Here’s a frustrating topic dear to our hearts, and seems to tell the story of how the Americans took advantage of the carnage of World War Two to make their dollar the only equivalent to gold and created a ‘new world order’ of banking and reparations payments. A clear and historical account of the “Battle of Bretton Woods”:
Benn Steil of the Council on Foreign Relations and author of The Battle of Bretton Woods: John Maynard Keynes, Harry Dexter White, and the Making of a New World Order talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about Bretton Woods, the conference that resulted in the IMF, the World Bank, and the post-war international monetary system. Topics discussed include America and Britain’s conflicting interests during and after World War II, the relative instability of the post-war system, and the personalities and egos of the individuals at Bretton Woods, including John Maynard Keynes and Harry Dexter White.
It is enough to make a groan woman weep!
But wouldn’t luck pan out [speaking of gold!] and when I went to fetch the link to the above podcast I found that today’s offering promises to be a treat, and without having listened, but with well-founded faith in my favourite guest, Mike Munger, here is an antidote to history in an apparent double dose of Mungers discussing behavioural economics, in the context of group decision making re constitutions and voting and the difficulties of majority rule making:
Michael Munger of Duke University talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about his latest book (co-authored with Kevin Munger), Choosing in Groups. Munger lays out the challenges of group decision-making and the challenges of agreeing on constitutions or voting rules for group decision-making. The conversation highlights some of the challenges of majority rule and uses the Lewis and Clark expedition as an example.
Both go well with morning tea, or when insomnia strikes … and who can resist a free university education? Actually, I think the answer to that question is fairly depressing, but many thanks to Professor Roberts for making these stellar podcasts.
I remember my eldest brother once talking about shouting from mountain top to mountain top, describing trying to communicate ideas with the world in the days of print, with basically only newspapers and books and institutions out of the reach of many. And while the internet makes the broadcasting easy, the audience is hard to locate. I no longer remember what led me to these podcasts but I am much the richer, intellectually, for them. Sometimes the ideas can seem simple once explained, but things like why people preferred no ice to expensive ice when there was no power for refrigeration in Raleigh help one make sense of the peculiar world we share with others.
So let me tea this one up [speaking of groan, ed.] for your listening pleasure, and I hope you enjoy this particular day in this peculiar world.
Good Morning
Oh, please please please may we have an in depth debate about this issue during the republican primaries. Oh, please, please, please….
Poll: 57% Of GOPers Support Making Christianity The National Religion
Oh, and hello.
After some waffling back and forth, been having some fun on twitter. And tax season is underway, so a little busy.
Been catching up on “Agent Carter” on On Demand. Good stuff. A lot of prequel type stuff for the whole Marvel Universe.
Markets? The Trend Is Your Friend, folks. Don’t Fight The Tape. I can’t say it enough.
Marketing tip for Xty: A ton of what goes on with twitter is people being active mostly for the sake of steering people back toward their blogs or sites. You have the blog, so the next step would be to tweet a ton with links back to here. What eventually happens is the twitter feed is bigger than the blog itself. If you are lucky.
The Shape of Things to Come. (or…already here, like…a few years ago maybe)
I have noticed with my kids that both twitter and instagram, a lot like Facebook, are mostly used for commercial ventures, which I am not. I put as much energy into this as I should, probably too much, but I don’t do it for the fame.
As to polls, I figure they are pretty much political tools, used to stir division. But I will bet dollars to doughnuts that the same people that want to make the States a Christian nation also fiercely defend the constitution.
One of the reasons the States preserved a plurality of religions was actually the economic benefits from allowing different groups of immigrants, many fleeing religious persecution, to flourish in their own ways. There are too many Americans to govern under one omnipotent government and I think you need to be much more federal and forget this ridiculous constant charade between republicans and democrats. You all look like donkeys if you get my drift …
and Good Morning
Another snow day in progress, somewhere between 7-9″ rolling on in…big storm stuff for Tidewater. No work and yesterday is already today. (and the rest will do me good)
One from my old kindred restless buddy.
Good morning.
