Red Pawn to White King: checkmate!
Jun 8, 2013 0:57:25 GMT -5
Post by Deleted on Jun 8, 2013 0:57:25 GMT -5
Good morning to you all! To all those who survived the night, what a night it turned out to be. Congratulations to all! What now for America and The World, Sydney Grew? 'The Financial Times' leads this weekend with some editorial comment asking who watches Obama’s watchers? US needs robust mechanism to oversee secret surveillance.
In any free society, governments should strike a careful balance when it comes to national security. While it must always be their first duty to do what they can to protect the public from terrorists, they should also strive to ensure that liberty and democracy are not ignored in the process.
This week’s revelations that the US federal authorities routinely trawled through phone call records and data communications is troubling precisely for what is says about the absence of such balance. 'FT Weekend' concludes thus:
The FT also leads this weekend on green shoots and jobs numbers: good signs, but too early for central bankers to step back. Investors spent much of the past week fretting that the US jobs report would mark the end of the US recovery. As a result, the recent rally in global stocks lost steam. On Thursday, the dollar slid by 3 per cent against the yen, the sharpest one-day fall in three years.
However, better than expected figures – the labour market added 175,000 jobs in May – soothed these fears. The improvement was in line with the past 12 months, when the economy added 172,000 jobs per month. Unemployment ticked up – from 7.5 per cent to 7.6 per cent – but this is because more people are coming back into the jobs market, a sign of strength, not weakness. 'The Financial Times' concludes thus:
Writing in 'FT Weekend', Edward Luce reviews decline and fall: is America heading for the same fate as the Roman empire? It is often observed that each generation rewrites history to suit itself. The same might be said about books on US decline. 'Balance: The Economics Of Great Powers From Ancient Rome to Modern America' offers an ambitious fusion: the book argues that the US will decline unless it changes course; and it draws liberally on world history to explain which pitfalls should be avoided.
The authors, Glenn Hubbard and Tim Kane, are enthusiastic amateur historians. Praetorians, Janissaries and eunuchs stalk their pages, more than half of which are devoted to the decline of other great powers. They are also accomplished economists. Hubbard was chairman of George W Bush’s Council of Economic Advisers and is now dean of Columbia Business School. Kane is chief economist at the Hudson Institute. The result is a readable, data-rich history of the fall of great powers through the eyes of two fiscally troubled US conservatives in 2013. To say that 'Balance' could not have been written in 2003, nor by a Keynesian, is not a criticism. But it is worth keeping in mind. Edward concludes thus:
As economic gravity inexorably moves westwards across the Pacific Ocean at the turn of the second/third millennium AD/CE, kleines c asks not whether we are living through the decline and fall of the Pax Americana, but how long 'Chimerica' can survive? The 'Chimera' of China and America will last until 23:00 (BST) on Saturday 6 July 2013.
Chimerica
In truth, I suspect that the East, and Asians in particular, are taking over the West, and Europeans in particular. Welcome to the dawn of the Asian millennium! So what now for the United States of America (USA), the European Union (EU) and the rest of the world (ROW), Sydney Grew? Red Pawn to White King: checkmate!
BBC - A History of the World in 100 objects - Lewis Chessmen
In any free society, governments should strike a careful balance when it comes to national security. While it must always be their first duty to do what they can to protect the public from terrorists, they should also strive to ensure that liberty and democracy are not ignored in the process.
This week’s revelations that the US federal authorities routinely trawled through phone call records and data communications is troubling precisely for what is says about the absence of such balance. 'FT Weekend' concludes thus:
" ... The answer must be to establish a more robust mechanism capable of adjudicating with a view to retaining public confidence in the exercise of these extraordinary powers. Perhaps the best option would be to create an independent government oversight body, empowered by statute to evaluate all state surveillance.
As Mr Obama rightly said on Friday, it is impossible to have 100 per cent security and 100 per cent privacy. But given the powers acquired by his administration, he should strive to strike a more convincing balance."
As Mr Obama rightly said on Friday, it is impossible to have 100 per cent security and 100 per cent privacy. But given the powers acquired by his administration, he should strive to strike a more convincing balance."
The FT also leads this weekend on green shoots and jobs numbers: good signs, but too early for central bankers to step back. Investors spent much of the past week fretting that the US jobs report would mark the end of the US recovery. As a result, the recent rally in global stocks lost steam. On Thursday, the dollar slid by 3 per cent against the yen, the sharpest one-day fall in three years.
