By Lambert Strether of Corrente
Class Warfare
Yellen expresses “great concern” on “income inequality” at Boston Fed conference on said topic, and lists “four building blocks” for “gains in income and wealth”: (1) “Resources Available for Children”; (2) “Higher Education that Families Can Afford”; (3) “Opportunities to Build Wealth through Business Ownership”; (4) “Inheritances” [Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System]. (5) Accounting Control Fraud; (6) Helicopter Drops (6). Fixed it for ya. So where’s mine?
Ebola
Questions real reporters should be asking Texas Presbyterian [Steven Brill, Reuters]. Here’s a good one: “How, in fact, are the bonuses at Texas Health determined?”
Nina Pham stable and in good spirits at NIH [McClatchy]. Movie title: “Escape from Texas Presbyterian.”
Exposed Texas health workers isolated on Carnival cruise ship [Reuters]. Not perhaps the best optics.
Obama names Democratic Third Way insider and Biden (and Reno (and Gore)) chief-of-staff Ron Klain ebola “czar,” placing him in “Homeland Security” chain of command [New York Daily News]. Klain was General Counsel of Gore’s Florida Recount Committee [Wikipedia], so let’s hope things turn out better this time. Klain has no health care experience.
WHO: “Nearly everyone involved in the outbreak response failed to see some fairly plain writing on the wall” [Guardian]. Well, except for Médecins Sans Frontières, Cassandras for both WHO and the CDC.
Republicans call for sphincter control travel bans [AP].
Hong Kong
Mong Kok: Cleared [Reuters]. Recaptured [WSJ]. Photos [Hong Wrong].
Protesters leery of government offer of talks [Asian Correspondent].
CY Leung: “The Hong Kong … government cannot make something that is not in the Basic Law possible” [Christian Science Monitor].
And on the mainland, conflict over land in Kunming [New York Times]. From the details, there weren’t many “study areas” set up…..
Ferguson
St Louis Mayor agrees to meet with protesters after 60 protesters hang banner in City Hall [Riverfront Times]. Here are the demands of Young Activists United, which will be in attendance:
The group wants Slay to force police officers who have “any interaction with the public” to wear body cameras, establish a civilian review board and independently investigate all fatal police shootings. The group also asked Slay to break ties with the federal government’s 1033 program, which sends military hardware to police departments. Maggie Crane, the mayor’s chief spokesperson, tells Daily RFT that the city has no relationship with the program.
Quite moderate! How about turning any existing armored vehicles into planters in city parks and letting them rust out? Notice also how the protests have scaled out to St Louis as a whole. Impressive.
St Louis cop Keith Novara placed under investigation for calling protester’s boss because of protester’s “inciteful” tweets [St Louis Today]. But he’s not suspended. So, citizen harrasment is departmental policy, then? (If you want to hear the followup conversation between protester and cop, before this became a story, see yesterday’s Water Cooler.)
Detail on the stately pace of the Darren Wilson grand jury [Vox].
America the Petrostate
“Capitalism’s catabolic implosion” [Counterpunch].
New York’s highest court upholds local fracking bans [CNY Central]. Good!
Railroads argue crude shipments should be kept secret because terrorists and environmental extremists [McClatchy].
2014
Race tightens between sleazy private equity “No Labels” D mole Greg Orman and R silverback (“Soros!” “Baby killer!” “Illegals!”) Pat Roberts [Public Policy Polling]. Meanwhile, the AFL-CIO, with its fearsome “ground game,” backs Orman [National Journal].
Is Martha Coakley the Bill Buckner of Massachusetts politics? [Politico]. Coakeley as Massachusetts Attorney General took Goldman Sachs for $20 million in fines, and didn’t run on that in 2010, blowing the race. So, no, she’s not. Bill Buckner couldn’t choose to play with two good ankles, but Coakley chooses not to run on her one good issue. Unfortunately, the Ds have no late inning defensive replacement.
2016
Crowdpace unbundles the Overton Window for politicians issue-by-issue; here’s Hillary Clinton [Politico]. “Just where does the Russian Tea Room stand?”
Real time oppo from Republicans on Clinton [National Journal]. Interestingly, they’re not targeting only conservatives.
