Eeyores news and view

A look at recent US recessions October 15, 2008 - 3:47pm
By The Associated Press
(AP) - Many Americans have forgotten what a deep recession feels like. In recent years, periods of economic expansion have lasted longer, and recent downturns have been relatively short and shallow. A look at the most recent recessions in the U.S.:
March 2001-November 2001
Duration: 8 months
Unemployment peak: 6.3 percent (June 2003)
Length of expansion preceding recession: 10 years
July 1990-March 1991
Duration: 8 months
Unemployment peak: 7.8 percent (June 1992)
Length of expansion preceding recession: 7 years, 6 months
July 1981-November 1982
Duration: 16 months
Unemployment peak: 10.8 percent (November 1982)
Length of expansion preceding recession: 1 year
January 1980-July 1980
Duration: 6 months
Unemployment peak: 7.8 percent (July 1980)
Length of expansion preceding recession: 4 years, 10 months
November 1973-March 1975
Duration: 16 months
Unemployment peak: 9 percent (May 1975)
Length of expansion preceding recession: 3 years
___
Source: National Bureau of Economic Research, Bureau of Labor Statistics

This Week's Contrarian Theme: The Positives Imaginary Worth, Empire of Debt: How Modern Finance Created Its Own Downfall October 15, 2008 Longtime contributor Zeus Yiamouyiannis has managed the difficult task of explaining the arcane world of credit default swaps (CDS) in the four-part series below. Here is his overview/introduction to the series.
This week's theme is "the positives" in our current situation, and the positive here is this: we can place the sources of our problems in the proper contexts.
Those bent on "manufacturing consent" must first de-contextualize reality so the targets of the propaganda are shaken free from any mooring to reality. Then the propaganda invokes fight-or-flight emotions (fear) or triggers the defense of some base values.
So rather than accept the propaganda "explanation" of the bailout and accept our elected official's bleating excuses for their consent, we can understand the reality operating beneath the sludge of the Mainstream Media's parroted "official version."
Imaginary Worth, Empire of Debt: How Modern Finance Created Its Own Downfall
How did we get here? The current global financial unraveling and meltdown has brought us face-to-face with a stark and uncomfortable truth: with all its reassuring numbers, our financial system is a human system, based on human frailties and desires, resting almost completely upon imaginary notions of worth.
Historical financial innovations have led us piece by piece into a phase shift from ownership of real assets to control of concocted wealth that no longer has a credible authoritative connection to productivity, life needs, or the day-to-day requirements of commerce.
From the bartering of material goods and services, to the convenient exchange of dollars no longer backed by anything but faith, to "creative" financial vehicles that leverage essentially symbolic wealth to an infinite degree, we have progressively departed from the foundation of what was once considered financial worth—the competent stakeholdership, ownership, and stewardship of real property involving labor, earnings, investment, risk, reward, and responsibility.
In other words, we’ve reached the "asymptote," the mathematical limit whereby even an infinite increase in concocted value produces no growth of worth on the real level. We are now caught in a circle of absurdity-- lending and borrowing derived from credit derived from collateral derived from inflated assets derived from future returns derived from “marked to model” value derived from unlimited growth and ability to pay. This last assumption is not only wrong but could never be right. The pyramid scheme has reached its limit. Finite goods cannot play out in infinite terms.
The problem comes from a reverse engineering of the world, amid global capital premises designed to extract, exploit, and concentrate wealth through the maximization of profits, profits, which have become increasingly dependent on maximum short-term competitive returns. This has accelerated the saturation of the global economic system. Much like a biological cancer single-mindedly programmed to take over the body, rogue financial instruments and players have mindlessly aimed for growth at all costs. Faced with the limits of growth to real wealth, the financial system has manufactured what has been called a "shadow banking system" that creates "value" out of whole cloth by simply assigning and exchanging it. This has culminated in a 70 trillion dollar market for credit default "swaps" (CDSs), an unregulated insurance, which is the subject of the following essays.
