Gentlepeople, Start Your Weekend! April 19-21, 2013

[Demeter]

We come to praise Jonathan Winters, comedian, who left us sadder and poorer with his passing from this life on Thursday, April 11th. With all the ding-donging that was going around with the death of the Wicked Witch Baroness Thatcher, he slipped away rather quietly. Well, now it's time to make a joyful noise for the foolishness he brought to our delight.

Wm. Gilbert had some points to make about comedy. From his operetta, Yeomen of the Guard:

Oh! a private buffoon is a light-hearted loon,
If you listen to popular rumour;
From the morn to the night he's so joyous and bright,
And he bubbles with wit and good humour!
He's so quaint and so terse, both in prose and in verse;
Yet though people forgive his transgression,
There are one or two rules that all family fools
Must observe, if they love their profession.
There are one or two rules,
Half-a-dozen, maybe,
That all family fools,
Of whatever degree,
Must observe if they love their profession.

If you wish to succeed as a jester, you'll need
To consider each person's auricular:
What is all right for B would quite scandalize C
(For C is so very particular);
And D may be dull, and E's very thick skull
Is as empty of brains as a ladle;
While F is F sharp, and will cry with a carp,
That he's known your best joke from his cradle!
When your humour they flout,
You can't let yourself go;
And it does put you out
When a person says, 'Oh!
I have known that old joke from my cradle!'

If your master is surly, from getting up early
(And tempers are short in the morning),
An inopportune joke is enough to provoke
Him to give you, at once, a month's warning.
Then if you refrain, he is at you again,
For he likes to get value for money:
He'll ask then and there, with an insolent stare,
'If you know that you're paid to be funny?'
It adds to the tasks
Of a merryman's place,
When your principal asks,
With a scowl on his face,
If you know that you're paid to be funny?

Comes a Bishop, maybe, or a solemn D.D. -
Oh, beware of his anger provoking!
Better not pull his hair - don't stick pins in his chair;
He don't understand practical joking.
If the jests that you crack have an orthodox smack,
You may get a bland smile from these sages;
But should they, by chance, be imported from France,
Half-a-crown is stopped out of your wages!
It's a general rule,
Though your zeal it may quench,
If the family fool
Tells a joke that's too French,
Half-a-crown is stopped out of his wages!

Though your head it may rack with a bilious attack,
And your senses with toothache you're losing,
Don't be mopy and flat - they don't fine you for that
If you're properly quaint and amusing!
Though your wife ran away with a soldier that day,
And took with her your trifle of money;
Bless your heart, they don't mind - they're exceedingly kind -
They don't blame you - as long as you're funny!
It's a comfort to feel
If your partner should flit,
Though you suffer a deal,
They don't mind it a bit -
They don't blame you - so long as you're funny!

It's a tall order to live up to, so let's get cracking! After all, we have the global economy, that long-running series of slapstick and slamming, to poke fun at!

[Demeter]

1. The first joke has got to be the weather.

Yesterday the weather was pushing 80F and I was wearing capris and a sleeveless top. The daffodils and primroses were bursting into bloom.

Today it's 40F, windchill of 30F, and it's sleeting. Tomorrow it may snow. The night is predicted to fall to 25F. I will put a tarp over my brand new peach tree in the hope that the buds will not freeze off or die.

The weather underground predicts that we will have a lot of changeable weather both short term and long. This should make life and agriculture very enertaining.

[Demeter]

16. It's Saturday morning, and there's a layer of sleet on the roofs

it's cold! I'm not taking the tarp off my peach tree, since it's supposed to be awful tonight...it's 31F, windchill of 22F, and expected high of 45F. Brrr!

[Demeter]

2. A Man for All Seasons- Exactly 87.5 years young

Last edited Fri Apr 19, 2013, 08:11 PM - Edit history (1)

Jonathan Harshman Winters III (November 11, 1925 – April 11, 2013) was an American comedian, actor, author and artist.

Beginning in 1960, Winters recorded many classic comedy albums for the Verve Records label. He also had records released every decade for over 50 years, receiving 11 nominations for Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album during his career and winning a Grammy Award for Best Album for Children for his contribution to an adaptation of The Little Prince in 1976 and the Grammy Award for Best Spoken Comedy Album for Crank(y) Calls in 1996.

With a career spanning more than six decades, Winters appeared in hundreds of television show episodes/series and films combined, including eccentric characters on The Steve Allen Show, The Garry Moore Show, The Wacky World of Jonathan Winters (1972–74), Mork & Mindy, Hee Haw and in It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World.

After voicing Grandpa Smurf on The Smurfs (1986–89) and Papa Smurf in The Smurfs (2011 film), Winters's final feature film was The Smurfs 2 in 2013, which will be dedicated in his memory.

A pioneer of improvisational stand-up comedy with a gift for mimicry, impersonations, various personalities and a seemingly bottomless reservoir of creative energy, Winters was one of the first celebrities to go public with a personal mental illness issue and felt stigmatized as a result. According to Jack Paar, "If you were to ask me the funniest 25 people I've ever known, I'd say, 'Here they are — Jonathan Winters'." He also said of Winters, "Pound for pound, the funniest man alive".

In 1991, Winters earned an Emmy Award for his supporting role in Davis Rules. In 1999, Winters was awarded the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor. In 2002, he earned an Emmy nomination as a guest star in a comedy series for Life With Bonnie. In 2008, Winters was presented with a Pioneer TV Land Award by Robin Williams.

Winters also spent time painting and presenting his artwork, including silkscreens and sketches, in many gallery shows. Additionally, he authored several books. His book of short stories, titled Winters' Tales (1988), made the bestseller lists.

[Demeter]

3. Jonathan Winters roasts Johnny Carson

[Hotler]

10. Well played Demeter, well played........n/t

[Hugin]

27. "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World"

Is one of my favorite movies... and, one in which Mr. Winters played a role.

He was the crazed gas station attendant who was drawn into the race toward the "Big W" to find the tuna factory robbery loot.

CAST:

Spencer Tracy as Captain T. G. Culpeper

Jonathan Winters as Lennie Pike

Buddy Hackett as "Benjy" Benjamin
Mickey Rooney as "Dingy" Bell
Edie Adams as Monica Crump
Sid Caesar as Melville Crump

Milton Berle as J. Russell Finch
Ethel Merman as Mrs. Marcus
Dorothy Provine as Emmeline Marcus-Finch
Phil Silvers as Otto Meyer
Dick Shawn as Sylvester Marcus
Terry-Thomas as Lt. Col. J. Algernon Hawthorne


"It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World is a 1963 American epic comedy film, produced and directed by Stanley Kramer and starring Spencer Tracy, about the madcap pursuit of $350,000 in stolen cash by a diverse and colorful group of strangers. The ensemble comedy premiered on November 7, 1963."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It's_a_Mad,_Mad,_Mad,_Mad_World

[Demeter]

4. We Hit the Trifecta! Three Banks Fail This Weekend, two in Florida

First Federal Bank, Lexington, Kentucky, was closed today by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, which appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) as receiver. To protect the depositors, the FDIC entered into a purchase and assumption agreement with Your Community Bank, New Albany, Indiana, to assume all of the deposits of First Federal Bank. The five branches of First Federal Bank will reopen during their normal business hours beginning Saturday as branches of Your Community Bank...