Stats Watch
Housing starts, September 2014: Total starts and permits up, but permits below expectations. Multifamily permits up, single families down [Bloomberg]. “[E]conomists showed little enthusiasm” [USA Today]. And mortgage rates still at all-time lows.
Consumer sentiment, October 2014: Expecations component up, current conditions unchanged [Bloomberg]. Dollar edges higher [Reuters]. Cheaper gas trumps ebola fear. “[C]onsumers are still not spending freely” [WSJ].
Rapture Index: Unchanged [Rapture Ready].
Cuomodammerüng
Grandstanding Cuomo announces random ebola drills on New York Subway [HuffPo]. “Neither Cuomo [subway head] Prendergast addressed how random subway drills might affect the public.”
News of the Wired
- The new Apple SIM could disrupt the wireless industry [Quartz].
- Review of OS X 10.10 [Ars Technica]. I know I’m Mac-centric. If readers suggest popular/nerdly Windo
zews or *nix links, I’ll put them on my watch list. - What Maidan looked like on Instagram, before, during, and after the upheavals there [Atlantic]. As with so many data visualizations, the value add over simple prose is dubious. OK, so people went to Maidan and took pictures. And?
- Tornadoes are touching down in clusters more often than 50 years ago [Live Science]. And tornadoes aren’t the only clusters doing that!
- Big weddings, short marriages [WSJ].
- Climate change is not responsible for changes in forest tree species; land use is [Penn State].
- Student movement to challenge orthodox “economics” seems to lose momentum [Economist].
- People who sleep less than seven hours a night are three times as likely to catch a cold as those who put in eight-plus [WSJ]. And other handy tips.
Readers, feel free to contact me with (a) links, and even better (b) sources I should curate regularly, and (c) to find out how to send me images of plants. Vegetables are fine! Fungi are deemed to be honorary plants! See the previous Water Cooler (with plant) here. And here’s today’s plant, at Thompson Wildlife Refuge in Markham, VA:
Talk amongst yourselves!
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Klain was General Counsel of Gore’s Florida Recount Committee [Wikipedia], so let’s hope things turn out better this time. Klain has no health care experience.
Well then, I feel better already! Georgetown and Harvard Law too. Quite the pedigree. No mention of an MBA at least, although I’m sure he’s surrounded by them. Kinda wonder why they aren’t running from the term “czar” though, what with all the ongoing anti-Russian hysterics.
Looks mostly like another well-connected insider getting his ticket punched again, but who knows. Hopefully he’s at least smart enough to surround himself and listen to actual medical/epidemiological people. But I’m sure this is mostly all about optics at this point. One guy in charge of the three ring circus/”effort” and all that.
We can all breathe a sigh of relief. Ebola must be a distraction otherwise a clinician would have been put in charge.
When will President Obama utter the mandatory “
BrownieKlainie, you’re doing a heck of a job!”?Maybe he can talk the virus to death.
In other ebola news: kudos to Cuba.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/oct/12/cuba-leads-fights-against-ebola-africa
http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Africa/Africa-Monitor/2014/1015/Cuba-to-the-rescue-Ebola-stricken-countries-welcome-Castro-s-doctors
I think a sternly-worded “cease and desist” letter will stop it in its tracks.
Klain reminds me of Obama’s penchant for hollow men. I suspect that O can’t escape the trap of his mistrustful self. Well, maybe I’m beyond suspecting. I know it. Klain is to Ebola what Arne is to education. (But they both play basketball, I bet.) And “General Counsel of Gore’s Florida Recount Committee”–in other words, the person who truly lost the election for Gore? If Klain couldn’t take notice of the penny-loafer riot, how is he going to deal with Ebola? (And as an amusing aside, he’s the person all of the huffy Nader-Dood-It Dems are looking for. He’s just been in occultation for a few years. Or should I give into temptation and drop the dreaded words “Ralph Nader” and wait for the whining to start?)
We should not overlook what all the competent people in the health sciences -especially public health- are thinking about this: Klain get the glory -if there is any- for their efforts and they will get the blame for his neoliberal decisions that cause damage. this shows Obama’s utter inability to conceive of the public good.
The mayor of St. Louis is named “Slay”? Really? And he’s trying to provide damage control after police officers have slain people? This is like the names of characters in Dr. Strangelove.
