Category: economics

strike Syria?

On By Rick McIn economics, government, things getting worseLeave a comment

The best summary of the Obama dilemma was posted on Economist.

Fight this war, not the last one

Economist concludes that the USA should give Assad one more chance to admit to using chemical weapons. ” … if he demurs, hit him hard …”

It’s a compelling argument. But I disagree.

Obama

The USA should begin to phase out it’s role as unappreciated Policeman to the World, even if it means innocents in other nations suffer.

The American President should learn not to make threats he’s not willing to make good on. The American taxpayers do not want to pay for yet another expensive, ultimately useless intervention.

Is Obama embarrassed right now?

He’s a proud man. I’m sure he is.

Take it on the chin. And move on.

By the way, I am talking about this War. It would be an entirely different matter if this was a nuclear power like Pakistan, Iran or even North Korea.

flee to Belize

On By Rick McIn economics, government, things getting worseLeave a comment

I have reasonably wealthy American friends who just bought retirement property in Belize.

Something like this …

reritrement home

Like many wealthy Americans, they are disappointed with Obama’s Presidency. Worried about the future.

They’ve done the right thing, I feel.

Anyone with means in the USA should look to paying their own retirement. Putting together an escape plan.

Things are going to get worse in the States before they get better.

English is the language of Belize. That helps.

Lonely Planet soon DEAD to me?

On By Rick McIn books, dead to me, economics, internet, things getting worse, travelLeave a comment

I love Lonely Planet.

But not — perhaps — for much longer.

The end of guide books? Lonely Planet lays off one-third of editorial staff

lonelyplanet

Venerable travel guide brand Lonely Planet, which has bounced from owner to owner in recent years, just announced some bad news: They’re slashing staff on three continents and getting rid of much of their content staff. Almost 100 jobs were slashed in Melbourne, Australia alone, and additional layoffs were made at Lonely Planet’s London and Oakland offices. …

Update: According to an email from a Lonely Planet publicist, “Print will continue to be part of the mix” for the company.

END OF AN ERA: LONELY PLANET SLASHES CONTENT JOBS

They say they’ll switch to more digital format, more user generated content.

The time’s not right. Yet.

Show me a worthy digital alternative to a Lonely Planet guidebook?

America’s idiotic War on Drugs

On By Rick McIn economics, government, moviesLeave a comment

The House I Live In, directed by Eugene Jarecki, is a 2012 documentary film about the War on Drugs in the United States.

The documentary has been well received. Among the review aggregators, Rotten Tomatoes gave it 95% based on 55 reviews …

Click PLAY or watch the trailer on YouTube.

official website

In the USA you can watch it on YouTube for free.

Here are some other places you can get it.

The Wire on HBO really got me thinking about this issue again. I’m wondering if there are any more expensive, less effective strategies than that used by the U.S. government.

Must be … But I can’t think how.

on 401(k) fees …

On By Rick McIn economics, ethicsLeave a comment

For my American friends.

Question: How much money are you paying in 401(k) fees?

Answer: Have you thought about buying a home lately?

That’s right. According to Robert Hiltonsmith at Demos, a New York based think tank, we could purchase a residence with the amount of money the financial services and retirement industries siphon out of our 401(k) savings over the course of our careers. His recently released report, The Retirement Savings Drain, calculates that the average household will pay almost $155,000 over the course of a lifetime for the privilege of saving their own money, just slightly under the median price of a previously occupied home in the United States, according to the National Association of Realtors.

“There is ample evidence that these fees are excessive,” Hiltonsmith writes. His evidence: The costs of running a traditional pension is significantly less than that of administering a 401(k). …

Forbes – More Bad News About 401(k) Fees

WMAssets-Hidden-Fees1

One example …

401(k)Fees

via Frontline – The Retirement Gamble.

AIDS in South Africa

On By Rick McIn economics, government, health & fitness, travelLeave a comment

… South Africa is believed to have more people with HIV/AIDS than any other country in the world.

The 2007 UNAIDS report estimated that 5,700,000 South Africans had HIV/AIDS, or just under 12% of South Africa’s population …

The other top five countries with the highest HIV/AIDS prevalence are all neighbours of South Africa. …

The four main HIV/AIDS awareness campaigns in South Africa are Khomanani (funded by the government), LoveLife (primarily privately funded), Soul City (a television drama for adults) and Soul Buddyz (a television series for teenagers).

Soul City and Soul Buddyz are the most successful campaigns although both campaigns experienced a slight loss of effectiveness between 2005 and 2008. Khomanani is the least successful campaign, although its effectiveness has increased by more than 50% between 2005 and 2008.