As of December 31, 2012, First Federal Bank had approximately $100.1 million in total assets and $93.9 million in total deposits. In addition to assuming all of the deposits of the failed bank, Your Community Bank agreed to purchase essentially all of the assets...The FDIC estimates that the cost to the Deposit Insurance Fund (DIF) will be $9.7 million. Compared to other alternatives, Your Community Bank's acquisition was the least costly resolution for the FDIC's DIF. First Federal Bank is the sixth FDIC-insured institution to fail in the nation this year, and the first in Kentucky. The last FDIC-insured institution closed in the state was Irwin Union Bank, FSB, Louisville, on September 18, 2009.

Heritage Bank of North Florida, Orange Park, Florida, was closed today by the Florida Office of Financial Regulation, which appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) as receiver. To protect the depositors, the FDIC entered into a purchase and assumption agreement with FirstAtlantic Bank, Jacksonville, Florida, to assume all of the deposits of Heritage Bank of North Florida. The two branches of Heritage Bank of North Florida will reopen on Monday as branches of FirstAtlantic Bank...

As of December 31, 2012, Heritage Bank of North Florida had approximately $110.9 million in total assets and $108.5 million in total deposits. In addition to assuming all of the deposits of the failed bank, FirstAtlantic Bank agreed to purchase essentially all of the assets...The FDIC estimates that the cost to the Deposit Insurance Fund (DIF) will be $30.2 million. Compared to other alternatives, FirstAtlantic Bank's acquisition was the least costly resolution for the FDIC's DIF. Heritage Bank of North Florida is the seventh FDIC-insured institution to fail in the nation this year, and the first in Florida. The last FDIC-insured institution closed in the state was Heritage Bank of Florida, Lutz, on November 2, 2012.

Chipola Community Bank, Marianna, Florida, was closed today by the Florida Office of Financial Regulation, which appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) as receiver. To protect the depositors, the FDIC entered into a purchase and assumption agreement with First Federal Bank of Florida, Lake City, Florida, to assume all of the deposits of Chipola Community Bank. The sole branch of Chipola Community Bank will reopen on Monday as a branch of First Federal Bank of Florida...

As of December 31, 2012, Chipola Community Bank had approximately $39.2 million in total assets and $37.6 million in total deposits. In addition to assuming all of the deposits of the failed bank, First Federal Bank of Florida agreed to purchase essentially all of the assets...The FDIC estimates that the cost to the Deposit Insurance Fund (DIF) will be $10.3 million. Compared to other alternatives, First Federal Bank of Florida's acquisition was the least costly resolution for the FDIC's DIF. Chipola Community Bank is the eighth FDIC-insured institution to fail in the nation this year, and the second in Florida. The last FDIC-insured institution closed in the state was Heritage Bank of North Florida, Orange Park, earlier today.

DARE WE LAY THIS BOUNTY AT THE FEET OF THE SEQUESTER?

[Demeter]

35. $50.2 Millions from FDIC for the weekend

a mere downpayment...

[Demeter]

5. Propaganda System That Has Helped Create a Permanent Overclass Is Over a Century in the Making

http://www.alternet.org/media/propaganda-system-has-helped-create-permanent-overclass-over-century-making?akid=10328.227380.GPg9Fe&rd=1&src=newsletter825186&t=18&paging=off

Pulling back the curtain on how intent the wealthiest Americans have been on establishing a propaganda tool to subvert democracy...Where there is the possibility of democracy, there is the inevitability of elite insecurity. All through its history, democracy has been under a sustained attack by elite interests, political, economic, and cultural. There is a simple reason for this: democracy – as in true democracy – places power with people. In such circumstances, the few who hold power become threatened. With technological changes in modern history, with literacy and education, mass communication, organization and activism, elites have had to react to the changing nature of society – locally and globally.

From the late 19th century on, the “threats” to elite interests from the possibility of true democracy mobilized institutions, ideologies, and individuals in support of power. What began was a massive social engineering project with one objective: control. Through educational institutions, the social sciences, philanthropic foundations, public relations and advertising agencies, corporations, banks, and states, powerful interests sought to reform and protect their power from the potential of popular democracy.

Yet for all the efforts, organization, indoctrination and reformation of power interests, the threat of democracy has remained a constant, seemingly embedded in the human consciousness, persistent and pervasive.

In his highly influential work, The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind, French social psychologist Gustav Le Bon suggested that middle class politics were transforming into popular democracy, where “the opinion of the masses” was the most important opinion in society. He wrote: “The destinies of nations are elaborated at present in the heart of the masses, and no longer in the councils of princes.” This was, of course, a deplorable change for elites, suggesting that, “the divine right of the masses is about to replace the divine right of kings.” Le Bon suggested, however, that the “crowd” was not rational, but rather was driven by emotion and passion. An associate and friend of Le Bon’s, Gabriel Tarde, expanded upon this concept, and articulated the idea that “the crowd” was a social group of the past, and that “the public” was “the social group of the future.” The public, argued Tarde, was a “spiritual collectivity, a dispersion of individuals who are physically separated and whose cohesion is entirely mental.” Thus, Tarde identified in the growth of the printing press and mass communications a powerful medium through which “the public” was shaped, and that, if managed appropriately, could bring a sense of order to a situation increasingly chaotic. The newspaper, Tarde explained, facilitated “the fusion of personal opinions into local opinions, and this into national and world opinion, the grandiose unification of the public mind.”

The development of psychology, psychoanalysis, and other disciplines increasingly portrayed the “public” and the population as irrational beings incapable of making their own decisions. The premise was simple: if the population was driven by dangerous, irrational emotions, they needed to be kept out of power and ruled over by those who were driven by reason and rationality, naturally, those who were already in power...

MUST READ

[Demeter]

6. In a word: Fascism

Using the tools of mind-control and image-control to wrest power from the People.

[Hotler]

11. OH SHIT!!! I may throw up after reading that last paragraph. .............

and there are people that cry consperacy theorist when other people point to propaganda about how the PTB work their way with us. The most powerful tool the rich has is the TV, maybe modified food.

[bread_and_roses]

25. "Taking the Risk Out of Democracy: Corporate Propaganda versus Freedom and Liberty"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alex_Carey

Alex Carey

In 1988, Noam Chomsky and Edward Herman published their Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media in dedication to the memory of Carey... Journalist John Pilger has called Carey "a second Orwell in his prophesies" ... Carey committed suicide in 1987. Members of his family speculated that his reasons included substantial financial losses in the stock market crash of that year and a battle with depression in his final years.[7]

(bold emphasis added)

http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alex_Carey

..It remains, as ever, an axiom of conventional wisdom that the use of propaganda as a means of social and ideological control is distinctive of totalitarian regimes. Yet the most minimal exercise of common sense would suggest a different view: that propaganda is likely to play at least as important a part in democratic societies (where the existing distribution of power and privilege is vulnerable to quite limited changes in popular opinion) as in authoritarian societies (where it is not). It is arguable that the success of business propaganda in persuading us, for so long, that we are free from propaganda is one of the most significant propaganda achievements of the twentieth century.

