A Brief Insane In The Membrane Force Multiplier…

Another brief snapshot of insanity…

Another Bank Bailout – Spain Edition. It is obvious that the people with power in this world – financial power – have the full backing of government while the citizens of the world – despite pretexts of “Democracy” are shit outta luck.

…the whole story is starting to feel like a comedy routine: yet again the economy slides, unemployment soars, banks get into trouble, governments rush to the rescue — but somehow it’s only the banks that get rescued, not the unemployed.

 

Nobody is fooled. Of course, this is just a little wealth transfer, not the beginnings of a sound policy – or so says the “almighty market.”

So much has been written about the eurozone crisis, both by me and by others much smarter than me, that it feels pointless to write about it again. The eurozone needs more fiscal consolidation, it needs more transfers from rich to poor countries, it needs to stop running persistent internal trade deficits, and it needs to abandon austerity in the short term. All of these things are politically nearly impossible, and yet, they’re the only solution aside from a crackup. The financial markets are now making it clear that they’ve figured this out and won’t be bought off with anything less.

Inequality redux, volume 1? My perspective here, and I too will wait for some more evidence (cause, like nobody is making any moves anyway, so what harm is there in waiting?), but my take is that increasing inequality reduces aggregate demand, increases rent seeking and shifts the balance of power away from anything approaching a “representative democracy.” Ho hum. Freedom fries.

Bring on the deflation?! Here is an ugly little snapshot of how most people’s wealth and income has fallen. Under our current system, this kind of reduction in incomes and wealth often leads to self-reinforcing “death spirals.” Ho hum.

Who drives Climate Change? Interesting report. I have a sneaking suspicion that with the end of cheap energy and the strains on our natural resources, we are fast approaching the limits of our very own “Malthusian cycle.”

And, just for good measure – 46% of Americans believe God created humans in their present form. You have got to be kidding me? This number is differentiated from the number of people who believe evolution happened, but was “guided by God.” Kevin Drum argues that evolution doesn’t impact the political debate, but I would argue differently… It is a question of worldviews that do not seem very interested in evidence based thinking. What, exactly, has more of an impact on political conversations than that? Ho hum. The News Makes Me Crazy.