In the following essays I also point to several basic natural laws of systems, that were simply ignored or overridden in the greed-driven frenzy to manufacture growth:
Infinite growth is impossible in a finite system. One can be very creative about assigning worth and developing unlimited growth in assigned worth, but real worth remains constrained to its moorings—can it create quality of life, can it feed, shelter, and clothe, can it produce clean air and water, can it create lasting fulfillment? Even the magic of percentages and myths about "houses always going up in value" assume unlimited growth in environmental and financial systems with limits. Infinite growth premises are demonstrably false in finite systems. What they really seem communicate is, “Let the next generation deal with the consequences as long as I get my maximum returns now.” Infinite growth can happen in non-finite systems, and I indicate some of those possibly pro-social non-finite systems of exchange in my last essay.
There is no such real thing as "externalized" liability in a global system. As with the exploitation of natural resources, there is always a cost to any action, which seeks to extract value. Someone has to pay the price. The more interconnected a system, the more readily and strongly that price will turn up to affect all the players including the initial beneficiaries.
Finance systems need to be straightforward and transparent. This one would seem a no-brainer, but objectively speaking non-transparency has been a very large part of late capitalism, aiding concentration of wealth and enabling the unfair and sometimes illegal benefit of some players at the expense of others. This isn’t just about something obvious like insider trading.
Corporations have started shell companies to hide off-the-balance deficits. As explained in these essays, financial institutions marked their assets "to (their own) model" without fully revealing their assumptions. Rating agencies assessed junk as AAA, facilitating the sale of that junk to pension funds, who were only interested in secure investments. All this was hidden behind so-called "complexity" (a mantra repeated brainlessly in the media), a Rube Goldberg device of financial levers whose sole real purpose was to hide unscrupulous and unreasonable practices.
Debts are not assets. As I explain in the following articles, buying debt can appear to be a good investment on paper, but this rests on ability to pay. When debts are so constructed to create unreasonable re-payment (fast accelerating interest and principal payments rapidly outstripping the equity of collateral) they will fail.
Monopolies and concentrations of wealth ruin economies by binding up the flow of goods and services and freezing exchange. Healthy systems both natural and financial depend upon high diversity and exchange among distinct entities each offering something of real value. This is why a rain forest is considered a very rich system—many niches, many species all participate in the web of life.
This is why Henry Ford said he needed to make his wages high enough and his cars cheap enough for his own workers to buy them. This is why a large middle class is the bedrock of a functioning democracy. As I mentioned in the following essays, debt instruments had the effect of swallowing the normal citizen and worker’s paycheck paralyzing his or her ability to spend after the borrowing value of his or her assets (i.e. houses) were tapped out. This has been exacerbated in America by declining real wages, non-compensated increased productivity, and outsourced jobs. This has been further demonstrated by banks’ unwillingness to lend to each other. When the flow of money stops, financial systems seize up.
Without regulation and actual risk involving real consequences the financial system and its leaders will run wild. This one would again seem to be obvious, yet this law was ignored as well. Myths about the superiority of a market based on greed and acquisition to regulate itself don’t make any sense even on the face. Yet the world system, and in particular the American system driven by neo-conservative ideology, hailed deregulation as the triumph of "freedom."
Chief executive officers of large corporations could take huge risks for their companies and reap hundreds of millions of dollars of salaries, or completely run their companies into the ground as those risks came home to roost and get "only" tens of millions of dollars of golden parachutes. Reckless behavior is guaranteed if it is rewarded more than prudent, intelligent behavior in an economic system. From an acquisition standpoint, this is individually "rational" behavior, even though it is unhealthy and irrational from a system standpoint.
The question might be asked, "Why were all these very simple and obvious maxims ignored? What were people thinking?" I think much of it centers around the fact that people’s education and identity still has its roots in a long-past industrial age. People still tend to make their meaning and choices based upon largely myopic, compartmentalized, and stratified knowledge. Even well educated people rarely look deeply into the big picture and to whether their particular perceptions, assumptions, and knowledge reasonably fit with other parts of a system. Generally, if we can make some money, feed our families, and have some fun, we don’t really care what the system is doing. Now we are invited to engage bigger-picture thinking as a necessity in our day-to-day life.
