Great Recession: imports down. exports down

HT

Do you see the human face here?

From the Scientific American:

Coffee Face
Our face-detection neural machinery can be overloaded. There’s a man’s face hidden in this image. But before we spill the beans about its location, look around and see if you can find it yourself. It’s difficult! Don’t give up too quickly: finding the face may take you a few minutes the first time you look. But once you have seen it, you will always find it immediately in every subsequent search.

You don't find the human face among the coffee beans?  Click here for the clue, and for lot more discussions on illusions and neuroscience. (HT)

Goldman Sachs to Acquire Treasury Department

In what some on Wall Street are calling the biggest blockbuster deal in the history of the financial sector, Goldman Sachs confirmed today that it was in talks to acquire the U.S. Department of the Treasury.

According to Goldman spokesperson Jonathan Hestron, the merger between Goldman and the Treasury Department is "a good fit" because "they're in the business of printing money and so are we."

 That is the report from Andy Borowitz, which means you ought to know that it is a satire :-) And he ends his report with this:

Elsewhere, conspiracy theorists celebrated the 40^th anniversary of NASA faking the moon landing.

And in South Carolina, Gov. Mark Sanford gave his wife a new diamond ring, while his wife gave him an electronic ankle bracelet.

California Failing

It is getting worse in California.  The latest news is that:

State revenue has already fallen more than $1 billion short of assumptions in the budget lawmakers passed less than three months ago, according to a new report from the state controller.

What is a billion anymore, right?  Well, if only it were not on top of a few other billions:

Even before the bad fiscal news, policymakers were bracing for a big budget deficit next year. The Department of Finance anticipates a $7.4-billion deficit in 2010-11. That’s a conservative estimate, because lawsuits have tied up or reversed some planned budget cuts.

The state is in so much of a mess that all the way from Britain, the Guardian asks "Will California become America's first failed state?"

There is a growing movement to call for a constitutional convention that could redraw the way the state is governed. It could change how the state passes budgets and make the political system more open, recreating the lost middle ground. Recently, the powerful mayor of Los Angeles, Antonio Villaraigosa, signed on to the idea. Gerrymandering, too, is set to take a hit. Next year Schwarzenegger will take steps to redraw some districts to make them more competitive, breaking the stranglehold of party politics. He wants district boundaries to be drawn up by impartial judges, not politicians. In previous times that would have been the equivalent of a turkey voting for Christmas. But now the bold move is seen for what it is: a necessary step to change things. And there is no denying that innovation is something that California does well.

Of course, it would be foolish to write-off California.  But, they better clean up the political mess fast if they want to maintain that California mystique.  And I want them to--some day I hope to return to Southern California .... for good.  After all, that is the place whereI was partly raised.

A poem with a lot of meaning for me

Wrong

I wish to be misunderstood;
that is,
to be understood from your perspective.

From Bill Knott’s The Unsubscriber
HT

Cartoon of the day

Nobel Peace Prize: the most glaring omission ever

From FP:

Mohandas K.  Gandhi was the spiritual and political leader of the Indian independence movement and an advocate of nonviolent resistance as a means to effect social change. Gandhi assumed a leading role in the Indian National Congress in 1921 and transformed the party into a mass movement dedicated to ending social and economic discrimination against Indians and achieving India's complete independence. He was also a vocal advocate for the emancipation of the Hindu "untouchable" class, as well as unity between the Hindu and Muslim communities. Following India's declaration of independence, he opposed the partition of India and Pakistan. Gandhi was shot and killed by a radical Hindu nationalist on Jan. 30, 1948.
More here

Here is Obama on his accomplishments thus far

HT

More on Obama blowing off the Dalai Lama

Way back, on September 22nd, the Register Guard published my column on President Obama blowing off his meeting with the Dalai Lama--well, making sure he would not meet the Tibetan leader until after the first official presidential visit to China.