I have had this book on my list for - oh, what - 20 years? - and somehow always forget it ... I have read excerpts here and there, and just now I noticed that there's a listing in the google for a TUC radio show, so maybe I'll get to that.

[Demeter]

7. Intelligence Documents Suggest Obama Administration Lied About Who Drones Kill

QUELLE SURPRISE!

http://www.alternet.org/civil-liberties/intelligence-documents-suggest-obama-administration-lied-about-who-drones-kill?akid=10312.227380.HlEoAO&rd=1&src=newsletter822794&t=4

The Obama administration hasn’t been forthright about who it kills with drones, according to classified intelligence reports obtained by McClatchy.

Contradicting previous rhetoric claiming the U.S.’s targeted killing program only targets “specific senior operational leaders of al-Qaida and associated forces,” the documents corroborate existing reports that hundreds of “other” Pakistanis and Afghans have died at the hands of the Obama administration’s drone attacks. McClatchy’s analysis goes into numbers and details:

The intelligence reports list killings of alleged Afghan insurgents whose organization wasn’t on the U.S. list of terrorist groups at the time of the 9/11 strikes; of suspected members of a Pakistani extremist group that didn’t exist at the time of 9/11; and of unidentified individuals described as “other militants” and “foreign fighters.

…

At least 265 of up to 482 people who the U.S. intelligence reports estimated the CIA killed during a 12-month period ending in September 2011 were not senior al Qaida leaders but instead were “assessed” as Afghan, Pakistani and unknown extremists. Drones killed only six top al Qaida leaders in those months, according to news media accounts.

The documents also provide a glimpse into the Obama administration’s seemingly thin rationale for executing some attacks. Contrary to claims of the CIA program’s precision and “ exceedingly rare” civilian casualties, the intelligence reports proves that “drone operators weren’t always certain who they were killing.” McClatchy’s report notes that several drone victims “died in what appeared to be signature strikes,” or attacks carried out based on a “signature” pattern of behavior, rather than a known identity.

The documents also reveal a breadth of targeting that is complicated by the culture in the restive region of Pakistan where militants and ordinary tribesmen dress the same, and carrying a weapon is part of the centuries-old tradition of the Pashtun ethnic group.

As others have pointed out, the documents merely support what several investigative journalists have already revealed—that the scope of Obama’s drone targets extend far beyond its stated standards. Reports from the Bureau of Investigative Journalism estimates that up to 3,581 people, including up to 884 civilians, have died in drone strikes in Pakistan from 2004 to 2013.

Steven Hsieh is an editorial assistant at AlterNet and writer based in Brooklyn. Follow him on Twitter @stevenjhsieh.

[Hotler]

12. Gee! You think???? n/t

[Demeter]

8. PA Court Deals Blow to Fracking Industry: Corporations Not The Same As Persons With Privacy Rights

http://www.alternet.org/fracking/pennsylvania-court-deals-blow-secrecy-obsessed-fracking-industry-corporations-not-same?akid=10315.227380.Wr3iNK&rd=1&src=newsletter823405&t=8&paging=off

“In the absence of state law, business entities are nothing.”

A Pennsylvania judge in the heart of the Keystone State’s fracking belt has issued a forceful and precedent-setting decision holding that there is no corporate right to privacy under that state’s constitution, giving citizens and journalists a powerful tool to understand the health and environmental impacts of natural gas drilling in their communities.

“Whether a right of privacy for businesses exists within the prenumbral rights of Pennsylvania’s constitution is a matter of first impression,” wrote Washington County Court of Common Pleas Judge Debbie O’Dell Seneca late last month. “It does not.”

Judge O’Dell Seneca’s ruling comes in an ongoing case where several newspapers sued to unseal a confidential settlement where major fracking corporations paid $750,000 to a family that claimed the gas drilling had contaminated their water and harmed their health. The Court ordered that settlement unsealed, enabling the papers, environmentalists and community rights advocates to examine the health issues and causes.

“The ruling represents the first crack in the judicial armor that has been so meticulously welded together by major corporations,” said Thomas Linzey, executive director of the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund, which has helped 150 communities in eight states adopt Community Bill of Rights to limit corporate powers. “It affirms what many communities already know, that change only occurs when people begin to openly question and challenge legal doctrines that have been treated as sacred by most lawyers and judges.”

The Court’s ruling is significant because the fracking companies have relied on secrecy agreements with landowners to hide the environmental and health impacts of gas drilling. Corporate lawyers even filed briefs in this case claiming that environmental and public health groups such as Earthjustice, Philadelphia Physicians for Social Responsibility and others were barred from submitting ‘friend of the court’ briefs, which they recanted in a hearing, the ruling noted, “because no such rule of exclusion exists.”

But where the ruling is likely to make the biggest waves is in the so-called corporate personhood debate. The Judge spent more than a third of her 32-page decision saying why corporations and business entities were not the same as people under Pennsylvania’s constitution, and why, for the purposes of doing business in the state, that federal court rulings that blur the rights of people and businesses do not apply...

IMPORTANT! MUST READ AND BOOKMARK!

[Demeter]

9. Jonathan Winters, the Early life and Early career

Winters was born in Dayton, Ohio to Alice Kilgore (née Rodgers), a radio personality, and Jonathan Harshman Winters II, an investment broker. He was a descendant of Valentine Winters, founder of the Winters National Bank in Dayton, Ohio (now part of JPMorgan Chase). Of English and Scots-Irish ancestry, Winters had described his father as an alcoholic who had trouble holding a job. His grandfather, a frustrated comedian, owned the Winters National Bank which failed as the family’s fortunes collapsed during the Great Depression.

When he was seven, his parents separated. Winters' mother (whom he found a comedic mentor in as well as radio personality Alice Bahman) took him to Springfield, Ohio to live with his maternal grandmother. "Mother and dad didn’t understand me; I didn’t understand them", Winters told Jim Lehrer on The News Hour with Jim Lehrer in 1999. "So consequently it was a strange kind of arrangement." Alone in his room, he would create characters and interview himself. A poor student, Winters continued talking to himself and developed a repertoire of strange sound effects. He often entertained his high school friends by imitating a race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

During his senior year at Springfield High School, Winters quit school to join the United States Marine Corps and served two and a half years in the Pacific Theater during World War II. Upon his return, he attended Kenyon College. He later studied cartooning at Dayton Art Institute, where he met Eileen Schauder, whom he married on September 11, 1948. He was a brother of the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity (Lambda chapter).

Winters' career started as a result of a lost wristwatch, about six or seven months after his marriage to Eileen in 1948. The newlyweds couldn't afford to buy another one. Then Eileen read about a talent contest in which the first prize was a wristwatch, and encouraged Jonathan to "go down and win it". She was certain he could, and he did. His performance led to a disc jockey job, where he was supposed to introduce songs and announce the temperature. Gradually his ad libs, personas, and antics took over the show.

He began comedy routines and acting while studying at Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio. He was also a local radio personality on WING (mornings, 6 to 8) in Dayton, Ohio, and at WIZE in Springfield, Ohio. He performed as "Johnny Winters" on WBNS-TV in Columbus, Ohio, for two and a half years, quitting the station in 1953 when they refused to give him a $5.00 raise.

