Dec 09, 2010
Health Reform Wins Another Round in Court
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/12/08/health-reform-wins-another-round-court
White House: The Framework for a Tax Agreement Is a Good Deal for Working Families
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/12/08/framework-a-tax-agreement-a-good-deal-working-families
Giving Credit Where It's Due. WSJ Editorial
Speculators didn't destroy Greece
Dec 09, 2010, The Wall Street Journal, page 13
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703493504576007050934987050.html
Well, what do you know? Credit-default swaps didn't cause Greece's fiscal collapse last spring after all.
That's the conclusion of a study by the European Commission. The paper was drafted in the run-up to the Greek bailout, but has belatedly come to light following a freedom of information request from the Dutch newspaper Het Financieele Dagblad [http://www.fd.nl/artikel/20852357/geen-enkel-bewijs-speculaties-tegen-eurolanden]. Last March, as Greek bonds tumbled and the price of credit-default swaps on the country's debt soared, Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou repeatedly blamed "speculators" whose "abuses" of the CDS market and the bond markets were, he claimed, to blame for Greece's predicament.
So the Angela Merkel of Germany and French President Nicolas Sarkozy joined Mr. Papandreou in calling on the European Commission to investigate whether over-the-counter credit-default swaps—which pay the buyer if a debtor can't or won't make his payments—were being used to manipulate the sovereign debt markets.
The Commission's report looked at the prices of CDS and the yields on government bonds and concluded that, if anything, credit default swaps seemed to be underpricing the risk of default. What's more, the paper says, in many ways the CDS market in Europe is more liquid and more transparent than the market in the underlying bonds. The paper also cautions that restricting or even banning "naked" CDS on government bonds, as some EU leaders proposed last spring, would raise the cost of borrowing in Europe by denying investors a way of hedging their exposure.
In other words, the Commission's inquest into sovereign credit-default swaps found a market, free from nefarious influences and largely unregulated, working more or less as you'd expect. No wonder Brussels buried the findings.
Statement by the President on Tax Cuts and Unemployment Benefits
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2010/12/06/statement-president-tax-cuts-and-unemployment-benefits
Excerpts:
Now, Republicans have a different view. They believe that we should also make permanent the tax cuts for the wealthiest 2 percent of Americans. I completely disagree with this. A permanent extension of these tax cuts would cost us $700 billion at a time when we need to start focusing on bringing down our deficit. And economists from all across the political spectrum agree that giving tax cuts to millionaires and billionaires does very little to actually grow our economy.
This is where the debate has stood for the last couple of weeks. And what is abundantly clear to everyone in this town is that Republicans will block a permanent tax cut for the middle class unless they also get a permanent tax cut for the wealthiest Americans, regardless of the cost or impact on the deficit.
[...]
So, sympathetic as I am to those who prefer a fight over compromise, as much as the political wisdom may dictate fighting over solving problems, it would be the wrong thing to do. The American people didn’t send us here to wage symbolic battles or win symbolic victories. They would much rather have the comfort of knowing that when they open their first paycheck on January of 2011, it won’t be smaller than it was before, all because Washington decided they preferred to have a fight and failed to act.
Make no mistake: Allowing taxes to go up on all Americans would have raised taxes by $3,000 for a typical American family. And that could cost our economy well over a million jobs.
At the same time, I’m not about to add $700 billion to our deficit by allowing a permanent extension of the tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans. And I won’t allow any extension of these tax cuts for the wealthy, even a temporary one, without also extending unemployment insurance for Americans who’ve lost their jobs or additional tax cuts for working families and small businesses -- because if Republicans truly believe we shouldn’t raise taxes on anyone while our economy is still recovering from the recession, then surely we shouldn’t cut taxes for wealthy people while letting them rise on parents and students and small businesses.
[...]
In exchange for a temporary extension of the tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans, we will be able to protect key tax cuts for working families -- the Earned Income Tax Credit that helps families climb out of poverty; the Child Tax Credit that makes sure families don’t see their taxes jump up to $1,000 for every child; and the American Opportunity Tax Credit that ensures over 8 million students and their families don’t suddenly see the cost of college shooting up.
[...]
I have no doubt that everyone will find something in this compromise that they don’t like. In fact, there are things in here that I don’t like -- namely the extension of the tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans and the wealthiest estates. But these tax cuts will expire in two years. And I’m confident that as we make tough choices about bringing our deficit down, as I engage in a conversation with the American people about the hard choices we’re going to have to make to secure our future and our children’s future and our grandchildren’s future, it will become apparent that we cannot afford to extend those tax cuts any longer.
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Friday, December 3, 2010
1,000-man militia being trained in north Somalia
1,000-man militia being trained in north Somalia
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2010-12-01-somalia_N.htm
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2010-12-01-somalia_N.htm
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Key political risks to watch in Angola and the Gulf of Guinea
Key political risks to watch in Angola
http://www.internationalpathfindersolutions.com/key-political-risks-to-watch-in-angola.html
Key political risks in the Gulf of Guinea
http://www.internationalpathfindersolutions.com/key-political-risks-in-the-gulf-of-guinea1.html
http://www.internationalpathfindersolutions.com/key-political-risks-to-watch-in-angola.html
Key political risks in the Gulf of Guinea
http://www.internationalpathfindersolutions.com/key-political-risks-in-the-gulf-of-guinea1.html
Ping Pong Robot Learns by Doing
Ping Pong Robot Learns by Doing
http://spectrum.ieee.org/automaton/robotics/artificial-intelligence/ping-pong-robot-learns-by-doing
http://spectrum.ieee.org/automaton/robotics/artificial-intelligence/ping-pong-robot-learns-by-doing
Monday, November 29, 2010
New derivatives rules could punish firms that pose no systemic risk
Nov 29, 2010
The Hangover, Part II. WSJ Editorial
New derivatives rules could punish firms that pose no systemic risk.
WSJ, Nov 29, 2010
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704104104575622583155296368.html
Not even Mel Gibson would want a role in this political sequel. Readers will recall the true story of Congressman Barney Frank and Senator Chris Dodd, two pals who stayed up all night rewriting derivatives legislation.
The plot centered around the comedy premise that two Beltway buddies would quickly restructure multi-trillion-dollar markets to present their friend, President Barack Obama, with an apparent achievement before a G-8 meeting. As in the movies, the slapstick duo finished rewriting their bill just in time for the big meeting in Toronto last June.
But after the pair completed their mad-cap all-nighter, no hilarity ensued. That's because Main Street companies that had nothing to do with the financial crisis woke up to find billions of dollars in potential new costs. The threat was new authority for regulators to require higher margins on various financial contracts, even for small companies that nobody considers a systemic risk. The new rules could apply to companies that aren't speculating but are simply trying to protect against business risks, such as a sudden price hike in a critical raw material.
Businesses with good credit that have never had trouble off-loading such risks might have to put up additional cash at the whim of Washington bureaucrats, or simply hold on to the risks, making their businesses less competitive. Companies that make machine tools, for example, want to focus on making machine tools, not on the fluctuations of interest rates or the value of a foreign customer's local currency. So companies pay someone else to manage these risks. But Washington threatens to make that process much more costly.
Messrs. Frank and Dodd responded to the uproar first by suggesting that the problem could be fixed later in a "corrections" bill and then by denying the problem existed. Both proclaimed that their bill did not saddle commercial companies with new margin rules. But as we noted last summer, comments from the bill's authors cannot trump the language of the law.
Flash forward to today, and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is drafting its new rules for swaps, the common derivatives contracts in which two parties exchange risks, such as trading fixed for floating interest rates. We're told that CFTC Chairman Gary Gensler has said privately that his agency now has the power to hit Main Street with new margin requirements, not just Wall Street.
Main Street companies that use these contracts are known as end-users. When we asked the CFTC if Mr. Gensler believes regulators can require swap dealers to demand margin from all end-users, a spokesman said, "It would be premature to say that a rule would include such a requirement or that the Chairman supports such a requirement."
It may only be premature until next month, when the CFTC is expected to issue its draft rules. While the commission doesn't have jurisdiction over the entire swaps market, other financial regulators are expected to follow its lead. Mr. Gensler, a Clinton Administration and Goldman Sachs alum, may not understand the impact of his actions outside of Washington and Wall Street.
In a sequel to the Dodd-Frank all-nighter, the law requires regulators to remake financial markets in a rush. CFTC Commissioner Michael Dunn said recently that to comply with Dodd-Frank, the commission may need to write 100 new regulations by next July.
"In my opinion it takes about three years to really promulgate a rule," he said, according to Bloomberg News. Congress instructed us to "forget what's physically possible," he added. The commission can't really use this impossible schedule as an excuse because Mr. Gensler had as much impact as anyone in crafting the derivatives provisions in Dodd-Frank. No surprise, the bill vastly expands his agency's regulatory turf.
And if anyone can pull off a complete overhaul of multi-trillion-dollar markets in a mere eight months, it must be the CFTC.
Just kidding. An internal CFTC report says that communication problems between the CFTC's enforcement and market oversight divisions "impede the overall effectiveness of the commission's efforts to not only detect and prevent, but in certain circumstances, to take enforcement action against market manipulation." The report adds that the commission's two primary surveillance programs use incompatible software. Speaking generally and not in response to the report, Mr. Gensler says that the agency is "trying to move more toward the use of 21st century computers," though he warns that "it's a multiyear process." No doubt.
The CFTC report also noted that "the staff has no standard protocol for documenting their work." If we were tasked with restructuring a complex trading market to conform to the vision of Chris Dodd and Barney Frank, we wouldn't want our fingerprints on it either.
The report was completed in 2009 but only became public this month thanks to a Freedom of Information Act request from our colleagues at Dow Jones Newswires. Would Messrs. Dodd and Frank have responded differently to Mr. Gensler's power grab if they had realized how much trouble the CFTC was having fulfilling its traditional mission? We doubt it, but it certainly would have made their reform a tougher sell, even to the Washington press corps.
Congress should scrutinize this process that is all but guaranteed to result in ill-considered, poorly crafted regulation. In January, legislators should start acting, not like buddies pulling all-nighters, but like adults who understand it's their job to make the tough calls, rather than kicking them over to the bureaucracy with an arbitrary deadline.
The Hangover, Part II. WSJ Editorial
New derivatives rules could punish firms that pose no systemic risk.
WSJ, Nov 29, 2010
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704104104575622583155296368.html
Not even Mel Gibson would want a role in this political sequel. Readers will recall the true story of Congressman Barney Frank and Senator Chris Dodd, two pals who stayed up all night rewriting derivatives legislation.
The plot centered around the comedy premise that two Beltway buddies would quickly restructure multi-trillion-dollar markets to present their friend, President Barack Obama, with an apparent achievement before a G-8 meeting. As in the movies, the slapstick duo finished rewriting their bill just in time for the big meeting in Toronto last June.
But after the pair completed their mad-cap all-nighter, no hilarity ensued. That's because Main Street companies that had nothing to do with the financial crisis woke up to find billions of dollars in potential new costs. The threat was new authority for regulators to require higher margins on various financial contracts, even for small companies that nobody considers a systemic risk. The new rules could apply to companies that aren't speculating but are simply trying to protect against business risks, such as a sudden price hike in a critical raw material.
Businesses with good credit that have never had trouble off-loading such risks might have to put up additional cash at the whim of Washington bureaucrats, or simply hold on to the risks, making their businesses less competitive. Companies that make machine tools, for example, want to focus on making machine tools, not on the fluctuations of interest rates or the value of a foreign customer's local currency. So companies pay someone else to manage these risks. But Washington threatens to make that process much more costly.
Messrs. Frank and Dodd responded to the uproar first by suggesting that the problem could be fixed later in a "corrections" bill and then by denying the problem existed. Both proclaimed that their bill did not saddle commercial companies with new margin rules. But as we noted last summer, comments from the bill's authors cannot trump the language of the law.
Flash forward to today, and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is drafting its new rules for swaps, the common derivatives contracts in which two parties exchange risks, such as trading fixed for floating interest rates. We're told that CFTC Chairman Gary Gensler has said privately that his agency now has the power to hit Main Street with new margin requirements, not just Wall Street.
Main Street companies that use these contracts are known as end-users. When we asked the CFTC if Mr. Gensler believes regulators can require swap dealers to demand margin from all end-users, a spokesman said, "It would be premature to say that a rule would include such a requirement or that the Chairman supports such a requirement."
It may only be premature until next month, when the CFTC is expected to issue its draft rules. While the commission doesn't have jurisdiction over the entire swaps market, other financial regulators are expected to follow its lead. Mr. Gensler, a Clinton Administration and Goldman Sachs alum, may not understand the impact of his actions outside of Washington and Wall Street.
In a sequel to the Dodd-Frank all-nighter, the law requires regulators to remake financial markets in a rush. CFTC Commissioner Michael Dunn said recently that to comply with Dodd-Frank, the commission may need to write 100 new regulations by next July.
"In my opinion it takes about three years to really promulgate a rule," he said, according to Bloomberg News. Congress instructed us to "forget what's physically possible," he added. The commission can't really use this impossible schedule as an excuse because Mr. Gensler had as much impact as anyone in crafting the derivatives provisions in Dodd-Frank. No surprise, the bill vastly expands his agency's regulatory turf.
And if anyone can pull off a complete overhaul of multi-trillion-dollar markets in a mere eight months, it must be the CFTC.
Just kidding. An internal CFTC report says that communication problems between the CFTC's enforcement and market oversight divisions "impede the overall effectiveness of the commission's efforts to not only detect and prevent, but in certain circumstances, to take enforcement action against market manipulation." The report adds that the commission's two primary surveillance programs use incompatible software. Speaking generally and not in response to the report, Mr. Gensler says that the agency is "trying to move more toward the use of 21st century computers," though he warns that "it's a multiyear process." No doubt.
The CFTC report also noted that "the staff has no standard protocol for documenting their work." If we were tasked with restructuring a complex trading market to conform to the vision of Chris Dodd and Barney Frank, we wouldn't want our fingerprints on it either.
The report was completed in 2009 but only became public this month thanks to a Freedom of Information Act request from our colleagues at Dow Jones Newswires. Would Messrs. Dodd and Frank have responded differently to Mr. Gensler's power grab if they had realized how much trouble the CFTC was having fulfilling its traditional mission? We doubt it, but it certainly would have made their reform a tougher sell, even to the Washington press corps.
Congress should scrutinize this process that is all but guaranteed to result in ill-considered, poorly crafted regulation. In January, legislators should start acting, not like buddies pulling all-nighters, but like adults who understand it's their job to make the tough calls, rather than kicking them over to the bureaucracy with an arbitrary deadline.
Saturday, November 27, 2010
Press Briefing
Nov 27, 2010
Against Ridley, Bill Gates: Africa Needs Aid, Not Flawed Theories - http://on.wsj.com/eME4cP
It Gets Better: Office of Personnel Management Director John Berry http://goo.gl/fb/BNSwk
Time for 'Demographic Stress Tests' - By 2030, Germany's ratio of public debt to GDP could be twice what Greece's is today. Japan, the United States and others face similar challenges http://on.wsj.com/henGKZ
A Worthy Immigration Bill - The Dream Act rewards military service and student achievement http://on.wsj.com/eZ5Jvm
Capital Punishment and Human Fallibility - Then-Gov. George W. Bush would almost certainly have stayed Claude Jones's execution had he known that a DNA test had been requested http://on.wsj.com/ew5pWJ
Blog Post: A Few Interesting Things About the White House's Email List http://goo.gl/fb/jaLPK
A Geneticist's Cancer Crusade - The discoverer of the double-helix says the disease can be cured in his lifetime. He's 82. http://on.wsj.com/fOmOhW
Video: West Wing Week: 11/26/10 or "The Turkey Behind the Turkey" http://goo.gl/fb/DHY0G
1-800-Trial-Bar - Dialing for lawsuits with the Labor Department and American Bar Association http://on.wsj.com/ft9Qcf
Weekly Address: President Obama Delivers Thanksgiving Greeting http://goo.gl/fb/liJ0t
Al Gore's Ethanol Epiphany - He concedes the industry he promoted serves no useful purpose http://on.wsj.com/hsXYwo
Against Ridley, Bill Gates: Africa Needs Aid, Not Flawed Theories - http://on.wsj.com/eME4cP
Africa Needs Growth, Not Pity and Big Plans. By MATT RIDLEY
WSJ, Saturday, November 27, 2010
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704648604575621122887824544.html
Bill Gates likes my book "The Rational Optimist." Really, he does. Even though he dislikes my points about Africa and climate change, these take up, as he notes, just one chapter. The rest he summarizes fairly and intelligently, and I appreciate that. It's great for an author when anybody reviews a book "well" in both senses of the word.
It is worth explaining why I chose Africa and climate change as the "two great pessimisms of today." The answer is simple: Whenever I speak about optimism and someone in the audience protests, "But surely you cannot think that we can ever solve..." the subjects that most frequently cross their lips next are African poverty and global warming. Mr. Gates also mentions potential threats from super-intelligent computers and pandemics. Maybe he is right to worry about them, but I have yet to be persuaded that either is more than a small risk.
Mr. Gates dislikes my comments on climate change, which I think will be less damaging than official forecasts predict, while the policies designed to combat climate change will be more damaging than their supporters recognize. I argue that if we rush into low-carbon technologies too soon, because we think the problem is more urgent than it is, we risk doing real harm to ecosystems as well as human living standards—as the biofuel fiasco all too graphically illustrates. The rush to turn American corn into ethanol instead of food has contributed to spikes in world food prices and real hunger, while the rush to grow biodiesel for Europe has encouraged the destruction of orangutan habitat in Borneo.
I also argue, however, that it is highly unlikely, given the rate at which human technology changes, that we will fail to solve the problem of man-made climate change even if it does prove more severe than I expect. For example, the world is on a surprisingly steady trajectory toward decarbonization. The number of carbon atoms we burn per unit of energy we generate is falling as we gradually switch from carbon-rich fuels like wood and coal to hydrogen-rich fuels like oil and especially gas. At current rates, we would be burning almost no carbon by about 2070, though I suspect that point will never actually be reached.