It is turning out that with increasing frequency Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert are echoing my columns and blogs; good for them :-)  Well, here is Jon Stewart and Jon Oliver dissecting Obama's decision--nothing that is inconsistent with my column either .....

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Hell No, Dalai
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Ron Paul Interview

Colbert on Afghanistan

Leave it to Stephen Colbert to sum up our situation there :-)

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
The Road Ahead in Afghanistan - Lara Logan
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Michael Moore

Chart of the day: GM's vehicle production

Mo(o)re on Capitalism: A love story

A picture is worth a thousand words, and more? :-)

Did you know he owns a nice apartment in Manhattan's upper westside?  Ah, forever the proletariat :-)

Swine flu and global public health

The worldwide attention paid to swine flu is great, from a public health perspective.  If only we could equally effectively rally our country and the rest of the world about the many infectious diseases that ail millions of poor everyday.

In early September, in a few villages in Orissa, which is a state in India, about 40 people died and more than 200 were admitted to hospitals.  It was not because of the swine flu, which has so far claimed about 300 lives in that country.  The deaths in Orissa were because of diarrhea.

Diarrhea is a gastrointestinal infection that typically spreads through contaminated water or food.  A bad infection results in severe loss of fluids and even death, which was what happened in Orissa.  According to the World Health Organization, the deaths of nearly two million children every year in the less developed countries has one single culprit—diarrhea.   

The fact that many of the severe diarrheal deaths can be traced back to contaminated water should not come as a surprise given that more than 2 billion people, most of them in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, lack access to clean water and sanitation facilities.  Not having such facilities means a slew of other waterborne diseases such as cholera, typhoid, and hepatitis.   

The irony is that in such contexts, it is practically impossible to implement the typical swine flu prevention advice—to frequently wash hands.

When I was in India this past summer, as reports of swine flu came to dominate the news and conversations, I sincerely suggested to my parents that they should frequently wash their hands, and time it by humming the “happy birthday” song. 

As the words slipped out of my mouth, I knew it was a stupid and incongruous advice because of the water shortage in the city.  Apartment complexes were paying hefty amounts to private operators who supplied water by transporting them in special water-tankers.  When that was the condition for middle-class households, I cannot imagine the less affluent spending their precious money to wash hands in order to battle an invisible enemy.    Clean water is a super-luxury for the poor. 

I do not mean to minimize the risks of a global pandemic, particularly if the swine flu virus were to mutate into a highly virulent form.  But, I do want to point out that the global focus on the swine flu, which we have rightfully managed to accomplish, should remind us that being a good citizen of the world also means that we ought to pay attention to the priorities of the rest of the world—in particular, the sufferings of the poor, who are almost always voiceless in the international arena.

Unfortunately, our track record has not been one that we can proudly hold up when it comes to supporting public health programs for the world’s poor.  Even a couple of years ago, Congress and the White House bickered over allocating $25 billion for public health programs in Africa.  Soon after that, in what comes across as quite a surreal contrast, the same people quickly committed all of us taxpayers to a couple of trillions of dollars—that  we do not have—in order to bailout various economic institutions here in the US.  Well, the $25 billion for Africa that we fought over sure does seem like chump change these days! 

As the economist Jeffrey Sachs has pointed out “we’ve just been making choices to ignore the poor rather than calculations based on real resources available. We made a choice to let millions of people die and not honor our commitments.”

Changes in our attitude towards war and peace will certainly win over a few hearts and minds around the world.  But, we can easily and dramatically increase that number if only we spent even a fraction of our military expenditures on public health programs around the world that will immediately improve the everyday lives of millions of poor.  Here lies an opportunity for the “soft power” that Secretary Hillary Clinton often talks about.  Above all, it is the right thing to do.