The dubious quality of condoms which are distributed is a setback to these efforts. In 2007, the government recalled more than 20 million locally manufactured condoms which were defective. …

free condoms available at Addo Elephant Park
free condoms available at Addo Elephant Park

One local told me that there are some poor South Africans not worried to get AIDS so they can go on benefits.

Some of those, of course, are pregnant.

loved by Albertans, hated by Eastern creeps and bums

On By Rick McIn economics, governmentLeave a comment

Ralph. Ralph. Ralph.

I liked him as Mayor of Calgary. And mostly liked him as Premier of Alberta.

Ralph

Sure he had his faults. OK, many faults.

But ran consistent, increasing surplus budgets.

Politicians are trustees of other people’s money.

I wish he was still running the show. We’d be in much healthier shape than with Stelmach or Redford.

The best summing up I’ve read is in Macleans by Colby Cosh – Ralph Klein, R.I.P.: the deceptive shape of a shadow

“Nollywood” – Black November

On By Rick McIn economics, ethics, government, moviesLeave a comment

by Nigerian filmmaker, Jeta Amata.

… “Black November” is a drama about Nigeria’s Niger-Delta region. The film is weighing into the 50-year history of western exploitation of the region’s oil resources, local collusion and violent resistance to it.

Nigeria’s Niger Delta region is the world’s third largest wetland but decades of oil drilling have turned it into one of the most oil-polluted places on earth. …

… The film has a cast that include Mickey Rourke, Kim Bassinger, Hakeem Kae-Kazim and Enyinna Nwigwe.
It also features Mbong Amata, Jeta’s wife; his father, Zack and his uncle, Fred. …

read more

Click PLAY or watch a trailer on YouTube.

official website of the film

… The cinema of Nigeria grew quickly in the 1990s and 2000s to become the second largest film industry in the world in terms of number of annual film productions, placing it ahead of the United States and behind the Indian film industry.

… The average film costs between US$17,000 and US$23,000, is shot on video in just a week—selling up to 150,000–200,000 units nationwide in one day. …

… about “1,200 films are produced in Nigeria annually.” And more and more filmmakers are heading to Nigeria because of “competitive distribution system and a cheap workforce.”

the economics of Parking

On By Rick McIn economicsLeave a comment

• 97% of cars are parked at any time

• in some cities, parking lots cover a full third of the land area downtown

• the value of that land we must pay for, indirectly. The cost of subsidized parking in the USA is about equal to the budget for National Defense.

• we want to reduce the congestion and pollution caused by cruising for spots

An optimistic few are looking for solutions.

Bad-parking-713253

Freakonomics Radio podcast:

The episode begins with Stephen Dubner talking to parking guru Donald Shoup, a professor of urban planning at UCLA and author of the landmark book The High Cost of Free Parking.

In a famous Times op-ed, Shoup argued that as much as one-third of urban congestion is caused by people cruising for curb parking. But, as Shoup tells Dubner, there ain’t no such thing as a free parking spot:

listen here – Parking Is Hell: A New Freakonomics Radio Podcast

SFpark in San Francisco is a pilot project to try to help solve some of the many, many problems.

Dynamic Pricing – Parking costs change during the day, depending on demand.

George W Bush – worst President

On By Rick McIn economics, governmentLeave a comment

Obama might be bad. Even terrible.

But history will confirm that G.W. was the worst President all time. He did more damage in 8 years than is even conceivable. I’m not sure anyone will be able to bring in a surplus budget in the foreseeable future.

George W. Bush

By comparison, I thought George H.W. Bush was pretty good.

Tomas Young, dying American vet:

I write this letter on the 10th anniversary of the Iraq War on behalf of my fellow Iraq War veterans. …

… I joined the Army two days after the 9/11 attacks. I joined the Army because our country had been attacked. I wanted to strike back at those who had killed some 3,000 of my fellow citizens.

I did not join the Army to go to Iraq, a country that had no part in the September 2001 attacks and did not pose a threat to its neighbors, much less to the United States.

I did not join the Army to “liberate” Iraqis or to shut down mythical weapons-of-mass-destruction facilities or to implant what you cynically called “democracy” in Baghdad and the Middle East.

I did not join the Army to rebuild Iraq, which at the time you told us could be paid for by Iraq’s oil revenues. Instead, this war has cost the United States over $3 trillion.

I especially did not join the Army to carry out pre-emptive war. Pre-emptive war is illegal under international law. And as a soldier in Iraq I was, I now know, abetting your idiocy and your crimes.

The Iraq War is the largest strategic blunder in U.S. history. It obliterated the balance of power in the Middle East. It installed a corrupt and brutal pro-Iranian government in Baghdad, one cemented in power through the use of torture, death squads and terror. And it has left Iran as the dominant force in the region. On every level—moral, strategic, military and economic—Iraq was a failure. And it was you, Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney, who started this war. It is you who should pay the consequences. …

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