The question that I pose in the book is whether optimism is likely to be right. In essence, neither Mr. Gates nor I think that the problem of man-made climate change is going to prove insoluble or fatal to civilization. We disagree only on how urgent it is to devote massive expenditures to dealing with it, which would put poverty reduction at risk. I think that direct spending to alleviate malaria, which now kills a million people a year and whose incidence is likely to increase as a result of global warming by less than 0.03% per year, is a far higher priority. So does Mr. Gates, judging by his foundation's spending.
It is on Africa that Mr. Gates throws his sharpest barbs. Yet, once again, I think that we agree on the most important point, namely, that Africa can have a good future. "Development in Africa is difficult to achieve," he writes, "but I am optimistic that it will accelerate."
Yes! I don't believe that "everything will be just fine in Africa," but I do think that Africa's real and profound problems can be overcome. My targets are the ubiquitous pessimists who say that, whatever we do, Africa is doomed to remain stuck "in deepest, darkest poverty," in the words of one environmentalist.
Yet, with exceptions such as Somalia and the Congo, economic growth is gaining momentum all over the continent, birth rates are dropping and poverty is falling, as the Spanish economist Xavier Sala-i-Martin has documented. Lots of people deserve credit for this, among them Bill Gates. His foundation, as far as I can tell, does exactly what I suggest in the book by concentrating on solving real medical and humanitarian problems.
----
AID TO AFRICA
* $44 billion
Official development aid given to Africa in 2008
* $3.3 billion
Official development aid given to Ethiopia, Africa's top recipient of aid, in 2008
* 41% Aid to Africa that went to social services, including education and health care, in 2008
* 19% Aid to Africa that went to economic development in 2008
* $7.2 billion
Amount of development aid given by the U.S. to Africa in 2008
* 58% Africans living on less than $1.25 a day in 1996
* 50% Africans living on less than $1.25 a day in 2009
* $510 Gross domestic product per capita in sub-Saharan Africa in 2000 (in 2000 dollars)
* $623 Gross domestic product per capita in sub-Saharan Africa in 2008 (in 2000 dollars)
Sources: Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, World Bank
---
Far from saying that aid "doesn't work, hasn't worked and won't work," I actually say this in my book: "Some of the most urgent needs of Africa can surely be met by increased aid from the rich world. Aid can save lives, reduce hunger, deliver a medicine, a mosquito net, a meal or a metalled road."
I go on to say that "statistics, anecdotes and case histories all demonstrate that the one thing aid cannot reliably do is to start or accelerate economic growth." Now here I admit that Mr. Gates does have a point. Unintentionally, I have given him and perhaps other readers the impression that, in my view, combating malaria or AIDS does not pay economic dividends. It does.
What I do take issue with is economic aid designed to stimulate economic growth. For example, a 2006 study by Simeon Djankov of the World Bank (now deputy prime minister of Bulgaria) and his colleagues concluded that "foreign aid has a negative impact on the democratic stance of developing countries and on economic growth by reducing investment and increasing government consumption." Economic aid diverts resources into projects that fail, puts money into the pockets of corrupt government officials and crowds out the efforts of entrepreneurs. In one example, only 13% of educational aid to Uganda reached schools; the rest was siphoned off by rent-seeking officials.
I am disappointed that Mr. Gates is so defensive about "top-down" aid. Just as everything from software design to education can benefit from bottom-up crowd sourcing in which elites no longer determine what happens, so surely humanitarian aid can benefit too, however much vested interests in governments and in big agencies dislike this trend.
Likewise, Mr. Gates takes issue with my assertion that the economy of the future will be post-corporatist and post-capitalist. I know that these radical ideas are not to everybody's taste, and he is right that most innovation takes place within existing companies. But it is very striking that some of the most far-reaching innovations over the past several decades have come from driven, visionary outsiders like Mr. Gates, Mark Zuckerberg and Sergey Brin rather than from corporate research and development departments. What is more, these innovations have been achieved with much less capital investment up front than in the days of Andrew Carnegie and Henry Ford.
It is true that there is still a vast amount of work needed to bring ideas to market, and this requires cash and corporate organization. But increasingly, corporations are turning themselves into virtual entities, arranged around flexible networks of suppliers, retailers and researchers, rather than monolithic bodies sitting in fixed plants. That seems to me to make the word "capitalist" somewhat misleading.
Mr. Gates thinks I underplay the role of education, government, patents and science in the innovation that drives economic improvement. Maybe, but I make a carefully argued case that most of the existing commentary overplays the role of these institutions and that innovation is sometimes hindered by these institutions, too, especially by patents and government monopolies.
Am I saying that we should cease worrying about trends that might cause problems? Of course not. I am arguing that we should worry about real problems, including Africa's plight, but that we should do so in the knowledge that we have solved many such problems before and can do so again. I am certainly not saying, "Don't worry, be happy." Rather, I'm saying, "Don't despair, be ambitious"—though I admit it's not nearly as snappy a song lyric.
—Matt Ridley's many books include, most recently, "The Rational Optimist" and "Francis Crick." His website is rationaloptimist.com .
It Gets Better: Office of Personnel Management Director John Berry http://goo.gl/fb/BNSwk
Time for 'Demographic Stress Tests' - By 2030, Germany's ratio of public debt to GDP could be twice what Greece's is today. Japan, the United States and others face similar challenges http://on.wsj.com/henGKZ
A Worthy Immigration Bill - The Dream Act rewards military service and student achievement http://on.wsj.com/eZ5Jvm
Capital Punishment and Human Fallibility - Then-Gov. George W. Bush would almost certainly have stayed Claude Jones's execution had he known that a DNA test had been requested http://on.wsj.com/ew5pWJ
Blog Post: A Few Interesting Things About the White House's Email List http://goo.gl/fb/jaLPK
A Geneticist's Cancer Crusade - The discoverer of the double-helix says the disease can be cured in his lifetime. He's 82. http://on.wsj.com/fOmOhW
Video: West Wing Week: 11/26/10 or "The Turkey Behind the Turkey" http://goo.gl/fb/DHY0G
1-800-Trial-Bar - Dialing for lawsuits with the Labor Department and American Bar Association http://on.wsj.com/ft9Qcf
Weekly Address: President Obama Delivers Thanksgiving Greeting http://goo.gl/fb/liJ0t
Al Gore's Ethanol Epiphany - He concedes the industry he promoted serves no useful purpose http://on.wsj.com/hsXYwo
Monday, November 22, 2010
Press Briefing
Nov 22, 2010
Kristina Schake to Join First Lady's Office as Communications Director http://goo.gl/fb/LySJf
Op-Ed by Vice President Joe Biden in the New York Times: "What we must do for Iraq now" http://goo.gl/fb/a9n15
Lifting Euro Area Growth: Priorities for Structural Reforms and Governance
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/spn/2010/spn1019.pdf
Statement by the President at end of the EU-U.S. Summit http://goo.gl/fb/WbYDQ
DREAM Act Gathers Momentum http://goo.gl/fb/f8FIu
Dick Lugar vs. the GOP - The senior Republican's contrarian streak may be a sign that he's raring for the fight of his political life
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704170404575624664226055500.html
White House White Board: Your Health Care Dollars http://goo.gl/fb/IxLZj
The Doctor Con - The AMA gets its payment fix—for all of four weeks
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704170404575624643400449172.html
Press Conference of the President after NATO Summit http://goo.gl/fb/KkgOe
Remembering JFK in an Age of Terror - He offered no apology for our strength, declaring we have both the 'will and weapons' to defend freedom
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703506904575592783814697048.html
President Obama at NATO: "And Today We Stand United in Afghanistan" http://goo.gl/fb/YiLEZ
The EPA Permitorium - The agency's regulatory onslaught has stopped new power generation
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704658204575610924168519824.html
Larry Summers in the WSJ
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703628204575619250079601996.html
Higher Taxes Won't Reduce the Deficit - History shows that when Congress gets more revenue, the pols spend it
http://on.wsj.com/dwd4e8
In China's Orbit
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704104104575622531909154228.html
The 'Build America' Debt Bomb - The state and city fiscal mess is getting worse, yet the Obama administration wants Congress to make new taxpayer-subsidized bonds permanent
http://digs.by/b2nCYc
North Korea Nuclear Claims Set Off Scramble http://on.wsj.com/9SBIeG
Scourge of Humankind - High-profile efforts to fight malaria confront an ever-changing enemy that has evolved alongside man http://on.wsj.com/dmmeI6
India's GDP to grow at 9.3% on avg till 2030: StanChart
http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/economy/india39s-gdp-to-grow-at-93avg-till-2030-stanchart_500370.html
Kracked Up Over Krakatoa: Models Have It All Wrong
http://www.worldclimatereport.com/index.php/2010/11/17/kracked-up-over-kratatoa-models-have-it-all-wrong/
Kristina Schake to Join First Lady's Office as Communications Director http://goo.gl/fb/LySJf
Op-Ed by Vice President Joe Biden in the New York Times: "What we must do for Iraq now" http://goo.gl/fb/a9n15
Lifting Euro Area Growth: Priorities for Structural Reforms and Governance
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/spn/2010/spn1019.pdf
Statement by the President at end of the EU-U.S. Summit http://goo.gl/fb/WbYDQ
DREAM Act Gathers Momentum http://goo.gl/fb/f8FIu
Dick Lugar vs. the GOP - The senior Republican's contrarian streak may be a sign that he's raring for the fight of his political life
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704170404575624664226055500.html
White House White Board: Your Health Care Dollars http://goo.gl/fb/IxLZj
The Doctor Con - The AMA gets its payment fix—for all of four weeks
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704170404575624643400449172.html
Press Conference of the President after NATO Summit http://goo.gl/fb/KkgOe
Remembering JFK in an Age of Terror - He offered no apology for our strength, declaring we have both the 'will and weapons' to defend freedom
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703506904575592783814697048.html
President Obama at NATO: "And Today We Stand United in Afghanistan" http://goo.gl/fb/YiLEZ
The EPA Permitorium - The agency's regulatory onslaught has stopped new power generation
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704658204575610924168519824.html
Larry Summers in the WSJ
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703628204575619250079601996.html
Higher Taxes Won't Reduce the Deficit - History shows that when Congress gets more revenue, the pols spend it
http://on.wsj.com/dwd4e8
In China's Orbit
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704104104575622531909154228.html
The 'Build America' Debt Bomb - The state and city fiscal mess is getting worse, yet the Obama administration wants Congress to make new taxpayer-subsidized bonds permanent
http://digs.by/b2nCYc
North Korea Nuclear Claims Set Off Scramble http://on.wsj.com/9SBIeG
Scourge of Humankind - High-profile efforts to fight malaria confront an ever-changing enemy that has evolved alongside man http://on.wsj.com/dmmeI6
India's GDP to grow at 9.3% on avg till 2030: StanChart
http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/economy/india39s-gdp-to-grow-at-93avg-till-2030-stanchart_500370.html
Kracked Up Over Krakatoa: Models Have It All Wrong
http://www.worldclimatereport.com/index.php/2010/11/17/kracked-up-over-kratatoa-models-have-it-all-wrong/
Saturday, November 20, 2010
Press Briefing
Nov 20, 2010
Weekly Address: Senators Opposing New START "Want to Trust But Not Verify" http://goo.gl/fb/EP3sH
Our Economy Can’t Afford More GM “Success” Stories
http://blog.heritage.org/2010/11/19/morning-bell-our-economy-cant-afford-more-gm-success-stories
Top 10 Must-Have Government Apps http://goo.gl/fb/2hO9l
How to Succeed in Teaching Without Lifetime Tenure - The Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering attracts 140 applicants for every faculty position. And they can even be fired. http://on.wsj.com/9yz02W
RT CNN Obama says Russia, U.S. agree to cooperate on missile defense and to work closely in Afghanistan. http://on.cnn.com/c7X0qu
Why I Still Believe in the Future - I believe, above all else, in reason—in the power of the human mind to cope with the problems of life http://on.wsj.com/cpKa8l
Helping Middle-Class Families Pursue Justice http://goo.gl/fb/8feLY
Science and the Drilling Ban - An inspector general's report shows science played little role in the moratorium http://on.wsj.com/c4gKJc
Tuesday Talks: Health Care Reform Implementation with Nancy-Ann DeParle http://goo.gl/fb/jKhhg
Cap and Retreat - Chicago Climate Exchange, the largest U.S. carbon market, collapses http://on.wsj.com/bKsSVW
Read-out of the President's Bilateral Meeting with President Saakashvili of Georgia http://goo.gl/fb/KUXEW
Statement by the President on the Senate Passage of the Claims Settlement Act http://goo.gl/fb/5MKH8
The Fed's Bipolar Mandate - Time to repeal the Humphrey-Hawkins Act of 1978 http://on.wsj.com/cJaUin
Read-out of the President's Conversation with President Gul of Turkey http://goo.gl/fb/BaPO0
The Fed's Bipolar Mandate http://on.wsj.com/cJaUin
Weekly Address: Senators Opposing New START "Want to Trust But Not Verify" http://goo.gl/fb/EP3sH
Our Economy Can’t Afford More GM “Success” Stories
http://blog.heritage.org/2010/11/19/morning-bell-our-economy-cant-afford-more-gm-success-stories
Top 10 Must-Have Government Apps http://goo.gl/fb/2hO9l
How to Succeed in Teaching Without Lifetime Tenure - The Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering attracts 140 applicants for every faculty position. And they can even be fired. http://on.wsj.com/9yz02W
RT CNN Obama says Russia, U.S. agree to cooperate on missile defense and to work closely in Afghanistan. http://on.cnn.com/c7X0qu
Why I Still Believe in the Future - I believe, above all else, in reason—in the power of the human mind to cope with the problems of life http://on.wsj.com/cpKa8l
Helping Middle-Class Families Pursue Justice http://goo.gl/fb/8feLY
Science and the Drilling Ban - An inspector general's report shows science played little role in the moratorium http://on.wsj.com/c4gKJc
Tuesday Talks: Health Care Reform Implementation with Nancy-Ann DeParle http://goo.gl/fb/jKhhg
Cap and Retreat - Chicago Climate Exchange, the largest U.S. carbon market, collapses http://on.wsj.com/bKsSVW
Read-out of the President's Bilateral Meeting with President Saakashvili of Georgia http://goo.gl/fb/KUXEW
Statement by the President on the Senate Passage of the Claims Settlement Act http://goo.gl/fb/5MKH8
The Fed's Bipolar Mandate - Time to repeal the Humphrey-Hawkins Act of 1978 http://on.wsj.com/cJaUin
Read-out of the President's Conversation with President Gul of Turkey http://goo.gl/fb/BaPO0
The Fed's Bipolar Mandate http://on.wsj.com/cJaUin
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Press Briefing
Nov 17, 2010
U.S. Government Cholera Outbreak and Hurricane Preparedness Update
http://www.usaid.gov/helphaiti/cholera/crfs_111510.html
Tuesday Talks: The National Medals Laureates of Science, Technology and Innovation http://goo.gl/fb/q6Tix
Cutting Earmarks http://goo.gl/fb/lfpZV
Press Gaggle by the President en route Andrews Air Force Base http://goo.gl/fb/2Vm2V
APEC/Yokohama: The Leaders' Growth Strategy http://goo.gl/fb/Aebfw
Washington's Equal Pay Obsession - There's no epidemic of gender discrimination. So why is Congress proposing another law?
WSJ, Nov 16, 2010
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703326204575616450950657916.html
Women in the workplace don't face rampant pay discrimination, and yet the Senate may soon pass a bill—already passed in the House—premised on the erroneous charge that they do. The Paycheck Fairness Act (PFA) would be a harmful addition to the many federal laws that already protect women and men from labor-market discrimination.
The original Equal Pay Act of 1963 made it illegal for firms to pay different wages to women and men who performed equal work on jobs in the same establishment. Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act outlawed discrimination against women and minorities in all aspects of employment, including hiring, promotion and compensation. Additional protections came with the 1978 Pregnancy Discrimination Act; the 1991 amendments to Title VII, which boosted penalties for discrimination; and the 2009 Lilly Ledbetter Act, which essentially eliminated the time limit for filing discrimination claims.
In addition, for more than 40 years two major federal agencies have been dedicated to fighting labor-market discrimination: the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Office of Federal Contract Compliance.
Why do we need still more legislation? The reason, say the bill's sponsors, is that women earn 77% as much as men, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. But this figure refers to the annual earnings of full-time, year-round workers. It doesn't compare comparable men and women, and it doesn't reflect that full-time men work 8%-10% more hours per week than full-time women.
It also doesn't reflect what research of mine and others have shown: Men typically accumulate more continuous work experience and therefore acquire higher productivity in the labor market. In fact, the gender gap shrinks to between 8% and 0% when the study incorporates measures such as work experience, career breaks and part-time work.
The most important source of the gender wage gap is that women assume greater responsibility for child-rearing than men. That influences women's extent and continuity of work, which affects women's skills and therefore wages. In addition, women often seek flexible work schedules, less stressful work environments, and other conditions compatible with meeting the demands of family responsibilities. Those come at a price—namely, lower wages.
The PFA ignores research showing that factors other than discrimination explain the current gender wage gap. The bill would force employers to raise women's pay by sharply reducing their ability to defend what they believe is a justified differential in pay based on merit.
Under the existing Equal Pay Act, an employer charged with gender discrimination in pay can defend himself or herself by offering evidence that the differential is based on nondiscriminatory factors such as work experience and education. But the PFA limits the use of these bona fide factors by requiring that employers demonstrate that they are job-related necessities.
The PFA also empowers complaining employees to propose alternative methods of determining pay that, if accepted by courts, would presumably be imposed on employers. This unprecedented shift in bargaining power would lead to endless lawsuits.