A miraculous Darwin-Shaped Wall Stain in Tennessee

DAYTON, TN—A steady stream of devoted evolutionists continued to gather in this small Tennessee town today to witness what many believe is an image of Charles Darwin—author of The Origin Of Species and founder of the modern evolutionary movement—made manifest on a concrete wall in downtown Dayton.
...
Added Freiberg, "Behold the power and glory of the scientific method!"
More here

Econ prof teaches online while serving in Iraq. Awesome!

When Cheryl J. Wachenheim, an associate professor of agribusiness and applied economics at North Dakota State University, says she taught her courses last year from a remote location, she means a desert nearly 7,000 miles away from her Fargo campus.
A captain in the Minnesota Army National Guard, Ms. Wachenheim deployed to Balad, Iraq, just north of Baghdad, in August 2008, for a 10-and-a-half-month stay. She continued teaching courses in micro- and macroeconomics online, from a fortified trailer crammed with medical supplies, body armor, the M-16 rifle she was required to carry wherever she went, and a computer.

How cool is that, eh!  The entire article in the Chronicle is a must read.  

But, I don't understand this part:

To get Internet access, she and nine other soldiers on her base in Iraq chipped in for a satellite dish and dug holes in the sand all over the base so they could run wires underground and into each of their trailers.

They had to pay for internet access?  WTF!

My sincere salute to her:

She worked out of Joint Base Balad, one of the largest American military bases in Iraq, dubbed "Mortaritaville" because of its location in the line of fire. Ms. Wachenheim says that when she walked around the base after hours, C-RAM (counter rocket, artillery, and mortar) weapons would light up the night sky.
In that kind of environment, running her classes was more like rest and recreation than work, Ms. Wachenheim says. Without the teaching duties, she would have felt like an economist at loose ends.
"Some people like to read on the base, some like to watch movies," she said in a telephone interview from Fargo, where she returned to teach this semester. "I like to interact with students. People in the unit didn't want to discuss the idiosyncrasies of the economy. This gave me that outlet."

Hey, thanks Professor Wachenheim.

How are we doing re. Afghanistan? SNAFU!

As the Economist's Style Guide points out, snafu is an acronym--not an abbreviation!  It stands for "situation normal, all f*&$ed up."

Snafu is the acronym/word we might want to use to explain where the US is when it comes to Afghanistan.

John Dickerson has a great point here:

Obama's insistence on slow deliberations on Afghanistan contrasts with the policy tempo on other fronts. Obama has been a president of action. Economic collapse? Here's a government program to address it. Car companies failing? Here's a program to help them. Want the Olympics to come to your town? Obama can help—tonight in Copenhagen he plays his role of chairman of the Chicago Chamber of Commerce as he pitches that city to the International Olympic Committee.

Let us face it: candidate Obama talked loudly and often about Afghanistan.  So, this is not as if he is being asked to decide thanks to some 3:00 a.m. phone call!  And it is not just Afghanistan where President Obama continues to dilly-dally.  I am all the more ticked off that he spent precious time talking up Chicago to the IOC.

And in another piece, Dickerson zooms into where the differences might lie when it comes to the different perspectives on Afghanistan: if the Taliban gains enough in the near future to even form a government, will that mean that al-Qaeda will make a return as well?  Is there a strong link between the Taliban and al-Qaeda?  On the one hand, I am glad they are seriously thinking about this, as opposed to the previous administration that blatantly lied about the Iraq-al Qaeda connection.
But, the reality is that this, too, is not a new question and we have had enough time to think through that.  Karzai's government being inefficient and corrupt is not news either.  So, what gives?
Dickerson writes:

several administration sources expressed skepticism about McChrystal's thinking. "A lot of assumptions—and I don't want to say myths, but a lot of assumptions—were exposed to the light of day," one senior administration official told the Post. One of the key assumptions exposed, according to the Post, was the contention that the return to power of the Taliban would mean a new sanctuary for al-Qaida.
Any kind of thorough review tests even the most basic assumptions. The link between Taliban insurgents and al-Qaida is long-standing, so it is perhaps a sign of how rigorous the Obama process is that even this premise is now open to question. On Sunday, National Security Adviser Jim Jones was so wary of making the al-Qaida/Taliban connection that when asked on Face the Nation whether a return of the Taliban would mean a return of al-Qaida, he ducked the question.