We seem to be in sync … Why fight it? is my motto for today. Yesterday was pretty darn functional for me, given my complaining nature, and I visited mum and went to yoga which is proving an awesome challenge. The house no longer looks quite so much like we had left our lovely sons and dog at home for two unsupervised weeks. But I am too ashamed to put out the stack of pizza boxes for cardboard recycling today. It used to be the “hidden” garbage bag of beer cans, and the recently mopped but still sticky floor that greeted us, and this time it was a fixed furnace and pizza boxes and a slight backlog on garbage. But my point is that when I was still awake at 2:30 I realised I could take the day off so to speak.
How’s the snow? It is too cold to snow here. Our middlest child said Ottawa was the coldest capital in the world the other day, colder even than Mongolia.
They have us today … but they are forecast to be much warmer … only going down to -20 tonight, the wimps!
.
You lost me on the “fixed furnace” part.
The snow is quite beautiful, we’ll end up with about 9″ I think. As you know snow ain’t that bad to drive on, it’s the ice gets you. I have a 2005 Honda Element w/Real Time AWD that gets around pretty well. Probably venture out this afternoon. Local weather calling for 60 on Wed. 🙂 😯
We are in sync … just listening to Let it Be …
Oh maybe I didn’t go on about this … the morning we awoke in the Queen Mary in Long Beach, two days into our trip, Mikey called to say the house was very cold and he was having trouble getting the furnace to light. After a valiant effort by Mikey with breakers, etc., older brother comes home and we have been telling them to keep some water running to save the pipes because it is very cold, he calls the furnace guy who comes and immediately “red tags” our hot water heater for carbon monoxide poisoning, tells the boys they cannot run hot water, and leaves. They manage to get a different fellow who tells them we need a new hot water heater and that the blower for the furnace has gone … a $1600 part. But remarkably the upshot was that we are back on some loathsome 20 dollar a month service plan for two years, and we have a brand new rental hot water tank and while we thought about actually buying one they seem to have installed the very one hubby had been looking at but they cost a fortune, and that will cost $25 a month, and the whole upfront cost was “only”$1000. Husband had predicted that as soon as we actually bought the boat all our appliances would break … but that was pretty fast. Mikey said it got down to 6 C in the house, which is 43 fahrenheit … and we got to miss it all!
My gas fired/hot water radiator system has been a fine friend this year. Sometimes it really is life’s simple pleasures.
i just got inside from shoveling snow in 15 degree below zero windchill. so while waiting for my second pot of coffee to brew, for my chapped and bleeding face to warm, and fingers to thaw, i googled “when will this fucking winter ever end?”, and a bunch of funny stuff came up. this one was written last winter but is good enough as a rerun while we wait for a sequel. the comments are good also. accepting total defeat and offering unconditional surrender is the first step towards healing.
http://jezebel.com/entire-nation-is-sick-and-tired-of-this-bullshit-winter-1515673238
sorry for all the f words, but i believe these are exceptional circumstances. and good morning.
Swearing about the cold is possibly a life saving outburst, and you are forgiven.
there used to be a difference between the D’s and the R’s in the USA, and maybe there is some hope yet. people in Wisconsin and Minnesota have the same values, work ethic, midwestern common sense, etc.
well, i won’t spoil it.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/carl-gibson/mark-dayton-minnesota-economy_b_6737786.html
i can’t but help but post some of the comments either…
Andrew Robinson · Top Commenter · University of Wisconsin-Madison
I live in Minnesota and I’ve lived in Wisconsin. They are very similar states, with one difference: the government. One is thriving, has a surplus, rainy day fund , top shelf education a strong university, 3.9% unemployment. The other one doesn’t.
Reply ·
· 390 · February 24 at 7:59pm
Rodney Junakin · Top Commenter · Works at Milwaukee Public Schools
You got that right! We are headed in the wrong direction in Wisconsin.
Reply ·
· 196 · February 24 at 8:19pm
Nick Constantinou · Top Commenter · Translator at Freelance translator
Rodney Junakin I totally agree with you even though I don’t live in Wisconsin. The question I have is why voters reelected Walker. Wasn’t four years of his failed policies enough?
Reply ·
· 144 · Yesterday at 3:00am
Urich Iam · Top Commenter · Works at Self-Employed
Apparently the Koch brothers were not in Minnesota and were not welcomed there. Good for the Minnesotans.
Reply ·
· 239 · Yesterday at 5:39am
View 49 more
Stevie Whiteboard · Top Commenter
It’s a fact that there are two types of republicons, rich ones and stupid ones. The stupid ones keep the wealthy rich and the rich ones keep the stupid ones stupid.