So would the PFA's changes to the rules governing class-action lawsuits. Under the Equal Pay Act, workers are included in class-action suits only if they opt in. Under the PFA, they would be included automatically—just for being women in a firm that is being sued. And the act provides for compensatory and punitive damages, apparently without limit.
A particularly ridiculous provision would authorize grants to "eligible entities"—supporters of the bill like the American Association of University Women—for training women in negotiation skills. Men are excluded. But if women are the equal of men, why do only they need such training?
So the PFA is not fair, sensible or warranted, and it will impose great costs on employers. Some firms undoubtedly discriminate against women, but their number is small and the federal government's existing antidiscrimination apparatus is more than adequate. This new legislation would simply provide a feast for lawyers—and, by increasing the cost of employing women, would likely harm its intended beneficiaries.
Ms. O'Neill is a professor of economics at Baruch College and an adjunct scholar at the American Enterprise Institute.
APEC Leaders Declaration: "The Yokohama Vision - Bogor and Beyond" http://goo.gl/fb/6fIGG
Trans-Pacific Partnership: Progress Towards a Regional Agreement http://goo.gl/fb/xSYB6
Remarks by President Obama and President Medvedev of Russia After Bilateral Meeting http://goo.gl/fb/1cHt8
Statement by the President on the release of Aung San Suu Ky http://goo.gl/fb/kAse9
Conservatives on Federal President's Asia trip: A Failing Agenda Fails
http://blog.heritage.org/2010/11/15/morning-bell-a-failing-agenda-fails
Alzheimer's Disease: Nearly 100 New Medicines - New treatments needed to avert "national crisis"
http://www.innovation.org/index.cfm/FutureOfInnovation/NewMedicinesinDevelopment/Alzheimer%27s_Disease
The Obamacare Burden To Your State Budget
http://blog.heritage.org/2010/11/12/morning-bell-the-obamacare-burden-to-your-state-budget
U.S. Government Cholera Outbreak and Hurricane Preparedness Update
http://www.usaid.gov/helphaiti/cholera/crfs_111510.html
Tuesday Talks: The National Medals Laureates of Science, Technology and Innovation http://goo.gl/fb/q6Tix
Cutting Earmarks http://goo.gl/fb/lfpZV
Press Gaggle by the President en route Andrews Air Force Base http://goo.gl/fb/2Vm2V
APEC/Yokohama: The Leaders' Growth Strategy http://goo.gl/fb/Aebfw
Washington's Equal Pay Obsession - There's no epidemic of gender discrimination. So why is Congress proposing another law?
WSJ, Nov 16, 2010
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703326204575616450950657916.html
Women in the workplace don't face rampant pay discrimination, and yet the Senate may soon pass a bill—already passed in the House—premised on the erroneous charge that they do. The Paycheck Fairness Act (PFA) would be a harmful addition to the many federal laws that already protect women and men from labor-market discrimination.
The original Equal Pay Act of 1963 made it illegal for firms to pay different wages to women and men who performed equal work on jobs in the same establishment. Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act outlawed discrimination against women and minorities in all aspects of employment, including hiring, promotion and compensation. Additional protections came with the 1978 Pregnancy Discrimination Act; the 1991 amendments to Title VII, which boosted penalties for discrimination; and the 2009 Lilly Ledbetter Act, which essentially eliminated the time limit for filing discrimination claims.
In addition, for more than 40 years two major federal agencies have been dedicated to fighting labor-market discrimination: the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Office of Federal Contract Compliance.
Why do we need still more legislation? The reason, say the bill's sponsors, is that women earn 77% as much as men, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. But this figure refers to the annual earnings of full-time, year-round workers. It doesn't compare comparable men and women, and it doesn't reflect that full-time men work 8%-10% more hours per week than full-time women.
It also doesn't reflect what research of mine and others have shown: Men typically accumulate more continuous work experience and therefore acquire higher productivity in the labor market. In fact, the gender gap shrinks to between 8% and 0% when the study incorporates measures such as work experience, career breaks and part-time work.
The most important source of the gender wage gap is that women assume greater responsibility for child-rearing than men. That influences women's extent and continuity of work, which affects women's skills and therefore wages. In addition, women often seek flexible work schedules, less stressful work environments, and other conditions compatible with meeting the demands of family responsibilities. Those come at a price—namely, lower wages.
The PFA ignores research showing that factors other than discrimination explain the current gender wage gap. The bill would force employers to raise women's pay by sharply reducing their ability to defend what they believe is a justified differential in pay based on merit.
Under the existing Equal Pay Act, an employer charged with gender discrimination in pay can defend himself or herself by offering evidence that the differential is based on nondiscriminatory factors such as work experience and education. But the PFA limits the use of these bona fide factors by requiring that employers demonstrate that they are job-related necessities.
The PFA also empowers complaining employees to propose alternative methods of determining pay that, if accepted by courts, would presumably be imposed on employers. This unprecedented shift in bargaining power would lead to endless lawsuits.
So would the PFA's changes to the rules governing class-action lawsuits. Under the Equal Pay Act, workers are included in class-action suits only if they opt in. Under the PFA, they would be included automatically—just for being women in a firm that is being sued. And the act provides for compensatory and punitive damages, apparently without limit.
A particularly ridiculous provision would authorize grants to "eligible entities"—supporters of the bill like the American Association of University Women—for training women in negotiation skills. Men are excluded. But if women are the equal of men, why do only they need such training?
So the PFA is not fair, sensible or warranted, and it will impose great costs on employers. Some firms undoubtedly discriminate against women, but their number is small and the federal government's existing antidiscrimination apparatus is more than adequate. This new legislation would simply provide a feast for lawyers—and, by increasing the cost of employing women, would likely harm its intended beneficiaries.
Ms. O'Neill is a professor of economics at Baruch College and an adjunct scholar at the American Enterprise Institute.
APEC Leaders Declaration: "The Yokohama Vision - Bogor and Beyond" http://goo.gl/fb/6fIGG
Trans-Pacific Partnership: Progress Towards a Regional Agreement http://goo.gl/fb/xSYB6
Remarks by President Obama and President Medvedev of Russia After Bilateral Meeting http://goo.gl/fb/1cHt8
Statement by the President on the release of Aung San Suu Ky http://goo.gl/fb/kAse9
Conservatives on Federal President's Asia trip: A Failing Agenda Fails
http://blog.heritage.org/2010/11/15/morning-bell-a-failing-agenda-fails
Alzheimer's Disease: Nearly 100 New Medicines - New treatments needed to avert "national crisis"
http://www.innovation.org/index.cfm/FutureOfInnovation/NewMedicinesinDevelopment/Alzheimer%27s_Disease
The Obamacare Burden To Your State Budget
http://blog.heritage.org/2010/11/12/morning-bell-the-obamacare-burden-to-your-state-budget
Monday, November 15, 2010
Press Briefing
Nov 15, 2010
Remarks to the Young Leaders Dialogue Conference
http://www.state.gov/r/remarks/2010/150841.htm
Cameron Speaks to China - A worthy first effort by the British Prime Minister
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703805004575606762540186610.html
Obama Acts Like a Republican on Social Security: http://progressive.org/radio/12nov10.html (audio)
Forget any 'Right to Be Forgotten' - Don't count on government to censor information about you online
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704658204575610771677242174.html
From the archives | Aung San Suu Kyi Interview, March '97 issue of The Progressive magazine: http://www.progressive.org/mag_intv0397
In Defense of Ben Bernanke - To create the fearsome inflation rates envisioned by the more hysterical critics, the Fed would have to be incredibly incompetent, which it is not.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704658204575611052418939656.html
The Senate shouldn't ratify the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty without guarantees that the administration will modernize weapons and improve missile defense
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703514904575602992172574172.html
Gary Locke and Larry Summers: America's Broadband Opportunity - Today the administration is freeing up a chunk of new wireless spectrum
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703848204575608872054624914.html
Fan and Fred's New Boss - Another 'affordable housing' advocate
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704658204575610920770030704
Federal President's Weekly Address: Exports & Earmarks
http://goo.gl/fb/h2kme
The Accidental Statist - Obama says the crisis made him do it
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703514904575602410060970630.html
Remarks to the Young Leaders Dialogue Conference
http://www.state.gov/r/remarks/2010/150841.htm
Cameron Speaks to China - A worthy first effort by the British Prime Minister
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703805004575606762540186610.html
Obama Acts Like a Republican on Social Security: http://progressive.org/radio/12nov10.html (audio)
Forget any 'Right to Be Forgotten' - Don't count on government to censor information about you online
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704658204575610771677242174.html
From the archives | Aung San Suu Kyi Interview, March '97 issue of The Progressive magazine: http://www.progressive.org/mag_intv0397
In Defense of Ben Bernanke - To create the fearsome inflation rates envisioned by the more hysterical critics, the Fed would have to be incredibly incompetent, which it is not.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704658204575611052418939656.html
The Senate shouldn't ratify the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty without guarantees that the administration will modernize weapons and improve missile defense
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703514904575602992172574172.html
Gary Locke and Larry Summers: America's Broadband Opportunity - Today the administration is freeing up a chunk of new wireless spectrum
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703848204575608872054624914.html
Fan and Fred's New Boss - Another 'affordable housing' advocate
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704658204575610920770030704
Federal President's Weekly Address: Exports & Earmarks
http://goo.gl/fb/h2kme
The Accidental Statist - Obama says the crisis made him do it
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703514904575602410060970630.html
Saturday, November 13, 2010
Press Briefing
Nov 13, 2010
President Obama Lays Out His Priorities on Tax Cuts
http://goo.gl/fb/pn9VU
The Adventures of Samuel Clemens - Twain's autobiography, finally available after a century, is a garrulous outpouring—and every word beguiles
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303341904575576672011487264.html
Vice President Biden Honors "Those Who Served and Sacrificed"
http://goo.gl/fb/KooTF
An administration elected with a mandate to stabilize misread the situation and believed the country wanted the deep changes that liberals have wanted for decades
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704658204575610810332410800.html
The Trouble With Robo-Lending - There's a lot to be said for bankers knowing their customers. Too bad the financial reform bill does nothing to restore that tradition.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704658204575610770240874674.html
The Radical School Reform You've Never Heard Of - With 'parent trigger,' families can forcibly change failing schools
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704462704575609781273579228.html
Obama: Pelosi an “Outstanding Partner”
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/11/12/obama-pelosi-an-outstanding-partner/
Al Qaeda Discovers the Mail Bomb - How about not overreacting for a change?
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703848204575608493572325302.html
How Insurgencies End
http://www.rand.org/pubs/monographs/MG965/
Liberated in Colorado - Disclosure vs. democracy
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704658204575610902777852436.html
Are ETFs a Menace—or Just Misunderstood?
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704865704575610833659564558.html
Iranian hip-hop artists risk it all to express their desire for political and religious freedom
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703805004575606580855611258.html
@theprogressive: "The Republicans want to decrease the debt and lower taxes at the same time. And then they’ll try to lose weight by eating ice cream." Durst
Embarrassment in Seoul - The world won't follow slow-growth, weak-dollar America
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704462704575609770024501384.html
President Obama Lays Out His Priorities on Tax Cuts
http://goo.gl/fb/pn9VU
The Adventures of Samuel Clemens - Twain's autobiography, finally available after a century, is a garrulous outpouring—and every word beguiles
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303341904575576672011487264.html
Vice President Biden Honors "Those Who Served and Sacrificed"
http://goo.gl/fb/KooTF
An administration elected with a mandate to stabilize misread the situation and believed the country wanted the deep changes that liberals have wanted for decades
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704658204575610810332410800.html
The Trouble With Robo-Lending - There's a lot to be said for bankers knowing their customers. Too bad the financial reform bill does nothing to restore that tradition.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704658204575610770240874674.html
The Radical School Reform You've Never Heard Of - With 'parent trigger,' families can forcibly change failing schools
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704462704575609781273579228.html
Obama: Pelosi an “Outstanding Partner”
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/11/12/obama-pelosi-an-outstanding-partner/
Al Qaeda Discovers the Mail Bomb - How about not overreacting for a change?
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703848204575608493572325302.html
How Insurgencies End
http://www.rand.org/pubs/monographs/MG965/
Liberated in Colorado - Disclosure vs. democracy
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704658204575610902777852436.html
Are ETFs a Menace—or Just Misunderstood?
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704865704575610833659564558.html
Iranian hip-hop artists risk it all to express their desire for political and religious freedom
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703805004575606580855611258.html
@theprogressive: "The Republicans want to decrease the debt and lower taxes at the same time. And then they’ll try to lose weight by eating ice cream." Durst
Embarrassment in Seoul - The world won't follow slow-growth, weak-dollar America
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704462704575609770024501384.html
Friday, November 12, 2010
Press Briefing
Nov 12, 2010
The Human Cost of Recessions: Assessing It, Reducing It
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/spn/2010/spn1017.pdf
Sec Sebelius: The Beginning of the End of the Tobacco Epidemic
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/11/10/beginning-end-tobacco-epidemic
Pelosi's Troop Defections - Even longtime liberals are exasperated by Ms. Pelosi's stubbornness in clinging to the remnants of her former power
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703848204575608901587928526.html
West Wing Week: "OCONUS - Outside the Continental United States" http://goo.gl/fb/Jqbpx
The Four Ps of Global Business Expansion - For most of the past century, U.S. multinationals have functioned as American companies with overseas operations. That won't do anymore.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703514904575602933928110168.html
Cross-Cutting Themes in Employment Experiences during the Crisis
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/spn/2010/spn1018.pdf
The High Price of Journalism in Putin's Russia - Five of my colleagues at Novaya Gazeta have been murdered. No one has been brought to justice.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703805004575606461059832950.html
President Obama and President Yudhoyono Press Availability http://goo.gl/fb/dg6gZ
Israel's Ultra-Orthodox Welfare Kings - There is no precedent in Jewish history for a whole community devoting itself to Torah scholarship
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703848204575608473772263624.html
Remarks by President Obama and German Chancellor Merkel before Bilateral Meeting
http://goo.gl/fb/Fuj5Q
Can Anything Serious Happen in Cancun? - The upcoming climate summit promises more proposals that ignore economic reality
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703848204575608311276024450.html
Remarks by President Obama and President Hu of China Before Bilateral Meeting
http://goo.gl/fb/x0KAH
Jan F Qvigstad: On making good decisions
http://www.bis.org/review/r101111c.pdf
The 8,011-Person Crisis - ObamaCare's pre-existing condition program is a bust
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703805004575606891744060162.html
President Obama to America's Veterans: "We Remember."
http://goo.gl/fb/6oEGn
Should Advanced Countries Adopt a Fiscal Responsibility Law?
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/cat/longres.cfm?sk=24345.0
A Deficit of Nerve - Obama's commission has ideas that Republicans can use
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703848204575608610971091280.html
On the Chinese Currency Issue: Narrative and Reality
http://www.brookings.edu/opinions/2010/1110_chinese_currency_kharas.aspx
A Growth Agenda for the New Congress - For now: Extend the Bush tax cuts, repeal ObamaCare, support free trade. After 2012: Enact a flat tax, stabilize prices, balance the budget, give politicians incentive pay.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703514904575602912888140050.html
Commission of millionaires attacks Social Security
http://act.boldprogressives.org/cms/survey/ssletter_main/?source=typ-fb&referring_akid=.294363.E4OQlY
Obama's Gifts to the GOP - Republicans own the political center for now. Not because they deserve it.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703848204575608453836688106.html
White House White Board: The President in Asia & the National Export Initiative
http://goo.gl/fb/3al6I
The Alaska Vote Count
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703805004575606702552775666.html
The Human Cost of Recessions: Assessing It, Reducing It
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/spn/2010/spn1017.pdf
Sec Sebelius: The Beginning of the End of the Tobacco Epidemic
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/11/10/beginning-end-tobacco-epidemic
Pelosi's Troop Defections - Even longtime liberals are exasperated by Ms. Pelosi's stubbornness in clinging to the remnants of her former power
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703848204575608901587928526.html
West Wing Week: "OCONUS - Outside the Continental United States" http://goo.gl/fb/Jqbpx
The Four Ps of Global Business Expansion - For most of the past century, U.S. multinationals have functioned as American companies with overseas operations. That won't do anymore.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703514904575602933928110168.html
Cross-Cutting Themes in Employment Experiences during the Crisis
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/spn/2010/spn1018.pdf
The High Price of Journalism in Putin's Russia - Five of my colleagues at Novaya Gazeta have been murdered. No one has been brought to justice.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703805004575606461059832950.html
President Obama and President Yudhoyono Press Availability http://goo.gl/fb/dg6gZ
Israel's Ultra-Orthodox Welfare Kings - There is no precedent in Jewish history for a whole community devoting itself to Torah scholarship
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703848204575608473772263624.html
Remarks by President Obama and German Chancellor Merkel before Bilateral Meeting
http://goo.gl/fb/Fuj5Q
Can Anything Serious Happen in Cancun? - The upcoming climate summit promises more proposals that ignore economic reality
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703848204575608311276024450.html
Remarks by President Obama and President Hu of China Before Bilateral Meeting
http://goo.gl/fb/x0KAH
Jan F Qvigstad: On making good decisions
http://www.bis.org/review/r101111c.pdf
The 8,011-Person Crisis - ObamaCare's pre-existing condition program is a bust
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703805004575606891744060162.html
President Obama to America's Veterans: "We Remember."
http://goo.gl/fb/6oEGn
Should Advanced Countries Adopt a Fiscal Responsibility Law?