However, better than expected figures – the labour market added 175,000 jobs in May – soothed these fears. The improvement was in line with the past 12 months, when the economy added 172,000 jobs per month. Unemployment ticked up – from 7.5 per cent to 7.6 per cent – but this is because more people are coming back into the jobs market, a sign of strength, not weakness. 'The Financial Times' concludes thus:
" ... The Bank of England and the European Central Bank this week chose to keep monetary policy on hold. The ECB also decided to back off from unorthodox measures to get credit flowing to small and medium-sized enterprises in countries such as Spain and Italy. This was a mistake. The eurozone is still expected to shrink by 0.6 per cent this year. With inflation under control, the ECB should use both conventional and unconventional tools to help revive growth.
Mario Draghi, ECB president, wants politicians to do their part. This is true everywhere – not just in the eurozone. In Japan, where the central bank has been particularly bold in opening the monetary taps, the government still has to convince investors that it can deliver the supply-side overhaul necessary to lift growth. Shinzo Abe, prime minister, needs to prove the sceptics wrong when he announces a package of reforms next week.
Yet, with markets jittery about the possibility of evaporating liquidity, the case for less support – or, even worse, exit – is flimsy. Central bankers have been the most effective policy makers since the beginning of the crisis. This is not the time for them to step back."
Mario Draghi, ECB president, wants politicians to do their part. This is true everywhere – not just in the eurozone. In Japan, where the central bank has been particularly bold in opening the monetary taps, the government still has to convince investors that it can deliver the supply-side overhaul necessary to lift growth. Shinzo Abe, prime minister, needs to prove the sceptics wrong when he announces a package of reforms next week.
Yet, with markets jittery about the possibility of evaporating liquidity, the case for less support – or, even worse, exit – is flimsy. Central bankers have been the most effective policy makers since the beginning of the crisis. This is not the time for them to step back."
Writing in 'FT Weekend', Edward Luce reviews decline and fall: is America heading for the same fate as the Roman empire? It is often observed that each generation rewrites history to suit itself. The same might be said about books on US decline. 'Balance: The Economics Of Great Powers From Ancient Rome to Modern America' offers an ambitious fusion: the book argues that the US will decline unless it changes course; and it draws liberally on world history to explain which pitfalls should be avoided.
The authors, Glenn Hubbard and Tim Kane, are enthusiastic amateur historians. Praetorians, Janissaries and eunuchs stalk their pages, more than half of which are devoted to the decline of other great powers. They are also accomplished economists. Hubbard was chairman of George W Bush’s Council of Economic Advisers and is now dean of Columbia Business School. Kane is chief economist at the Hudson Institute. The result is a readable, data-rich history of the fall of great powers through the eyes of two fiscally troubled US conservatives in 2013. To say that 'Balance' could not have been written in 2003, nor by a Keynesian, is not a criticism. But it is worth keeping in mind. Edward concludes thus:
" ... So there we have it. Forget the rise of China, the stagnation of US middle class incomes, or the drop down the ranks of international education tables. The biggest threat to US power comes from the mild (and ineffectual) attempts to curb how much money the rich can spend to influence elections. It is hard to know how to react to such reasoning, except to say that it is a pity.
Much of the book is instructive. Their economic account of Rome’s fall is compelling. Their survey of Britain’s decline, which they date to the 1780s, is original. “The British empire could still be a superpower today, we believe, if it had been more expansively British and less imperial.” I don’t agree. But as a Brit, it was entertaining to read. Their chapters on the US, however, are neither fun nor convincing. America does, indeed, face deep challenges, which may, or may not, lead to its decline. Regulation of election spending is not among them. It beats me how anyone could conclude that it was."
Much of the book is instructive. Their economic account of Rome’s fall is compelling. Their survey of Britain’s decline, which they date to the 1780s, is original. “The British empire could still be a superpower today, we believe, if it had been more expansively British and less imperial.” I don’t agree. But as a Brit, it was entertaining to read. Their chapters on the US, however, are neither fun nor convincing. America does, indeed, face deep challenges, which may, or may not, lead to its decline. Regulation of election spending is not among them. It beats me how anyone could conclude that it was."
As economic gravity inexorably moves westwards across the Pacific Ocean at the turn of the second/third millennium AD/CE, kleines c asks not whether we are living through the decline and fall of the Pax Americana, but how long 'Chimerica' can survive? The 'Chimera' of China and America will last until 23:00 (BST) on Saturday 6 July 2013.
Chimerica
In truth, I suspect that the East, and Asians in particular, are taking over the West, and Europeans in particular. Welcome to the dawn of the Asian millennium! So what now for the United States of America (USA), the European Union (EU) and the rest of the world (ROW), Sydney Grew? Red Pawn to White King: checkmate!
BBC - A History of the World in 100 objects - Lewis Chessmen