Reply ·
· 343 · February 24 at 8:58pm
a victory for the internet today. but this isn’t over yet. and please consider the republican arguments. (yes, this particular issue at this particular time did clearly demonstrate some real difference between the two parties) so why does the USA have the slowest, yet most expensive internet of all the so called developed countries? is it the excessive regulation? give me a break. ask yourself too why the most hated companies in the USA are all cable TV providers, telephone companies, and banks?
… because DEREGULATION results in MONOPOLY power. monopolies screw consumers, simply, because they can! DUH! while i am at it, also ask yourself why the USA has the most expensive health care in the world, but is rated about 20th for overall results. (despite Obama’s sell out to the insurance companies and big Pharma.)
http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/tougher-internet-rules-hit-us-cable-telecom-companies/ar-BBi032r?ocid=mailsignout
the very same clause in NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) that allows Trans Canada to in essence sue the American taxpayer for damages should the Keystone pipeline be shelved, is an integral part of the new TPP (Trans Pacific Partnership) trade deal that Obama wants to fast track. the irony.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/kill-the-dispute-settlement-language-in-the-trans-pacific-partnership/2015/02/25/ec7705a2-bd1e-11e4-b274-e5209a3bc9a9_story.html
http://www.politico.com/story/2015/02/keystone-pipeline-nafta-115511.html?hp=lc2_4
It is amazing that NAFTA is seen as a threat on both sides of the border. It was not about free trade at all, but about preferential treatment for certain industries on both sides of the border. Sold as a political battle between free trade and protectionism, while all along just a tool of corporatism. Used by both sides to deride the economic theories of the other by producing examples on either side of disastrous outcomes, while the gorilla in the room marches up the middle, eating all the bananas while we bicker, on cue.
It is obvious that free trade is a benefit in purely economic theory – take the two guys on an island, one can make good suits and one can make good beer – much better to trade and get two good suits and two good beers – and such a silly thing to have a political argument about. Smoke and mirrors to allow the politicians and their backers to set up situations in which the corporations are protected no matter what happens.
Won’t get fooled again … as if! And just to be pedantic me, they say a parting on the right is now a parting on the left referring to the part in your hair. They don’t say party …
And Good Morning.
Good Morning.
Haven’t been able to co-ordinate my schedule with the lady that cuts my hair and it’s starting to look like it did when that album came out.
Taste of spring coming here next week, 50s 60s, w/rain but some sunshine as well.
Xty – we see the trade debate in the same light. and therefore i assume we agree on the net neutrality issue also. there is obvious contradiction when all regulation is framed as government overreach. is not the corporation a collective? what protection does the individual have from corporate overreach? the issue is one of anti-trust.
m44 – get a haircut. you look like a bum. (and stoned)
this article is free of corporate spin. judge for yourself. this ruling is a very big win for all that is good.
http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2015/02/grassroots-win-fcc-approves-net-neutrality.html
That is great about net neutrality. And I am pleasantly surprised. A blow to Ma Bell and co indeed … we pay a tonne for internet here too. And the field is extremely limited. Maybe this will help. And keep smaller websites [hi!] loading …
A bit distracted, in a good way, because the money transfer finally went through, and yesterday we actually became owners of a boat. Which we have to fetch …
And a very good morning to you … the sun is shining and Nana has been helping with trivia and doing puzzles … it is a miracle and the people who work at the home are very kind and even mum understands how safe she is and seems to be much perked up. Only one way out of all this of course, but I am surprised, pleasantly again, to be getting this little window of eating chocolates and drinking tea, and chattering. She offered to pay for a soufflé pan yesterday when I mentioned not having one, saying I should go right out and buy one, and it was so like the old mum I was chuffed and today will do just that. But I think I will only pretend that she paid for it.
i have been blown away by the propaganda coming from the corporate shill media like Fox news, and in general from the political far right regarding net neutrality. it is a pathetic reflection on how brainwashed the American public has become. how can we graduate from public schools these dummies with no concept of the public good, the commons, monopoly pricing, the need for anti-trust laws, etc. i try not to be partisan, but i do have a huge problem with these mental defectives. i also admit that i like the quote above, “It’s a fact that there are two types of republicons, rich ones and stupid ones. The stupid ones keep the wealthy rich and the rich ones keep the stupid ones stupid.” this certainly rings truer, the further off into the wingnutosphere you go.
in celebration of the defeat of the Koch brothers and their ilk, and yes they were involved, big surprise i know, i hope you all can enjoy this powerful composition…
eat shit, wingnuts! 🙂 🙂 🙂 and good morning!