After promising his wife that he would return to Dayton if he did not make it in a year, and with $56.46 in his pocket, he moved to New York City, staying with friends in Greenwich Village. After obtaining Martin Goodman as his agent, he began stand-up routines in various New York nightclubs. His earliest television appearance was in 1954 on Chance of a Lifetime hosted by Dennis James on the DuMont Television Network, where Winters again appeared as "Johnny Winters".

Winters had made television history in 1956, when RCA broadcast the first public demonstration of color videotape on The Jonathan Winters Show. Author David Hajdu wrote in The New York Times (2006), "He soon used video technology 'to appear as two characters', bantering back-and-forth, seemingly in the studio at the same time. You could say he invented the video stunt."

His big break occurred (with the revised name of Jonathan) when he worked for Alistair Cooke on the CBS Television Sunday morning show Omnibus. In 1957, he performed in the first color television show, a 15-minute routine sponsored by Tums.

From 1959 to 1964, Winters' voice could be heard in a series of popular television commercials for Utica Club beer. In the ads, he provided the voices of talking beer steins, named "Shultz and Dooley". Later, he became a spokesman for Hefty brand trash bags, for whom he appeared as a dapper garbageman known for collecting "gahr-bahj", as well as "Maude Frickert" and other characters.

Winters recorded many classic comedy albums for the Verve Records label, starting in 1960. Probably the best-known of his characters from this period is "Maude Frickert", the seemingly sweet old lady with the barbed tongue. He was a favorite of Jack Paar, who hosted The Tonight Show from 1957 to 1962, and appeared frequently on his television programs, even going so far as to impersonate then-U.S. President John F. Kennedy over the telephone as a prank on Paar.

However, Winters had a dramatic role in the The Twilight Zone episode "A Game of Pool" (episode 3.5 on October 13, 1961). He also recorded Ogden Nash's The Carnival of the Animals poems to Camille Saint-Saëns' classical opus.

On The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1962-1992), Winters would usually perform in the guise of some character. Johnny Carson often did not know what Winters had planned and usually had to tease out the character's back story during a pretend interview. Carson invented a character called "Aunt Blabby", which was similar to and possibly inspired by "Maude Frickert".

Winters appeared in more than 50 movies and many television shows, including particularly notable roles in the film It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World and in the dual roles of Henry Glenworthy and his dark, scheming brother, the Rev. Wilbur Glenworthy, in the film adaptation of Evelyn Waugh's The Loved One novel. Fellow comedians who starred with him in Mad World, such as Arnold Stang, claimed that in the long periods while they waited between scenes, Winters would entertain them for hours in their trailer by becoming any character that they would suggest to him.

He later participated on ABC's The American Sportsman, hosted by Grits Gresham, who took celebrities on hunting, fishing, and shooting trips to exotic places around the world.

Winters made memorable appearances on both The Dean Martin Show and The Dean Martin Celebrity Roast, as well as a regular on The Andy Williams Show. He also performed regularly as a panelist on The Hollywood Squares.

During the late 60s and early 70s, Winters acted in The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming (1966), had a nightly CBS show called The Jonathan Winters Show from 1967 to 1969, and appeared in Viva Max! (1970).[7] Additionally, he was a regular (along with Woody Allen and Jo Anne Worley) on the Saturday morning children's television program, Hot Dog. in the early 1970s. He also had his own syndicated show called The Wacky World of Jonathan Winters, between 1972 and 1974, which was nominated for a 1973 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Achievement In Music Direction of a Variety (Van Alexander).

[DemReadingDU]

13. Jonathan Winters As An Airline Pilot

Jonathan Winters As An Airline Pilot

This long-lost skit features Jonathan Winters at his improvisational best as he's called before an airline commission

[Demeter]

14. G20 backs off austerity drive, rejects hard debt cut targets

BACKS OFF IS NOT THE SAME AS REPUDIATES AND RECANTS AND REGRETS....

http://news.yahoo.com/debt-levels-big-monetary-stimulus-tap-g20-051914375--business.html

Finance leaders of the G20 economies on Friday edged away from a long-running drive toward government austerity in rich nations, rejecting the idea of setting hard targets for reducing national debt in a sign of worries over a sluggish global recovery.

The G20 club of advanced and emerging economies also said it would be watching for negative effects from massive monetary stimulus, such as Japan's - a nod to concerns of developing nations that those policies risk flooding their economies with hot capital and driving up their currencies.

Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said at a news conference that officials from the Group of 20 nations believed overall debt reduction was more important than specific figures.

"We agreed that these would be soft parameters, these would be some kind of strategic objectives and goals which might be amended or adjusted, depending on the specific situations in the national economies," he said.

Russia - this year's G20 chair - had hoped to secure an agreement on setting fixed targets for reducing debt by the time G20 leaders meet in St. Petersburg in September. But the United States and Japan have firmly opposed the idea of committing to fixed debt-to-GDP targets, with Washington trying to keep the focus of the G20 on growth.

"Quite frankly, the language could have been stronger but it's sufficient to move this forward," said Canadian Finance Minister Jim Flaherty.

IN OTHER WORDS, SAME SHIT, DIFFERENT TIMETABLE
THE WRONG PEOPLE ARE IN CHARGE...THEY HAVE IDEOLOGY, NOT KNOWLEDGE

MORE AT LINK

[Demeter]

15. Wall Street Week Ahead: In earnings frenzy, will Apple get crushed?

WHAT KIND OF HOLD DID STEVE JOBS HAVE ON THE MARKET, TO KEEP IT FROM IMPLODING APPLE EARLIER? AND WHY WOULD WALL ST. WANT TO TAKE APPLE DOWN?

http://news.yahoo.com/wall-street-week-ahead-earnings-frenzy-apple-crushed-230827987--finance.html

Apple may have lost nearly half of its value since its peak in September, but it's still the talk of the town. Only this time, it's all about how low can it go?

Wall Street would normally be set for a technical rebound after a drop of more than 2 percent, the worst weekly decline so far this year. But that could easily change by the time the iPhone maker reports its earnings, which are due on Tuesday after the closing bell.

"It's not the $700 stock anymore, but Apple still has huge weighting on indexes, and it's still the window into the state of consumers, a sort of reality check," said James Dailey, portfolio manager of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania-based TEAM Financial Asset Management.

Wall Street has been recently pressured by a slew of disappointing economic data and weaker-than-expected earnings reports from blue-chip companies like IBM ...

[Demeter]

17. Gottfried: Jonathan Winters was mad brilliant

http://www.cnn.com/2013/04/12/opinion/gottfried-jonathan-winters/index.html


(CNN) -- Jonathan Winters was not always in his right mind. I don't mean that only in the showbiz sense, but in the mental health sense. Jonathan, who died Thursday, was a nut as a comic, but also manic depressive and was institutionalized at least once in his life. He was also brilliantly talented. And the combination of his mental troubles and amazing talent made him the legendary performer that he was. He recognized this himself, telling an NPR reporter in 2011, "I need that pain — whatever it is — to call upon it from time to time, no matter how bad it was." That's a common concern for performers when they go into therapy or other treatment; ditto performers who give up drugs and alcohol. They worry: If I don't have that pain, where do I draw my creativity from? Jonathan needn't have worried. He was a bottomless well of creativity. He was someone who could pick up a paper clip and do three hours of impromptu comedy on it.