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/cat/longres.cfm?sk=24345.0
A Deficit of Nerve - Obama's commission has ideas that Republicans can use
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703848204575608610971091280.html
On the Chinese Currency Issue: Narrative and Reality
http://www.brookings.edu/opinions/2010/1110_chinese_currency_kharas.aspx
A Growth Agenda for the New Congress - For now: Extend the Bush tax cuts, repeal ObamaCare, support free trade. After 2012: Enact a flat tax, stabilize prices, balance the budget, give politicians incentive pay.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703514904575602912888140050.html
Commission of millionaires attacks Social Security
http://act.boldprogressives.org/cms/survey/ssletter_main/?source=typ-fb&referring_akid=.294363.E4OQlY
Obama's Gifts to the GOP - Republicans own the political center for now. Not because they deserve it.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703848204575608453836688106.html
White House White Board: The President in Asia & the National Export Initiative
http://goo.gl/fb/3al6I
The Alaska Vote Count
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703805004575606702552775666.html
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Press Briefing
Nov 11, 2011
Indonesia's Example to the World
http://goo.gl/fb/m03Rt
Federal President Has a Listening Problem - The idea that government can spend our way to prosperity doesn't make sense to voters
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703805004575606531967171108.html
Tuesday Talks: Veterans Day
http://goo.gl/fb/8xynY
George W. Bush's Fuzzy Math
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703805004575606573027045824.html
Nuclear Regulation in Dynamic Times: A Conversation with NRC Chairman Gregory Jaczko
http://www.brookings.edu/events/2010/1013_nuclear_energy.aspx
How About a Partnership Stimulus? - To help rebuild America's roads and airports, let's tap the billions of dollars of private capital looking for safe returns
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704635704575604563679175190.html
U.S. Assistance to the Palestinian Authority
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2010/11/150812.htm
The $30 Bonanza - The Supremes hear a major arbitration case. Trial lawyers pant.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704635704575604342012494842.html
Market structure developments in the clearing industry: implications for financial stability
http://www.bis.org/press/p101110.htm
White House Statement on the Initial Bowles-Simpson Bipartisan Fiscal Commission Proposal
http://goo.gl/fb/Cirz6
Joel Klein's Report Card - If you can reform schools there . . .
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703805004575606481103226208.html
Remarks by the President at the University of Indonesia in Jakarta, Indonesia
http://goo.gl/fb/e5O4D
Wind Jammers at the White House - A Larry Summers memo exposes the high cost of energy corporate welfare
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704635704575604502103371986.html
Recovery Through Retrofit
http://goo.gl/fb/KXLnl
How to Shut Down Fannie and Freddie. By Emil W Henry Jr
The Treasury Department can stop rubber-stamping their debt issuance at any time
WSJ, Nov 11, 2011
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704635704575604570042260954.html
Although Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac played a central role in causing the recent economic crisis, they are absent from the reform plans of Congress and the Obama administration. So these two government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) remain mired in conservatorship, as extensions of the federal government. Bureaucrats now steer the primary provider of secondary market liquidity for our $10 trillion housing finance market.
The administration has offered many explanations for the delay: Housing finance is complex, says Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, so he's consulting Congress and has assembled "academic experts, consumer and community organizations, industry participants and other stake holders" to review the matter.
But the Treasury doesn't need Congress or an academic assessment in order to tackle the most important reform goal: eliminating the GSEs and moving their activities to the private sector. Mr. Geithner himself can immediately reshape the mortgage markets—by withholding his approval of new debt issuances by the GSEs. That's the best way to begin curtailing the GSEs, and it can be done unilaterally.
Congress chartered the GSEs and in their charters required that the Treasury secretary approve all of their new debt. For decades, the Treasury exercised this duty, and the GSEs submitted each new debt issuance to the department for prior approval.
But the Clinton administration found this process cumbersome and a strain on Treasury staff. It established a new process that weakened the administrative approval process for GSE securities offerings. This hands-off approach represented an abdication of Treasury's essential oversight powers.
The bloating and strategic drift of the GSEs began soon thereafter. Within a decade, there were vast failings in Fannie's and Freddie's accounting, corporate governance and risk management—including the cessation of basic disclosure practices such as annual reports. Even after the Sarbanes-Oxley law, which forced public companies to adhere to a new oversight paradigm, the GSEs escaped with minimal scrutiny. Insolvency was a matter of time.
By the mid-2000s, the GSEs' process of debt approval had devolved to a simple notification of the Treasury, without any formal process of approval. The pace of debt issuance was so rapid that such notifications came to the Treasury weekly, typically on one piece of paper that simply listed proposed issuances without supporting data (such as income statements or balance sheets) upon which to make informed judgments.
If the Obama administration is serious about addressing the GSEs, it should re-establish a rigorous process to review all GSE debt issuance. That process should require the GSEs to provide Treasury with full financial data and justification for issuances, including statistics that show the creditworthiness of the agencies after each offering. In addition, the Treasury secretary should have to approve all new debt issuances personally.
The administration should also announce that in 2012 the Treasury will begin to deny a portion of GSE debt issuances with the goal of reducing their debt 50% by 2015 and 100% by 2018. This eight-year period of adjustment would allow the private markets ample time to provide secondary market liquidity.
There will be a private market ready to absorb the securities currently held by the GSEs. Private companies won't be able to borrow as cheaply as the GSEs could (thanks to their implicit government guarantee), but there will still be plenty of profit left to capture in the market for mortgage securities.
Large banks may be wary of this solution because the federalization of the GSEs has offered them a stable vehicle for off-loading their mortgages. Policy makers, meanwhile, will worry about impairing the recovery if a private market is slow to materialize. But the alternative is keeping the flawed system whereby liquidity depends upon distorted price discovery, permanent subsidization, and the economic judgments of bureaucrats.
To allow Fannie and Freddie to exist in any form—even on a smaller basis—would again give them an unfair funding advantage. Buyers of their debt would again pay up for implicit government support. And, once again, we'd have the market distortions, risk-taking and obscene political patronage that caused so much economic chaos.
Mr. Henry, the CEO of Henry, Tiger, LLC, was an assistant secretary of the Treasury from 2005 to 2007.
Video: President's Town Hall with Students in Mumbai
http://goo.gl/fb/1sVeF
The 1099 Democrats - The Democrats decoupled from business—and lost the election
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703805004575606750168419176.html
Shame on Holder and Panetta for Not Going after CIA Destruction of Torture Evidence
http://progressive.org/wx111010.html
Stop Smearing Federalism - From consumer advocacy to gay marriage, liberals routinely embrace federalism. So why do they keep comparing it to slavery?
http://reason.com/archives/2010/11/10/stop-smearing-federalism
Respecting the Dignity and Human Rights of People on the Move: International Migration Policy for the 21st Century
http://www.state.gov/g/prm/rls/rmks/2010/150557.htm
Fixing Transit: The Case for Privatization
http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=12543
Panel Chairmen Recommend Cutting Federal Spending by $200 Billion
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703805004575606643067587042.html
Indonesia's Example to the World
http://goo.gl/fb/m03Rt
Federal President Has a Listening Problem - The idea that government can spend our way to prosperity doesn't make sense to voters
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703805004575606531967171108.html
Tuesday Talks: Veterans Day
http://goo.gl/fb/8xynY
George W. Bush's Fuzzy Math
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703805004575606573027045824.html
Nuclear Regulation in Dynamic Times: A Conversation with NRC Chairman Gregory Jaczko
http://www.brookings.edu/events/2010/1013_nuclear_energy.aspx
How About a Partnership Stimulus? - To help rebuild America's roads and airports, let's tap the billions of dollars of private capital looking for safe returns
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704635704575604563679175190.html
U.S. Assistance to the Palestinian Authority
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2010/11/150812.htm
The $30 Bonanza - The Supremes hear a major arbitration case. Trial lawyers pant.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704635704575604342012494842.html
Market structure developments in the clearing industry: implications for financial stability
http://www.bis.org/press/p101110.htm
White House Statement on the Initial Bowles-Simpson Bipartisan Fiscal Commission Proposal
http://goo.gl/fb/Cirz6
Joel Klein's Report Card - If you can reform schools there . . .
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703805004575606481103226208.html
Remarks by the President at the University of Indonesia in Jakarta, Indonesia
http://goo.gl/fb/e5O4D
Wind Jammers at the White House - A Larry Summers memo exposes the high cost of energy corporate welfare
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704635704575604502103371986.html
Recovery Through Retrofit
http://goo.gl/fb/KXLnl
How to Shut Down Fannie and Freddie. By Emil W Henry Jr
The Treasury Department can stop rubber-stamping their debt issuance at any time
WSJ, Nov 11, 2011
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704635704575604570042260954.html
Although Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac played a central role in causing the recent economic crisis, they are absent from the reform plans of Congress and the Obama administration. So these two government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) remain mired in conservatorship, as extensions of the federal government. Bureaucrats now steer the primary provider of secondary market liquidity for our $10 trillion housing finance market.
The administration has offered many explanations for the delay: Housing finance is complex, says Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, so he's consulting Congress and has assembled "academic experts, consumer and community organizations, industry participants and other stake holders" to review the matter.
But the Treasury doesn't need Congress or an academic assessment in order to tackle the most important reform goal: eliminating the GSEs and moving their activities to the private sector. Mr. Geithner himself can immediately reshape the mortgage markets—by withholding his approval of new debt issuances by the GSEs. That's the best way to begin curtailing the GSEs, and it can be done unilaterally.
Congress chartered the GSEs and in their charters required that the Treasury secretary approve all of their new debt. For decades, the Treasury exercised this duty, and the GSEs submitted each new debt issuance to the department for prior approval.
But the Clinton administration found this process cumbersome and a strain on Treasury staff. It established a new process that weakened the administrative approval process for GSE securities offerings. This hands-off approach represented an abdication of Treasury's essential oversight powers.
The bloating and strategic drift of the GSEs began soon thereafter. Within a decade, there were vast failings in Fannie's and Freddie's accounting, corporate governance and risk management—including the cessation of basic disclosure practices such as annual reports. Even after the Sarbanes-Oxley law, which forced public companies to adhere to a new oversight paradigm, the GSEs escaped with minimal scrutiny. Insolvency was a matter of time.
By the mid-2000s, the GSEs' process of debt approval had devolved to a simple notification of the Treasury, without any formal process of approval. The pace of debt issuance was so rapid that such notifications came to the Treasury weekly, typically on one piece of paper that simply listed proposed issuances without supporting data (such as income statements or balance sheets) upon which to make informed judgments.
If the Obama administration is serious about addressing the GSEs, it should re-establish a rigorous process to review all GSE debt issuance. That process should require the GSEs to provide Treasury with full financial data and justification for issuances, including statistics that show the creditworthiness of the agencies after each offering. In addition, the Treasury secretary should have to approve all new debt issuances personally.
The administration should also announce that in 2012 the Treasury will begin to deny a portion of GSE debt issuances with the goal of reducing their debt 50% by 2015 and 100% by 2018. This eight-year period of adjustment would allow the private markets ample time to provide secondary market liquidity.
There will be a private market ready to absorb the securities currently held by the GSEs. Private companies won't be able to borrow as cheaply as the GSEs could (thanks to their implicit government guarantee), but there will still be plenty of profit left to capture in the market for mortgage securities.
Large banks may be wary of this solution because the federalization of the GSEs has offered them a stable vehicle for off-loading their mortgages. Policy makers, meanwhile, will worry about impairing the recovery if a private market is slow to materialize. But the alternative is keeping the flawed system whereby liquidity depends upon distorted price discovery, permanent subsidization, and the economic judgments of bureaucrats.
To allow Fannie and Freddie to exist in any form—even on a smaller basis—would again give them an unfair funding advantage. Buyers of their debt would again pay up for implicit government support. And, once again, we'd have the market distortions, risk-taking and obscene political patronage that caused so much economic chaos.
Mr. Henry, the CEO of Henry, Tiger, LLC, was an assistant secretary of the Treasury from 2005 to 2007.
Video: President's Town Hall with Students in Mumbai
http://goo.gl/fb/1sVeF
The 1099 Democrats - The Democrats decoupled from business—and lost the election
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703805004575606750168419176.html
Shame on Holder and Panetta for Not Going after CIA Destruction of Torture Evidence
http://progressive.org/wx111010.html
Stop Smearing Federalism - From consumer advocacy to gay marriage, liberals routinely embrace federalism. So why do they keep comparing it to slavery?
http://reason.com/archives/2010/11/10/stop-smearing-federalism
Respecting the Dignity and Human Rights of People on the Move: International Migration Policy for the 21st Century
http://www.state.gov/g/prm/rls/rmks/2010/150557.htm
Fixing Transit: The Case for Privatization
http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=12543
Panel Chairmen Recommend Cutting Federal Spending by $200 Billion
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703805004575606643067587042.html
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Press Briefing
Nov 10, 2010
Geithner, Shanmugaratnam, Swan: A Four-Point Plan for the G-20 - Strengthen global growth, keep it balanced, let currencies adjust, avoid protectionism
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703523604575605472860000524.html
Rand Paul and Earmarks
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704635704575604680661943738.html
Late-Breaking Races Swing in Democrats’ Favor
http://goo.gl/fb/O18tG
Super Marius vs. the World - A CEO doesn't find takers for more transparent resource markets
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704635704575604332598231738.html
Strengthening an Emerging Industry While Helping Families Save Money
http://goo.gl/fb/4xZDR
Not as Easy as A,B,C - Fighting crime in one of Manhattan's rougher neighborhoods
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304410504575561150018734606.html
You’re Invited “Inside The White House”
http://goo.gl/fb/hWb7K
How to Outmaneuver Iran in Iraq - The Sunni-backed bloc needs to be brought into the government, and the U.S. shouldn't be shy about saying so
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703514904575602341835694642.html
State Dept: Making Progress in Combating Piracy Off the Horn of Africa
http://blogs.state.gov/index.php/entries/progress_piracy/
From Jakarta to Jerusalem - Obama's puzzling settlement demarche
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704635704575604720195910014.html
Response of the United States of America to Recommendations of the United Nations Human Rights Council
http://www.state.gov/s/l/releases/remarks/150677.htm
A Better G-20 Agenda - The real source of global 'imbalances' and how freer trade can help
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703514904575603432548236498.html
President Barack Obama’s First Two Years: Policy Accomplishments, Political Difficulties
http://www.brookings.edu/papers/2010/1104_obama_galston.aspx
The GOP's Racial Challenge - Republicans can't win in the future without more nonwhite votes
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703514904575602942138252552.html
Dispatch from the Reddest State
http://progressive.org/rc110910.html
If You Give a Solar or Wind Company a Subsidy
http://www.instituteforenergyresearch.org/2010/11/09/if-you-give-a-solar-or-wind-company-a-subsidy/
Saving Lives in Laos: United States Leadership in Clearing Landmines and Unexploded Ordnance
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2010/11/150696.htm
A Happy Meal ban is nothing to smile about - The proposal to ban meals with toys in San Francisco is based on some dubious assumptions about obesity and health
http://www.spiked-online.com/index.php/site/article/9871
Geithner, Shanmugaratnam, Swan: A Four-Point Plan for the G-20 - Strengthen global growth, keep it balanced, let currencies adjust, avoid protectionism
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703523604575605472860000524.html
Rand Paul and Earmarks
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704635704575604680661943738.html
Late-Breaking Races Swing in Democrats’ Favor
http://goo.gl/fb/O18tG
Super Marius vs. the World - A CEO doesn't find takers for more transparent resource markets
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704635704575604332598231738.html
Strengthening an Emerging Industry While Helping Families Save Money
http://goo.gl/fb/4xZDR
Not as Easy as A,B,C - Fighting crime in one of Manhattan's rougher neighborhoods
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304410504575561150018734606.html
You’re Invited “Inside The White House”
http://goo.gl/fb/hWb7K
How to Outmaneuver Iran in Iraq - The Sunni-backed bloc needs to be brought into the government, and the U.S. shouldn't be shy about saying so
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703514904575602341835694642.html
State Dept: Making Progress in Combating Piracy Off the Horn of Africa
http://blogs.state.gov/index.php/entries/progress_piracy/
From Jakarta to Jerusalem - Obama's puzzling settlement demarche
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704635704575604720195910014.html
Response of the United States of America to Recommendations of the United Nations Human Rights Council
http://www.state.gov/s/l/releases/remarks/150677.htm
A Better G-20 Agenda - The real source of global 'imbalances' and how freer trade can help
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703514904575603432548236498.html
President Barack Obama’s First Two Years: Policy Accomplishments, Political Difficulties
http://www.brookings.edu/papers/2010/1104_obama_galston.aspx
The GOP's Racial Challenge - Republicans can't win in the future without more nonwhite votes
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703514904575602942138252552.html
Dispatch from the Reddest State
http://progressive.org/rc110910.html
If You Give a Solar or Wind Company a Subsidy
http://www.instituteforenergyresearch.org/2010/11/09/if-you-give-a-solar-or-wind-company-a-subsidy/
Saving Lives in Laos: United States Leadership in Clearing Landmines and Unexploded Ordnance
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2010/11/150696.htm
A Happy Meal ban is nothing to smile about - The proposal to ban meals with toys in San Francisco is based on some dubious assumptions about obesity and health
http://www.spiked-online.com/index.php/site/article/9871
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Press Briefing
Nov 09, 2010
White House and State Department Issue Statements on Burma’s Elections
http://blogs.state.gov/index.php/site/entry/statements_on_burmas_elections
The President's Indonesia Opportunity - It isn't enough to declare that we aren't at war with Islam, as true as that is
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703514904575602323794337784.html
State Sec Clinton Highlights the Importance of U.S. Trade at Port of Melbourne
http://blogs.state.gov/index.php/site/entry/travel_diary_clinton_trade
The virtues and hazards of going 'all in' at moments of crisis - Review of Bush's Decision Points
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703514904575602542935259532.html
Business Summit in Mumbai http://goo.gl/fb/2JEGE
Union Card Checkmate - Voters in four states protect the secret ballot
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704353504575596790376536822.html
Remarks by the President to the Joint Session of the Indian Parliament in New Delhi… http://goo.gl/fb/uQ0PD
The ACLU Stands Up for Pro-Lifers—Really - Unelected commissions shouldn't pass judgment on campaign claims
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703514904575602612279218480.html
Have a Question About the Economy and Job Growth? Ask us.