I confess that I am not a financial wizard. I have a Ph.D. in philosophy of education (with an emphasis in cultural studies and psychology) with a natural sciences and math undergraduate background. This has allowed me to gain the tools to look at systems and the specialized skills to examine the various parts of systems. Natural sciences helped me apprehend existing systems, both natural and human. Psychology helped me to investigate motive. Philosophy helped me to question assumptions and test "common sense" thinking. Cultural studies helped me understand context. Math helped me check the actual numbers and formulas that financial systems were using. It is my small hope that these essays can help revive a liberal, integrated, imaginative, and critical examination and creation of the world around us.
http://www.oftwominds.com/blog.html

Mexican soldiers crossed clear line pointed rifles at border agent Jerry Seper (Contact)Tuesday, October 14, 2008 The nation's border czar has concluded that Mexican soldiers who held a U.S. Border Patrol agent at gunpoint in August did so after bypassing a barbed-wire fence and other clearly visible barriers to cross into the United States, contradicting claims by the State Department and the Mexican government that the soldiers were simply lost. U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Commissioner W. Ralph Basham, in a private letter to the National Border Patrol Council Local 2544 in Tucson, Ariz., described the Aug. 3 border incident as a "potential lethal encounter involving four Mexican armed military soldiers north of the international boundary." To see the letter, click here "There is a barbed-wire fence and new tactical infrastructure within sight that marks the borderline where the incident took place," Mr. Basham said. "Our uniformed agent, in a marked Border Patrol vehicle, identified himself in both English and Spanish." Mr. Basham, who oversees the Border Patrol, said that while most incursions into the United States by Mexican military or law enforcement authorities take place in remote areas where the international border is poorly marked, "that was not the case in this particular incident." He also described the tactics used against the agent, including the pointing of automatic rifles at him, as "unacceptable," adding that the incident had been "thoroughly documented by the Department of Homeland Security." He said the matter has since been sent to the State Department "with a request for diplomatic action." At the time of the incident, the State Department described the incursion as a misunderstanding, saying the Mexican soldiers did not know where they were and needed to make certain that the detained agent was who he said he was. It was the same general statement the department had made in dozens of other suspected incursions by members of the Mexican military. During a press briefing in Washington, State Department spokesman Gonzalo Gallegos said U.S. officials were aware of the incident and had brought it to the attention of the Mexican government, but that the encounter "stemmed from a momentary misunderstanding as to the exact location of the Mexican-U.S. border." Border Patrol spokesman Lloyd Easterling at the time also noted that the incident, which took place on the Tohono O'odham Indian Reservation, occurred in an area where there were "no markers, at least not easily found." He said, "There's no line painted in the sand or anything like that." Ricardo Alday, a spokesman at the Mexican Embassy in Washington, also said at the time that Mexico and the U.S. were engaged in "an all-out struggle to deter criminal organizations from operating on both sides of our common border." "Law enforcement operations have led, from time to time, to innocent incursions by both U.S. and Mexican law enforcement personnel and military units into the territory of both nations, and in particular along non-demarcated areas of our border," he said. The unidentified Border Patrol agent was detained at gunpoint for several minutes by members of the Mexican military who crossed the border into Arizona about 85 miles southwest of Tucson. The soldiers returned to Mexico without incident when backup agents responded to assist. It was not clear what the soldiers were doing in the United States, but U.S. law enforcement authorities have long said that current and former Mexican military personnel have been hired to protect drug and migrant smugglers. Local 2544 President Edward "Bud" Tuffly II said the four Mexican military soldiers crossed into the United States after passing a barbed-wire fence and vehicle barriers that Homeland Security had erected in the area. He also said the agent was in full uniform and was driving a fully marked Border Patrol vehicle, complete with red and blue lights, large green stripes down the side and the large words "Border Patrol" on the sides and the rear of the vehicle. Basham"A reasonable person would conclude that the soldiers knew exactly at whom they were pointing their rifles," Mr. Tuffly said. "Had the agent