Well what’ya know, truth in advertising at last! St. Louis and its surrounding environs have worn their racism on their sleeves for quite some time, so its hardly surprising. I thought the Ferguson cops sporting “I Am Darren Wilson” bracelets while on duty was pretty cheeky, but what do I know. Strange days indeed!
The Cosmos has a rather wicked sense of humor sometimes…
The only travel ban we need is to ban Ebola from travelling.
Hoping to have some extra space in coach on my flight tomorrow. Gotta look for that silver lining…
Have a good flight.
This Luddite would hike or go on horseback if possible.
All the way to Nepal? (A wind/motor freighter might be fun.)
Part of the ‘re-tracing the Clovis First’ journey.
start out east of the Galapagos and go straight down
http://www.findlatitudeandlongitude.com/antipode-map/#.VEG2fI10w5s
And our quality of life would doubtless go up if that were the case. At least 90% of the things people do and the places they travel is bullcrap busywork. If they could just sit under a tree and enjoy the shade and peace instead 99 time out of a hundred they’d the be happier for it.
I’m only surprised someone hasn’t actually proposed that.
If you’re in the Boston/Cambridge area and interested in worker-ownership, check this out:
Boston/Cambridge Worker-Ownership Meetup
Also on the Cooperative/Solidarity Economy tip:
Andre M. Primus on Forging Community Through Sharing
Village Voices votes Co-op Furniture Store Best in the City. (and I have to say, the paint-job on the building is pretty sweet too ;-)
Yellen, income equality (or inequality).
Income or wealth inequality.
8). compound growth of wealth.
Compound growth of wealth means the rich will always be richer.
Can you foresee a way the non-rich grow their wealth at higher rates than the rich? Even with equal rates, the non-rich will never catch up.
•People who sleep less than seven hours a night are three times as likely to catch a cold as those who put in eight-plus.
What about those who make it up with a few hours of napping at work? Does it help improve the odds?
RE: Railroads argue crude shipments should be kept secret because terrorists and environmental extremists [McClatchy].
The give away to me, secret or not, is the 9:45 CN train composed of ~100+ flat black tanker cars moving at 20mph.
Maybe they should be painted camo?
I’m more concerned about their legacy rolling stock w/ inadequate pressure relief vent valves, relative to transporting shale oil, rather than the bureaucracies paperwork. http://www.railwayage.com/index.php/safety/re-inventing-the-dot-111.html
The fly in the ointment is that shale oil tends to have a higher vapor pressure than conventional crude oil.
Not sure what would be done differently once the train is rolling whether or not the route is published? What I observe is they are pretty regular anyway ( the CN train I refer to coincides w/ my commute).
Yeah. We have a coal train go through the middle of Hattiesburg every few weeks, headed to a coal electric plant on the coast (Lorraine Road, Gulfport, Mississippi.) It’s pretty regular, and slow as H— too. Why no terrorist threats to it? Come on now, the environmental protesters are classified a terrorists by the FBI, right? Fair is fair. I demand armoured cars at the front, mid way, and at the end of each coal train! It’s the Homelands’ security we’re talking about here! It’ll give secure employment to not only the guards who man those Freedom Flatcars, but those who build them, and repair the rails which have to carry those gargantuan defenders of our Way of Life! Wake up America! The Future is here!
What might be considered, but hasn’t been mentioned (except. perhaps, by the engineers speaking among themselves) is the length of the trains and the length of the sidings used to allow trains to “pass in the night” . Oil, a liquid, would tend to slosh within its containers and the force would cause the whole train to move – or be held stationary by the engines.
The trains have been lengthened and fit upon the sidings with ten feet to spare. Trains waiting in sidings while on-coming trains pass within a space of five to 7 and one half feet from the waiting train, oil sloshing with each tanker. . . . Who needs environmental extremists when we have greed insisting on one more car – just one.
Ahh, I’m just a worry wart who lives five or so city lots from the main line here in town.
Secret? We live just south of Denver, near the light rail line, which parallels the freight heavy rail line up to and through the city. Freight traffic is constant, mainly 100+ car coal trains heading down to Texas power plants, but with rapidly increasing numbers of oil tanker cars. Between our town and downtown Denver, anytime of day or night, there is a coal/oil tanker train either rolling through or on the sidings.
Of course, I have noticed cameras installed at all major – and semi-major – intersections, so any terrists would be monitored, unless they were very careful.
