:00Batten Down the Hatches: Crisis of GlobalizationPartial Transcript from CNN's Fareed Zacharia, GPS, aired Sunday, March 8, 2009:ZAKARIA: OK, on to the economic crisis, which never ends, so our discussion of it never ends. And we're also going to talk about where economics meets politics, both at home and abroad. David Frum was a speechwriter for President George W. Bush, and wrote that memorable phrase, "the Axis of Evil" -- actually, the "Aletahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06275750761782938265noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2346547106670340044.post-16231156352914281102009-03-03T14:06:00.000-08:002009-03-25T23:57:09.082-07:00Jim Rogers: Let AIG Go Bankrupt, Not America Jim Rogers, posted on CNBC.com: American International Group should be allowed to go bankrupt because keeping it and other sick financials alive on government support risks ruining the US economy, legendary investor Jim Rogers told CNBC Tuesday. AIG , whose $61.66 billion fourth-quarter loss was the largest ever for a US company, received $30 billion more in government funds Monday. The Aletahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06275750761782938265noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2346547106670340044.post-44878192972180217312009-03-01T20:59:00.000-08:002009-03-25T23:57:49.131-07:00Deflating Assets, Shrinking Global EconomiesAs shrinking global economies right-size themselves to match more modest and realistic global demand, meet American life without so much junk (things) and a lower standard of living that is the future. Martin Wolf tells the truth whether U.S. government functionaries like it or not. The $40 trillion that has been lost in world equity proves to have been chimerical wealth after all, quite Aletahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06275750761782938265noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2346547106670340044.post-63834064953917885502009-01-24T02:35:00.000-08:002009-03-26T00:00:14.159-07:00Radical In The White HouseJanuary 21, 2009 Op-Ed ColumnistNY Times Radical in the White House By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN For one day, for one hour, let us take a bow as a country. Nearly 233 years after our founding, 144 years after the close of our Civil War and 46 years after Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech, this crazy quilt of immigrants called Americans finally elected a black man, BarackAletahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06275750761782938265noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2346547106670340044.post-84618726821766278392009-01-24T02:14:00.000-08:002009-03-26T00:04:00.234-07:00The World Won't Buy Unlimited U.S. DebtJANUARY 23, 2009, 11:32 A.M. ETThe Wall Street Journal The World Won't Buy Unlimited U.S. Debt We're asking others to sacrifice for our 'stimulus.' By PETER SCHIFF Barack Obama has spoken often of sacrifice. And as recently as a week ago, he said that to stave off the deepening recession Americans should be prepared to face "trillion dollar deficits for years to come." But Aletahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06275750761782938265noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2346547106670340044.post-72532617466075406222008-12-17T02:29:00.000-08:002009-03-26T02:01:10.983-07:00The Great UnravelingDecember 17, 2008 Op-Ed Columnist The Great Unraveling By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN Hong Kong The stranger, a Western businessman, slipped into the chair next to me at an Asia Society lunch here in Hong Kong and asked me a question that I can honestly say I’ve never been asked before: “So, just how corrupt is America?” His question was occasioned by the arrest of the Wall Aletahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06275750761782938265noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2346547106670340044.post-28952380549054230542008-12-16T03:08:00.000-08:002009-03-26T00:05:17.622-07:00"The Thing Itself"December 14, 2008 Op-Ed Columnist Cars, Kabul and Banks By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN If there is anything I’ve learned as a reporter, it’s that when you get away from “the thing itself” — the core truth about a situation — you get into trouble. Barack Obama will have to make three mammoth decisions after he takes the oath of office — on cars, Kabul and banks — and we have to hope Aletahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06275750761782938265noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2346547106670340044.post-62898387809868507842008-12-16T02:51:00.000-08:002009-03-26T00:07:49.061-07:00Only China Can Save The SharksWhen the buying stops, the killing can too.Commentary: Only China can save our sharksBy Peter KnightsSpecial to CNN Editor's Note: Peter Knights is Director of WildAid, an international conservation