I was always a fan of the way he could work without a net. There was a fearless, just crazy attitude about him--of not caring, not being afraid -- that always appealed to me. He influenced me and many other comics.
When you watch Robin Williams, you can see a lot of Jonathan Winters. Robin is the first one to admit that; he worshiped Jonathan Winters. He insisted that Jonathan be written in as a regular on "Mork and Mindy." They wrote him in as an overgrown child, which was perfect casting.

It was natural that Jonathan would get into comedy. He was an only child with divorced parents, a father he said was alcoholic, and he had lots of time alone to make up voices and characters in his room. When Jonathan met his future wife, he had just lost his wristwatch, the story goes. He was upset about this. But then, his wife saw an ad for a talent contest where the first prize was, believe it or not, a wristwatch. She was certain he would win and he did. His career in comedy followed. I've also heard that when his future wife, Eileen, told her father that she and Jonathan would get married, he gave them an ultimatum: that after a certain period, if Jonathan didn't make it in showbiz, he would have to get a real job to support her. Luckily, he went on to work in radio and later as a stand-up comedian in New York. He made it onto TV, appearing on Jack Paar and Steve Allen's shows and later was in films, like "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World." He made comedy albums that won Grammys and eventually also won an Emmy for a sitcom, in 1991. One bit he did was "Jonathan's Attic" where he was put in a room with a bunch of odds and ends, props, wigs, etc., and he was left to his own devices. He always could pick up anything and turn it into comedy...In a TV interview I saw not long ago, Cheech Marin spoke about how he lived near Jonathan Winters and would always see him in the supermarket. He'd be walking up and down the aisles, doing voices, shtick and talking to himself. Cheech would wait a little while, then go over to him and say, "Jonathan, I think it's time to just buy something and leave."



Gilbert Gottfried is a comedian and actor. Follow him on Twitter @realgilbert.

[Demeter]

18. Capitalism Is Great, But It Assigns No Value To Your Grandchildren

IT DOESN'T THINK MUCH OF YOU, PERIOD! AFTER ALL, YOU ARE A USELESS EATER!

http://www.businessinsider.com/grantham-how-to-feed-the-world-2013-4

...On the strengths and weaknesses of capitalism

Capitalism does millions of things better than the alternatives. It balances supply and demand in an elegant way that central planning has never come close to. However, it is totally ill-equipped to deal with a small handful of issues. Unfortunately, today, they are the issues that are absolutely central to our long-term well=being and even survival. It doesn't think long-term very well because of high discount rate structure.

If you're a typical corporation anything lying out 30 years literally doesn't matter. Or, as I like to say: QED, your grandchildren have no value. And they usually act as if that was true, even though I'm sure they are actually very kind to their grandchildren.

My favourite story is about the contract between the farmer and the devil. The devil says, "sign this contract and I'll triple your farm's profits". But there are 25 footnotes, as there always is with the devil. Footnote 22 says that 1% of your soil will be eroded each year, which is actually horrifyingly close to the real average over the past 50 years. The farmer signs and makes a fortune on a 40-year contract. And his son then signs up for the next 40-year contract and makes a fortune. And his son then signs up for the third and final contract. He still does very well, and in the final 20 years the family has accumulated enormous wealth, but the soil has gone. It's the same story for all his neighbouring farms and everyone is out of business. My sick joke is that at least he will die a rich farmer when all the starving hordes arrive from the city.

Every graduate who took Econ 101 would probably sign that contract. There is no single theory that is used in economics that considers the finite nature of resources. It's shocking...

MUCH MORE

[Demeter]

20. On the unwillingness to process unpleasant data:

I find the parallels between how some investors refuse to recognise the trends and our reaction to some of our environmental challenges very powerful. There is an unwillingness to process unpleasant data. In a bull market you want to believe good news. You don't want to hear that the market is going to go off a cliff. You don't want to listen to the climate people who are telling you it is getting worse and even worse unless you do this and that. You want to listen to the good news. There were always people willing to tell you that smoking was OK and that stuff about cancer was exaggerated. There's a professor at MIT who defended tobacco who now defends carbon dioxide saying it seems to have lost its greenhouse effect, or whatever.

And then there are the vested interests. They are the single most powerful force because you are dealing with an audience who wants to hear good news and into the stock market come all the bullish stock market giant firms telling you everything's fine because they love bull markets because they make a fortune. They don't even mind crashes because they don't do so badly there either. What they would die at is if the market went up at its long-term trend line at 1.8%, plus inflation, a year. But we're not going back to 2% growth. Maybe we'll do 1% and it will be reported as 1.5% and once again people don't want to hear that. They want to hear Ben Bernanke's news that it should return to 3%...

Me calling bubbles correctly is all data driven and based on the optimism that is built into humans. Every time we see a bubble, we see an army of people screaming, "No, no, it's not a bubble, everything is fine." We see the climate and scores of people screaming the same that everything is fine, or that it's a plot. It's par for the course. The general public don't want to hear it and will choose to listen to the optimistic interpretation. It's a real uphill struggle. You don't stop the bubble really until the damage is done. It goes so high that it can't sustain itself and just pops. And maybe that will happen here and our job is to try to do a better job than we did in the tech bubble...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/blog/2013/apr/15/jeremy-grantham-population-china-climate

[bread_and_roses]

26. Those first two sentences are total fantasy

"Capitalism does millions of things better than the alternatives. It balances supply and demand in an elegant way that central planning has never come close to."

Oh, really? Then I'd like the writer to tell me how it is that we have hunger in a land of plenty here and global starvation when we could actually feed everyone (albeit not necessarily well, but enough to stay alive)? How is it that we have people living in boxes and cars and under bridges when there is empty housing? And if anyone wants to say that the authors are referring to production, then I'll ask how is it that the US govmt ends up buying and destroying excess production of milk or other commodities? And if any Randians wandering by want to claim that those are the results of a "not true capitalism" or whatever their terminology is I'll just ROFL.

(I know - I sound grumpy - have had weeks and weeks of overwork and, like at Demeter's, we had a balmy spring day followed by my going out this AM all unsuspecting to walk the dog and being greeted by an ear-freezing wind .... I like winter in its time and place, but I'm tired of hats and gloves and cold and wind ..... it's time for spring.

[bread_and_roses]

44. He actually contradicts those statements himself later in interview

... There is no single theory that is used in economics that considers the finite nature of resources. It's shocking.

But not as shocking as the pathetic waste of space over the last 50 years given to "rational expectations", which allows a whole generation of bankers and central bankers to believe that the market is efficient. None of it applies to the real world, or to messy human beings, many of whom are a little crooked when they have to be. It's been a disaster and a complete waste of time.

However, this is a good quote:

One of my new heroes is an economist called Kenneth Boulding who, at 22, got a paper into Keynes's journal. At the age of about 50 he realised that economics was not taking its job seriously, that it was not interested in utility, in real serious improvement in the world, but that it was increasingly interested in new, elegant mathematical theories designed to get career advancement, over usefulness.

He said the only people who believe you can have compound growth in a finite world are either mad men or economists. He also said: "Mathematics has brought rigor to economics. Unfortunately, it also brought mortis."