Ron Klain’s major involvements are these two companies—Case Holdings and Revolution.
—-CONSUMERS DESERVE A REVOLUTION
We look for companies that are attacking large, traditional industries with innovative new products and services. Many existing industries are on the brink of disruptive change, driven by new technological possibilities and consumer psychographic trends. We aim to transform markets by shifting power to consumers, and in the process create massive value in our companies.
….A revolution’s success rests in the power of its beliefs. When enough people participate in the revolution, embracing its beliefs and acting upon them, a “tipping point” is reached: The status quo is no longer acceptable and everyone becomes a revolutionary.
http://www.revolution.com/our-story/about-revolution#.VEFiSK6ve-0
Case Holdings:
—Ron Klain, currently Assistant to the President and Chief of Staff to Vice President Joe Biden, will leave the White House to become President of Case Holdings, the holding company of AOL co-founder Steve Case.—
http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ron-klain-named-president-of-case-holdings-112868139.html
“Yellen expresses “great concern” on “income inequality” at Boston Fed conference on said topic, and lists “four building blocks” for “gains in income and wealth”: … (4) “Inheritances” ” ???
“(3) “Opportunities to Build Wealth through Business Ownership”” What!?!
So, do run along poor people, and dears if you wish to have some resources, start a business or something, perhaps arrange an inheritance for yourself.
OMFG – what is wrong with these people? It’s one thing to be steamed when they are making poor decisions behind closed doors, in minutes that will only get public scrutiny years hence, been when they come out and say things that are so out-of-touch, so myopic and nakedly stupid, so deeply detached from the realities that most people face, it’s downright frightening.
It either means that they are completely incompetent (christ, doesn’t this woman have some communications people to look out for s**t like this?), or just do not give damn that what they say could be construed as a true “let them eat inheritance” moment. I am not sure which is worse. Let their smiting begin!
Nothing exists for them that isn’t in their catechism of neo-liberal dogma. Such a neat, tidy world!
“If all the poor would just go to Harvard, or start up Googles, the inequality problem would be solved.”
I do like Yellen’s #1 and #2, although the devil is in the details (and in the hands of the financial sector, initiatives commonly end up claiming to deliver one thing while actually achieving the opposite).
#3 shows a fundamental misunderstanding of the nature of poverty. Starting a business requires (a) capital (b) time and (c) an appetite for risk. In contrast to the popular American myth, the most daring entrepreneurs I know have typically been the children of wealthy parents. In fairness, they weren’t always funded by said parents in their business pursuits, but there is a certain freedom in knowing that if things go pear-shaped, you aren’t going to be living in a cardboard box on the street and eating cat food.
I won’t even touch #4. Inheritance as a cure for inequality? That’s right up there with large piles of bailout cash as a cure for improper behavior in the banking sector.
Even #1 and #2 fail to challenge the neoliberal idea that everything is a competitive market. If we could arrange it so that the deck was less stacked against the poor then that would be a useful outcome, but it’s still all about succeeding at the expense of your fellow man by out-competing him. What happens to the ones who fail? I doubt anybody would be willing to stand up and defend the idea of creative destruction as applied to social policy, yet that’s exactly what the likes of Yellen are doing when they allow neoliberalism to shape their thinking on social issues.
Consumers are not spending freely – WSJ.
May I suggest that we free those wage slaves so that they can be free to spend freely?
No such thing as a free lunch.
Hellooooo K st & Wall st is dat a way…
UPDATE: WOMAN WHO VOMITED IN PENTAGON PARKING LOT VISITED LIBERIA TWO WEEKS AGO — FOX CITING DEFENSE SOURCE
Arlington County Fire Department and Fairfax County HAZMAT Teams are on the scene after a woman – alleged to have recently traveled from Liberia – fell ill and started vomiting in The Pentagon parking lot this morning. Arlington Public Health has activated its Emergency Operations Center to manage the incident.
Well, if she just had to drop a load of Bio Hazard Level 4 goo somewhere…
betchya O calls up more troops by the end of next wk
Never attribute to malevolence what is merely due to incompetence.
Clarke, 3001: The Final Odyssey
And of course the story from JFK in NYC that Fox’s brother-in-law NYPost ran last night… more vomiting!
my family is all over me about my dark ebola humor…they shouldn’t make it so easy!