organization focused on ending the demand for illegal and unsustainable wildlife products. He has researched the trade in shark fin for 10 years and has worked on conservation programs in 45 Aletahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06275750761782938265noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2346547106670340044.post-76420105229315599862008-12-11T05:16:00.000-08:002009-03-26T00:10:29.938-07:00Mass Murder for SoupThis segment on one of your herd's more noble adventures around the globe was part of CNN's (excellent) Special Report, "Planet in Peril: Battle Lines" that aired several times tonight & will be repeated so hope you get to see it. You can see the video and photos on the website at this link:http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/12/10/pip.shark.finning/index.html?iref=newssearchHere is part ofAletahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06275750761782938265noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2346547106670340044.post-47705041579419496872008-12-11T03:31:00.000-08:002009-03-26T00:12:57.515-07:00Secretary of FoodIf ever a system were in need of overhaul, it is our process (theory & practice) of unhealthful food production. Yet we seem incapable of making the most obvious changes in the structure of factory farming that everyone agrees and bemoans is harmful to all-----detrimental to humans, especially children, to animals, and to the land. Kristoff has written a thoughtful piece to move us in Aletahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06275750761782938265noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2346547106670340044.post-13737538179955881832008-12-11T02:28:00.000-08:002009-03-26T00:14:15.935-07:00While Detroit Slept Great NY Times column today by Tom Friedman:December 10, 2008 Op-Ed Columnist While Detroit Slept By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN As I think about our bailing out Detroit, I can’t help but reflect on what, in my view, is the most important rule of business in today’s integrated and digitized global market, where knowledge and innovation tools are so widely distributed. It’s this: Aletahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06275750761782938265noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2346547106670340044.post-72895734479349153812008-12-10T04:50:00.000-08:002009-03-26T00:15:53.164-07:00Goodbye To All ThatDOOR BUSTER SALEOn November 28, 2008, a worker was trampled to death as customers stormed a Walmart store in Mineola, New York, for cheap goods on the day after Thanksgiving (symbolic irony not lost here). Jdmytai Damour, 6'5" tall and 270 pounds, was killed when a crowd 2000 strong broke down the electronic doors in a frantic pursuit of bargains on big-screen TVs, clothing, and other stuff. Aletahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06275750761782938265noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2346547106670340044.post-79223896878516993642008-12-07T21:52:00.000-08:002009-03-26T01:58:25.084-07:00The Real Generation XDecember 7, 2008 Op-Ed Columnist The Real Generation X By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN I’ve been thinking a lot lately about Tom Brokaw’s book “The Greatest Generation,” that classic about our parents and their incredible sacrifices during World War II. What I’ve been thinking about actually is this: What book will our kids write about us? “The Greediest Generation?” “The Complacent Aletahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06275750761782938265noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2346547106670340044.post-44874908536923843032008-12-05T02:42:00.000-08:002009-03-26T00:16:57.306-07:00CPI (Consumer Price Index) Based Upon Statistical FlimflamThis is how the government cooks the economic statistics:Jubak's Journal12/5/2008Fake inflation numbers masked crisis Distortions in the way inflation is calculated contributed to today's financial mess and the 2000-02 tech crash. Unless the problem is fixed, you can count on another crisis ahead. By Jim Jubak How do we make sure we don't replay the current financial crisis Aletahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06275750761782938265noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2346547106670340044.post-7524600662300419002008-12-03T19:46:00.000-08:002009-03-26T00:20:27.933-07:00Calling All PakistanisTom Friedman's column today, so clear, & his words so powerful:December 3, 2008 Op-Ed Columnist Calling All Pakistanis By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN On Feb. 6, 2006, three Pakistanis died in Peshawar and Lahore during violent street protests against Danish cartoons that had satirized the Prophet Muhammad. More such mass protests followed weeks later. When Pakistanis and other Aletahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06275750761782938265noreply@blogger.com0