He's the bloke on the right. Have a listen to what he says.
and again:
Saturday 26 December 2009
Thursday 24 December 2009
Someone else's Christmas Post
I read The Guardian. This post is from a commenter called TheThunkWorks who has spoken thus:
My Christmas Post (previously placed on a dead thread to Dean Baker's latest article on Cif America re Ben Bernanke, Time magazine's Man Of The Year)...
...and introducing a word new to me (and to the online Cambridge English Dictionary, but real for all that; at least, I found a definition on Wiktionary): Kakistocracy (with thanks to zoomtube, for making me aware of it)...
TheThunkWorks' CHRISTMAS POST:
What most citizens (both UK and US), and those (honest few?) policy-makers who are not bought-and-paid-for mouths of the financial services industry, cannot seem to bring themselves to grasp is that The Great Economic Collapse of 2008 resulted from endemic crime, not from exuberant carelessness...perhaps, because the enormity of it makes it too great a truth to admit without shaking to their very foundations our common beliefs about how our cultures/societies function.
It is too much. Too great a shock of betrayal...and of guilt at our failure to see.
From the deceitful sales pitches to sub-prime mortgage loan customers, through the forging of details on loan agreements by mortgage loan companies and the selling on up-the-line of the same; to the bundling-up of those sub-primes with other debt-obligation papers (CDOs) and the AAA-rating of same by ratings agencies; up to the selling on of those bundles as guaranteed profit-makers by the biggest-of-the-big, whose operations were audited and approved by accountancy companies reliant on fees from those biggest-of-the-big (too big to fail), which biggest-of-the-big were betting on the failure of those bundles by taking out insurance on them (CDSs) with companies without the reserves to meet the claim if called on (eg, AIG-FP), right on into the back-room deals and back-channel fundings that marked the bail-out transfer of trillions of public money into private coffers...all of it has been marked by systematic fraud and deceit.
It is too much. Too great a shock of betrayal...and of guilt at our failure to see.
And it is a shallow error to dismiss this with a snort of 'conspiracy, ha!'. There is no need to invoke an over-arching conspiracy. A consensus is all that is needed (within which conspiracies, in their true sense, amongst different groups of 'players' can coalesce and dissipate, as and when they succeed or fail).
The consensus within finance (and corporatism generally, too) was an approval and rewarding of deceit and fraud; an institutionalisation of racketeering; the internalisation of the values of organised crime (it is no coincidence that, long before the adoption of bowdlerisations of Sun Tzu's The Art Of War as a 'bible' of financial (corporate) 'power players' and 'wanna-be's', the must-read amongst executive climbers was Mario Puzo's The Godfather).
It is a product of the (much-dismissed by 'serious' politicians and political analysts, certainly in the UK) Culture War. And a culture of corruption (of anything and everything, for the prize of billions for any winning 'player') won dominance.
That dominance remains, as is shown by the continuing cynical abuse of public support (which I illustrate with...[link now below] re multi-million taxpayer funding of the new Goldman Sachs World Headquarters building in New York, whilst that bank slices up the shares to be taken by its 'players' from its $23billion bonus pool...derived from easy profits made possible only by the full-spectrum of the public bail-out of the private financial sector).
This is a crime story, as William K Black (a US Federal financial regulator who investigated the 1980s Savings-and-Loan scandal, and who might now be called a 'forensic economist') explains again in the interview I link to...[links now below]
In the US, the RICO (Racketeer Influenced Corrupt Organisation) Act is finally being invoked ('though, not by any law enforcement agency with the necessary muscle). RICO was intended as a legal weapon against organised crime. That is how bad this all is.
zoomtube has it right. This is kakistocracy...'rule by the worst [of men]' (who thought that I or anyone here would need to know such a word?).
Happy Christmas and a safe New Year to all (even Guardian Cif Tech-nerds).
Links:
Goldman Sachs new headquarters:
http://rawstory.com/2009/12/taxpayers-goldmans-office-tower/
William K Black interview:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yk2Yugp0ANQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1xo3xV2ypY
Excellent.
My Christmas Post (previously placed on a dead thread to Dean Baker's latest article on Cif America re Ben Bernanke, Time magazine's Man Of The Year)...