Why is everybody waffling on this question?  Yes, there is a nexus between these two groups.  But, our goal was to remove al-Qaeda from Afghanistan--not to completely sanitize the place.  We can always keep watch from outside, as we did with Saddam in Iraq, and ensure that the al-Qaeda aspect is under check, if not eliminated.  So, what does President Obama think?  Again, Dickerson:

Two months ago, Obama said, "If left unchecked, the Taliban insurgency will mean an even larger safe haven from which al-Qaida would plot to kill more Americans."
Where does Obama stand on this issue today? Tuesday he spoke to the employees of the National Counterterrorism Center. "We know that al-Qaida and its extremist allies threaten us from different corners of the globe—from Pakistan, but also from East Africa and Southeast Asia; from Europe and the Gulf." What country is missing? Afghanistan, the country where, for months, Obama has talked about "al-Qaida and its extremist allies," which previously had meant the Taliban.

What the hell is going on?  David Axe, et al, write that:

After nearly a decade at war in Afghanistan, the United States still has not defined the terms of the conflict. Seven months after President Barack Obama's administration released its wide-ranging strategic review of the war, basic questions remain. Who is the enemy? What are the objectives? Is counterinsurgency meant to achieve the goal of counterterrorism (beating al Qaeda), state-building (bringing stability and democracy to Afghanistan), or both? What would "victory" in Afghanistan even look like? And how will the war stay won, after the United States leaves?

How can we not know why we are in Afghanistan after seven years of engagement there?  WTF?

Quote of the day .... on the Patriot Act

Isn't it so interesting how the phrase "Patriot Act" was the symbol of everything Democrats claimed to find so heinous during the Bush years, but now that there's a Democratic President, Senate and Congress, it's absolutely certain that the Patriot Act will continue, and civil libertarians are reduced to hoping that there may be some tiny modifications to it, and even that's highly unlikely?

Glenn Greenwald, absolutely sharp as always.  That reminds me that my ACLU membership is due .... need to pay.  Please join the ACLU if you are already not a member.

Sorrow

I am a man of constant sorrow;
I've seen trouble all my day
I'm going back to California,
Place where I was partly raised.

All through this world, I'm bound to ramble.
Through storm and wind, through sleet and rain
I'm bound to ride that northern railroad,
Perhaps I'll take the very next train.

Your friends they say I am a stranger.
You'll never see my face no more.
There is just one promise that's given.
We'll sail on God's Golden Shore.

I am a man of constant sorrow,
I've seen trouble all my day
I'm going back to California,
Place where I was partly raised.

I wish for a YouTube a video of Peter, Paul and Mary singing that :-(  Here is the second best one instead .....Thank you, Mary Travers.

Seven years ago .... voting to wage the Iraq war :-(

Now the talk is about whether or not the war in Afghanistan should be escalated.  Seven years ago, we were practically "done" with Afghanistan and Congress was all set to rubber stamp its approval of Bush's decision to go to Iraq.  Here is an excerpt from Bush's remarks on October 7, 2002:

America believes that all people are entitled to hope and human rights, to the non-negotiable demands of human dignity. People everywhere prefer freedom to slavery; prosperity to squalor; self-government to the rule of terror and torture. America is a friend to the people of Iraq. Our demands are directed only at the regime that enslaves them and threatens us. When these demands are met, the first and greatest benefit will come to Iraqi men, women and children. The oppression of Kurds, Assyrians, Turkomans, Shi'a, Sunnis and others will be lifted. The long captivity of Iraq will end, and an era of new hope will begin.
Iraq is a land rich in culture, resources, and talent. Freed from the weight of oppression, Iraq's people will be able to share in the progress and prosperity of our time. If military action is necessary, the United States and our allies will help the Iraqi people rebuild their economy, and create the institutions of liberty in a unified Iraq at peace with its neighbors.
Later this week, the United States Congress will vote on this matter. I have asked Congress to authorize the use of America's military, if it proves necessary, to enforce U.N. Security Council demands. Approving this resolution does not mean that military action is imminent or unavoidable. The resolution will tell the United Nations, and all nations, that America speaks with one voice and is determined to make the demands of the civilized world mean something. Congress will also be sending a message to the dictator in Iraq: that his only chance -- his only choice is full compliance, and the time remaining for that choice is limited.
Members of Congress are nearing an historic vote. I'm confident they will fully consider the facts, and their duties.

All I can do is try to cynically laugh at our wars by recalling George Carlin:

In praise of In-N-Out ...

I was in Southern California for three days for a conference, and had In-n-Out burgers two of those days ....  Hmmm... am drooling for one now as I type :-) 

We lived in Bakersfield when two eating places opened shop, next to each other.  One was Krispy Kreme and the other was In-n-Out.  The reviewer of a new book on this restaurant writes:

I can still recall the anticipation and excitement that accompanied the opening of the first In-N-Out in my hometown of Bakersfield in 1991: Store #65. From the day it opened, the place was packed. Crowds are normal at any In-N-Out Burger, especially during the lunch rush, but long lines pose little deterrence to faithful customers.

  I waited for quite a few weeks for the crowds to get over the excitement, and then went to this brand new store in town.  Was worth the wait.  And then went over to KrispyKreme for a fresh delicious hot glazed doughnut that gloriously melted away in my mouth.  More droooooools :-)

From the mouths of babes .... weak general ed. is a problem

There is a purpose to the liberal arts; they’re just a little dated. The goal of a college education is to provide a solid background for students to succeed. Unfortunately, unless colleges and universities augment core requirements, they’re continuously sending out students who are not ready to face the realities of an increasingly complex world.

That is the conclusion of a thoughtful opinion piece by a junior at Vanderbilt. (HT)

Of course, I agree with this; how could I not when I have expressed such opinions before! 

On the death of Saturn

I drive a Saturn now--the one in this photograph on the left.  We bought this five years ago after trading in the ten-year old Saturn Wagon.

So, you can understand why I am more than a tad sad and disappointed that Saturn will, in all probability, not be around for long.

It will be only a short matter of time before automobile historians dig into how Saturn could have saved GM, and how instead senior leadership at GM killed Saturn and ended up killing GM itself.  And if you thought it was the doing of GM's management that Michael Moore caricatured, well, they had equal partners in this homicide autocide--the UAW.

Saturn was killed by its creators, GM and the UAW. The company starved Saturn for new products, and the union waged war against Saturn's labor reforms to keep them from spreading to other GM factories.

Saturn came out at the right time--small cars that were fuel efficient, with a possibility of those cars evolving into hybrid and electric cars.  And it could have worked out so well for everybody.  I am simply pissed off!!!!!
Paul Ingrassia's piece ends on this note:

Meanwhile, the Saturn workers' sense of loss is expressed poignantly by Mike Bennett, their former union leader, who says, "I wake up at night sick, thinking about all the things that might have been."

I feel terrible for the fantastic people at Saturn.  The employees in the service wing of the dealership--both in Bakersfield and in Eugene--were some of the best I have had the pleasure of working with.  Rarely did our cars have problems, and never once did I have to think twice about the quality of the work they did, nor about the prices they charged, which always seemed reasonable.  They treated me so well.  The service manager at the local dealership was a friendly, jolly, guy named Darrel.  He would recognize my name on the phone's caller ID and pick up the phone with the friendliest hello and always pronounced my name way better than even how I can.  I wish him and everybody else well .....