http://goo.gl/fb/ba6bH
Blair: Making Muslim Integration Work
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303362404575580700415413596.html
Remarks by the President and the First Lady in Town Hall with Students in Mumbai http://goo.gl/fb/jKyAu
Burma's Hollow Election - A sham vote to please outsiders
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704013504575601692672025922.html
The National Export Initiative: U.S. - India Transactions http://goo.gl/fb/qR1QU
The Fed's reckless notion that it can simultaneously raise inflation and lower interest rates presumes bond buyers are fools. They aren't.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303467004575574610003111250.html
A US-India Partnership on Open Government http://goo.gl/fb/0611I
Palin's Dollar, Zoellick's Gold - An unlikely pair elevate the monetary policy debate
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703514904575602231815453378.html
The Lord’s Resistance Army of Today. By Ledio Cakaj
http://www.enoughproject.org/publications/lords-resistance-army-today
Obama's Best Speech - In India, the president defended free markets, free trade and free societies
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703514904575602103901437396.html
White House and State Department Issue Statements on Burma’s Elections
http://blogs.state.gov/index.php/site/entry/statements_on_burmas_elections
The President's Indonesia Opportunity - It isn't enough to declare that we aren't at war with Islam, as true as that is
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703514904575602323794337784.html
State Sec Clinton Highlights the Importance of U.S. Trade at Port of Melbourne
http://blogs.state.gov/index.php/site/entry/travel_diary_clinton_trade
The virtues and hazards of going 'all in' at moments of crisis - Review of Bush's Decision Points
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703514904575602542935259532.html
Business Summit in Mumbai http://goo.gl/fb/2JEGE
Union Card Checkmate - Voters in four states protect the secret ballot
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704353504575596790376536822.html
Remarks by the President to the Joint Session of the Indian Parliament in New Delhi… http://goo.gl/fb/uQ0PD
The ACLU Stands Up for Pro-Lifers—Really - Unelected commissions shouldn't pass judgment on campaign claims
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703514904575602612279218480.html
Have a Question About the Economy and Job Growth? Ask us.
http://goo.gl/fb/ba6bH
Blair: Making Muslim Integration Work
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303362404575580700415413596.html
Remarks by the President and the First Lady in Town Hall with Students in Mumbai http://goo.gl/fb/jKyAu
Burma's Hollow Election - A sham vote to please outsiders
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704013504575601692672025922.html
The National Export Initiative: U.S. - India Transactions http://goo.gl/fb/qR1QU
The Fed's reckless notion that it can simultaneously raise inflation and lower interest rates presumes bond buyers are fools. They aren't.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303467004575574610003111250.html
A US-India Partnership on Open Government http://goo.gl/fb/0611I
Palin's Dollar, Zoellick's Gold - An unlikely pair elevate the monetary policy debate
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703514904575602231815453378.html
The Lord’s Resistance Army of Today. By Ledio Cakaj
http://www.enoughproject.org/publications/lords-resistance-army-today
Obama's Best Speech - In India, the president defended free markets, free trade and free societies
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703514904575602103901437396.html
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Press Briefing
Nov 08, 2010
Remarks At the Australia-United States Ministerial
http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2010/11/150663.htm
'Net Neutrality' Goes 0 for 95 - Regulating the Web wasn't a political winner last week
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704353504575596562893007720.html
An Interview with W. S. Merwin, Poet Laureate (raw transcript)
http://progressive.org/Rampellx1110.html
Rubio Republicans - Republican candidates can talk tough on immigration and still do well with Hispanic voters if they can convincingly promote a message of economic opportunity
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703514904575602533618329228.html
Rand Paul’s Lack of Class
http://progressive.org/wx110810.html
Dawa and the Islamist Revival in the West, by Nina Wiedl
http://www.currenttrends.org/research/detail/dawa-and-the-islamist-revival-in-the-west
President Obama Promotes U.S.-India Partnership on Open Government
http://blogs.state.gov/index.php/site/entry/obama_u.s.-india_open_government
The Damascus Mirage - Team Obama's Syrian education
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704462704575590550032278816.html
Remarks by the President on the October Jobs Report
http://goo.gl/fb/bcRYz
The Great Transmission Heist - The latest scheme to subsidize solar and wind power to the detriment of rate payers
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304772804575558400606672006.html
Press Gaggle on the President's Upcoming Trip to Asia by Press Secretary Gibbs, Deputy National Security Advisor Froman, Deputy National Security Advisor Rhodes and Treasury Under Secretary for International Affairs Brainard
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2010/11/01/press-gaggle-presidents-upcoming-trip-asia-press-secretary-gibbs-deputy-
California: The Lindsay Lohan of States - Sacramento is headed for trouble again, and it shouldn't expect a bailout
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703506904575592612400443370.html
Secretary Clinton's Visit to Australia Highlights Collaboration
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2010/11/150519.htm
How Medicare Killed the Family Doctor - Low government payment rates became the private-sector benchmark, resulting in fragmented care
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704353504575596140752021042.html
Attacks on President Obama Going to Asia: A Long Trip from Reality
http://goo.gl/fb/3rW2u
The New Malaise and How to End It - Given what ails the economy, additional monetary policy measures are poor substitutes for more powerful pro-growth policies
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704353504575596762375409760.html
Remarks At the Australia-United States Ministerial
http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2010/11/150663.htm
'Net Neutrality' Goes 0 for 95 - Regulating the Web wasn't a political winner last week
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704353504575596562893007720.html
An Interview with W. S. Merwin, Poet Laureate (raw transcript)
http://progressive.org/Rampellx1110.html
Rubio Republicans - Republican candidates can talk tough on immigration and still do well with Hispanic voters if they can convincingly promote a message of economic opportunity
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703514904575602533618329228.html
Rand Paul’s Lack of Class
http://progressive.org/wx110810.html
Dawa and the Islamist Revival in the West, by Nina Wiedl
http://www.currenttrends.org/research/detail/dawa-and-the-islamist-revival-in-the-west
President Obama Promotes U.S.-India Partnership on Open Government
http://blogs.state.gov/index.php/site/entry/obama_u.s.-india_open_government
The Damascus Mirage - Team Obama's Syrian education
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704462704575590550032278816.html
Remarks by the President on the October Jobs Report
http://goo.gl/fb/bcRYz
The Great Transmission Heist - The latest scheme to subsidize solar and wind power to the detriment of rate payers
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304772804575558400606672006.html
Press Gaggle on the President's Upcoming Trip to Asia by Press Secretary Gibbs, Deputy National Security Advisor Froman, Deputy National Security Advisor Rhodes and Treasury Under Secretary for International Affairs Brainard
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2010/11/01/press-gaggle-presidents-upcoming-trip-asia-press-secretary-gibbs-deputy-
California: The Lindsay Lohan of States - Sacramento is headed for trouble again, and it shouldn't expect a bailout
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703506904575592612400443370.html
Secretary Clinton's Visit to Australia Highlights Collaboration
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2010/11/150519.htm
How Medicare Killed the Family Doctor - Low government payment rates became the private-sector benchmark, resulting in fragmented care
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704353504575596140752021042.html
Attacks on President Obama Going to Asia: A Long Trip from Reality
http://goo.gl/fb/3rW2u
The New Malaise and How to End It - Given what ails the economy, additional monetary policy measures are poor substitutes for more powerful pro-growth policies
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704353504575596762375409760.html
Press Briefing
Nov 07, 2011
Weekly Address: President Obama Calls for Compromise and Explains his Priorities
http://goo.gl/fb/HazXr
Assessing "The Vision of the Jihaadi Movement"
http://onwarandwords.wordpress.com/2010/11/04/assessing-the-vision-of-the-jihaadi-movement/
Defending GM's Wagoner, Round Two - How GM failed and Ford survived is not a tale of either Obama genius or CEO incompetence
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703506904575592332874766368.html
A Short History of Midterm Elections - If the past is indeed prologue, then Republicans shouldn't get too cocky
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703805704575594343435477562.html
Iowa's Total Recall - Voters give activist judges the boot. Lawyers are shocked.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704353504575596441490066762.html
Governors and the Development of the Pragmatic Caucus
http://www.brookings.edu/interviews/2010/1030_governors_katz.aspx
The Pelosi Minority - The Speaker decides to reward herself for an epic defeat
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704353504575596602409404626.html
RT @theprogressive: "Republicans say they’re offering up an olive branch. But it looks more like a painted paralyzed asp with the anesthetic wearing off"
The president as intellectual and political philosopher - Review of James T. Kloppenberg's Reading Obama
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703805704575594430946553428.html
Weekly Address: President Obama Calls for Compromise and Explains his Priorities
http://goo.gl/fb/HazXr
Assessing "The Vision of the Jihaadi Movement"
http://onwarandwords.wordpress.com/2010/11/04/assessing-the-vision-of-the-jihaadi-movement/
Defending GM's Wagoner, Round Two - How GM failed and Ford survived is not a tale of either Obama genius or CEO incompetence
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703506904575592332874766368.html
A Short History of Midterm Elections - If the past is indeed prologue, then Republicans shouldn't get too cocky
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703805704575594343435477562.html
Iowa's Total Recall - Voters give activist judges the boot. Lawyers are shocked.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704353504575596441490066762.html
Governors and the Development of the Pragmatic Caucus
http://www.brookings.edu/interviews/2010/1030_governors_katz.aspx
The Pelosi Minority - The Speaker decides to reward herself for an epic defeat
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704353504575596602409404626.html
RT @theprogressive: "Republicans say they’re offering up an olive branch. But it looks more like a painted paralyzed asp with the anesthetic wearing off"
The president as intellectual and political philosopher - Review of James T. Kloppenberg's Reading Obama
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703805704575594430946553428.html
Friday, November 5, 2010
Comments on Jesus Fernandez-Villaverde's Recomendaciones de Lectura: Ley Dodd-Frank
Spanish - comentary on Jesus Fernandez-Villaverde's Recomendaciones de Lectura: Ley Dodd-Frank, Oct 22, 2010, http://www.fedeablogs.net/economia/?p=7059 :
hola, el artÃculo referido habla de "[c]entralised clearing of derivatives" y dice que, junto con "the push for greater transparency of prices, volumes, and exposures–to regulators and in aggregated form to the public–" los mercados deberÃan estar mejor capacitados "to deal better with counterparty risk, in terms of pricing it into bilateral contracts, as well as understanding its likely impact."
De ninguna forma se ve en ese artÃculo, basado en la introducción del libro que van a publicar los autores, que haya alguna preocupación por que los centralized clearinghouses puedan ser "the ultimate too big to fail organization."
Abundando en esa preocupación, un artÃculo en WSJ (European Clearing Reform Dealt Late Setback, Nov 01, 2010, http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704141104575588451106445976.html) revela los últimos desarrollos en Europa al respecto:
"
[...]
Regulators were this week expected to approve a so-called "interoperability" arrangement between four of Europe's largest clearing houses [...]. However, at least one national regulator—thought to be the U.K.'s Financial Services Authority—raised concerns over the deal at the eleventh hour and has postponed its approval until the end of this month at the earliest, these people said. Those worries are understood to center on risk-management issues.
[...]
[A] source close to one of the clearers said the FSA had contacted the four central counterparties, advising them that the meeting at which the decision was expected to be made would be delayed until the end of November. The FSA wasn't available to comment.
In February this year, the regulator sent a private letter to the central counterparties in which it outlined concerns that the clearing houses needed to account for a number of risks created by interoperability. These included additional counterparty credit risk, technical, and liquidity risk. The FSA hasn't prescribed any measures, however, and has left it up to the central counterparties to work out how to address these issues.
[...]
Responding to industry pressure, LCH.Clearnet, SIX x-clear, EuroCCP and EMCF agreed to link their technology systems in the first half of last year but concerns regarding the threat of "contagion risk" between clearers—namely that the clearers could spread systemic risk across borders—led the Dutch, Swiss and U.K. regulators to halt the project last November.
"
Por supuesto, no he encontrado la carta de FSA en su website. Si alguien puede añadir más información, por favor, serÃa de agradecer.
---
European Clearing Reform Dealt Late Setback, by Michelle Price
WSJ, Nov 01, 2010
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704141104575588451106445976.html
AMSTERDAM—A long-awaited agreement between four of Europe's leading clearing houses, which was expected to be signed off as early as this week and would have opened up competition in the market after years of pressure from banks and investors, has been postponed by European regulators at the last minute, according to people familiar with the matter.
Regulators were this week expected to approve a so-called "interoperability" arrangement between four of Europe's largest clearing houses: the London-based LCH.Clearnet; the Swiss clearer SIX x-clear; EuroCCP in London; and the Netherlands-based European Multilateral Clearing Facility, according to senior sources in the market infrastructure industry attending the Sibos conference in Amsterdam last week.
However, at least one national regulator—thought to be the U.K.'s Financial Services Authority—raised concerns over the deal at the eleventh hour and has postponed its approval until the end of this month at the earliest, these people said. Those worries are understood to center on risk-management issues.
Interoperability is important because it would open up the fragmented post-trade market infrastructure to competition and reduce costs for market participants and, ultimately, for investors and pension funds.
Interoperability between clearers would allow trading firms to choose which clearing house they want to clear their trades, instead of being—as they are now—forced through the clearer chosen by the exchange or platform on which they are trading.
Most exchanges and trading venues in Europe route their trades through a single clearer. All-in trading costs are consequently as much as 10 times higher than in the U.S. The lack of open competition means that fees for clearing and settlement account for the majority of trading costs for investors and market participants.
The industry hopes that interoperability could have the same impact on clearing and settlement as the 2007 markets in financial instruments directive did on equities trading, or Mifid. Mifid triggered a wave of new entrants into the equities market, increasing competition and reducing trading fees across the industry.
The head of one trading venue said last week at the Sibos international banking conference in Amsterdam: "We are expecting the go-ahead for full interoperability between these four clearers to come—at last—in the first week in November." Sources close to two of the clearers involved confirmed the expected announcement.
However, a source close to one of the clearers said the FSA had contacted the four central counterparties, advising them that the meeting at which the decision was expected to be made would be delayed until the end of November. The FSA wasn't available to comment.
In February this year, the regulator sent a private letter to the central counterparties in which it outlined concerns that the clearing houses needed to account for a number of risks created by interoperability. These included additional counterparty credit risk, technical, and liquidity risk. The FSA hasn't prescribed any measures, however, and has left it up to the central counterparties to work out how to address these issues.
The concept of interoperability was first mooted by the former European Commissioner for the internal market, Charlie McCreevy, who imposed a code of conduct on the industry in 2006. However, a combination of vested interest and protectionism by incumbent clearers meant the code was broadly ignored.
Responding to industry pressure, LCH.Clearnet, SIX x-clear, EuroCCP and EMCF agreed to link their technology systems in the first half of last year but concerns regarding the threat of "contagion risk" between clearers—namely that the clearers could spread systemic risk across borders—led the Dutch, Swiss and U.K. regulators to halt the project last November.
In August, the clearing houses re-submitted a detailed plan that addressed these concerns by including provisions for more robust risk management between the clearers. It is understood the regulators have yet to finish their analysis relating to the cash collateral provisions designed to address their concerns over contagion.
"Interoperating in cash equities is not tremendously difficult," one person close to the discussions said. "The problem has been that during the reviews that the regulators have been performing during the last year, the analysis produces a list of questions and the answers generate more questions, so it's been a fairly circular process."
hola, el artÃculo referido habla de "[c]entralised clearing of derivatives" y dice que, junto con "the push for greater transparency of prices, volumes, and exposures–to regulators and in aggregated form to the public–" los mercados deberÃan estar mejor capacitados "to deal better with counterparty risk, in terms of pricing it into bilateral contracts, as well as understanding its likely impact."
De ninguna forma se ve en ese artÃculo, basado en la introducción del libro que van a publicar los autores, que haya alguna preocupación por que los centralized clearinghouses puedan ser "the ultimate too big to fail organization."
Abundando en esa preocupación, un artÃculo en WSJ (European Clearing Reform Dealt Late Setback, Nov 01, 2010, http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704141104575588451106445976.html) revela los últimos desarrollos en Europa al respecto:
"
[...]
Regulators were this week expected to approve a so-called "interoperability" arrangement between four of Europe's largest clearing houses [...]. However, at least one national regulator—thought to be the U.K.'s Financial Services Authority—raised concerns over the deal at the eleventh hour and has postponed its approval until the end of this month at the earliest, these people said. Those worries are understood to center on risk-management issues.
[...]
[A] source close to one of the clearers said the FSA had contacted the four central counterparties, advising them that the meeting at which the decision was expected to be made would be delayed until the end of November. The FSA wasn't available to comment.
In February this year, the regulator sent a private letter to the central counterparties in which it outlined concerns that the clearing houses needed to account for a number of risks created by interoperability. These included additional counterparty credit risk, technical, and liquidity risk. The FSA hasn't prescribed any measures, however, and has left it up to the central counterparties to work out how to address these issues.
[...]
Responding to industry pressure, LCH.Clearnet, SIX x-clear, EuroCCP and EMCF agreed to link their technology systems in the first half of last year but concerns regarding the threat of "contagion risk" between clearers—namely that the clearers could spread systemic risk across borders—led the Dutch, Swiss and U.K. regulators to halt the project last November.
"
Por supuesto, no he encontrado la carta de FSA en su website. Si alguien puede añadir más información, por favor, serÃa de agradecer.
---
European Clearing Reform Dealt Late Setback, by Michelle Price
WSJ, Nov 01, 2010
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704141104575588451106445976.html
AMSTERDAM—A long-awaited agreement between four of Europe's leading clearing houses, which was expected to be signed off as early as this week and would have opened up competition in the market after years of pressure from banks and investors, has been postponed by European regulators at the last minute, according to people familiar with the matter.
Regulators were this week expected to approve a so-called "interoperability" arrangement between four of Europe's largest clearing houses: the London-based LCH.Clearnet; the Swiss clearer SIX x-clear; EuroCCP in London; and the Netherlands-based European Multilateral Clearing Facility, according to senior sources in the market infrastructure industry attending the Sibos conference in Amsterdam last week.