The IQ and the life expectancy of the average American recently passed each other in opposite directions. G.Carlin
I can hardly wait for the next outbreak of norovirus on a cruise ship. I guess I shouldn’t joke, though, because people are probably more likely to get a norovirus infection from a sick restaurant employee who couldn’t stay home from work because his employer doesn’t provide sick leave.
Unfortunately, for this worrier, sick self-employed hot dog vendors or food truck guys/gals are also worrisome.
That’s not something paid sick leaves will address.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sygxmYlvr8I
How Fast Do Burgers Age?
Here Aby, you can pass this along to your daughter:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/sallydavies/sets/72157624739645253/
Davies McDonalds Happy Meal Project- all photos ©Sally Davies
Back home from the bars back in college days, day 1591 would still have been good to go! In fact it looks better than the ones that were in the computer center vending machine as I recall. I wouldn’t even touch those in my more feral youth..
you know exactly what you can do with your links…
“Indifference to me, is the epitome of all evil.”
keep away from me opti and im going to return the favor.
I just flashed on Dibblers ‘Sausage Inna Bun.’
Pratchett wrote about this too.
Can’t make both ends meat, eh?
Sadly, this Carlinism is no longer apt as both IQ and life expectancy are in decline in the USoA.
Republicans are pretty good with sphincter control, thus they have overlooked this, leaving it for Democrats, presumably not as good at it, to take advantage – Close all public toilets!!!
Let’s be clear what is going on with ebola response. The US is sending medic units to Liberia. The UK is sending medic units to Sierra Leone. France has resisted doing something similar in Guinea. Not sure who is going to provide additional aid to Guinea. Congo, Nigeria, and Senegal have contained their outbreaks.
The GOP demanded a czar instead of doing what they should have done and confirmed a Surgeon General.
Obama caved and appointed a czar.
You don’t need many qualifications to be a punching bag for the media, Congress, and the GOP. That would’ve been the full-time job anyway.
The ebola diversion from election issues will not stop however. Or the media will find a new shiny object.
The truth is that people who know what they are doing are beginning to handle the situation. Dallas was a “It can’t happen here” first case failure that exposed the BS of homeland security BW preparedness. After billions of dollars in DC, a typical hospital in a typical US city could not handle an anomalous infectious disease quickly enough to isolate the patient. Or identify that it was anomalous.
We’ll know soon enough either way. One thing’s for sure, no one’s going to be mistaking it for a run of the mill flu bug.
“Young man, go west.”
It was possible at one time when there was still open space left to escape to.
Now, before you get to the mega cities on the west coast by wagon, the virus is already there before you, if not first class, at least in comfortable coach on a plane.
“The truth is that people who know what they are doing are beginning to handle the situation. Dallas was a “It can’t happen here” first case failure that exposed the BS of homeland security BW preparedness. After billions of dollars in DC, a typical hospital in a typical US city could not handle an anomalous infectious disease quickly enough to isolate the patient. Or identify that it was anomalous.”
Ding,
most egregiously, had they kept him for 23hr observation a higher Medicare/Medicaid billing rate would have kicked in, that’s prob the only reason the CEO risks getting thrown under the train by the BOD! ARRRGHH lost billing opportunities!
“You don’t need many qualifications to be a punching bag for the media”
Just need a resilient utter lack of self respect.. and no other job prospects that offer a travel budget/expense account/ paid meddies & vacation bennies
Cuba’s on it:
http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Africa/Africa-Monitor/2014/1015/Cuba-to-the-rescue-Ebola-stricken-countries-welcome-Castro-s-doctors
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/oct/12/cuba-leads-fights-against-ebola-africa
All I can say is, the rest of the damned planet is full of wimps.
St. Louis protestors and Hong Kong protestors.
Protestors of the world, unite!
I think a moderate demand here, being globally united, is that we stop letting Money – not just Beijing – pre-screen/pre-approve our candidates****.
**** Finding solutions to common/similar/shared problems **** is our united goal.
A European feel good story to take the mind off The Night of the Living Ebola
The casing around the ruined nuclear reactor at Chernobyl is crumbling, causing a renewed radioactive contamination risk. A new cover for the site is under construction – but the project is running out of funding….
http://www.dw.de/funding-woes-delay-new-chernobyl-cover/a-17997493