tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-62658132012-01-12T06:43:10.879-06:00<strong>Witty wisdom and pithy humor on economics, geopolitics, and philosophy.</strong> <br><br> "Losers always whine about (doing) their best. Winners go home and f*ck the prom queen."<br> --James Mason, Her Majesty's Secret Service<br> <br> <em>contact me here</em> oldman (at) gmail.comOldmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074489917188877504noreply@blogger.comBlogger4301100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6265813.post-1128399720973529372005-10-03T23:18:00.000-05:002005-10-03T23:22:00.983-05:00

The argument was advanced that this would be likely to force a cut&run approach. However with Blair likely to hold on to power through 2007, my argument is that when it comes to guns and butter and the EU it is butter or the EU that will lose.As an overview of past events, Newsweek notes:It's not that he hasn't tried. During Blair's first two terms, he pursued a reformist agenda but was hobbled

Oldmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074489917188877504noreply@blogger.com98tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6265813.post-1128016283816427362005-09-29T12:28:00.000-05:002005-09-29T12:51:23.860-05:00

Sometimes in life there are no easy answers. Take for instance, Iraq. It's clear in hindsight (and for some foresight) that invading and occupying Iraq has been a disappointment. However pulling up stakes now will cause even more chaos and blowback. Yet, it may be inevitable at this point so we might as well take our medicine like aduls and not waste more effort trying to save the

Oldmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074489917188877504noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6265813.post-1127953397048750952005-09-28T19:22:00.000-05:002005-09-28T19:23:17.060-05:00

As many of you here know, I have from the beginning asserted that the incompetence of GWB and his team were going to ruin Iraq. However something happened today which made me think that matters were worse than even I had considered. What happened is that today marked Iraq's first known female suicide bomber.:01 p.m. September 28, 2005BAGHDAD, Iraq – The woman slipped into the town, passing

Oldmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074489917188877504noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6265813.post-1127884179571771972005-09-28T00:06:00.000-05:002005-09-28T00:09:39.573-05:00

I have not yet personally come to a conclusion myself how I want to handle things. I tend to be slow to make up my mind, and then decisive in acting. Just a personal trait. For now I will be posting my work here as well sans graphs. That's a major advantage of the BOPnews site that I can upload graphics which I can't here. One of the ideas I've been exploring is setting up my own modest website

Oldmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074489917188877504noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6265813.post-1127883917457373252005-09-27T23:05:00.000-05:002005-09-28T00:05:17.470-05:00

Even as the summer turns over into indian summer and begins the slow maturing into autumn I find myself at an unlikely regeneration in the midst of decay. Some art historians will tell you that depression can be a powerful creative force for artistic achievement. I'm here to tell you that they're right. A lot of emotions have been going through me lately. Anger. Irritability. Anxiety. By lately I

Oldmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074489917188877504noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6265813.post-1115513803685163052005-05-07T19:44:00.000-05:002005-05-07T19:56:43.996-05:00

The end of the semester wasn't so much hell as prolonged tedium. For me it meant one last chance to cram a few more research interviews in. My curriculum writing project after dragging on FOREVER led to a conceptual breakthrough earlier on this year. I decided to base the first semester on a series of provocative questions based around the concept of an object falling freely.For years I had been

Oldmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074489917188877504noreply@blogger.com98tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6265813.post-1114280185227386172005-04-23T12:27:00.000-05:002005-04-23T13:16:25.236-05:00

However power is not typically universally easy to obtain. As the old adage goes, if it were easy (and obvious) then everybody would be doing it. It might be easy for a few lucky persons who happen to have the right background and happen to be convenient to the general forces of politics, but in general it is not. Even if one does have the right background, there are others who do also. Being

Oldmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074489917188877504noreply@blogger.com45tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6265813.post-1114021576600353062005-04-20T12:39:00.000-05:002005-04-20T13:26:16.606-05:00

I would like to apologize to any supporters of John Kerry, apparently I made a mistake when I accused him of blowing a spies' cover. Furthermore though I was careful enough to prevent attribution and source myself, the journalistic level of cover your ass work on BOPnews I was more loose here and wrongly attributed the CIA operative identity to be Otto Reich. I fully acknowledge these errors and

Oldmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074489917188877504noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6265813.post-1113282342749476612005-04-11T23:53:00.000-05:002005-04-12T00:05:42.750-05:00

I had a sinking feeling the entire democratic campaign for Presidency that Kerry was the wrong man at the right time for the job. What I means is that I could not accept voting for Bush's continuance in office. The cartoons, snidely drawn, of him domestically gardening with Condi overseas in a subtle European comment on Condi's "husband remark" in the Economist if anything tells me that the

Oldmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074489917188877504noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6265813.post-1103649892078224602004-12-21T10:45:00.000-06:002004-12-21T11:24:52.080-06:00

Happy Holidays to everyone. I was very exhausted this past month and a half, both psychologically and physically. My ulcer even started acting up again. So I had to cut back on all my commitments. However I'm starting to feel better and will start writing again. However first I'm traveling for the holidays and will be blogging only if I have access. The holiday food is sure to be good, nothing

Oldmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074489917188877504noreply@blogger.com30tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6265813.post-1101845586438943692004-11-30T13:56:00.001-06:002004-12-21T11:47:25.980-06:00

Hi. Back from the ether void. Just as something off the cuff, it had always struck me as inappropriate to impeach Bill Clinton over his Paula Jones testimony. I do think it was perjury but of such an immaterial nature that no prosecutor in his right mind would prosecute. It's like investigating a murder and prosecuting someone for lying about their weight. We all fudge sometimes. I'm really a 170

Oldmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074489917188877504noreply@blogger.com174tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6265813.post-1101179613304575082004-11-22T21:11:00.000-06:002004-11-22T21:13:33.303-06:00

As of tomorrow I'm off and I promised my relatives I would stay offline this year during the holidays so blogging won't resume until my return. I guess they actually like talking to me when I'm around eh? Go figure. Then again I am a cold fish somewhat naturally. Good luck to you all and safe travels. oldman

Oldmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074489917188877504noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6265813.post-1101087783321854492004-11-21T19:34:00.000-06:002004-11-21T19:43:03.320-06:00

I have to say this is the worst hunting dispute that I've heard of!!! Five dead in hunting dispute Alleged gunman arrested after fight over tree stand The Associated Press Updated: 8:28 p.m. ET Nov. 21, 2004 HAYWARD, Wis. - A dispute among hunters over a tree stand in northwestern Wisconsin erupted into a shooting that left five people dead and three injured Sunday, a television station reported

Oldmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074489917188877504noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6265813.post-1101064338845651642004-11-21T13:11:00.000-06:002004-11-21T13:12:18.846-06:00

I don't in fact care about Amtrak. What I do care about is that there is going to be a energy-limitation population density implosion occurring. If handled correctly this can be utilized to reconsolidate the capital investment basis and support the asset values of the means of production within this country. Using mass transit we could create a new travel and distribution system that could first

Oldmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074489917188877504noreply@blogger.com48tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6265813.post-1101054683745814782004-11-21T10:29:00.000-06:002004-11-21T10:39:03.076-06:00

The Guardian (UK) is reporting a leak from the Pentagon indicating that they've switched from war-gaming from simulations where they strike Iranian nuclear sites to simulating strikes on political targets in support of a regime change in Iran. Pentagon hawks have begun discussing military action against Iran to neutralise its nuclear weapons threat, including possible strikes on leadership,

Oldmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074489917188877504noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6265813.post-1101053666993702822004-11-21T10:14:00.000-06:002004-11-21T10:14:26.993-06:00

I like the ideas I'm hearing. Let me mock up some transit authority commuter track layouts. Imagine a central city for example with outlying zones. The big city is the hub and the branching depots are the outlying supported residential zones. Heavy duty highspeed freightcars come into the city and can be disbursed to the outlying minor hubs for pickup by truck or picked up directly at the main

Oldmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074489917188877504noreply@blogger.com22tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6265813.post-1101053634721662712004-11-21T09:48:00.000-06:002004-11-21T10:13:54.720-06:00

Jay Rosen has a very important essay up on BOP. My response was to write a comment proposing a new hybrid type of entertainment/media channel model. Right now we need to change the ground rules, reframe what's going on. That means breaking previous precedents. I didn't think that we could fight back with the media wars with the capital investment needed. The only hope at this point would be to

Oldmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074489917188877504noreply@blogger.com86tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6265813.post-1101049828751868432004-11-21T09:09:00.000-06:002004-11-21T09:15:24.026-06:00

For Ellen, as encouragement to be calm and strong, so we may pass through come what may and see again a new dawning after the break of day. When night does come and over all will fall, it is right to seek bright lights beckoning and in the sounds of music grand find some comfort in our friends and their warm support. So close not your eyes with tears nor fill your ears with shrill cries of fear

Oldmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074489917188877504noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6265813.post-1100977551146934822004-11-20T13:49:00.000-06:002004-11-20T13:09:48.063-06:00

Why isn't Amtrak profitable? There are lots of answers but the most basic one is subsidy. People talk all the time about "mass transit" in this country. Yet why hasn't it ever taken off? The answer is fairly simple. People prefer to drive cars instead of take mass transit. The problem with mass transit is not building it, it's getting people to use it. Why do people drive cars? Because for

Oldmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074489917188877504noreply@blogger.com30tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6265813.post-1100975627146718902004-11-20T13:25:00.000-06:002004-11-20T12:33:47.146-06:00

Here is a blog noting it and it has a link to the cached video. Being a dirty old man I of course watched it. It is pretty innocent really. Actually the part I liked the most surprises me. When she drops the towel she clearly blushes. I thought that was interesting. Most people can't blush on cue. Being an actress maybe she can. However it lent the whole thing a kind of ... plausibility that

Oldmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074489917188877504noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6265813.post-1100972303643680242004-11-19T10:07:00.000-06:002004-11-20T12:25:39.080-06:00

My chronological age is pretty irrelevant, for more than one reason. I first began my blog with the intent of not discussing my internal life not because there was something very interesting or damning to hide but simply because I didn't want it to get in the way. That's been the problem in my life it always get's in the way. It is quite normal for people to want to get to "know each other" in a

Oldmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074489917188877504noreply@blogger.com67tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6265813.post-1100832394092953172004-11-18T20:32:00.000-06:002004-11-18T20:46:34.093-06:00

A few days ago, I wrote a post about my life philosophy of how to get a job by not looking for one. Since then a younger female relative of mine, fairly close, has gotten a job in just that manner! Her and her husband had just moved to a big city this year. They'd started a small business making PR marketing materials based on his webpage design and her artwork and management skills. Then they

Oldmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074489917188877504noreply@blogger.com20tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6265813.post-1100709301050674502004-11-17T10:27:00.000-06:002004-11-17T10:35:01.050-06:00

First of all I don't particularly like guns. It's been years since I've even handled one. Second of all I support the interpretation of the Second Ammendment that indicates that individuals have a right to arm themselves. This is despite that I would be at an advantage if firearms were widely banned and rare. Furthermore I support the right of hunters, even though my preference for steak is Bessy

Oldmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074489917188877504noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6265813.post-1100653179977194352004-11-16T18:20:00.001-06:002004-11-16T19:11:28.343-06:00

When I was growing up I absorbed the idea from my high school counselours that what I really needed to do was develop a career plan and sit down and send off a lot of resumes and apply to internships that I liked. Working my way up the "ladder" of success would then lead me to happiness, fulfillment, and riches. Or at least a secure middle management position at a firm with a good pension plan.

Oldmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074489917188877504noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6265813.post-1100581930865064842004-11-15T23:03:00.000-06:002004-11-15T23:12:10.866-06:00

I am of course not talking about women, but men here. Specifically Tony Blair who is the slut in question. From Talking Points Memo: JACQUES CHIRAC dealt a blow to Tony Blair’s attempt to heal the wounds between the US and Europe last night by saying that the Prime Minister had won nothing for supporting the war against Iraq. As Mr Blair used a keynote speech to present Britain as a “bridge

Oldmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074489917188877504noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6265813.post-1100455468610568032004-11-14T11:27:00.000-06:002004-11-14T12:04:56.000-06:00

Part of the most fundamental heart of the conservative moral philosophy is not the sanctity of life but instead responsibility. It is liberals with their interventionist state that declare life to be sacred, and that state management of the quality of life should be exalted. Instead a conservative fundamentally beleives in personal responsibility and taking responsibility for one's own quality of

Oldmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074489917188877504noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6265813.post-1100392907058392882004-11-13T18:41:00.000-06:002004-11-13T18:41:47.056-06:00

I understand the need for people who scheme to take over the world in order to couch their policies and claims in Orwellian Doublespeak. Claiming the impossible in order to propose the improbable in order to dupe the credulous is a time-tested tradition of bad guys. However there are some depths of linguistic depravity that have just gone too far. What I'm ratning about is the use of the term "

Oldmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074489917188877504noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6265813.post-1100383078736787842004-11-13T15:47:00.000-06:002004-11-13T15:57:58.736-06:00

Sorry about the hiatus but as a commentator noted I had been offered posting privileges at www.bopnews.com. The main advantage of this site is that it offers me the ability to post pictures. I have decided to keep this blog active, but I will offer postings based more on philosophy, other writing, and personal issues. It will be my own private blog on other words. If you like my geostrategic

Oldmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074489917188877504noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6265813.post-1099587860538679442004-11-04T10:53:00.000-06:002004-11-04T11:10:15.436-06:00

Okay whenever something bad happens the shrinks talk about people going through different stages: denial, anger, sadness, acceptance, etc. Before we can move forward people need to work through how they feel. Otherwise their minds and judgements will be clouded by their emotions of past events instead of reacting to present necessities. In the spirit of this I am opening up an open thread.

Oldmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074489917188877504noreply@blogger.com64tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6265813.post-1099498024269451912004-11-03T09:49:00.000-06:002004-11-03T10:41:02.070-06:00

Well my hat is off to Rove. He really did win this election by means fair or foul. The sad thing for me is not that Bush won. I was expecting that the results would show that, and have been for weeks. My prediction was that in the real world Kerry would according to all data and polls win by up to 4-5%. If you look at the demographics - Cubans sliding toward Kerry, women breaking for Kerry,

Oldmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074489917188877504noreply@blogger.com23tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6265813.post-1099452267153802662004-11-02T21:21:00.000-06:002004-11-02T21:24:27.153-06:00

It's not that I couldn't blog now but I would rather have my stuff not overshadowed by the US election right now. Most of the stuff that people seemed interested most in hearing from me on - economic blogging - is understandably not in the limelight at this moment for entirely reasonable reasons. When this all settles down soon enough, or at least people get locked into their various struggles,

Oldmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074489917188877504noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6265813.post-1099310939385338482004-11-01T05:57:00.000-06:002004-11-01T06:08:59.386-06:00

This is a yahoo / AP news item: DURANGO, Colo. - A part-time college instructor has apologized for kicking a student because he was wearing a Republican shirt. Fort Lewis College student Mark O'Donnell said he was showing people his College Republicans sweat shirt, which said "Work for us now ... or work for us later," when Maria Spero kicked him in the leg at an off-campus restaurant. First

Oldmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074489917188877504noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6265813.post-1099284050857099772004-10-31T22:34:00.000-06:002004-10-31T22:40:50.856-06:00

Bob writes in a comment: "China can slow economic growth, but not by a great deal." In my weirder moments, I think Iraq was really about China. Posted by bob mcmanus at October 31, 2004 01:37 PM Iraq was about China. It's obvious. Just like Japan pre-WWII the one thing that China needs but doesn't have is oil. The only way we can keep our economic viability as a super-power under the current

Oldmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074489917188877504noreply@blogger.com253tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6265813.post-1099270537908165612004-10-31T18:38:00.000-06:002004-10-31T21:44:29.210-06:00

With a President who consciously invokes comparisons to the myth of the West in American culture it seems appropriate to revisit the modern incarnation of the uber-western "Gunsmoke". For those unfamiliar with American culture, Gunsmoke ran for twenty seasons on TV. Here is the TV-land summary: Premiering on CBS in September 1955 and completing its network run September 1975, Gunsmoke is the

Oldmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074489917188877504noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6265813.post-1099159543360653732004-10-30T13:14:00.000-05:002004-10-30T13:05:43.360-05:00

I confess that of late the world has seemed to me somewhat surreal. Or rather the world has been in crystal clear sharp focus but the social world overlaying it of human perceptions and relationships has been particularly out-of-touch. It is operating under what one poster to BOP-news called "bizarro world rules". This is world were four years after the media and conventional wisdom mantra was

Oldmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074489917188877504noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6265813.post-1098844050093718462004-10-26T21:15:00.000-05:002004-10-26T21:28:54.793-05:00

Our Cuba policy is once again reaching idiotic heights. The dollar was legalized in Cuba in 1993 after the fall of the Soviet Union plunged the island into deep economic crisis and forced it to open up to tourism and foreign investment. Dollars became the dominant currency and are used to buy most consumer goods in stores that will now only accept the local currency. The decision will effect

Oldmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074489917188877504noreply@blogger.com20tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6265813.post-1098827393289227972004-10-26T16:02:00.000-05:002004-10-26T17:12:49.473-05:00

Kevin drum writes about how the Armed Liberal has decided to vote for Bush. Armed Liberal's reasoning is as follows: Much of my decision making and thinking comes from what are - to me, at least - illuminating parallels between the decision before me and things I know and have seen in my own life. This is no exception. Last month I had lunch with a dear friend from grad school; he's a

Oldmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074489917188877504noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6265813.post-1098818442973477852004-10-26T14:06:00.000-05:002004-10-26T14:20:42.973-05:00

I'm sorry all for the interruption in my writing. I've had the flu and then a nasty secondary respiratory system complication arising from the initial illness. I'm mostly focusing on recovering and getting some work done at home until I get better. I still hope by the end of the week to help volunteer for the big get out the vote push, since Iowa is a swing state this year. I've done all I can on

Oldmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074489917188877504noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6265813.post-1098647095035907902004-10-24T13:58:00.000-05:002004-10-24T14:51:50.156-05:00

Damn you Ian and Stirling - I'm feeling under the weather and didn't want to expend the energy to write anything - but you have practically forced me to say something with your own writing. Yes. Unfortunately it's a question of decentralization and marginal costs. The essential problem is that the marginal cost of petrofuels is higher - but the cost is not priced into the market because of

Oldmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074489917188877504noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6265813.post-1098452383804324862004-10-22T07:03:00.000-05:002004-10-22T09:08:21.416-05:00

The first thing to understand is that dead money always involves speculative bubbles. Moral hazard is when regulatory or lending institutions create the danger of people not properly allocating capital. This occurs when people feel that they are protected or that the authorities will bail them out from any mistake however atrocious. There is always big money or easy money (they are not the same

Oldmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074489917188877504noreply@blogger.com145tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6265813.post-1098308135495830892004-10-20T16:28:00.000-05:002004-10-20T16:35:35.496-05:00

A friend of mine working on his Ph.D., who has a newborn and lives in a mobile trailer, asked me a few weeks back about whether or not to accept a utility company offer to "budget in" his energy costs - or lock them in at a fixed monthly rate for a year. I unhesitatingly told him that yes he should do so and that I already had. When he asked me how much I thought prices would go up I estimated

Oldmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074489917188877504noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6265813.post-1098303524433376082004-10-20T13:59:00.000-05:002004-10-20T15:26:29.940-05:00

In my previous post, I mentioned how Japanification was an unlikely scenario for reasons both structural and cultural. However to give them their due, the globalist neoliberal and neoconservative movements that championed Japanification did have a plan to make it work. This plan was built upon two central concepts. The first was that the American tendency to save at unsustainably low rates could

Oldmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074489917188877504noreply@blogger.com33tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6265813.post-1098284177675956472004-10-20T08:53:00.001-05:002004-10-20T10:05:59.606-05:00

Over at Bop-news Stirling has been writing recently of "Japanification" and why this is the "plan" of the Establishment (that's "The Man" to you) for the future of the US economy. For this to work we have to be at Japanification - namely that the future is going to be forced to save - not by privatization of social security. We already have done that in the form of housing. You don't save,

Oldmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074489917188877504noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6265813.post-1098234691347827082004-10-19T19:54:00.000-05:002004-10-19T20:11:31.346-05:00

The latest Fedspeak is that Greenspan sees no distortion in the housing prices. U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said Tuesday that he did not foresee big price distortions developing in home prices and said Americans were handling their debts well. Speaking to America's Community Bankers, Greenspan conceded there were concerns about "the exceptional run-up in home prices" but said

Oldmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074489917188877504noreply@blogger.com36tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6265813.post-1098155652409974532004-10-18T22:03:00.000-05:002004-10-18T22:14:12.410-05:00

If you look here, Kerry is ahead in the projected electoral college count. However, and this is a big however if you look at the score while Kerry is at 257 and Bush is behind at 247 two states- Iowa and Florida are up for grabs. While I expect a close race again in Iowa, Iowa is not the hinge upon which this election swings. It is, once again, Florida. Florida's 27 electoral college votes

Oldmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074489917188877504noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6265813.post-1098131254151320732004-10-18T15:15:00.000-05:002004-10-18T15:27:34.150-05:00

CNN brings us the news: Putin urges voters to back Bush By CNN Moscow Bureau Chief Jill Dougherty Monday, October 18, 2004 Posted: 7:08 AM EDT (1108 GMT) MOSCOW, Russia (CNN) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin says terrorist attacks in Iraq are aimed at preventing the re-election of U.S. President George W. Bush and that a Bush defeat "could lead to the spread of terrorism to other parts of

Oldmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074489917188877504noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6265813.post-1098028087729048072004-10-17T10:33:00.000-05:002004-10-17T10:48:07.730-05:00

There are many commentators talking about Ron Suskind's brilliant article on Bush's faith and its shortcomings in the NYTM. However I have yet to see any of them, mired in their yes amusing but myopic ABB snark, comment on the most alarming piece of information in the piece. The disdainful smirks and grimaces that many viewers were surprised to see in the first presidential debate are familiar

Oldmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074489917188877504noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6265813.post-1098024759186497802004-10-17T09:35:00.000-05:002004-10-17T09:52:39.186-05:00

I was reading Kevin Drum's article on the vaccine shortage, when a thought occurred to me. The flu (and other diseases) are recurring costs that need to be hedged against medically. Right now scarcity is not tied to price increases. If a commodity futures market existed for vaccines, vaccine producers could lock in prices ahead of time - a key feature necessary to vaccine production - and could

Oldmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074489917188877504noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6265813.post-1097830238487752282004-10-15T02:22:00.000-05:002004-10-15T03:52:25.540-05:00

MSNBC reports that 30 year and 15 year bond prices fall over the past week. WASHINGTON - Interest rates on U.S. 30-year and 15-year mortgages have moved lower following last week’s disappointing jobs report that suggested economic growth had slowed, mortgage finance company Freddie Mac said on Thursday. U.S. 30-year mortgage rates fell to an average of 5.74 percent in the week ended Oct. 14,

Oldmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074489917188877504noreply@blogger.com95tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6265813.post-1097526768916018412004-10-11T15:16:00.000-05:002004-10-11T15:32:48.916-05:00