However, at least one national regulator—thought to be the U.K.'s Financial Services Authority—raised concerns over the deal at the eleventh hour and has postponed its approval until the end of this month at the earliest, these people said. Those worries are understood to center on risk-management issues.
Interoperability is important because it would open up the fragmented post-trade market infrastructure to competition and reduce costs for market participants and, ultimately, for investors and pension funds.
Interoperability between clearers would allow trading firms to choose which clearing house they want to clear their trades, instead of being—as they are now—forced through the clearer chosen by the exchange or platform on which they are trading.
Most exchanges and trading venues in Europe route their trades through a single clearer. All-in trading costs are consequently as much as 10 times higher than in the U.S. The lack of open competition means that fees for clearing and settlement account for the majority of trading costs for investors and market participants.
The industry hopes that interoperability could have the same impact on clearing and settlement as the 2007 markets in financial instruments directive did on equities trading, or Mifid. Mifid triggered a wave of new entrants into the equities market, increasing competition and reducing trading fees across the industry.
The head of one trading venue said last week at the Sibos international banking conference in Amsterdam: "We are expecting the go-ahead for full interoperability between these four clearers to come—at last—in the first week in November." Sources close to two of the clearers involved confirmed the expected announcement.
However, a source close to one of the clearers said the FSA had contacted the four central counterparties, advising them that the meeting at which the decision was expected to be made would be delayed until the end of November. The FSA wasn't available to comment.
In February this year, the regulator sent a private letter to the central counterparties in which it outlined concerns that the clearing houses needed to account for a number of risks created by interoperability. These included additional counterparty credit risk, technical, and liquidity risk. The FSA hasn't prescribed any measures, however, and has left it up to the central counterparties to work out how to address these issues.
The concept of interoperability was first mooted by the former European Commissioner for the internal market, Charlie McCreevy, who imposed a code of conduct on the industry in 2006. However, a combination of vested interest and protectionism by incumbent clearers meant the code was broadly ignored.
Responding to industry pressure, LCH.Clearnet, SIX x-clear, EuroCCP and EMCF agreed to link their technology systems in the first half of last year but concerns regarding the threat of "contagion risk" between clearers—namely that the clearers could spread systemic risk across borders—led the Dutch, Swiss and U.K. regulators to halt the project last November.
In August, the clearing houses re-submitted a detailed plan that addressed these concerns by including provisions for more robust risk management between the clearers. It is understood the regulators have yet to finish their analysis relating to the cash collateral provisions designed to address their concerns over contagion.
"Interoperating in cash equities is not tremendously difficult," one person close to the discussions said. "The problem has been that during the reviews that the regulators have been performing during the last year, the analysis produces a list of questions and the answers generate more questions, so it's been a fairly circular process."
Press Briefing
Nov 05, 2010
An Undeserved Win for the GOP - Conventional wisdom says the president was too liberal and tried to do too much. Nonsense.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703506904575592900976030696.html
William Galston, former domestic policy adviser to President Bill Clinton, writing at tnr.com, on the independent vote
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703805704575594410054850060.html
The G-20 Seoul 2010 Summit: Strengthening the Global Recovery
http://www.brookings.edu/reports/2010/1102_g20_summit.aspx
The Two Left Coasts - Why the GOP wave didn't wash over New York and California
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703506904575592291628618242.html
Global Agriculture and Food Security Program Partners Announce Second Round of Grants
http://www.treas.gov/press/releases/tg945.htm
The GOP's 2012 Game Plan
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703805704575594810781693940.html
Will Post-Elections Australia Pursue a Course Independent of the United States?
http://www.eastwestcenter.org/publications/search-for-publications/browse-alphabetic-list-of-titles/?class_call=view&mode=view&pub_ID=3596
Boehner: What the Next Speaker Must Do - Secrecy, arrogance, and the abuse of power have shattered the bonds of trust between the people and their elected leaders. Repairing that trust requires sweeping change, beginning with an end to earmarks.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703805704575594280015549088.html
Criticizing the Inspectors
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/11/03/criticizing-inspectors
The German Ecological-Industrial Complex. By Malte Lehming
This 'good' ideology increases inequality more than neo-liberal policies ever could
WSJ, Nov 04, 2010
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704141104575588121224451544.html
Berlin - Germans are the most eager sorters of trash. They dutifully bring their light bulbs and batteries to special recycling points, introduced deposits on bottles and cans seven years ago, build tunnels under highways so frogs can safely cross. They fight for every endangered tree and animal. More and more windmills dominate the landscape. Environmental studies is taught in school, and the German chancellor's work for climate protection is one of her trademarks.
Historically and psychologically, this close connection to ecology is understandable. The Germans need some sort of ideology. They've had bad experiences with fascism and communism and had to be painstakingly educated in the ideals of freedom and democratic virtue. So ecology was the right idea at the right time. Germans believe it gives them a vision that puts them, for the first time, on the right side of history, the side of the good and of the future.
This explains the inexorable rise of the Greens. For the last five weeks, the party has been polling ahead of the Social Democrats (SPD), replacing them as the second strongest political force. Only slightly behind the ruling Christian Democratic Union (CDU), the Greens could even appoint the chancellor in a coalition with the SPD if national elections were held today.
The Greens' voters long ago stopped coming primarily from the left-wing alternative milieu. Their strongest supporters now come from the well-off middle class. According to the polling institute Forsa, 37% of German civil servants would vote Green. Among upper-level civil servants the figure is as high as 41%. Nearly one in three self-employed voters supports the environmental party. Green voters are "well-off post-materialists": Their average household income is higher than that of the supporters of any other party. Workers and retirees go elsewhere.
That said, all of Germany's other parties have long-since discovered ecology as well. Chancellor Angela Merkel was once the federal environmental minister, as was (SPD) leader Sigmar Gabriel. Even the market-friendly Free Democrats (FDP) have turned greenish. The governing CDU-FDP coalition recently adopted the world's most ambitious climate-protection program. "Clean Energy For Everyone" was the slogan. Wind parks in the sea, solar plants, energy storage facilities, energy-saving renovations: The goal is that by 2050, Germany should be able to power itself almost entirely through regenerative energy while the carbon dioxide emissions of all buildings will be reduced to zero.
This will be enormously expensive, but that doesn't bother the Germans. Energy prices have already risen drastically, and Mrs. Merkel has prepared the country for rent increases. "Of course, at first glance not everyone likes that," she says, but in the long run everyone will gain. There is consensus that current generations must bear the main burden of ecologically restructuring Germany's energy system. We're the good guys.
And these days, being good even pays off. Given the increasingly global regulations to curb pollution and carbon emissions, exporting countries hope to make environmentally friendly technology the leading industry of the 21st century. In 15 years, according to a government-sponsored study, green technology will overtake the automobile industry as Germany's core industry. A multi-billion-dollar market has developed, and Germany is the leader in many emerging branches, with a worldwide market share in green technology of around 16%. Some 1.5 million Germans already work in the green industry.
Ecology has become an economic "stimulus" program of sorts. Consumers are forced to buy new versions of expensive everyday products—from refrigerators to cars—not because of age or deterioration, but because they no longer conform to the most recent environmental standards. These norms also serve as wonderful import-defense weapons. No dirty plastic dolls from China can enter, no gene-manipulated food may be purchased. Germany's purity law has turned into a type of national environmentalism. Our morality protects our markets.
But it's the consumer who pays the piper. Climate-friendly retrofitting of Germany's buildings might cost some €2.5 trillion. Building owners can transfer these costs to tenants. That means that rents will rise steeply for years. In Berlin alone, according to estimates by tenants' associations, nearly one in three households will have to move because they will no longer be able to afford their old apartments. This will primarily affect the unemployed and those with low income.
You have to be able to afford ecology. The Greens can, but weaker social groups will suffer. Expensive organic products, kerosene surcharges, gas price increases, higher parking fees, rising energy prices and rents—ecology makes the poor poorer. And for those who can no longer afford to fly to Mallorca, the Greens graciously recommend taking a vacation at home. That will boost domestic tourism.
Those who believe they are on the right side of history may view the social consequences of radical environmentalism, in coldly arrogant tones, as unavoidable collateral damage. And wasn't it always unpleasant for Germany's well-off to share the beaches in exotic vacation locales with simple workingclass families, just because of those cheap charter flights?
The Greens like to portray themselves as fighting against the excesses of capitalism. Now it's clear that the ecological-industrial complex increases inequality more than neo-liberal policies ever could.
Mr. Lehming is op-ed page editor of Der Tagesspiegel. Belinda Cooper translated this essay from the German.
Holographic Video Brings Star Wars-Style 3D Telepresence a Step Closer
http://spectrum.ieee.org/tech-talk/computing/hardware/holographic-video-telepresence
An Undeserved Win for the GOP - Conventional wisdom says the president was too liberal and tried to do too much. Nonsense.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703506904575592900976030696.html
William Galston, former domestic policy adviser to President Bill Clinton, writing at tnr.com, on the independent vote
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703805704575594410054850060.html
The G-20 Seoul 2010 Summit: Strengthening the Global Recovery
http://www.brookings.edu/reports/2010/1102_g20_summit.aspx
The Two Left Coasts - Why the GOP wave didn't wash over New York and California
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703506904575592291628618242.html
Global Agriculture and Food Security Program Partners Announce Second Round of Grants
http://www.treas.gov/press/releases/tg945.htm
The GOP's 2012 Game Plan
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703805704575594810781693940.html
Will Post-Elections Australia Pursue a Course Independent of the United States?
http://www.eastwestcenter.org/publications/search-for-publications/browse-alphabetic-list-of-titles/?class_call=view&mode=view&pub_ID=3596
Boehner: What the Next Speaker Must Do - Secrecy, arrogance, and the abuse of power have shattered the bonds of trust between the people and their elected leaders. Repairing that trust requires sweeping change, beginning with an end to earmarks.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703805704575594280015549088.html
Criticizing the Inspectors
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/11/03/criticizing-inspectors
The German Ecological-Industrial Complex. By Malte Lehming
This 'good' ideology increases inequality more than neo-liberal policies ever could
WSJ, Nov 04, 2010
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704141104575588121224451544.html
Berlin - Germans are the most eager sorters of trash. They dutifully bring their light bulbs and batteries to special recycling points, introduced deposits on bottles and cans seven years ago, build tunnels under highways so frogs can safely cross. They fight for every endangered tree and animal. More and more windmills dominate the landscape. Environmental studies is taught in school, and the German chancellor's work for climate protection is one of her trademarks.
Historically and psychologically, this close connection to ecology is understandable. The Germans need some sort of ideology. They've had bad experiences with fascism and communism and had to be painstakingly educated in the ideals of freedom and democratic virtue. So ecology was the right idea at the right time. Germans believe it gives them a vision that puts them, for the first time, on the right side of history, the side of the good and of the future.
This explains the inexorable rise of the Greens. For the last five weeks, the party has been polling ahead of the Social Democrats (SPD), replacing them as the second strongest political force. Only slightly behind the ruling Christian Democratic Union (CDU), the Greens could even appoint the chancellor in a coalition with the SPD if national elections were held today.
The Greens' voters long ago stopped coming primarily from the left-wing alternative milieu. Their strongest supporters now come from the well-off middle class. According to the polling institute Forsa, 37% of German civil servants would vote Green. Among upper-level civil servants the figure is as high as 41%. Nearly one in three self-employed voters supports the environmental party. Green voters are "well-off post-materialists": Their average household income is higher than that of the supporters of any other party. Workers and retirees go elsewhere.
That said, all of Germany's other parties have long-since discovered ecology as well. Chancellor Angela Merkel was once the federal environmental minister, as was (SPD) leader Sigmar Gabriel. Even the market-friendly Free Democrats (FDP) have turned greenish. The governing CDU-FDP coalition recently adopted the world's most ambitious climate-protection program. "Clean Energy For Everyone" was the slogan. Wind parks in the sea, solar plants, energy storage facilities, energy-saving renovations: The goal is that by 2050, Germany should be able to power itself almost entirely through regenerative energy while the carbon dioxide emissions of all buildings will be reduced to zero.
This will be enormously expensive, but that doesn't bother the Germans. Energy prices have already risen drastically, and Mrs. Merkel has prepared the country for rent increases. "Of course, at first glance not everyone likes that," she says, but in the long run everyone will gain. There is consensus that current generations must bear the main burden of ecologically restructuring Germany's energy system. We're the good guys.
And these days, being good even pays off. Given the increasingly global regulations to curb pollution and carbon emissions, exporting countries hope to make environmentally friendly technology the leading industry of the 21st century. In 15 years, according to a government-sponsored study, green technology will overtake the automobile industry as Germany's core industry. A multi-billion-dollar market has developed, and Germany is the leader in many emerging branches, with a worldwide market share in green technology of around 16%. Some 1.5 million Germans already work in the green industry.
Ecology has become an economic "stimulus" program of sorts. Consumers are forced to buy new versions of expensive everyday products—from refrigerators to cars—not because of age or deterioration, but because they no longer conform to the most recent environmental standards. These norms also serve as wonderful import-defense weapons. No dirty plastic dolls from China can enter, no gene-manipulated food may be purchased. Germany's purity law has turned into a type of national environmentalism. Our morality protects our markets.
But it's the consumer who pays the piper. Climate-friendly retrofitting of Germany's buildings might cost some €2.5 trillion. Building owners can transfer these costs to tenants. That means that rents will rise steeply for years. In Berlin alone, according to estimates by tenants' associations, nearly one in three households will have to move because they will no longer be able to afford their old apartments. This will primarily affect the unemployed and those with low income.
You have to be able to afford ecology. The Greens can, but weaker social groups will suffer. Expensive organic products, kerosene surcharges, gas price increases, higher parking fees, rising energy prices and rents—ecology makes the poor poorer. And for those who can no longer afford to fly to Mallorca, the Greens graciously recommend taking a vacation at home. That will boost domestic tourism.
Those who believe they are on the right side of history may view the social consequences of radical environmentalism, in coldly arrogant tones, as unavoidable collateral damage. And wasn't it always unpleasant for Germany's well-off to share the beaches in exotic vacation locales with simple workingclass families, just because of those cheap charter flights?
The Greens like to portray themselves as fighting against the excesses of capitalism. Now it's clear that the ecological-industrial complex increases inequality more than neo-liberal policies ever could.
Mr. Lehming is op-ed page editor of Der Tagesspiegel. Belinda Cooper translated this essay from the German.
Holographic Video Brings Star Wars-Style 3D Telepresence a Step Closer
http://spectrum.ieee.org/tech-talk/computing/hardware/holographic-video-telepresence
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Press Briefing
Nov 04, 2010
Holographic Video Brings Star Wars-Style 3D Telepresence a Step Closer
http://spectrum.ieee.org/tech-talk/computing/hardware/holographic-video-telepresence
A Way Forward for Obama - What the president can do if he wants to remain relevant
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703506904575592192122802022.html
Court should nullify Arizona immigration law
http://progressive.org/mpsanchez110410.html
The GOP will have operational control of the Senate more often than Majority Leader Harry Reid will
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703506904575592690262053182.html
Life-Saving Treatments: Made in the U.S.A.
http://goo.gl/fb/Db6bJ
Martyrs to ObamaCare - Health care blows a hole in the Democratic majority
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703506904575592712665123730.html
Arms Control and International Security: Remarks to the National Model UN Conference
http://www.state.gov/t/isn/rls/rm/150366.htm
More Monetary Cowbell - "I got a fever, and the only prescription is more quantitative easing!"
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703506904575592591109709212.html
The New START Treaty: It's Time for the Senate to Vote
http://www.state.gov/t/avc/rls/150374.htm
GOP: Unlock the American Economy - A genuine pro-growth economic agenda requires more than spending restraint
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703506904575592580602147668.html
Lessons of the Election
http://progressive.org/rc110310.html
President James Madison on the limits of federal power over the economy: veto message on the Internal Improvements Bill, 1817
WSJ, Nov 03, 2010
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704141104575588521206221584.html
The legislative powers vested in Congress are specified and enumerated in the eighth section of the first article of the Constitution, and it does not appear that the power proposed to be exercised by the bill is among the enumerated powers, or that it falls by any just interpretation within the power to make laws necessary and proper for carrying into execution those or other powers vested by the Constitution in the Government of the United States.
"The power to regulate commerce among the several States" can not include a power to construct roads and canals, and to improve the navigation of water courses in order to facilitate, promote, and secure such a commerce without a latitude of construction departing from the ordinary import of the terms strengthened by the known inconveniences which doubtless led to the grant of this remedial power to Congress.
To refer the power in question to the clause "to provide for the common defense and general welfare" would be contrary to the established and consistent rules of interpretation. . . . It would have the effect of subjecting both the Constitution and laws of the several States in all cases not specifically exempted to be superseded by laws of Congress. . . . Such a view of the Constitution, finally, would have the effect of excluding the judicial authority of the United States from its participation in guarding the boundary between the legislative powers of the General and the State Governments. . . .
I am not unaware of the great importance of roads and canals and the improved navigation of water courses, and that a power in the National Legislature to provide for them might be exercised with signal advantage to the general prosperity. But seeing that such a power is not expressly given by the Constitution, and believing that it can not be deduced from any part of it without an inadmissible latitude of construction and a reliance on insufficient precedents; believing also that the permanent success of the Constitution depends on a definite partition of powers between the General and the State Governments, and that no adequate landmarks would be left by the constructive extension of the powers of Congress as proposed in the bill, I have no option but to withhold my signature from it.