...and introducing a word new to me (and to the online Cambridge English Dictionary, but real for all that; at least, I found a definition on Wiktionary): Kakistocracy (with thanks to zoomtube, for making me aware of it)...
TheThunkWorks' CHRISTMAS POST:
What most citizens (both UK and US), and those (honest few?) policy-makers who are not bought-and-paid-for mouths of the financial services industry, cannot seem to bring themselves to grasp is that The Great Economic Collapse of 2008 resulted from endemic crime, not from exuberant carelessness...perhaps, because the enormity of it makes it too great a truth to admit without shaking to their very foundations our common beliefs about how our cultures/societies function.
It is too much. Too great a shock of betrayal...and of guilt at our failure to see.
From the deceitful sales pitches to sub-prime mortgage loan customers, through the forging of details on loan agreements by mortgage loan companies and the selling on up-the-line of the same; to the bundling-up of those sub-primes with other debt-obligation papers (CDOs) and the AAA-rating of same by ratings agencies; up to the selling on of those bundles as guaranteed profit-makers by the biggest-of-the-big, whose operations were audited and approved by accountancy companies reliant on fees from those biggest-of-the-big (too big to fail), which biggest-of-the-big were betting on the failure of those bundles by taking out insurance on them (CDSs) with companies without the reserves to meet the claim if called on (eg, AIG-FP), right on into the back-room deals and back-channel fundings that marked the bail-out transfer of trillions of public money into private coffers...all of it has been marked by systematic fraud and deceit.
It is too much. Too great a shock of betrayal...and of guilt at our failure to see.
And it is a shallow error to dismiss this with a snort of 'conspiracy, ha!'. There is no need to invoke an over-arching conspiracy. A consensus is all that is needed (within which conspiracies, in their true sense, amongst different groups of 'players' can coalesce and dissipate, as and when they succeed or fail).
The consensus within finance (and corporatism generally, too) was an approval and rewarding of deceit and fraud; an institutionalisation of racketeering; the internalisation of the values of organised crime (it is no coincidence that, long before the adoption of bowdlerisations of Sun Tzu's The Art Of War as a 'bible' of financial (corporate) 'power players' and 'wanna-be's', the must-read amongst executive climbers was Mario Puzo's The Godfather).
It is a product of the (much-dismissed by 'serious' politicians and political analysts, certainly in the UK) Culture War. And a culture of corruption (of anything and everything, for the prize of billions for any winning 'player') won dominance.
That dominance remains, as is shown by the continuing cynical abuse of public support (which I illustrate with...[link now below] re multi-million taxpayer funding of the new Goldman Sachs World Headquarters building in New York, whilst that bank slices up the shares to be taken by its 'players' from its $23billion bonus pool...derived from easy profits made possible only by the full-spectrum of the public bail-out of the private financial sector).
This is a crime story, as William K Black (a US Federal financial regulator who investigated the 1980s Savings-and-Loan scandal, and who might now be called a 'forensic economist') explains again in the interview I link to...[links now below]
In the US, the RICO (Racketeer Influenced Corrupt Organisation) Act is finally being invoked ('though, not by any law enforcement agency with the necessary muscle). RICO was intended as a legal weapon against organised crime. That is how bad this all is.
zoomtube has it right. This is kakistocracy...'rule by the worst [of men]' (who thought that I or anyone here would need to know such a word?).
Happy Christmas and a safe New Year to all (even Guardian Cif Tech-nerds).
Links:
Goldman Sachs new headquarters:
http://rawstory.com/2009/12/taxpayers-goldmans-office-tower/
William K Black interview:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yk2Yugp0ANQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1xo3xV2ypY
Excellent.
Wednesday 23 December 2009
Not entertaining or funny at all
Just seen the film "Orwell Rolls in his Grave": here it is.