panicked and fired a shot or attempted to flee in his vehicle, there is little doubt the Mexican soldiers would have opened fire." Mr. Tuffly, a veteran Border Patrol agent, called the State Department's description of the incident "unfortunate," noting that during past incursions, the Mexican government denied it had soldiers in the area or blamed impostors, even when military Humvees were involved. "Time after time they have gotten away with these incursions and time after time our government has not taken a forceful stand against them," he said. Mr. Basham's letter was sent Sept. 25 to Mr. Tuffly in response to an Aug. 23 letter by the Local 2544 president to President Bush asking that he put an end to Mexican military incursions that have put Border Patrol agents at risk of being injured or killed. "It is disgraceful that Border Patrol agents are put in harm's way and our government doesn't do everything reasonably within its power to protect us from marauding Mexican soldiers and others," Mr. Tuffly wrote. "Without a forceful response to these illegal incursions, an agent will eventually be seriously wounded or killed. It is only a matter of time." In his letter, Mr. Basham said "dialogue with the government of Mexico" had been initiated "to prevent a recurrence of this type of incident." He said CBP was committed to "preventing incursions into the United States by any entity, whether unintentional or by those who enter with criminal intent." "Securing our borders is a top priority and our Border Patrol agents are precious resources that are essential in gaining greater levels of operational control along our border with Mexico," Mr. Basham said, vowing to Mr. Tuffly to "make it a priority to speak again with the leadership at the Department of State and the Mexican government on this issue." The NBPC, staffed by current and retired Border Patrol agents, represents all of the agency's 14,000 nonsupervisory agents and support staff. Mr. Tuffly's local is the union's largest, with about 3,000 members. http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2008/oct/14/mexican-soldiers-crossed-clear-line/

I have said for years that a devote moderate Muslim, would make a great neighbor. I agree with them here, public is no place for intercourse between consenting or non consenting adults or kids period.
Sex-on-beach trial exposes Dubai's cultural divide October 15, 2008 - 2:39pm
Emirates women arrive at the Fashion Week venue in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Oct. 6, 2008. The clash of cultures between Dubai's Emiratis and the foreigners who flock here to work and play is coming to a head in the trial of two Britains accused of having intercourse in public after meeting hours earlier at an all-you-can-drink champagne brunch. (AP Photo/Kamran Jebreili)
By BARBARA SURK Associated Press Writer
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) - The British pair on trial for sex on the beach deny going all the way, but even a snuggle in the sand is too much in this Persian Gulf city. Although Dubai sells itself as a party hot spot, its Arab population hews to conservative Muslim values.
The clash of cultures between residents and the foreigners who flock here to work and play is coming to a head in the trial of Michelle Palmer and Vince Acors, Britons accused of having intercourse in public after meeting hours earlier at an all-you-can-drink champagne brunch.
The pair, both in their 30s, face up to two years in prison if convicted of engaging in sex outside marriage, public indecency and drunkenness.
A judge is expected to issue a verdict in the case Thursday _ a decision that risks alienating tourists or upsetting Emiratis angry at the government's willingness to relax moral standards in the name of economic growth.
"These are testing times for Dubai, a sunshine state where everything always goes right," said Christopher Davidson, a Dubai specialist at Britain's Durham University.
"They cannot let badly behaved Brits off scot-free," he said. "But if they throw the book at them, what would that do to Dubai's tourism industry?"
Dubai has been called the Las Vegas of the Middle East, with its carefully cultivated image as an oasis of liberal entertainment set amid an expanse of conservative countries like Saudi Arabia.
The Saudis ban alcohol and require even foreign women to wear enveloping black robes in public. In contrast, alcohol flows freely in Dubai's hotels and women can wear bikinis on city beaches.
But what most foreigners don't know _ and what the government is not advertising _ is that beneath the liberal facade is a legal culture based on Islamic laws and tribal rules that looks a lot more like Riyadh than Las Vegas.
While the laws are not always enforced, it is illegal for couples in Dubai to hold hands, hug or kiss in public _ much less have sex on the beach.
"On affection in public, the law is clear and very strict," said Khalifa al-Shaali, dean of the law faculty at the University of Ajman, in Dubai's neighboring emirate. "Sex in public is an illegal act."
