tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8746692.post5711014320560372413..comments2024-03-29T02:03:49.151-04:00Comments on History Unfolding: Aluminum, then and nowDavid Kaiserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05020082243968071584noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8746692.post-77848295158730342014-02-27T03:17:31.185-05:002014-02-27T03:17:31.185-05:00You’ve got to admit that a nation willing to spend...You’ve got to admit that a nation willing to spend this kind of dough, year in and year out, is definitely demonstrating a significant national purpose, and maybe even aspiring to greatness. Plus, one would also think that at least some of its citizens must be inspired by this great national effort, especially since there appears to be no popular movement to change course. <br /><br /><br />http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_military_expendituresZosimahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11263402425021727149noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8746692.post-53837995755623526122014-02-23T14:55:17.655-05:002014-02-23T14:55:17.655-05:00all the major officials of the Administration disl...<i>all the major officials of the Administration disliked the company on principle</i><br /><br />I wonder if there's anyone high up in the Obama Administration, who "dislikes" any bankster or disaster capitalist?<br /><br />I wonder if Alcoa's association with the Mellon family helped encourage the animosity.Bruce Wilderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09631065564839959376noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8746692.post-891129773306830442014-02-23T10:25:17.210-05:002014-02-23T10:25:17.210-05:00Please send your Blog and the reference to the Rol...Please send your Blog and the reference to the Rolling Stone article to Senator Elizabeth Warren.tructor manhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18214448074424409144noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8746692.post-7467518037390172632014-02-23T05:01:06.856-05:002014-02-23T05:01:06.856-05:00http://www.sfb597.uni-bremen.de/homepages/schmitt/...<br />http://www.sfb597.uni-bremen.de/homepages/schmitt/download/2011_Guns_and_Butter_Obinger_Schmitt.pdf<br /><br />"Scholars from a number of disciplines have argued that the massive expansion of the welfare <br />state in the post-war period was at least in some part a by-product of the Cold War and the <br />associated political competition between two rival regime blocs. However, the question of <br />whether regime competition fuelled welfare state growth has never been subject to systematic <br />examination. Applying spatial econometrics, this paper offers the first empirical test of this <br />argument. Our findings support the notion that regime competition stimulated the expansion of <br />the welfare state on both sides of the Iron Curtain in the post-war period. <br /><br />“War is the father of all things”. This famous statement by Heraclitus arguably holds true for the welfare state as well. For example, concerns on the part of national militaries regarding the <br />wellbeing of young men were among the reasons for the introduction of health insurance and <br />worker protection legislation in the late 19th century<br />...<br /><br />“All that made Western democracy worth living for its people – social security, the <br />welfare state, a high and rising income for its wage earners […] – is the result of fear. <br />Fear of the poor, and the largest and best organized block of citizens – the workers; fear <br />of an alternative that really existed and that could really spread, notably in the form of <br />Soviet communism. Fear of the system’s own instability. […]. Whatever Stalin did to the <br />Russians, he was good for the common people in the West. It is no accident that the <br />Keynes-Roosevelt way of saving capitalism concentrated on welfare and social security, <br />on giving the poor money to spend, and on the central tenet of post-war Western policies <br />– and one specifically targeted to the workers – full employment.”6<br />"<br /><br />Paper is from 2011, so case closed and proven.<br /><br />Nowadays a big problem in Germany is the subsidizing of industrial energy(exemption from eco-tax) while the household sector has to pay very high costs for energy. This is a heavy burden for the little guy. Electricity being cut off to poor people who can't pay increaing costs for wind enery subsidies spread across the population while aluminium producers get gigawattts on the cheap. The EU commission is thinking of going against thsi practice. I once researched a bit on German energy use and found they use a lot more than any other EU country by far in total so the hypocrisy about being on the cutting edge of the eco-energy movement is very high while excepting their energy intensive export industries(gas guzzling Mercedes autos). Industrial policy is everything and monied interests. To say, by the way, that bankers should be hung up by the lampposts, is superfluous, but the Arab springs and food poverty globally can similarly be followed back to GS, Deutsche Bank, et al. grain speculation. <br /><br />"An important and credible new study, discussed at length in a recent Scientific American Article, seems to have penetrated all the hype and confusion about derivatives and about the causes of the food crises world wide that have caused famine, death, and revolt.:<br /><br />http://necsi.edu/research/social/foodprices.html<br /><br />The study concludes that ethanal has indeed been a major factor but also that the role of commodities market speculation is undeniable. <br /><br />American and EU central banks and the biggest EU and American Banks are firmly commited to derivatives and resolutely opposed to any regulation, to any clearing houses or any changes that would fundamentally alter the current global free market in derivatives. Derivatives are an essential tool in global risk management, but if this studyis true are we allowing a systemic crime against humanity in not making least those corrections that would remove price distortions.?"<br />Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03288487311129532045noreply@blogger.com