I wonder if we'll learn the truth after 2012? :)
I wonder if we'll learn the truth after 2012? :)
Tuesday 15 December 2009
Moonbat does it again
George Monbiot says it again
While economies grow, social justice is unnecessary, as lives can be improved without redistribution. While economies grow, people need not confront their elites. While economies grow, we can keep buying our way out of trouble. But, like the bankers, we stave off trouble today only by multiplying it tomorrow. Through economic growth we are borrowing time at punitive rates of interest. It ensures that any cuts agreed at Copenhagen will eventually be outstripped. Even if we manage to prevent climate breakdown, growth means that it's only a matter of time before we hit a new constraint, which demands a new global response: oil, water, phosphate, soil. We will lurch from crisis to existential crisis unless we address the underlying cause: perpetual growth cannot be accommodated on a finite planet.
Thursday 10 December 2009
Wednesday 9 December 2009
Is anyone reading this?
Dear reader
My plans are to spend some more time and energy writing about issues I feel are important, and publishing here.
It sometimes feels like speaking on a stage where I'm unable to see if there's anyone in the theatre. For that reason, I'd like to know if anyone is reading this. I'd be pleased if you could either leave a short comment below, letting me know what you think, and if there are any local issues that could benefit from a bit more attention. Alternatively, you can send me an email at rchisnall AT gmail DOT com.
Thanks.
My plans are to spend some more time and energy writing about issues I feel are important, and publishing here.
It sometimes feels like speaking on a stage where I'm unable to see if there's anyone in the theatre. For that reason, I'd like to know if anyone is reading this. I'd be pleased if you could either leave a short comment below, letting me know what you think, and if there are any local issues that could benefit from a bit more attention. Alternatively, you can send me an email at rchisnall AT gmail DOT com.
Thanks.
Oneplace - info about your local authority
There's this new site called Oneplace which has info and data from every local authority in the country.
Here is Somerset's (geek joke: it's area 404!). The overview says
It will be interesting how they approach the second point. It mentions renewable energy generation in schools, which they're apparently cutting.
Here is Somerset's (geek joke: it's area 404!). The overview says
Somerset has identified the following priorities for the area:
- Making a positive contribution
- Living sustainably
- Ensuring Economic Well Being
- Enjoying and Achieving
- Staying safe
- Being Healthy
- Motherhood and Apple Pie (that's my little joke)
It will be interesting how they approach the second point. It mentions renewable energy generation in schools, which they're apparently cutting.
Tuesday 8 December 2009
Open letter to Somerset County Council
I sent this letter today to the Central Somerset Gazette.
Dear Somerset County Council
Right now, world leaders are meeting to try to organise a more
sustainable future for everyone. Only time will tell whether their
plans will succeed, but there is a general acceptance that "business
as usual" cannot continue. The interconnected ''Three E's" of
environment, energy and economy are becoming increasingly unstable
with potentially grave consequences for all of us - especially in
relation to where our food comes from.
Apparently Somerset County Council have decided to go against this
general trend and are threatening to axe many sustainability projects.
These include the Somerset Landscape Scheme, which provides grants to
farmers and landowners to help conserve and restore our landscape, and
renewable energy generation in schools and elsewhere, which also serve
to raise awareness of sustainable energy use.
Far more serious than this is the apparent plan to sell off all our
County Farms, which provide opportunities for people to learn about
farming and growing food. Since there are 60 farms of about 7200 acres
in all, it's a tempting economic asset - but selling them off will
deprive our communities of the the very opportunities we need to meet
the challenges of an uncertain future. As energy prices rise alongside
world food demand, we will probably need to grow more of our own food,
closer to where it's eaten and the County Farms are too valuable an
asset to sell in order to plug a short-term fiscal problem.
All these projects are aimed towards sustainability, which really
means securing a decent future for ourselves and our children. It's
obvious: cutting them back and selling them off is, in the long term,
unsustainable.
What irony that these plans have been hatched by an administration
which calls itself Conservative. With a name like that, one could be
forgiven for believing that issues of conservation and sustainability
would be close to their hearts.
I bet the letters editor is getting tired of me. I've written quite a few recently.
Dear Somerset County Council
Right now, world leaders are meeting to try to organise a more
sustainable future for everyone. Only time will tell whether their
plans will succeed, but there is a general acceptance that "business
as usual" cannot continue. The interconnected ''Three E's" of
environment, energy and economy are becoming increasingly unstable
with potentially grave consequences for all of us - especially in
relation to where our food comes from.