What You Missed: Tuesday Talk on the President’s Trip to Asia
http://goo.gl/fb/Y2DpI
Dan Rather on MSNBC: Mitch McConnell 'Wants to Cut Out Obama's Heart and Feed His Liver to the Dogs'
http://www.mrc.org/biasalert/2010/20101103032018.aspx
International Cooperation: Furthering US National Space Policy and Goals
http://www.state.gov/t/avc/rls/150316.htm
State Bailouts? They've Already Begun - Bond subsidies and transfers have allowed states to avoid making tough decisions. It won't last.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304173704575578203887408076.html
Radio Renegades - Review of Adrian Johns' Death of a Pirate
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303284604575582773700520824.html
Holographic Video Brings Star Wars-Style 3D Telepresence a Step Closer
http://spectrum.ieee.org/tech-talk/computing/hardware/holographic-video-telepresence
A Way Forward for Obama - What the president can do if he wants to remain relevant
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703506904575592192122802022.html
Court should nullify Arizona immigration law
http://progressive.org/mpsanchez110410.html
The GOP will have operational control of the Senate more often than Majority Leader Harry Reid will
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703506904575592690262053182.html
Life-Saving Treatments: Made in the U.S.A.
http://goo.gl/fb/Db6bJ
Martyrs to ObamaCare - Health care blows a hole in the Democratic majority
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703506904575592712665123730.html
Arms Control and International Security: Remarks to the National Model UN Conference
http://www.state.gov/t/isn/rls/rm/150366.htm
More Monetary Cowbell - "I got a fever, and the only prescription is more quantitative easing!"
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703506904575592591109709212.html
The New START Treaty: It's Time for the Senate to Vote
http://www.state.gov/t/avc/rls/150374.htm
GOP: Unlock the American Economy - A genuine pro-growth economic agenda requires more than spending restraint
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703506904575592580602147668.html
Lessons of the Election
http://progressive.org/rc110310.html
President James Madison on the limits of federal power over the economy: veto message on the Internal Improvements Bill, 1817
WSJ, Nov 03, 2010
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704141104575588521206221584.html
The legislative powers vested in Congress are specified and enumerated in the eighth section of the first article of the Constitution, and it does not appear that the power proposed to be exercised by the bill is among the enumerated powers, or that it falls by any just interpretation within the power to make laws necessary and proper for carrying into execution those or other powers vested by the Constitution in the Government of the United States.
"The power to regulate commerce among the several States" can not include a power to construct roads and canals, and to improve the navigation of water courses in order to facilitate, promote, and secure such a commerce without a latitude of construction departing from the ordinary import of the terms strengthened by the known inconveniences which doubtless led to the grant of this remedial power to Congress.
To refer the power in question to the clause "to provide for the common defense and general welfare" would be contrary to the established and consistent rules of interpretation. . . . It would have the effect of subjecting both the Constitution and laws of the several States in all cases not specifically exempted to be superseded by laws of Congress. . . . Such a view of the Constitution, finally, would have the effect of excluding the judicial authority of the United States from its participation in guarding the boundary between the legislative powers of the General and the State Governments. . . .
I am not unaware of the great importance of roads and canals and the improved navigation of water courses, and that a power in the National Legislature to provide for them might be exercised with signal advantage to the general prosperity. But seeing that such a power is not expressly given by the Constitution, and believing that it can not be deduced from any part of it without an inadmissible latitude of construction and a reliance on insufficient precedents; believing also that the permanent success of the Constitution depends on a definite partition of powers between the General and the State Governments, and that no adequate landmarks would be left by the constructive extension of the powers of Congress as proposed in the bill, I have no option but to withhold my signature from it.
What You Missed: Tuesday Talk on the President’s Trip to Asia
http://goo.gl/fb/Y2DpI
Dan Rather on MSNBC: Mitch McConnell 'Wants to Cut Out Obama's Heart and Feed His Liver to the Dogs'
http://www.mrc.org/biasalert/2010/20101103032018.aspx
International Cooperation: Furthering US National Space Policy and Goals
http://www.state.gov/t/avc/rls/150316.htm
State Bailouts? They've Already Begun - Bond subsidies and transfers have allowed states to avoid making tough decisions. It won't last.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304173704575578203887408076.html
Radio Renegades - Review of Adrian Johns' Death of a Pirate
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303284604575582773700520824.html
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Press Briefing
Nov 03, 2010
State Dept: Addressing Today's Nuclear Threats
http://www.state.gov/t/isn/rls/rm/150287.htm
On Capitol Hill, Anything Goes
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703708404575586581040981148.html
Statement by the Press Secretary on the Case of Ms. Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani
http://goo.gl/fb/TTFu0
Arizona Christian School Tuition Organization v. Winn - A crucial case on tax credits for scholarships to religious schools
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303362404575580572837153924.html
Statement by the President on the 10th Anniversary of Crews Aboard the International Space Station
http://goo.gl/fb/7RfPl
High Rollers at the Fed. WSJ Editorial
The central bank becomes a Treasury profit center—for now.
WSJ, Wednesday, November 3, 2010
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304741404575564733097905488.html?mod=WSJ_newsreel_opinion
The Federal Reserve's Open Market Committee seems poised today to make a historic decision to expand its balance sheet by as much as $1 trillion or more to boost inflation and reduce unemployment. We've said before that we think this is a monetary mistake, but the public and Congress should also be aware that it increasingly carries fiscal risks.
In conducting monetary policy, the Fed has historically stuck to the purchase of short-term Treasury securities and other highly safe assets. That changed amid the financial panic, as the Fed grew its balance sheet to $2.1 trillion in 2009 from $900 million in 2007. That expansion was controversial but it was defensible on grounds that the central bank was fulfilling its duty as lender of last resort during a liquidity squeeze. Roughly $1 trillion of the new assets were in short-term credit facilities, including foreign central bank swaps.
In 2008, the Fed began its dive into riskier assets by adding securities from Bear Stearns and AIG totaling about $70 billion, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac debt of $45 billion and over $200 billion in Fan and Fred-guaranteed mortgage-backed securities. But those purchases remained a small part of the Fed's portfolio and were widely viewed as emergency measures amid a crisis. As it turned out, the Fed was only warming up.
Today the Fed's balance sheet of more than $2.3 trillion has no term auction facilities, commercial paper funding facilities or liquidity swaps. In their place mortgage-backed securities have ballooned to $1.1 trillion, U.S. Treasurys to $821 billion and Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac debt to $154 billion.
In the short-term, these investments have proven to be a revenue windfall for the U.S. government. In the first six months of 2010, the Fed says this portfolio produced net earnings of some $36.9 billion. Most of those earnings came from Treasurys, Fannie-Freddie debt and mortgage-backed securities (MBS). This compares to $16 billion in the first six months of 2009.
The Congressional Budget Office reports that in fiscal 2010, which ended September 30, the Fed earned $76 billion, a 121% increase from a year earlier. To put that in perspective, $76 billion is more than a third of the $192 billion that the corporate income tax raised in fiscal 2010. The Fed has become one of the Treasury's biggest cash cows, helping to mask the real size of the budget deficit.
As you may have read, however, there is no free lunch, and this revenue stream is the result of taking new risks. Before 2008, short-term government debt was the Fed's traditional instrument of monetary policy. Today the Fed's mortgage-backed portfolio has a maturity of more than 10 years, and nearly half of its portfolio of Treasurys is now greater than five years.
This means greater interest rate risk, as outlined in a new paper in the American Institute of Economic Research, "The World's Most Profitable Corporation," by former Atlanta Fed President William Ford and Walker Todd, a former New York Fed lawyer specializing in monetary affairs. The authors estimate that if interest rates on 30-year fixed-rate MBS were to rise to 5% from 4%, "the Fed's current portfolio of such bonds ($1.079 trillion) would decline in value by about $162 billion—nearly three times the $57 billion of capital on the Fed Banks' consolidated balance sheet in mid-October 2010."
The Fed's new risk profile also shows up in its capital to asset ratio. Messrs. Ford and Todd point out that the Fed's short-term portfolio has allowed it to carry only a 4% ratio of capital to assets compared to an 8% ratio at commercial banks. But since 2008, while the portfolio has become more risky, the capital ratio has dropped. The authors says that today the New York Fed's capital ratio is a measly 1.45%, which means a leverage ratio of 69 to 1 and the entire Fed system has a ratio of 2.46% or 47 to 1.
More leverage together with extended maturities means that if there is a sharp rise in the yield of long-term bonds, perhaps due to rising inflation expectations, the Fed's balance sheet could look very ugly, very fast. Fed officials will rightly argue that they are able to hold these long-term assets to maturity without having to realize losses. But what if the Fed has to sell assets to drain liquidity from the economy faster than it might prefer, and thus take losses on its portfolio? The revenue gain for the government would become losses. Imagine how delighted that would make Congress, not to mention complicating the political task of Fed tightening.
Everybody loves the Fed when it is easing money, as all but a few of us did during the credit boom and housing bubble of the mid-2000s. The trouble comes when the bill comes due. One task of the next Congress should be to better inform the public about the risks the U.S. central bank is taking, ostensibly on our behalf.
Readout of the President's Call with President with Yemeni President Saleh
http://goo.gl/fb/cWdIq
The GOP Can Outsmart ObamaCare - How Republicans can create a national insurance charter, deregulate health insurance and save ObamaCare from itself
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704462704575590344022699132.html
The President's Foreign Trip
http://goo.gl/fb/OmqH0
DeMint: Remember what the voters back home want—less government and more freedom
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704141104575588612828579920.html
Monetary and Fiscal Policy Interactions in the Post-war U.S.
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/cat/longres.cfm?sk=24322.0
EPA Regulations Could Cause Potentially Serious Capacity Problems Coal
http://www.instituteforenergyresearch.org/2010/11/02/epa-regulations-could-cause-potentially-serious-capacity-problems/
Strengthening Fragile Families
http://www.brookings.edu/reports/2010/1027_fragile_families_foc.aspx
Flashback: Media Decried Voters in 1994, Argued Conservatives Had "No Mandate"
http://www.mrc.org/biasalert/2010/20101102034417.aspx
State Dept: Addressing Today's Nuclear Threats
http://www.state.gov/t/isn/rls/rm/150287.htm
On Capitol Hill, Anything Goes
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703708404575586581040981148.html
Statement by the Press Secretary on the Case of Ms. Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani
http://goo.gl/fb/TTFu0
Arizona Christian School Tuition Organization v. Winn - A crucial case on tax credits for scholarships to religious schools
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303362404575580572837153924.html
Statement by the President on the 10th Anniversary of Crews Aboard the International Space Station
http://goo.gl/fb/7RfPl
High Rollers at the Fed. WSJ Editorial
The central bank becomes a Treasury profit center—for now.
WSJ, Wednesday, November 3, 2010
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304741404575564733097905488.html?mod=WSJ_newsreel_opinion
The Federal Reserve's Open Market Committee seems poised today to make a historic decision to expand its balance sheet by as much as $1 trillion or more to boost inflation and reduce unemployment. We've said before that we think this is a monetary mistake, but the public and Congress should also be aware that it increasingly carries fiscal risks.
In conducting monetary policy, the Fed has historically stuck to the purchase of short-term Treasury securities and other highly safe assets. That changed amid the financial panic, as the Fed grew its balance sheet to $2.1 trillion in 2009 from $900 million in 2007. That expansion was controversial but it was defensible on grounds that the central bank was fulfilling its duty as lender of last resort during a liquidity squeeze. Roughly $1 trillion of the new assets were in short-term credit facilities, including foreign central bank swaps.
In 2008, the Fed began its dive into riskier assets by adding securities from Bear Stearns and AIG totaling about $70 billion, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac debt of $45 billion and over $200 billion in Fan and Fred-guaranteed mortgage-backed securities. But those purchases remained a small part of the Fed's portfolio and were widely viewed as emergency measures amid a crisis. As it turned out, the Fed was only warming up.
Today the Fed's balance sheet of more than $2.3 trillion has no term auction facilities, commercial paper funding facilities or liquidity swaps. In their place mortgage-backed securities have ballooned to $1.1 trillion, U.S. Treasurys to $821 billion and Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac debt to $154 billion.
In the short-term, these investments have proven to be a revenue windfall for the U.S. government. In the first six months of 2010, the Fed says this portfolio produced net earnings of some $36.9 billion. Most of those earnings came from Treasurys, Fannie-Freddie debt and mortgage-backed securities (MBS). This compares to $16 billion in the first six months of 2009.
The Congressional Budget Office reports that in fiscal 2010, which ended September 30, the Fed earned $76 billion, a 121% increase from a year earlier. To put that in perspective, $76 billion is more than a third of the $192 billion that the corporate income tax raised in fiscal 2010. The Fed has become one of the Treasury's biggest cash cows, helping to mask the real size of the budget deficit.
As you may have read, however, there is no free lunch, and this revenue stream is the result of taking new risks. Before 2008, short-term government debt was the Fed's traditional instrument of monetary policy. Today the Fed's mortgage-backed portfolio has a maturity of more than 10 years, and nearly half of its portfolio of Treasurys is now greater than five years.
This means greater interest rate risk, as outlined in a new paper in the American Institute of Economic Research, "The World's Most Profitable Corporation," by former Atlanta Fed President William Ford and Walker Todd, a former New York Fed lawyer specializing in monetary affairs. The authors estimate that if interest rates on 30-year fixed-rate MBS were to rise to 5% from 4%, "the Fed's current portfolio of such bonds ($1.079 trillion) would decline in value by about $162 billion—nearly three times the $57 billion of capital on the Fed Banks' consolidated balance sheet in mid-October 2010."
The Fed's new risk profile also shows up in its capital to asset ratio. Messrs. Ford and Todd point out that the Fed's short-term portfolio has allowed it to carry only a 4% ratio of capital to assets compared to an 8% ratio at commercial banks. But since 2008, while the portfolio has become more risky, the capital ratio has dropped. The authors says that today the New York Fed's capital ratio is a measly 1.45%, which means a leverage ratio of 69 to 1 and the entire Fed system has a ratio of 2.46% or 47 to 1.
More leverage together with extended maturities means that if there is a sharp rise in the yield of long-term bonds, perhaps due to rising inflation expectations, the Fed's balance sheet could look very ugly, very fast. Fed officials will rightly argue that they are able to hold these long-term assets to maturity without having to realize losses. But what if the Fed has to sell assets to drain liquidity from the economy faster than it might prefer, and thus take losses on its portfolio? The revenue gain for the government would become losses. Imagine how delighted that would make Congress, not to mention complicating the political task of Fed tightening.
Everybody loves the Fed when it is easing money, as all but a few of us did during the credit boom and housing bubble of the mid-2000s. The trouble comes when the bill comes due. One task of the next Congress should be to better inform the public about the risks the U.S. central bank is taking, ostensibly on our behalf.
Readout of the President's Call with President with Yemeni President Saleh
http://goo.gl/fb/cWdIq
The GOP Can Outsmart ObamaCare - How Republicans can create a national insurance charter, deregulate health insurance and save ObamaCare from itself
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704462704575590344022699132.html
The President's Foreign Trip
http://goo.gl/fb/OmqH0
DeMint: Remember what the voters back home want—less government and more freedom
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704141104575588612828579920.html
Monetary and Fiscal Policy Interactions in the Post-war U.S.
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/cat/longres.cfm?sk=24322.0
EPA Regulations Could Cause Potentially Serious Capacity Problems Coal
http://www.instituteforenergyresearch.org/2010/11/02/epa-regulations-could-cause-potentially-serious-capacity-problems/
Strengthening Fragile Families
http://www.brookings.edu/reports/2010/1027_fragile_families_foc.aspx
Flashback: Media Decried Voters in 1994, Argued Conservatives Had "No Mandate"
http://www.mrc.org/biasalert/2010/20101102034417.aspx
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Press Briefing
Nov 02, 2010
Maddow's list of accomplishments by the Democratic-controlled 211th Congress
http://bit.ly/aZz6SC
Pakistan's Courts: A Counterterrorism Challenge
http://www.eastwestcenter.org/publications/search-for-publications/browse-alphabetic-list-of-titles/?class_call=view&pub_ID=3602&mode=view
Kenneth Pollack explains why President Obama's current approach to Iran is no longer strong enough to succeed
http://brookin.gs/aBzw
RT @BarackObama: This is the day you’ve been working so hard for. Make calls to voters to make sure they get out
http://OFA.BO/DCktjz
Conservatives: Stopping Voter Fraud
http://blog.heritage.org/2010/11/02/morning-bell-stopping-voter-fraud
President Obama: "I need you to keep on fighting"
http://goo.gl/fb/KlQ4n
Ukraine's Economic Revolution - Viktor Yanukovych's reform agenda is truly transformational
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704141104575588010538323230.html
Brussels' Budget Bounty - If only the EU would follow its own advice and spend within its means
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704141104575588061830994180.html
President Obama: "Put It In D" http://goo.gl/fb/5nec4
Rally to Restore Authority - What Jon Stewart really stands for.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704141104575588290578875362.html
President Obama’s Challenge to Philadelphia: 20,000 Doors
http://goo.gl/fb/n9uKn
From the South Bronx to West Point - A public school discovers the Army
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704141104575588661247433110.html
Poetry of the Taliban
http://www.hurstpub.co.uk/BookDetails.aspx?BookId=624
An Empire State Reprieve? - Incredible to believe, even New Yorkers may be voting for reform
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704141104575588362959040590.html
Michelle Obama: “This isn’t about politics”
http://goo.gl/fb/wIH3a
Moving America Forward: Bridgeport, CT
http://goo.gl/fb/ukS1J
Campaign-Finance Reform, RIP - This year's gusher of spending has made far more races competitive
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303341904575576542623346452.html
Moving America Forward: Philadelphia
http://goo.gl/fb/iIA2d
Democrats Can't Blame the Economy - Imagine if President Obama had moved right after Scott Brown's election. The party would be in better shape today.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704141104575588234130620908.html
Obama in India: Pakistan on the Mind
http://www.brookings.edu/opinions/2010/1025_india_riedel.aspx
Michelle Obama: "There is so much at stake"
http://goo.gl/fb/NLD5z
Obama's Next Worry: A Restive Left Flank - Every president who lost re-election in the last half-century has first been weakened by a primary fight
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704141104575588283239100518.html
Statement for the Treasury Borrowing Advisory Committee of the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association
http://www.treas.gov/press/releases/tg939.htm
Mitch Stewart on Rachel Maddow: What Republican Surge?
http://goo.gl/fb/99cWz
Why Obama Is No Roosevelt - Roosevelt: 'Your government has unmistakable confidence in your ability to hear the worst without flinching and losing heart.' Obama: We don't 'always think clearly when we're scared.'