China @ 60

I am glad I don't live in China. I mean, when I have a tough time even dealing with oppressive faculty colleagues who have successfully killed my freedom of speech, I bet I would not have literally lived under the Communist regime.  But, hey, thanks to the all-controlling government, they put on quite a show to celebrate turning 60.  Here is a video summary of the parade--the entire parade packed into four minutes: (HT)

China's 60th Anniversary national day - timelapse and slow motion - 7D and 5DmkII from Dan Chung on Vimeo.

Something rotten in the state of .... South Dakota

Time to update the old Hamlet line, I guess:

Behind the freezer doors at a meat plant mysteriously abandoned by its owner, the 44 tons of bison meat managed to hold its own for months, masked by the brutal chill of two South Dakota winters.

Once the power was cut and spring thaw arrived, nature took over. And enough rotting meat to fill a high schoolgym did exactly what you'd expect: It stank.

It stank at the bank. It smelled at the law office. It reeked at the cafe. Even the jewelry store wasn't immune. Everyone in this tiny town could smell it, everywhere they went. A putrid odor so downright nasty the cleaners sent to mop up the gooey mess of liquefied meat - topped by a blanket of swarming white maggots and buzzed by a legion of flies - gave up after two days.

"You've also got the city offices, the grocery store and the post office. And then you spread out to the local residences," said Mayor Marty Barattini, pointing to each place. "This is a small town. We have just over 600 people, so that stench was enough to overwhelm the entire town. Not just this street."

Real life beats the Onion, again!

State budget cuts leave students with higher costs

A new academic year has begun. But we continue with the same old issues of tuition increases and budget cuts at Oregon's universities.

Public university systems — in Oregon and elsewhere — reflect a notion that higher education is a public good and that citizens should not be deprived of an opportunity to gain higher education simply because of lack of money. The kind of money it would take to attend private universities like Harvard.

Harvard, the country's oldest university, charges about $52,000 a year for the annual tuition, fees and dormitory expenses. It might surprise more than a few readers that the university is managed by the Harvard Corporation, which is, according to the university, the "oldest corporation in the Western Hemisphere." Yes, Harvard is the oldest multinational corporation!

But our public universities are not corporate entities. However, while it is a wonderful ideal that the sticker price of higher education should not prevent any Oregonian from pursuing knowledge, we ought to recognize that knowledge, like most things in life, has costs associated with it. Unfortunately, we do not have enough loose change in the state's coffers to pay for knowledge.

Thus, it is a no-brainer that when state governments decrease allocations for higher education, universities are then forced to suddenly increase tuition and fees — even if that were not in prior plans and even if it means disastrous public relations.

The lack of state funding has, therefore, resulted in the shifting of the cost burden onto students and families. No wonder that a typical graduate of the Oregon University System carries debts of more than $20,000.

Thus, if dramatic reductions in state funding are now making it more expensive for students to attend public universities, what happens then to the original notion to ensure that Oregonians do not walk away from higher education because of lack of money?

It appears that we are at the metaphorical fork in the road where decisions made could result in lowering the quality, or making higher education inaccessible, or both.

In no way do I mean to suggest that there is an easy way out of the conundrum. But I would prefer public discussions on our commitment to public higher education instead of relegating this to backroom budget negotiations at the Capitol.

In the current chaotic approach, we force universities and students to manage their ways through uncertainty when it comes to their respective budgets. In a recent research paper, Professors William Doyle (Vanderbilt University) and Jennifer Delaney (University of Wisconsin, Madison) conclude that "the costs of an increasingly volatile system, with unpredictable finances for institutions and unexpected tuition increases for students and families, are too great to continue to ignore."

Indeed! I suppose we can only take comfort in the news that Harvard, too, is having a tough time with the economic downturn. Its endowment has taken a huge hit and has lost $11 billion over the past year. The Harvard Corporation now manages an endowment of only $26 billion.

Wait a second, $26 billion?

For the Statesman Journal, October 4 2009