Ellen has a question about the current Nobel prizes in economics. This is the sixth year in a row that an American has won the Nobel in Economics. If we're so smart... ...why ain't we rich? Or rather, why are we going to hell in a handbasket? (Rhetorical...BOP is all about answering those questions!) Here are a couple of real questions about the Nobel-quality economists themselves: if they are

Oldmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074489917188877504noreply@blogger.com33tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6265813.post-1097489519253230872004-10-11T04:01:00.000-05:002004-10-11T05:11:59.253-05:00

A reader asks this question: I've asked this question in a dailykos dairy before, which unfortunately has disappeared, but this jist of it goes like this: Given rising, or at least volitile, energy rates, where is the threshold where energy costs outweigh labor savings in globalized markets? For finished goods to make it from factories to market, raw materials must be transported to the

Oldmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074489917188877504noreply@blogger.com78tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6265813.post-1097464599794032862004-10-10T21:46:00.000-05:002004-10-10T22:16:39.793-05:00

As any of my readers know, I regularly bash the pabulm that is the MSNBC Answer Desk. I bash it for giving technically correct answers to real readers concerns, that use technically correct language to deceieve them into thinking that their concerns are not justified. Usually they can be expected to give misleading answers to questions like this. Spinning the numbers Is it true that unemployment

Oldmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074489917188877504noreply@blogger.com39tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6265813.post-1097444275798800092004-10-10T15:16:00.000-05:002004-10-10T16:55:12.110-05:00

Marcy at BOP-news has an interesting philosophical-ethical argument on post-modernism. I think the example of Vaclav Havel, probably the person who has been in the best position to do something with post-modern theory, is instructive. Havel was a great and important leader of the dissident movement under communism. His work, most notably his essay "The Power of the Powerless" made the ideas of

Oldmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074489917188877504noreply@blogger.com41tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6265813.post-1097206068966424752004-10-07T21:45:00.000-05:002004-10-07T22:44:06.850-05:00

I wish to proffer a simple thesis which I hope to defend: that the Iraq war was the first (and last) war waged to sustain a failing Globalization, that its failure dooms Globalization, and that the fact that it "had to be waged" in the first place to sustain Globalization is strong evidence of the failure of Globalization as a sustainable economic and trading system. I would like to thank Abby

Oldmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074489917188877504noreply@blogger.com79tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6265813.post-1096998945170120782004-10-05T13:03:00.000-05:002004-10-05T12:55:45.170-05:00

Who is voting for Bush? Who is his base? Let's look at some cold hard logic here. The "Greatest Generation" went off to war. They were the generation of the New Deal. They came back and built a socialized capitalistic society with welfare entitlement benefits. Then they spawned the Baby-boomers. GWB is a Baby-boomer. His father, Bush-41 was a WWII Pilot afterall. The Baby-boomers were then the

Oldmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074489917188877504noreply@blogger.com21tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6265813.post-1096946212904542512004-10-04T22:07:00.000-05:002004-10-04T22:16:52.903-05:00

First please remember to register to vote. The deadline here in Iowa according to the webpage I consulted was October 23rd and I will register myself next week. Second, if you want Kerry to win have you asked yourself yet why? And please no trite answers. Some soul searching would be good. Maybe it isn't about Bush. Maybe Bush is just a means to an end. We tend to blame politicians, but

Oldmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074489917188877504noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6265813.post-1096660473132970222004-10-01T14:44:00.000-05:002004-10-01T14:57:53.370-05:00

The Atomic Bulletin for Scientists has a famous "doomsday" clock, and currently it's set seven minutes to midnight. The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists has told the world what time it is since 1947, when its famous clock appeared on the cover. Since then, the clock has moved forward and back, reflecting the state of international security. It's currently off, and needs to be reset - to two

Oldmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074489917188877504noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6265813.post-1096387881598365882004-09-28T10:58:00.000-05:002004-09-28T11:11:21.600-05:00

President Bush starts to pull ahead in the polls. Good news for Bush in two new polls President has solid leads over challenger Kerry MSNBC Updated: 11:11 a.m. ET Sept. 28, 2004 A pair of new polls released Tuesday show that President Bush is maintaining a healthy lead over Sen. John Kerry as the first of their three nationally televised debates approaches. In a Washington Post-ABC News Poll

Oldmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074489917188877504noreply@blogger.com155tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6265813.post-1096386981032287962004-09-28T10:54:00.000-05:002004-09-28T11:12:33.586-05:00

This is an example of dignity and stoicism, qualities generally to be prized. Floridians worn out by hurricanes' wrath Jeanne's aftermath is déjà vu all over again By Janet Shamlian Correspondent NBC News Updated: 9:51 a.m. ET Sept. 28, 2004 PALM BAY, Florida - Dewey Cuthbertson knew there would be damage to his mobile home in the aftermath of Hurricane Jeanne. But he was not prepared for

Oldmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074489917188877504noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6265813.post-1096063142371191772004-09-24T16:24:00.000-05:002004-09-24T17:00:08.856-05:00

Here is something interesting from Daniel Gross (Slate)- how 'free market' ideology is turning America into a euroschelrotic country. In the roaring 1920s, when other highly profitable companies began to emulate Ford, welfare capitalism began in earnest. Companies built cafeterias and health clinics, sponsored baseball and bowling leagues, and granted days off for the opening of deer season.

Oldmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074489917188877504noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6265813.post-1096003389081133942004-09-24T01:16:00.000-05:002004-09-24T00:26:25.356-05:00

From WWII era: “First they came for the Communists, and I didn’t speak up, because I wasn’t a Communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn’t speak up, because I wasn’t a Jew. Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn’t speak up, because I was a Protestant. Then they came for me, and by then there was no one left to speak up for me.” --Lutheran minister and German war veteran Martin

Oldmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074489917188877504noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6265813.post-1095993841961558982004-09-23T21:39:00.000-05:002004-09-23T21:44:01.960-05:00

Read her in the Boston Globe about how start-up tech firms are outsourcing functions. High-tech start-ups feel push to outsource By Beth Healy, Globe Staff | September 23, 2004 Venture capitalists have a pressing new question for high-tech entrepreneurs who come looking for money: What's your India plan? While large American companies have drawn the most attention for shifting jobs to

Oldmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074489917188877504noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6265813.post-1095952963149691802004-09-23T09:53:00.000-05:002004-09-23T10:22:43.150-05:00

Let me state for the record, while I am not a fundamentalists Christian, being a reluctant Theist, that I was raised in a community of them and have the greatest sympathy for their kindness, generousity, and moral example to this day. Any deviance I may have displayed is entirely of my own choice or destiny in life, and as such I still respect the moral authority of the truly righteous. However

Oldmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074489917188877504noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6265813.post-1095925990476558892004-09-23T02:41:00.000-05:002004-09-23T02:53:10.476-05:00

For the record, I am completely against the forced trafficking of human beings for any purposes. For the record, I mildly lean toward sex-worker rights and unions as well as regulation, taxation, and conceivable controlled legalization of prostitution. For the record, I have never availed myself of the purposes of a prostitute - merely because I'm too proud and I have a hard time lying to myself

Oldmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074489917188877504noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6265813.post-1095874163585077552004-09-22T11:53:00.000-05:002004-09-22T12:29:23.586-05:00

Once in what seems like several lives ago I was somebody different. I was ambitious beyond measure, contemptuous of authority, certain in my convictions. I entered in the top fifty of a Freshman class in a ivy league school, and that was while blowing off trying to do it. I was good, I was one of the best, and I helped change the world- and ruthless beyond your imagination. I destroyed lives the

Oldmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074489917188877504noreply@blogger.com47tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6265813.post-1095870030877087172004-09-22T10:44:00.000-05:002004-09-22T11:21:38.986-05:00

Bard Delong is a nice guy, but he sometimes is a bit dense. He wonders why the Federal Reserve is raising interest rates. I have a hard time imagining a world next summer in which the Fed is sorry that it did not raise interest rates today. But I have an easy time imagining a world next summer in which the Fed is sorry that it did raise interest rates. So I'm having a hard time understanding

Oldmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074489917188877504noreply@blogger.com28tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6265813.post-1095144085859091572004-09-13T01:33:00.000-05:002004-09-14T01:41:25.860-05:00

According to his NYT op-ed column, Krugman declares that Kerry should fire Clinton. Really. "If Senator John Kerry really has advisers telling him not to attack Mr. Bush on national security, he should dump them. When Dick Cheney is saying vote Bush or die, responding with speeches about jobs and health care doesn't cut it." Except of course, that it was Clinton himself who told Kerry to talk

Oldmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074489917188877504noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6265813.post-1095006777302792672004-09-12T11:26:00.000-05:002004-09-12T11:34:14.343-05:00

The publication commonly known for its left wing socialist rantings, The Economist, comes out with the accusation that IT Departments are now getting shipped to India as part of corporate offshoring practices. After the call-centre, now the IT department is off to India IN A shiny new building in the drab construction site that is Noida, a Delhi suburb, teams of young Indian engineers are, in a

Oldmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074489917188877504noreply@blogger.com31tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6265813.post-1095005219576556302004-09-12T11:00:00.000-05:002004-09-12T11:06:59.576-05:00

Heh, this news just in about premiums. News-Medical.Net Premiums for employer-sponsored health insurance rose at about five times the rate of inflation Posted By: News-Medical in Miscellaneous News Published: Sunday, 12-Sep-2004 Employer-sponsored health insurance premiums increased an average of 11.2% in 2004 -- less than last year’s 13.9% increase, but still the fourth consecutive year of

Oldmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074489917188877504noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6265813.post-1094922789898239562004-09-11T11:54:00.000-05:002004-09-11T12:16:08.276-05:00

Look at these graphs from the NYT: These friends and former aides ... are agitating for the candidate himself to answer what they called the character-assassination attacks ... They are pushing for Mr. Kerry to make a dramatic statement of his own to settle voters' doubts about Mr. Kerry's Vietnam War period. Officials in the campaign, however, including both longstanding consultants like Bob

Oldmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074489917188877504noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6265813.post-1094691740291899372004-09-08T19:18:00.000-05:002004-09-08T20:13:15.933-05:00

The conventional wisdom is usually wrong. It's not that I'm a contrarian as much as ontologician. People in the aggregate are usually simply too misinformed, too underprepared, and too easily swayed by their individual prejudices to be right most of the time. If you think about it, if this weren't true there wouldn't be a need for leadership. Leadership mostly entails cajoling large numbers of

Oldmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074489917188877504noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6265813.post-1094688924642640002004-09-08T19:06:00.000-05:002004-09-08T19:15:24.643-05:00

As it turned out, I did take some time off from posting to redigest and reanalyze my data. It is always worth an extra notch of caution in order to review one's forecasts, because they are inherently subject to blindspots. The final result however is identical to the original in the main respects of everything I have laid out, because inevitably the corrections began canceling each other out. It

Oldmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074489917188877504noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6265813.post-1094610354342052132004-09-07T20:23:00.000-05:002004-09-08T19:03:56.116-05:00

Hi all, Sorry for the extended break from posting but work matters have come up with a vengeance and in addition while I am rather pleased with the information I have come up with on GDP accounting fraudulence it is not an easy matter to compose accessible posts from it. Composition design and layout with this new subject is therefore of necessity greater than previously. While you all take a

Oldmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074489917188877504noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6265813.post-1093907291120154302004-08-30T18:06:00.000-05:002004-08-30T18:09:52.786-05:00

No big deal, just many minor delays adding up to a lot of time burned on other topics. Also reading these government methodological reports is always plodding progress. To say tedious is to put it mildly. This is perhaps why so few people notice these issues. They're buried underneath a mountain of bureaucratize. Will try to get something out tonight or tomorrow. Thanks for your patience, oldman

Oldmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074489917188877504noreply@blogger.com268tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6265813.post-1093622010139823412004-08-27T10:50:00.000-05:002004-08-27T10:53:30.140-05:00

