Regulation: The Essence of A Free Market
One of the most annoying oxymorons bandied about in discussions at all levels is the term "free market" and its derivatives. There is no such thing."Free-marketers" argue that, for an economy to...
View ArticleThe (potentially) bright future for the US Economy
Business news sites nowadays like to ask: Do you think the economy will get better, worse, or more of the same? If those are the only options, it can’t get better. It can only get better if there is...
View ArticleRecap'ing the banks - postwar Germany lesson
Post WWII, Germany's banks held worthless Third Reich government bonds as practically their sole asset. To get the banking sector going again, the German government allowed the banks to rate these...
View ArticleLatest Skit in the Fukuyama Follies
If you want confirmation that US academic writing is in crisis, look no further than Francis Fukuyama (he of the End of History and adherent of the Remnant Ronald Reagan Church of Latter-Day Neocons)....
View ArticleUS$70 billion in Wall Street Bonuses
The UK Guardian in today's edition wrote that the top six Wall Street investment banks have collectively set aside US$70 billion for salaries and - mostly - bonuses for the geniuses who did so well for...
View ArticleKristol - Fails Latin 101 and Constitution 101
In today's NYT, William Kristol wrote a piece titled Here the People Rule.In it, Kristol seems to argue:"Vulgarisation" of politics is actually a compliment, as "vulgus" means "people" and...
View ArticleNot Change, But Renewal
I'm Swiss, my wife's American, and I'm currently sitting in Switzerland reading and listening to US news and comment about how the election of Mr. Obama has changed America.To you, it may feel like...
View ArticleGaza, Israel, International Law
I believe international law matters. When I read the Yoo torture memos, the arguments underpinning Guantanamo Bay, the white-wash of superior officers and civilian authority over Abu Ghraib, the...
View ArticleCritique of an International Law Paper on the I-P Situation in Gaza
I got roped into a discussion on the international law aspects of the I-P conflict, and a professor at a US university put forward the following document written by two academics for the Jerusalem...
View ArticleI-P: Jeff Goldberg's Op-Ed in Today's NYT
Jeff Goldberg wrote an op-ed in today's NYT titled "Why Israel Can’t Make Peace With Hamas".Inadvertently, Goldberg shows why peace has eluded Israel thanks to Israel's own stance.
View ArticleMMR Controversy: Kossacks fall for Fox Junk Journalism
On 8th February 2009, Brian Deer published an article in the London Sunday Times (which, like Fox News, is owned by Rupert Murdoch) accusing Dr. Andrew Wakefield of falsifying data in his original...
View ArticleMMR Controversy: Wakefield Responds to Fox Media Hatchet Job
Dr. Andrew Wakefield is the Canadian doctor who in 1998 published a paper, along with other researchers, analysing some perplexing conditions in 8 British children who had apparently come down with...
View ArticleMMR Controversy: Wakefield Witchhunt and Vaccine Court Ruling
I have posted two diaries on this complex in the last two days and attracted a hysterical clutch of comments, so here goes again:After Keith Olbermann declared Andrew Wakefield 10th February's "Worst...
View ArticleThe Science of Vaccine Damage
This diary deals exclusively with the science of vaccine damage in PETS; there can of course be no science of vaccine damage in humans because it has been proven by Good Science without a Shadow of a...
View ArticleHitler’s Willing Accomplices
The current issue of the German news magazine Der Spiegel takes the extradition of the Ukrainian concentration camp guard John (formerly Ivan) Demyanyuk from the US to face trial in Germany as an...
View ArticleBook Rec: Fritz Stern's "Gold and Iron"
Highly recommend a book I just finished: Fritz Stern's "Gold and Iron - Bismarck, Bleichröder and the Building of the German Empire".The book covers two main subjects: The relationship between...
View ArticleSolving China and Afghanistan
Throughout recorded history, empires from the Romans to today have encountered two perennial problems: military defeat in Afghanistan, and a crippling trade deficit with China. Victorian and...
View ArticlePalin Wins Swiss Bond Baddie Poll
One of our - slightly left-leaning - national dailies ran a poll on who should play the villain in the next 007 movie...
View ArticleGerman Corporations Donate to Romney
The German magazine Der Spiegel had a short article today saying that German corporations are predominantly donating to the Romney campaign; four years ago, the main recipient was the Obama campaign.
View ArticleDemocracy is in danger, but Rove is not a fascist
Given the state of play in the US, it is no coincidence that fascism is being discussed. From my perspective, I agree that democracy is in danger in the US, as a result of planned, orchestrated and...
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