(bold emphasis added)

[Demeter]

52. I liked that bon mot, too.

I'm going to try to work it into casual conversations...

[DemReadingDU]

19. Are the Banks Already Orchestrating Another Meltdown?

Originally posted by eridani
http://www.democraticunderground.com/111634111


4/19/13 Are the Banks Already Orchestrating Another Meltdown? By Alyssa Figueroa
Wall Street is selling the exact same risky mortgage bundles that crashed the economy in 2008.

On Friday, the New York Times reported that banks are continuing to practice risky behavior as the economy “improves.” While the mainstream media has been quick to discuss the improving economy, not much conversation has been situated around whom exactly the economy is improving for and how millions of Americans still struggle financially. Just one example, for instance, is that 11 million renters currently pay more than 50 percent of their incomes on housing.

But Wall Street is making more investments, known as structured financial products, and escaping new financial regulations, such as the Dodd-Frank bill that did not change the structure of how loans are bundled — which, when done riskily, causes crisis.

Tad Phillips, a commercial real estate analyst at Moody’s rating agency, told the Times: “The players in the business are generally the same as they were before. … Because it’s the old players, they know how to push the boundaries.”

more...
http://www.alternet.org/economy/are-banks-already-orchestrating-another-meltdown

[Demeter]

21. The Dis-Uniting of America By Robert Reich

http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/15803-the-dis-uniting-of-america

We come together as Americans when confronting common disasters and common threats, such as occurred in Boston on Monday, but we continue to split apart economically.

Anyone who wants to understand the dis-uniting of America needs to see how dramatically we’re segregating geographically by income and wealth. Today I’m giving a Town Hall talk in Fresno, in the center of California’s Central Valley, where the official unemployment rate is 15.4 percent and median family earns under $40,000. The so-called “recovery” is barely in evidence.

As the crow flies Fresno is not that far from California’s high-tech enclaves of Google, Intel, Facebook, and Apple, or from the entertainment capital of Hollywood, but they might as well be different worlds.

Being wealthy in modern America means you don’t come across anyone who isn’t, and being poor and lower-middle class means you’re surrounded by others who are just as hard up. Upward mobility — the old notion that anyone can make it with enough guts and gumption — is less of a reality...

[Demeter]

22. Solar panels could destroy U.S. utilities, according to U.S. utilities By David Roberts

http://grist.org/climate-energy/solar-panels-could-destroy-u-s-utilities-according-to-u-s-utilities/

Solar power and other distributed renewable energy technologies could lay waste to U.S. power utilities and burn the utility business model, which has remained virtually unchanged for a century, to the ground.

That is not wild-eyed hippie talk. It is the assessment of the utilities themselves.

Back in January, the Edison Electric Institute — the (typically stodgy and backward-looking) trade group of U.S. investor-owned utilities — released a report [PDF] that, as far as I can tell, went almost entirely without notice in the press. That’s a shame. It is one of the most prescient and brutally frank things I’ve ever read about the power sector. It is a rare thing to hear an industry tell the tale of its own incipient obsolescence.

I’ve been thinking about how to convey to you, normal people with healthy social lives and no time to ponder the byzantine nature of the power industry, just what a big deal the coming changes are. They are nothing short of revolutionary …

SEE LINK

[AnneD]

29. Uhh...

wasn't that the general idea.

Literally power to the people...Right On!

Edited to add...if the power companies could have found a way to tax us for wind and sunshine, we would have used these renewable resources a long time ago.

[Demeter]

23. ACLU Appeals Ruling Allowing Feds to Stay Mum on Drone Targeted Killings

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2013/04/alice-wonderland-drone-appeal/

The American Civil Liberties Union today appealed a judge’s ruling allowing the President Barack Obama administration to keep mum on its legal basis for its drone targeted killing program, including information connected to the killing of Americans via drones.

The appeal concerns an “Alice in Wonderland” decision by U.S. District Court Judge Colleen McMahon of New York, who in January ruled that she was trapped in a “paradoxical situation” of allowing the administration to claim it was legal to kill enemies outside traditional combat zones while keeping the legal rationale secret.

The appeal (.pdf) comes days after McClatchy Newspapers reported that, “Contrary to assurances it has deployed U.S. drones only against known senior leaders of al-Qaida and allied groups, the Obama administration has targeted and killed hundreds of suspected lower-level Afghan, Pakistani and unidentified ‘other’ militants in scores of strikes in Pakistan’s rugged tribal area, classified U.S. intelligence reports show.”

The use of drones to shoot missiles from afar at vehicles and buildings that the nation’s intelligence agencies believe are being used by suspected terrorists began under the George W. Bush administration and was widened by the Obama administration to allow the targeting of American citizens. Drone strikes by the Pentagon and the CIA have sparked backlashes from foreign governments and populations, as the strikes often kill civilians, including women and children.

By some estimates, the United States has killed more than 4,000 people with drones in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia, including 1,000 civilians...

THAT'S BETTER THAN 9/11! GO USA! WE'RE #1!

[Demeter]

24. Can Capitalism Tolerate a Democratic Internet?

http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/15516-can-capitalism-tolerate-a-democratic-internet-an-interview-with-media-expert-robert-mcchesney

Anne Elizabeth Moore for Truthout:...the Internet has scant room for non-corporate voices, a concern that drives Robert McChesney's latest New Press title, Digital Disconnect: How Capitalism Is Turning the Internet Against Democracy. It's an important extension of his to-date oeuvre, tracking the privatization of communication in the digital age, as well as a vital stand-alone resource. (Full disclosure: McChesney and the Free Press have been very supportive of my work in the past, but I'm sure you'll agree I haven't let that keep me from a close interrogation of his ideas in the interest of expanding his audience.)

Robert McChesney: In 1992, I was putting the final touches on my very first book, Telecommunications, Mass Media and Democracy, which was about the battle in the 1930s to set up a nonprofit noncommercial sector of broadcasting, to not just let the networks and the commercial guys control it. The day before I was supposed to send in my final corrections, there was a review of a book by George Gilder called Life After Television. In the book, Gilder said we're in the process of having this digital revolution with the Internet, and it's going to eliminate traditional understanding of media, and no longer will we have television and radio people with their propaganda, people will control their own environment, blah blah blah. It was obvious to me when I read that that, no matter what might I have thought of Gilder, or his argument, that something important was happening.

All that talk we heard in the 1970s and 80s about computers - which had always been abstracted and really irrelevant to media - with the World Wide Web coming up, changed in 1992, 93. So at that point, I knew that for the rest of my career, the Internet was going to be a part of everything I did, that it would be unavoidable. It was going to be the central issue for critical communications scholars, or any sort of media scholars. I've written in the last two decades probably five or six long articles every few years - or book chapters - trying to assess where we were at the time. And in each case, I've always thought, It's still too amorphous, there's still too much in flux. We can see some patterns but there's still a lot that's unknown...

Today, 13 of the 30 largest publicly traded corporations in the US are Internet-related companies. To get a sense of what a big deal that is: only two of the top 30 are banks. We always talk about how banks run the world, but they're chicken crap compared to these guys. These guys are almost half of the 30 largest companies in the United States. Most of them are what economists would call monopolies. So they're not going anywhere. Their power is so immense that they're here for a long time.