Not an image I like, sorry to be cranky, but no need to gloat and be scatalogical. I really am intent on keeping things a little more on the politer side of things … humour is a fairly necessary component of rudeness in my books, and one man’s wingnut is another man’s mentor.
But good next morning, and eat something toasted and tasty.
fair enough. i came across more combative than funny. i also should have linked the PR hit piece that i that i found so ridiculous. anyway, this was a cause that i have dedicated some effort too, and am quite happy with the unlikely success, at least so far. a true grassroots victory, so not at all a result of a deceptive, corporate funded “astroturf” PR campaign. so i hope anyone that has any strong opinions on this topic has done their homework. and one man’s mentor may be a wing-nut, but isn’t that the problem with PR and partisan politics? the civil, moderate voices are drowned out in the din.
It is a great victory and I know it was not only close to your heart but you tried hard to get the information out … I honestly just don’t want to come to my blog and read “eat shit” – I am happy to be open to almost everything here, but I also want my family to poke their noses in and strangers too … it is important to me the way I portray myself to the world, and your behaviour reflects upon me. You know how upset I am with EO for bringing the tone down … amongst other things.
And I am feeling a small onset of sadness which is making me irritable. But carry on … just had to get it off my chest.
i will do better next time, i promise.
this brief article does a much better job at countering the specific PR campaign that upset me. it is a good place to start for anyone that is not familiar with the issue.
http://www.realclearscience.com/blog/2015/02/fox_news_net_neutrality_bad_because_obama.html
i am no fan of Obama here either. he got on the net neutrality band wagon very late in the game after the groundswell of real grassroots support became overwhelming. in fact his appointment to head the FCC (Tom Wheeler) formerly was a big time lobbyist for the cable and telecom industry. until very recently, the few gigantic internet service providers were smugly confident that Wheeler would rule in their favor. this grassroots effort was in fact a campaign that successfully deployed the very features of the internet, its open access, and its ability to concentrate the voice of small individual stakeholders, that this ruling will help protect.
i just read the 2nd podcast, “Michael Munger on Choosing in Groups”
it is a great rebuttal to the hard core libertarian type that somehow believes a society can function, let alone exist, with no government. it is hard to even argue with such people because you don’t even know where to start. it is like being in an argument with another adult, but drawing on concepts you had already understood in kindergarten. anyway, i found the conversation in the podcast to be a great discussion of what we intuitively understand, but may have a hard time putting into words.
and good morning! 🙂
oh, and one more thing. in the last few minutes of the interview the question of “federal vs state… vs local” is framed perfectly.
and good night!
I find Mike Munger to be exceptionally clear in his thinking. And they are wonderfully suspicious of the questions that are put to groups and the use that those answers are put to, even in the framing of the next questions put to the group.
Both an affirmation of the need for rules for a group to function and a clear notion of why those rules must always be suspect.
And good morning. There is, speaking of exceptional, a ridiculous amount of snow around our ginkgo tree. Mikey’s birthday is near the end of March, and I remember when he turned about 5 there was this much snow and he ate his birthday cake in a sunken snow cave on the neighbour’s lawn while we basked in afternoon sunlight drinking wine on the steps. But this was a super cold winter and I am more than ready to see it gone! And speaking of good things, I have an appointment finally with a cannabinoid clinic in Toronto next week, where I should be able to get a prescription and get sort of California legal. There is a dispensary in BC that I know of, and in fact a neighbour’s daughter with whom we are very close works there. And it is mail order. And nod and wink legal apparently.
“If the decision group is larger than the size of the problem, you are going to impose, unnecessarily, a uniformity of choice when you could have a diversity of choice.”
like marijuana laws.
stay warm up there. you can even have some of our heat.
There is something monstrously slow about my internet, and I think it is useless Safari. But when I tried Chrome the whole thing broke. I am trying to download a browser called Opera, but somewhat ironically, Safari refuses to open http://www.opera.com . So lots of clicking and yes, I cleared all my cookies. And there were a gazillion. But still slow as molasses. And I can’t decide if I should go to yoga or not.