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704141104575588211544818170.html
Maddow's list of accomplishments by the Democratic-controlled 211th Congress
http://bit.ly/aZz6SC
Pakistan's Courts: A Counterterrorism Challenge
http://www.eastwestcenter.org/publications/search-for-publications/browse-alphabetic-list-of-titles/?class_call=view&pub_ID=3602&mode=view
Kenneth Pollack explains why President Obama's current approach to Iran is no longer strong enough to succeed
http://brookin.gs/aBzw
RT @BarackObama: This is the day you’ve been working so hard for. Make calls to voters to make sure they get out
http://OFA.BO/DCktjz
Conservatives: Stopping Voter Fraud
http://blog.heritage.org/2010/11/02/morning-bell-stopping-voter-fraud
President Obama: "I need you to keep on fighting"
http://goo.gl/fb/KlQ4n
Ukraine's Economic Revolution - Viktor Yanukovych's reform agenda is truly transformational
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704141104575588010538323230.html
Brussels' Budget Bounty - If only the EU would follow its own advice and spend within its means
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704141104575588061830994180.html
President Obama: "Put It In D" http://goo.gl/fb/5nec4
Rally to Restore Authority - What Jon Stewart really stands for.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704141104575588290578875362.html
President Obama’s Challenge to Philadelphia: 20,000 Doors
http://goo.gl/fb/n9uKn
From the South Bronx to West Point - A public school discovers the Army
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704141104575588661247433110.html
Poetry of the Taliban
http://www.hurstpub.co.uk/BookDetails.aspx?BookId=624
An Empire State Reprieve? - Incredible to believe, even New Yorkers may be voting for reform
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704141104575588362959040590.html
Michelle Obama: “This isn’t about politics”
http://goo.gl/fb/wIH3a
Moving America Forward: Bridgeport, CT
http://goo.gl/fb/ukS1J
Campaign-Finance Reform, RIP - This year's gusher of spending has made far more races competitive
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303341904575576542623346452.html
Moving America Forward: Philadelphia
http://goo.gl/fb/iIA2d
Democrats Can't Blame the Economy - Imagine if President Obama had moved right after Scott Brown's election. The party would be in better shape today.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704141104575588234130620908.html
Obama in India: Pakistan on the Mind
http://www.brookings.edu/opinions/2010/1025_india_riedel.aspx
Michelle Obama: "There is so much at stake"
http://goo.gl/fb/NLD5z
Obama's Next Worry: A Restive Left Flank - Every president who lost re-election in the last half-century has first been weakened by a primary fight
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704141104575588283239100518.html
Statement for the Treasury Borrowing Advisory Committee of the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association
http://www.treas.gov/press/releases/tg939.htm
Mitch Stewart on Rachel Maddow: What Republican Surge?
http://goo.gl/fb/99cWz
Why Obama Is No Roosevelt - Roosevelt: 'Your government has unmistakable confidence in your ability to hear the worst without flinching and losing heart.' Obama: We don't 'always think clearly when we're scared.'
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704141104575588211544818170.html
Monday, November 1, 2010
Press Briefing
Nov 01, 2010
Latest Reports from Recovery Act Recipients on Recovery.gov http://goo.gl/fb/mSGwU
Journalism Scoops WikiLeaks - There's little of public benefit in the documents that hadn't already been reported
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303284604575582692517152862.html
Cleveland Readies for President Obama’s Visit, Volunteers Get Out the Vote
http://goo.gl/fb/FXxqV
Gabrielle Union: Raise Your Vote
http://goo.gl/fb/bj68E
Puerto Rico's Governor Channels Ronald Reagan - Luis Fortuño wants deep tax cuts to spur growth. Are Republicans in D.C. paying attention?
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303284604575582680391414648.html
Video: Helping Businesses Grow and Hire New Employees
http://goo.gl/fb/e7iIr
Wall Street Still Doesn't Love the GOP - Bankers understand that Dodd-Frank has written 'too big to fail' into law. So do the tea partiers.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303362404575580564099427490.html
More than 800,000 White House Visitor Records Online
http://goo.gl/fb/BJTHk
The Ground Zero Settlement - The plaintiffs have been offered a fair deal
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304173704575578394260217042.html
"Volunteer for what you believe in."
http://goo.gl/fb/I2CiD
Where Is Gao Zhisheng? - The Chinese human rights lawyer has disappeared
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303341904575577162235606470.html
10 Million Goal Smashed—On to the Final Push
http://goo.gl/fb/yJEIM
Hallmarks of al Qaeda - Why drone attacks against Awlaki in Yemen are justified
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703414504575584633090140278.html
Your Questions on Veterans Education, Student Debt, and Protecting America
http://goo.gl/fb/dVIOU
A Vote Against Dems, Not for the GOP - Voters don't want to be governed from the left, right or center. They want Washington to recognize that Americans want to govern themselves.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703708404575586063725870380.html
Failed States and the Spread of Terrorism in Sub-Saharan Africa. By Tiffiany Howard
http://www.psa.ac.uk/journals/pdf/5/2010/1598_1514.pdf
Why rising government debt burdens really matter
http://blogs.ft.com/economistsforum/2010/10/why-rising-government-debt-burdens-really-matter/
Latest Reports from Recovery Act Recipients on Recovery.gov http://goo.gl/fb/mSGwU
Journalism Scoops WikiLeaks - There's little of public benefit in the documents that hadn't already been reported
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303284604575582692517152862.html
Cleveland Readies for President Obama’s Visit, Volunteers Get Out the Vote
http://goo.gl/fb/FXxqV
Gabrielle Union: Raise Your Vote
http://goo.gl/fb/bj68E
Puerto Rico's Governor Channels Ronald Reagan - Luis Fortuño wants deep tax cuts to spur growth. Are Republicans in D.C. paying attention?
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303284604575582680391414648.html
Video: Helping Businesses Grow and Hire New Employees
http://goo.gl/fb/e7iIr
Wall Street Still Doesn't Love the GOP - Bankers understand that Dodd-Frank has written 'too big to fail' into law. So do the tea partiers.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303362404575580564099427490.html
More than 800,000 White House Visitor Records Online
http://goo.gl/fb/BJTHk
The Ground Zero Settlement - The plaintiffs have been offered a fair deal
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304173704575578394260217042.html
"Volunteer for what you believe in."
http://goo.gl/fb/I2CiD
Where Is Gao Zhisheng? - The Chinese human rights lawyer has disappeared
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303341904575577162235606470.html
10 Million Goal Smashed—On to the Final Push
http://goo.gl/fb/yJEIM
Hallmarks of al Qaeda - Why drone attacks against Awlaki in Yemen are justified
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703414504575584633090140278.html
Your Questions on Veterans Education, Student Debt, and Protecting America
http://goo.gl/fb/dVIOU
A Vote Against Dems, Not for the GOP - Voters don't want to be governed from the left, right or center. They want Washington to recognize that Americans want to govern themselves.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703708404575586063725870380.html
Failed States and the Spread of Terrorism in Sub-Saharan Africa. By Tiffiany Howard
http://www.psa.ac.uk/journals/pdf/5/2010/1598_1514.pdf
Why rising government debt burdens really matter
http://blogs.ft.com/economistsforum/2010/10/why-rising-government-debt-burdens-really-matter/
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Utopia, With Tears - A review of Fruitlands, by Richard Francis
Utopia, With Tears. By ALEXANDRA MULLEN
No meat, no wool, no coffee or candles to read by, but plenty of high aspirations—and trouble.A review of Fruitlands, by Richard Francis (Yale University Press, 321 pages, $30)
WSJ, Friday, October 29, 2010
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304173704575578761068904960.html
In 1843, in the quiet middle of Massachusetts, a group of high-minded people set out to create a new Eden they called Fruitlands. The embryonic community miscarried, lasting only seven months, from June to January. Fruitlands now has a new chronicler in Richard Francis, a historian of 19th-century America. "This is the story," he writes, "of one of history's most unsuccessful utopias ever—but also one of the most dramatic and significant." As we learn in his thorough and occasionally hilarious account, the claim is about half right.
The utopian community of Fruitlands had two progenitors: the American idealist Bronson Alcott and the English socialist Charles Lane. Alcott was a farm boy from Connecticut who had turned from the plough to philosophy. According to Ralph Waldo Emerson, his friend, Alcott could not chat about anything "less than A New Solar System & the prospective Education in the nebulae." Airy as his thoughts were, Alcott could be a mesmerizing speaker. Indeed, his words partly inspired an experimental community in England, where he met Lane.
Lane has often been considered the junior partner in the Fruitlands story, merely the guy who put up the money (for roughly 100 acres, only 11 of which were arable). But Mr. Francis fleshes him out, showing him to be a tidier and more bitter thinker than Alcott, with a practical streak that could be overrun by his hopes for humanity.
As Mr. Francis notes, Alcott and Lane shared a "tendency to take moderation to excess," pushing their first principles as far as they could go. One such principle was that you should do no harm to living things, including plants. As Mr. Francis explains: "If you cut a cabbage or lift a potato you kill the plant itself, just as you kill an animal in order to eat its meat. But pluck an apple, and you leave the tree intact and healthy."
The Fruitlands community never numbered more than 14 souls, five of them children. The members included a nudist, a former inmate of an insane asylum, and a man who had once gotten into a knife fight to defend his right to wear a beard. Then there was the fellow who thought swearing elevated the spirit. He would greet the Alcott girls: "Good morning, damn you." Lane thought the members should be celibate; Alcott's wife, Abigail, the mother of his four daughters and the sole permanent woman resident, was a living reproach to this view.
All of Fruitlands members, however, agreed to certain restrictions: No meat or fish; in fact nothing that came from animals, so no eggs and no milk. No leather or wool, and no whale oil for lamps or candles made from tallow (rendered animal fat). No stimulants such as coffee or tea, and no alcohol. Because the Fruitlanders were Abolitionists, cane sugar and cotton were forbidden (slave labor produced both). The members of the community wore linen clothes and canvas shoes. The library was stocked with a thousand books, but no one could read them after dark.
And how did the whole experiment go? Well, most of the men at Fruitlands had little farming experience. Alcott, who did, impressed Lane with his ability to plow a straight furrow; but Alcott was always a better talker than worker. The community rejected animal labor—and even manure, a serious disadvantage if you want to produce enough food to be self-sufficient. The farming side of Fruitlands was a dud.
But the experiment was indeed, as Mr. Francis claims, "dramatic." The drama came from a common revolutionary trajectory in which "a group of idealists ends by trying to destroy each other." "Of spiritual ties she knows nothing," Lane wrote of Abigail. "All Mr. Lane's efforts have been to disunite us," she confided to a friend, referring to her relations with Bronson. Even the usually serene Bronson agonized: "Can a man act continually for the universal end," he asked Lane, "while he cohabits with a wife?" By Christmas, which he spent in Boston, Bronson seemed on the verge of dissolving his family. In the new year he returned to Fruitlands, but he had a breakdown. This was no way to run a utopia, and the experiment ended.
Was Fruitlands "significant"? In Mr. Francis's reading, the community "intuited the interconnectedness of all living things." That intuition, he believes, underlies our notions of the evils of pollution and the imminence of environmental catastrophe, as well as our concerns about industrialized farming. The Fruitlanders' understanding of the world, he argues, helped create a parallel universe—an alternative to scientific empiricism—that is still humming along in the current day.
Perhaps so. Certainly many New Age and holistic notions, in their fuzzy and well-meaning romanticism, share a common ancestor with the Fruitlands outlook. But the result is not always benign. It was the Fruitlanders' belief, for instance, that "all disease originates in the soul." One descendant of this idea is the current loathsome view that cancer is caused by bad thoughts.
Though obviously sympathetic to the Fruitlands experiment, Mr. Francis gives us enough facts to let us draw our own conclusions. He records Bronson and Abigail's acts of charity, already familiar to us from their daughter Louisa's novel "Little Women" (1868). But he also retells less admiring stories, of their petty vindictiveness and casual callousness. Along the way he adumbrates the ways in which idealism can slide into megalomania.
Mr. Francis reports a conversation that Alcott once had with Henry James Sr., the father of the novelist Henry and the philosopher William. Alcott let it drop that he, like Jesus and Pythagoras before him, had never sinned. James asked whether Alcott had ever said, "I am the Resurrection and the Life." "Yes, often," Alcott replied. Unfortunately, Mr. Francis fails to record James's rejoinder: "And has anyone ever believed you?"
Ms. Mullen writes for the Barnes & Noble Review.
No meat, no wool, no coffee or candles to read by, but plenty of high aspirations—and trouble.A review of Fruitlands, by Richard Francis (Yale University Press, 321 pages, $30)
WSJ, Friday, October 29, 2010
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304173704575578761068904960.html
In 1843, in the quiet middle of Massachusetts, a group of high-minded people set out to create a new Eden they called Fruitlands. The embryonic community miscarried, lasting only seven months, from June to January. Fruitlands now has a new chronicler in Richard Francis, a historian of 19th-century America. "This is the story," he writes, "of one of history's most unsuccessful utopias ever—but also one of the most dramatic and significant." As we learn in his thorough and occasionally hilarious account, the claim is about half right.
The utopian community of Fruitlands had two progenitors: the American idealist Bronson Alcott and the English socialist Charles Lane. Alcott was a farm boy from Connecticut who had turned from the plough to philosophy. According to Ralph Waldo Emerson, his friend, Alcott could not chat about anything "less than A New Solar System & the prospective Education in the nebulae." Airy as his thoughts were, Alcott could be a mesmerizing speaker. Indeed, his words partly inspired an experimental community in England, where he met Lane.
Lane has often been considered the junior partner in the Fruitlands story, merely the guy who put up the money (for roughly 100 acres, only 11 of which were arable). But Mr. Francis fleshes him out, showing him to be a tidier and more bitter thinker than Alcott, with a practical streak that could be overrun by his hopes for humanity.
As Mr. Francis notes, Alcott and Lane shared a "tendency to take moderation to excess," pushing their first principles as far as they could go. One such principle was that you should do no harm to living things, including plants. As Mr. Francis explains: "If you cut a cabbage or lift a potato you kill the plant itself, just as you kill an animal in order to eat its meat. But pluck an apple, and you leave the tree intact and healthy."
The Fruitlands community never numbered more than 14 souls, five of them children. The members included a nudist, a former inmate of an insane asylum, and a man who had once gotten into a knife fight to defend his right to wear a beard. Then there was the fellow who thought swearing elevated the spirit. He would greet the Alcott girls: "Good morning, damn you." Lane thought the members should be celibate; Alcott's wife, Abigail, the mother of his four daughters and the sole permanent woman resident, was a living reproach to this view.
All of Fruitlands members, however, agreed to certain restrictions: No meat or fish; in fact nothing that came from animals, so no eggs and no milk. No leather or wool, and no whale oil for lamps or candles made from tallow (rendered animal fat). No stimulants such as coffee or tea, and no alcohol. Because the Fruitlanders were Abolitionists, cane sugar and cotton were forbidden (slave labor produced both). The members of the community wore linen clothes and canvas shoes. The library was stocked with a thousand books, but no one could read them after dark.
And how did the whole experiment go? Well, most of the men at Fruitlands had little farming experience. Alcott, who did, impressed Lane with his ability to plow a straight furrow; but Alcott was always a better talker than worker. The community rejected animal labor—and even manure, a serious disadvantage if you want to produce enough food to be self-sufficient. The farming side of Fruitlands was a dud.
But the experiment was indeed, as Mr. Francis claims, "dramatic." The drama came from a common revolutionary trajectory in which "a group of idealists ends by trying to destroy each other." "Of spiritual ties she knows nothing," Lane wrote of Abigail. "All Mr. Lane's efforts have been to disunite us," she confided to a friend, referring to her relations with Bronson. Even the usually serene Bronson agonized: "Can a man act continually for the universal end," he asked Lane, "while he cohabits with a wife?" By Christmas, which he spent in Boston, Bronson seemed on the verge of dissolving his family. In the new year he returned to Fruitlands, but he had a breakdown. This was no way to run a utopia, and the experiment ended.
Was Fruitlands "significant"? In Mr. Francis's reading, the community "intuited the interconnectedness of all living things." That intuition, he believes, underlies our notions of the evils of pollution and the imminence of environmental catastrophe, as well as our concerns about industrialized farming. The Fruitlanders' understanding of the world, he argues, helped create a parallel universe—an alternative to scientific empiricism—that is still humming along in the current day.
Perhaps so. Certainly many New Age and holistic notions, in their fuzzy and well-meaning romanticism, share a common ancestor with the Fruitlands outlook. But the result is not always benign. It was the Fruitlanders' belief, for instance, that "all disease originates in the soul." One descendant of this idea is the current loathsome view that cancer is caused by bad thoughts.
Though obviously sympathetic to the Fruitlands experiment, Mr. Francis gives us enough facts to let us draw our own conclusions. He records Bronson and Abigail's acts of charity, already familiar to us from their daughter Louisa's novel "Little Women" (1868). But he also retells less admiring stories, of their petty vindictiveness and casual callousness. Along the way he adumbrates the ways in which idealism can slide into megalomania.
Mr. Francis reports a conversation that Alcott once had with Henry James Sr., the father of the novelist Henry and the philosopher William. Alcott let it drop that he, like Jesus and Pythagoras before him, had never sinned. James asked whether Alcott had ever said, "I am the Resurrection and the Life." "Yes, often," Alcott replied. Unfortunately, Mr. Francis fails to record James's rejoinder: "And has anyone ever believed you?"
Ms. Mullen writes for the Barnes & Noble Review.
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