General Growth Inc. and why we need a share economy

General Growth, a mall owner and operator, declared bankruptcy--because its bonds and mortgages were for five years and they simply came due. This is why we should not have bonds with fixed maturity dates, only a share continuous stream. This avoids manufactured crises that have nothing to do with fundamentals.

General Growth declared bankruptcy. A bunch of speculators bought their bonds at three cents on the dollar. Those same bonds are selling above par and the speculators made a dramatic profit.

Animal Rights Referendum

Switzerland had a referendum on animal rights lawyers--who would represent animals who were possibly abused . It lost 70.5 to 29.5 percent. Switzerland already has a 160-page law governing animal rights, which among oyhr things dictates that pet owners owning Mongolian gerbils must give them 233 square inches of space. Dog owners must have a course on how to take care of them.

Political Views of the Emerging Middle Class

Aristotle and many in the United States believed that the middle class represent a liberal strength. But in many developing nations, the emerging middle class is doing things that would not be considered liberal. See this informative statistics-laden article in Newsweek. Sadly, it seems from this article they would be even less likely to support participatory democracy than Americans.

Iceland Votes No on Bail Out Repayment!

I reported on Iceland scheduling a referendum on whether it should pay back its bailout. The voters appear to have voted no repayment on the bailout.

Information on Juror Fairness

Lots of good quality statistical information and controlled studies on the behavior of United Kingdom jurors in criminal cases including how often they research the case on the internet.

The Horse Race, The "Process Story" and the "West Wing"

One of the complaints about political news is that more time is spent on what is called the "horse race" than on the substance of the proposals, contents of bills, candidate positons and advantages and disadvantages of same. NPR did an excellent, well balanced, and nuanced piece examining this, the relationship between President Obama and his Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel, and the relationship between The West Wing and the real life in the White House now.

Voelker Interview

Voelker clearly attacks the Casino Economy. He asked an inventor of financial engineering who won a Nobel Prize, "What all the financial engineering does for the economy and what it does for productivity." He said that "it does nothing." It "moves around the rents in the financial system--and besides, it's a lot of intellectual fun." Rent seeking is economist-speaking for doing something that exploits rules, bureaucracy or the financial law. And in the words of Wikipedia, it is NOT "production of added wealth.

He cited the statistics that the financial sector generates fourty percent of all the profits in the country, rising quickly of 2.5 percent to 6.5% of the GNP

Yet, Volcker says that the commercial banks do provide a real service, and run the payment system. I will address whether there are not more efficient alternatives.