I expect to have two more of my posts on GDP and Productivity up later tonight. Suffice it to say that I don't think that blaming it entirely on the market is an adequate explanation or exploration of the topic. Until then, got to get some work done and do some real life stuff. Come by and check out the stuff late tonight or tomorrow whenever you have time. Until then, I hope everyone enjoys

Oldmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074489917188877504noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6265813.post-1093548389441856052004-08-26T13:54:00.002-05:002004-08-26T14:33:03.376-05:00

Dear Readers, I am working on a series of stories to follow up both the California angle, and to provide more hard evidence for the reporting I've done on GDP and productivity numbers, and to tie it all in to offshoring. I continue to welcome your comments, and furthermore I think that you will notice that your comments do drive my writing in that I attempt to address your questions and concerns

Oldmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074489917188877504noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6265813.post-1093462998954824892004-08-25T13:54:00.000-05:002004-08-25T14:53:16.013-05:00

A few days ago, the oldman reported on the extraordinary finding that according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis that if you subtracted the final sales of computers from total GDP, then total GDP would actually increase. At least if you did it before 1997, because after 1997 if you subtracted the computer sales portion it would decrease. Now there has been a lively discussion about the topic,

Oldmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074489917188877504noreply@blogger.com22tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6265813.post-1093459779072548772004-08-25T13:11:00.000-05:002004-08-25T13:49:39.073-05:00

Well it is, though you wouldn't know to hear it from the gushing spin put out by the economic journalists. Look at this story by CNN and you'll see my point. July durable goods orders jump 1.7% Larger-than-expected increase attributed to demand for passenger aircraft. August 25, 2004: 8:40 AM EDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Orders for U.S. durable goods -- items meant to last at least three

Oldmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074489917188877504noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6265813.post-1093363536540990362004-08-24T10:25:00.000-05:002004-08-24T13:22:00.533-05:00

The CSM has an article superficially reviewing what market watchers are making of California from the outside. I, and several Californians that I know of, take issue with some of the assumptions made about what the new governor has done but that's not the point. There's an old saying, as California goes so does the rest of the union. California is a trend setter. Here we see it doing the same.

Oldmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074489917188877504noreply@blogger.com62tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6265813.post-1093311177729634442004-08-23T19:40:00.000-05:002004-08-23T21:13:22.483-05:00

What is the oldman talking about? The oldman has been wiggling through the bowels of the BEA and BLS releases. He's found some interesting accounting "anomalies". There's no single smoking gun, but there are some pretty damning trails of evidence. How damning? Well if you look at the BEA page publishing their data Prices and Output for Information and Communication Technologies there's a very

Oldmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074489917188877504noreply@blogger.com32tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6265813.post-1093290316178171062004-08-23T14:36:00.000-05:002004-08-23T14:45:16.176-05:00

I've tested out the new improvements to the blog presentation and interface and they all seem to be working. The "Search this" function at the top will use a google Blogger search and the insite search engine by Free Search also works. In addition, I've defined the column widths in term of page percentages so the blog should project proportionally to all screens of viewers. Let me know if it

Oldmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074489917188877504noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6265813.post-1093223762420125082004-08-22T19:54:00.000-05:002004-08-22T20:16:02.420-05:00

I've updated the template, using one of the standard blogger templates. Their service has improved sufficiently for me to choose one of their stock templates. Spending a lot of time on design presentation isn't what I'm primarily trying to do on this blog. It's really about delivering content. Nonetheless, an update seemed necesssary. I also intend to add back in site-meter functioning and add a

Oldmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074489917188877504noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6265813.post-1093028355152884722004-08-20T13:26:00.000-05:002004-08-20T14:02:26.986-05:00

Because whatever it is that is that strong, I want some of that. One report of the otherwise shamefully pathetic National Assembly you can tell is really searching for good news. They're really scraping the bottom of the barrell. How bad is it? Because the story leads that the good news is that they didn't all just kill each other. At least right away. BAGHDAD - They yelled and cursed, waving

Oldmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074489917188877504noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6265813.post-1092987390066099562004-08-20T01:50:00.000-05:002004-08-20T02:58:40.563-05:00

Look, Brad Delong is a great guy. He's the kind of guy I'd risk my skin to save his neck without ever having met him. That's how great he has. And the oldman has a very high regard for his own skin. But like the rest of America he has an ontological deficit. One thing he has going for him however is that unlike the conservative viewpoints I've detailed earlier, Brad Delong still has the ability

Oldmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074489917188877504noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6265813.post-1092984556386401452004-08-20T01:33:00.000-05:002004-08-20T01:49:16.386-05:00

There has been some talk about the controversial NYT article about charter schools performing poorly. In response, Dan Drezner, has posted some words. One possibility is that -- contrary to the fears of skeptics -- it turns out that charter schools do not merely skim the public student body's cream of the crop. As Harvard researchers Will Howell, Paul Peterson, and Martin West point out in their

Oldmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074489917188877504noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6265813.post-1092982964609884952004-08-20T01:03:00.000-05:002004-08-20T01:22:44.610-05:00

This is one of the reasons why the oldman doesn't take communion anymore. BRIELLE, New Jersey (AP) -- An 8-year-old girl who suffers from a rare digestive disorder and cannot eat wheat has had her first Holy Communion declared invalid because the wafer contained no wheat, violating Roman Catholic doctrine. Now, Haley Waldman's mother is pushing the Diocese of Trenton and the Vatican to make an

Oldmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074489917188877504noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6265813.post-1092979652545133112004-08-19T23:50:00.000-05:002004-08-20T01:26:56.970-05:00

Ian at BOP-news writes a spec on article about future oil demand. It's not just Iraq, Venezuala and Russia that are roiling oil prices. The simple fact is that demand is rising fast - very fast. As China (and to a lesser extent, India) industrialize you've got more than just the energy for industry - you've got the energy needed for all those consumers to have the cars, refrigerators, air

Oldmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074489917188877504noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6265813.post-1092952905641829802004-08-19T16:54:00.000-05:002004-08-19T17:01:45.640-05:00

Several things have been running through the back of oldman's mind. The consolidation of the two major Kurdish party into the five party majority government formed in the Iraqi National Assembly meeting. The Iraqi National Accord whose man in power is Allawi joining forces with the Kurds, and the sudden bellicose rhetoric from him afterwards. The ordering out of journalists from Najaf. Why do it

Oldmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074489917188877504noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6265813.post-1092888805113040052004-08-18T22:41:00.000-05:002004-08-18T23:13:25.113-05:00

An ontological deficit is characterized either by a lack of "reality checks" or proper responses to events that should give one pause, and ask whether the ontological theory one holds is in fact correct. America seems to be running a particularly high aggregate ontological deficit. It's mystifying, since the facts are apparently available - they're just ignored. What is the oldman talking about?

Oldmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074489917188877504noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6265813.post-1092863161167431842004-08-18T15:45:00.000-05:002004-08-18T16:06:01.166-05:00

One of the more irritating things in life is the prevelance of two kinds of intellectual scum-bags. The first is the ever synchopantic yes-man. A yes-person, and recently women have been cashing in on the act as much as men ever did, has as their only purpose as to look or sound or otherwise present themselves as credible and endorse an otherwise irrationally and shamelessly idiotic notion.

Oldmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074489917188877504noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6265813.post-1092767090125047082004-08-17T12:14:00.000-05:002004-08-17T13:59:08.696-05:00

What is the future of the American job market going to look like? Many people have asked me this. In my new series of writing, I've been focusing on now just analyzing the past but attempting to forecast the future. A friend of mine, a nuclear physicist, once joked to me that all economics was composed of was straight lines. My reply after having worked as a consultant and analyst in the business

Oldmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074489917188877504noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6265813.post-1092723145265475172004-08-17T00:38:00.000-05:002004-08-17T01:21:46.936-05:00

There is a joke going around in Europe, some of my European friends tell me. They say that they look forward to when America becomes a democracy again. You say again? Well perhaps it is a joke. But it certainly isn't a joke that we perhaps face a crisis of democracy right now. Ian Welsh lays out the basic dynamics over at BOP-news. There is only one way to stop electoral fraud. Boots on the

Oldmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074489917188877504noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6265813.post-1092720729705353522004-08-17T00:31:00.000-05:002004-08-17T00:32:09.706-05:00

Recently Ian Welsh and Stirling Newberry have been writing about very strong duet about what the future economy of the world will look like. It's astonishing and gratifying to read visionary literature like that out there. It's certainly not being produced in the halls of the Academy. The most recent string of their work is four pieces, two contributed by each that are integrally linked to the

Oldmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074489917188877504noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6265813.post-1092717661546706732004-08-16T23:12:00.000-05:002004-08-16T23:41:01.546-05:00

What do the future of the world's economies have in store for them? Is it a recovery underway? Is it a rough patch and things will straighten out later? These are the questions that The Economist is asking. As the American consumer tires, can shoppers in Europe, Japan and China take up the burden? CAPITALISM is all about getting and spending. In America, where household debts amount to about

Oldmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074489917188877504noreply@blogger.com90tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6265813.post-1092468008361642972004-08-14T02:05:00.000-05:002004-08-14T02:20:08.360-05:00

I asserted in a previous screed that offshoring was anti-capitalistic because a) it undermined specialization of labor and b) it diluted capital by capital flight and asset-stripping. Stirling was kind enough to explain in his King Copyright post what the corporate end of that asset-stripping looks like, and now Ian moves in to explain why return on investment (ROI) and capital mobility explain

Oldmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074489917188877504noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6265813.post-1092466599846788622004-08-13T01:29:00.000-05:002004-08-14T01:56:39.846-05:00

For some time oil market commentators have been piping in that oil has not yet reached its inflation adjust high of $80 a barrel. However what they've neglected to mention is that we've already passed the inflation adjusted price that was the first price spike because of the oil embargo. (MSNBC) Oil is up more than $10 a barrel since the start of the year. In real terms, adjusted for inflation,

Oldmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074489917188877504noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6265813.post-1092377024078082122004-08-12T23:46:00.000-05:002004-08-13T01:11:20.290-05:00

As well as a analysis of today's oil market. What is up with the oil market? Not what commentators think. If you want to understand markets, you have to understand that a market is more than the sum of its parts. If a market is to one degree or another truly efficient, then as a group it is pricing supply and demand using distributed processing. Distributed processing is the same basic concept as

Oldmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074489917188877504noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6265813.post-1092344064155342852004-08-12T15:34:00.000-05:002004-08-12T15:54:24.156-05:00

During the weekend and monday when there was an enforced silence I came to think about what I'd been trying to do with this blog. Over the last eight months it's evolved. It actually started in the fall of 2003 with me posting to Dan Drezner's comment section. Then a few readers there encouraged me to begin my own blog, and gradually I began to do so with greater familiarity over time (and update

Oldmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074489917188877504noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6265813.post-1092177906532189262004-08-10T17:41:00.000-05:002004-08-10T17:45:06.533-05:00

Thanks for your patience as I've been experiencing technical difficulties. I should be returning to online posting to my blog tonight. Went shopping for my brother and ended up sending him money and a card. It wasn't for lack of interest either, I asked him what he'd like and he just kind of shrugged over the phone. If you can imagine shrugging over the phone. I'm loquacious like our maam, and

Oldmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074489917188877504noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6265813.post-1092081191357980232004-08-09T14:37:00.000-05:002004-08-10T14:42:06.723-05:00

Hi all, sorry about the posting disruption. The oldman made the switch to a wireless internet setup this weekend and Windows XP. He's also just found the confounded KDS manufacturer display driver updates for XP. (Update#$!%#%! KDS just has drivers for this product supported through Win98, not WinXP. I'm running and Intel Graphics driver right now, and it's pretty good except that I'm stuck in

Oldmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074489917188877504noreply@blogger.com0