Their economic practices have crystallized and we can now see where the profits are coming from to make them so powerful. That wasn't true ten years ago...technology does not trump the social order. The social order, more often than not, trumps the technology. The best way to understand them is that they work together. Technology does have a great deal of influence in its own right on a society, but the way society is structured, the political economy of the society, has every bit as much influence as - I think generally more influence than - the technology. It shapes the technology. And that's the great battle we have...

I BEG TO DIFFER....THE TECHNOLOGY EITHER SUPPORTS THE SOCIAL ORDER: ARMORED KNIGHTS....OR TAKES IT DOWN: GUNPOWDER.

ONLY THE KINGS COULD AFFORD ARMORED KNIGHTS, BUT ANYONE COULD MANUFACTURE GUNPOWDER...THE REST IS HISTORY.

YOU NEED THE KIND OF TECHNOLOGY THAT DESTROYS GREED (LIKE DISTRIBUTED RENEWABLE ENERGY, DISTRIBUTED PUBLISHING VIA THE INTERNET, DISTRIBUTED LABOR BY TELECOMMUTING...ETC) AND THE WILL TO LIVE IN EQUALITY (DEMOCRACY)

AND THEN A MIRACLE OCCURS.

[bread_and_roses]

28. Shaking my head in disbelieving wonderment here ....

Over in Jonestown .... I don't need to point it out, anyone passing by there on front page on their way here will get it .....

[Demeter]

39. Could you be a little more specific about which of the many crazy things irks you?

I could catch something nasty by spending time there sorting it out....

[bread_and_roses]

43. Happily, it's fallen way way down

I don't want to draw attention to it - will pm you

[xchrom]

30. bad health has struck again

hopefully -- i'm a little better and back more tomorrow.

[DemReadingDU]

32. Get well soon

[xchrom]

33. thank you so very much.

i seem to like this crew an awful lot.

[Demeter]

36. Chicken Soup! Tuck yourself in and rest

and warm, summery thoughts...not this sleet and wind and

my god, I looked out the window and it's actually snowing RIGHT NOW....



I'm off to a funeral visitation for my cousin's husband, who died Thursday. Cousin used to babysit us...she's my first cousin once removed. I'm in a funereal mood, at least....

[xchrom]

38. god girl...winter, winter go away!

[Demeter]

40. Or at least, don't look out the window, nor step outside the door.

[Fuddnik]

41. Friends from up North left to drive back about noon.

Weather here was close to 90 and sunny all week.

When they get back in the morning, 30's.

Yep, the never-ending winter.

Get well soon.

[xchrom]

42. Thanks fuddnik! Nt

[xchrom]

31. Fitch downgrades UK credit rating - as it happened

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2013/apr/19/eurozone-crisis-imf-g20-emerging-nations-austerity-growth

8:27AM Olli Rehn: we could slow austerity down
Good morning, and welcome to our rolling coverage of the latest events in the eurozone crisis and across the world economy.

The battle between growth and austerity is centre stage today as the world's most powerful finance ministers and central bank governors gather in Washington for the G20 talks.

Overnight, European commissioner Olli Rehn signalled that the eurozone may finally be prepared to bow to pressure and relax its fiscal consolidation programme in some countries – where the belt tightening is clearly doing more harm than good.

Speaking to Reuters, Rehn declared:

In the early phase of the crisis it was essential to restore the credibility of fiscal policy in Europe because that was fundamentally questioned by market forces...

There was no choice. Decisive action was taken.

Now, as we have restored the credibility in the short-term, that gives us the possibility of having a smoother path of fiscal adjustment in the medium-term.

It could be an important shift in Brussels' position, as the G20 are expected to discuss whether to agree on a collective "co-ordinated debt reduction plan" for the coming years.

Rehn's comments also come as the International Monetary Fund appeared to shift its position on the balance between fiscal consolidation and stimulus. Some journalists are talking of a power battle within the Fund, with more Keynesian elements perhaps taking the upper hand.

But talk of more stimulus measures in the world's biggest economies may be alarming the developing world – who have issued a warning about the push for ever-more liquidity (more to follow).

In Europe, the Finnish parliament is due to debate the Cyprus bailout. The news yesterday that Cypriot MPs will hold their own vote is causing some jitters.

And Italian MPs will continue to vote on their next president, after two failed ballots yesterday.

I'll be tracking the latest developments in Europe, and beyond, through the day.

[xchrom]

34. The Rogoff-Reinhart data scandal reminds us economists aren't gods

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/apr/18/rogoff-reinhart-deficit-research-false


Kenneth Rogoff and Carmen Reinhart

In economics, there are no heroes. Let's repeat that: there are no heroes.

We want heroes. We want to be told what is right by philosopher-data-kings, poring over numbers that will point us toward the right policies and ways of thinking. When we want to address inequality – like raising the minimum wage or paying women an equal amount, or giving immigrants a chance to contribute to society, or paying CEOs less – economics helps bolster those arguments. To a certain extent, the numbers created by the magi of the economy have been our beacons through the recession and the slow recovery. We look to the wise men (and women, but mostly men) who will lead us out of the wilderness, their white robes printed with numbers: GDP, unemployment, inflation. These numbers are our mile markers: how much is life improving for people? Can they afford food? How much further does the economy have to go to recovery?

We are, largely, fools when we do this. Economics is an inexact science, as any honest economist will tell you. It is based on unreliable numbers that measure relatively small swaths of the population. Whatever the number – unemployment, inflation, wages – it is almost always wrong the first time the government publishes them, and then it is revised later: once, twice, three times or more. The errors are usually large.

This is an important realization because of what happened this week. Many Americans know that Washington lawmakers have been engaged in a two-year battle to the death over the federal deficit. Some, like Congressman Paul Ryan, say that the debt that America owes will destroy the economy in the future. Others, mostly Democrats, say it is foolish to cut government debt – and thus government spending – because Americans need the wages and support that come from Washington, at least until things get better.


***more like con artists -- yet their 'bad math' will attract PLENTY of defenders -- even though it's a lie.

[Demeter]

37. It's called: "Giving the Customer What He Wants"

which is license to steal from the 99%.

[xchrom]

45. CITI: We Think Both Greece And Cyprus Will Exit The Euro

http://www.businessinsider.com/citi-greece-cyprus-will-exit-the-euro-2013-4

Major debt restructuring for both Cyprus and Greece will probably force the struggling euro zone countries to leave the single currency, according to Citigroup's latest economic outlook, which warned markets could again be hit by escalating fears.

Stocks on both sides of the Atlantic have remained relatively sanguine in March as the so-called Troika (the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund) agreed to give Cyprus a 10 billion euro ($13 billion) bailout. The country also imposed credit controls and a levy on large deposits.

But the story is far from over, according to Citi, with the euro area's economic prospects remaining far from healthy.

(Read More: Cyprus Bailout in Danger as Opposition Grows)
"We continue to assume that Greece and Cyprus will leave EMU (European Monetary Union) over time," Citi said in the note published late Wednesday.


Read more: http://www.cnbc.com/id/100655982#ixzz2R6JWfdQs

[Demeter]

53. The rest of Europe could all agree to screw the Germans

and abandon the euro en masse.....