Palmer and Acors were arrested in July after an unidentified resident reported them to the police for indecent behavior. After a night in jail, they were freed but banned from leaving the country until a court determined their fate.
Both admitted they were drunk but denied having sex.
"They are innocent, and there's evidence to prove it," their lawyer, Hassan Matter, told The Associated Press. "If they wanted to have sex, they could have gone to a hotel or her apartment, not the beach."
Palmer, who has worked in Dubai's publishing industry for several years, was fired from her job after her arrest. She has received more media attention than Acors, who on vacation when he met her.
Dubai's indigenous population has long demanded that the government act to preserve their religious values and small-town traditions. Emiratis account for only 15 percent to 20 percent of a population dominated by Asian migrant workers, Western ex-pats and tourists.
"They (Emiratis) are not anti anybody, but the situation is pushing people to become kind of angry," said Ebtisam al-Kitbi, a Dubai native who teaches political science at Emirates University in Al Ain.
Many natives fear the city's culture is increasingly tipping in favor of foreigners, al-Kitbi said.
Some Emiratis have turned to radio call-in programs and Internet blogs to vent about how they no longer feel at home in their own country.
In response, the government has stepped up its efforts. A few days after Palmer and Acors were arrested, police detained dozens of people, mostly tourists, for topless sunbathing, nudity and other acts deemed indecent. It also has tightened immigration rules, visa policies and work permits.
But Dubai's leaders also say they are going ahead with plans for growth _ plans that will keep the city on the cultural front line.
"They talk about a clash of civilizations. You can find it here," said al-Kitbi.
http://www.wtop.com/?nid=105&sid=1497732

For you job seekers and those looking for work, at least it is not me yet.
Indeed.com (Oct. 15) Indeed.com not only searches for work, it tracks the pay and trends for your job. Its forums offer advice -- and possibly a preview of what attitudes may be encountered there. Postings by one employer referred to applicants as "coneheads." D.C. workers will find encouragement at the "Job Postings per Capita" page. Of the 50 biggest U.S. cities, the National Capital Metro area ranks No. 2 in job postings per 1,000 residents. Only San Jose, Calif. has more. And before you plan a move to Rochester, N.Y., check the rankings.

Good site for old fashisioned recipies, American Indian Recipes.
http://www.yvwiiusdinvnohii.net/NAIFood/NAIrecipes.htm
To make Fry Bread, you will need the following:
2 cups unsifted flour1/2 cup dry milk solids2 teaspoons double-acting baking powder1/2 teaspoon salt2 tablespoons lard, cut into 1/2-inch bits, plus 1 pound lard for deep frying 1/2 cup ice water.
Combine the flour, dry milk solids, baking powder and salt, and sift them into a deep bowl. Add the 2 tablespoons of lard bits and, with your fingertips, rub the flour and fat together until the mixture resembles flakes of coarse meal. Pour in the water and toss the ingredients together until the dough can be gathered into a ball. Drape the bowl with a kitchen towel and let the dough rest at room temperature for about 2 hours.
After the resting period, cut the dough into three equal pieces. Then, on a lightly floured surface, roll each piece into a rough circle about 8 inches in diameter and 1/4 inch thick. With a small sharp knife, cut two 4- to 5-inch-long parallel slits completely through the dough down the center of each round, spacing the slits about 1 inch apart.
In a heavy 10-inch skillet, melt the remaining pound of lard over moderate heat until it is very hot but not smoking. The melted fat should be about 1 inch deep; add more lard if necessary. Fry the breads one at a time for about 2 minutes on each side, turning them once with tongs or a slotted spatula. The bread will puff slightly and become crisp and brown. Drain the Navajo fry bread on paper towels and serve warm.
Makes three 8-inch round breads.
Navajo Taco
To make tacos, you will need the following:
6 Rounds of fry bread1 T Lard1 Head of lettuce3 Tomatoes1 Onion1 1/2 lb Ground lamb1/2 lb Cheddar cheeseGreen chilies
Grate cheese. Shred lettuce; chop tomatoes and chilies. Brown lamb in lard. Divide onto 6 fry bread rounds. Top with cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, chilies and onions. Serve with salsa!