Senate Hearing On Brain Cancer Risks From Cell Phone Use Nears As New Study Is Released News Junkie Post (hat tip reader John D)
42.90 Euros Per Arm Der Spiegel (hat tip Tim Coldwell)
London’s Luxury Homes Sell at the Fastest Pace Since July 2007 Bloomberg
US Equity Markets Look Dangerously Wobbly As Insiders Sell In Record Numbers Jesse
The Grapes of Wrath revisited: The plight of Native Americans Guardian
U.S. Farm Profit Plunging on Lower Crop, Dairy Prices Bloomberg
Thanks to the Deficit, the Buck Stops Here Joseph Stiglitz, Washington Post
Antidote du jour:
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I agree with Stiglitz’s view of the economy but disagree about his call to move away from the dollar as the world’s reserve currency. That isn’t just a financial issue but a political one. He doesn’t even mention the politics. Every country would seek the best deal for itself and every country’s situation is different. It would be hard to get an agreement even in the best of times, and these are not the best of times. The world economy is stressed and unstable, and the political leadership in most countries, including our own, to be plain, just sucks.
Jesse’s story is another indication that the current rally is a suckers market, but most of us knew that. While it is ultimately fiction, it could still go for a while until reality catches up to it. I loved too the link about the killswitch for the internet. That it was an idea of Jello Jay Reockefeller, the former chair of the Senate intelligence committee should come as a surprise to no one. The guy is your typical paranoic. I bet he checks under the bed and in the closet each night for Islamofascist terrorists.
Did Stiglitz REALLY say $9 Billion, when he meant $9 TRILLION, or is it just that the Times writers couldn’t accept a $9 TRILLION increase in the National Debt?
Did joebhed really say the Times, when it was obviously the Post?
The plight of the Native Americans is nothing new, it’s simply a matter of the author having recently discovered it. Neither economic booms nor economic busts make much of a difference in populations that are deeply impoverished, under-educated, and separated from the rest of society.
The Native Americans have a terrible plight, but I am convinced that the reservations are the past, not the future. The reservations have few economic opportunities, due in large part to unworkable bureaucracies and deeply corrupt leadership. The reservations that have done well have done so through “regulatory arbitrage”, taking advantage of state limitations on gambling to open casinos. But states will not let them maintain that monopoly for long; either gambling will be legalized, or the reservation casinos will be taxed into the ground.
The challenge will be for Native Americans to retain their identity as they look for opportunities off the reservation. It will not be easy, but other groups have done so, including American Muslims, Jews, the Mennonites, etc. I think that places like Gallup are an important stepping stone: building communities of Native Americans off the reservation, within reach of economic opportunities, but in sufficient numbers to retain elements of indigenous culture, particularly the language.