[xchrom]

46. Exports from Enterprise Ireland firms top €16 billion

http://www.irishtimes.com/business/economy/ireland/exports-from-enterprise-ireland-firms-top-16-billion-1.1365820

Exports from Irish companies supported by Enterprise Ireland reached record levels last year topping €16 billion for the first time.
The figure is up from €15.2 billion in 2011.

The United Kingdom accounted for more than €6 billion of these exports, an 8 per cent increase on the 2011 figure, while more than €1.78 billion worth of these exports went to the United States and Canada, a 20 per cent increase on 2011.

Latin America saw the largest percentage increase, with export figures up 24 per cent on 2011, while exports to the Asia Pacific region grew 17 per cent to €1.02 billion.

[xchrom]

47. Flowers names Ireland as target investment country{FIRE SALE!}

http://www.irishtimes.com/business/economy/ireland/flowers-names-ireland-as-target-investment-country-1.1365936


The head of US buyout firm JC Flowers, which invests in distressed financial institutions, has said Spain and Ireland are his preferred countries for investment in Europe.

Christopher Flowers, the former Goldman Sachs executive, is interested in investing in firms with about €50 billion of assets, he said in an interview with Manus Cranny on Bloomberg Television.

"The most interesting for us is maybe Spain followed by Ireland," he said. Spain has a "lot going on there and part of the European Union and that's appealing as an investor."

Mr Flowers moved to London from the US last year to examine investment opportunities in Europe.

[Demeter]

54. The Fire comes after those sales

with a side of pitchforks....

[xchrom]

48. EU-US trade pact could deliver €800m boost for Ireland, says Bruton

http://www.irishtimes.com/business/economy/world/eu-us-trade-pact-could-deliver-800m-boost-for-ireland-says-bruton-1.1365070

A trade deal between the European Union and the United States could add €800 million to the Irish economy and create up to 4,000 jobs, Richard Bruton said yesterday.

The Minister for Enterprise, Jobs and Innovation was speaking after an informal council of EU trade ministers, which had been attended, in part, by US president Barrack Obama’s chief trade negotiator.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny, also speaking at Dublin Castle, said the successful liberalisation of trade and investment between the European Union and the US could prove to be a turning point for their 700 million inhabitants.

‘Sense of excitement’
Mr Kenny said there was a “sense of excitement and eagerness” to agree a Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, adding that the Government had prioritised the issue during its presidency of the EU.

[xchrom]

49. General Electric profits lifted by NBC stake sale

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-22219381


General Electric has reported a 16% rise in first quarter profits, helped by a one-off gain from the sale of its stake in NBC Universal.

It made a profit of $3.53bn (£2.3bn) in the quarter, up from $3.03bn last year. Revenue was flat at $35bn.

The conglomerate has been trying to put its focus back on core industrial businesses, which include aviation and energy infrastructure.

It said orders for its aviation equipment jumped 47%.


***isn't GE one of the companies that is both subsidized and pays little or no taxes?

[xchrom]

50. Christine Lagarde warns UK growth 'not good'

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-22209770


The head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Christine Lagarde, has expressed renewed concern over the health of the UK economy.

The UK's growth numbers are "not particularly good", Ms Lagarde said.

But speaking ahead of a high-level meeting of policymakers in Washington, she refused to be drawn on whether UK should reassess its austerity policy.

Her comments came as Mark Carney, the next governor of the Bank of England, hinted at his concerns over the UK.

[xchrom]

51. Russian economic growth slows sharply

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-22184827

The pace of growth in the Russian economy, part of the once fast-moving Brics bloc of developing countries, slowed to 1.1% in the first three months of 2013.

The number contrasts sharply with the 4.9% notched up during the first three months of 2012.

The estimated figure came from deputy economy minister, Andrei Klepach.

He said the slowdown emerged after growth for January and February were revised down.

[xchrom]

55. Margaret Thatcher – a strong leader, but a resolute failure by any other measure

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/economics-blog/2013/apr/18/margaret-thatcher-leader-failure-strong

Margaret Thatcher was Britain's greatest 20th-century peacetime prime minister.

In the 1980s, the near-simultaneous crisis of communism in the east and social democracy in the west gave her the opportunity to do great deeds. But it required a great leader to take advantage of it.

Her relationship with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev opened up the way to ending the cold war; her privatisation policies showed the world how to dismantle state socialism. The neoliberal revival of the 1980s will always be known as the Reagan-Thatcher revolution.

She was also the most divisive British prime minister of modern times, admired and reviled in equal measure, owing as much to the self-righteous way she pursued her policies as to the policies themselves. She rightly described herself as a "conviction politician". A conviction is a settled belief that brooks no argument. And she did not deign to conciliate, instead dividing the political world into "us" and "them".

"Where there is error, may we bring truth," she announced on her entry to 10 Downing Street in 1979, quoting Saint Francis of Assisi.

[Demeter]

57. Influential, yes. Great? Not by any definition of the word.

In fact, one could say she was a "miserable failure" as a Prime Minister, destroying the common man and woman for profiteering banksters.....

[Demeter]

58. How is the justifiably named GREAT X today?

[xchrom]

56. Why George Osborne should raise corporation tax to 50%

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/apr/21/george-osborne-raise-corporation-tax-50

How can public policy get the UK economy moving again without the government increasing its borrowing? That is the question that many are asking before this week's GDP figures, and to which George Osborne has no convincing answer. Encouraging sub-prime borrowing to buy overpriced housing, his main budget wheeze, is not a promising approach.

Consider why the government is running an intractable deficit. It is because all other sectors of the economy are determined to run a surplus. Any borrowing is someone else's lending. If you wish to lend and I refuse to borrow, the money goes under the metaphorical bed and economic activity runs down.

The household sector is right to want to save. It did the opposite in the pre-crisis years and ran debt up to some 170% of its annual income. Even now, after some years of thrift, debt is 140% of annual income. It is folly to base a recovery on households borrowing more. We'd like to get foreigners to borrow more from us by running a trade surplus with them. That is also government policy: the main point of "quantitative easing" is to devalue the pound, make our exports cheap, and grow by running a trade surplus.

This would work in usual circumstances, though it takes longer than people think and usually implies some tolerance of a bit of inflation. Now, however, with Europe in a state of depression and everyone else, even Japan, trying to have a competitive currency, devaluation is not working well.

[DemReadingDU]

59. Bernanke to skip Jackson Hole due to scheduling conflict

4/21/13 Bernanke to skip Jackson Hole due to scheduling conflict

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke will miss the annual Jackson Hole monetary policy symposium this year due to a scheduling conflict, skipping the prestigious event for the first time since taking the helm of the central bank in 2006.

The conference, held in late August in the splendor of the Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming, draws top central bankers from around the world. Bernanke's absence would mark the first time in 25 years that a Fed chairman has not attended.

A Fed spokeswoman, responding to a Reuters enquiry, said the chairman was currently not planning to attend because of a personal scheduling conflict.

more...
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/04/21/us-usa-fed-bernanke-idUSBRE93J0JX20130421

[Demeter]

60. I'm all done in

but anyone can post in this thread...

See you Monday on SMW!