Apparently Somerset County Council have decided to go against this
general trend and are threatening to axe many sustainability projects.
These include the Somerset Landscape Scheme, which provides grants to
farmers and landowners to help conserve and restore our landscape, and
renewable energy generation in schools and elsewhere, which also serve
to raise awareness of sustainable energy use.
Far more serious than this is the apparent plan to sell off all our
County Farms, which provide opportunities for people to learn about
farming and growing food. Since there are 60 farms of about 7200 acres
in all, it's a tempting economic asset - but selling them off will
deprive our communities of the the very opportunities we need to meet
the challenges of an uncertain future. As energy prices rise alongside
world food demand, we will probably need to grow more of our own food,
closer to where it's eaten and the County Farms are too valuable an
asset to sell in order to plug a short-term fiscal problem.
All these projects are aimed towards sustainability, which really
means securing a decent future for ourselves and our children. It's
obvious: cutting them back and selling them off is, in the long term,
unsustainable.
What irony that these plans have been hatched by an administration
which calls itself Conservative. With a name like that, one could be
forgiven for believing that issues of conservation and sustainability
would be close to their hearts.
I bet the letters editor is getting tired of me. I've written quite a few recently.
Planning officer's report about the proposed Tesco in Glastonbury
Mendip District Council's planning officer, a Mr Edward Baker (whose proper title is Development Control Team Manager Area West [ooph!]) recommended that planning permission for the proposed Tesco between B&Q and Wollens be refused.
This is the report he submitted to the planning board.
Planning Officer's Report
This is the report he submitted to the planning board.
Planning Officer's Report
Sunday 6 December 2009
Cynical blogger charmed by baby hedgehog
Got this in my inbox:
Hello to all you car drivers everywhere
I have come here to tell you to be so very careful when you are driving
Because this is the time of year when I am just learning to walk
So please don't run me over
Just look how sweet I am
Thank you
Hello to all you car drivers everywhere
I have come here to tell you to be so very careful when you are driving
Because this is the time of year when I am just learning to walk
So please don't run me over
Just look how sweet I am
Thank you
Wednesday 2 December 2009
Planning advice website
Planning Aid
"Planning Aid provides free, independent and professional help, advice and support on planning issues to people and communities who cannot afford to hire a planning consultant. Planning Aid complements the work of local authorities but is wholly independent of them."
"Planning Aid provides free, independent and professional help, advice and support on planning issues to people and communities who cannot afford to hire a planning consultant. Planning Aid complements the work of local authorities but is wholly independent of them."
Tuesday 1 December 2009
The Freeconomy Community - justfortheloveofit.org
From the Facebook group about <subj>
The Freeconomy Community's aim is to help reconnect people in their local communities through the simple act of sharing. Not only is sharing our resources better for the environment, it saves you money and builds friendships with those people who live closest to you. It is what we call a WIN-WIN-WIN situation.
Everything is shared for FREE on Freeconomy, and no money changes hands between members.
**************
Why no-money?
One of the critical reasons that we have so many major issues in the world today - such as climate change, sweatshops, wars over oil reserves, factory farms, polluted oceans and rivers - is because we never have to see the direct repercussions that our purchases have on the people, environment and animals they affect. The degrees of separation between the consumer and the consumed have increased so much that it now, conveniently, means that people are completely unaware of the levels of destruction and suffering involved in the making of the 'stuff' they purchase. We have no longer any idea how much embodied energy has gone into the things we consume. The main reason we have no appreciation for this energy is because we are so disconnected from what we buy. The tool that has enabled us to be so disconnected, so separated from what we consume, is money, especially in it modern globalised format.
Take this for an example. If we grew our own food, we wouldn't waste a third of it as we do today. If we made our own tables and chairs, we wouldn't throw them out the moment we changed the interior decor. If we had to clean our own drinking water, we probably wouldn't defecate in it.
If we could see the child working under military presence in a sweatshop, we would probably think twice about buying that new pair of jeans on the High St. If we could see the face of the mother in Iraq as her child lies dead from a cluster bomb, we'd probably think twice about going on an oil-guzzling cheap flight for the weekend. If we could see the size of the landfill sites where our 'stuff' goes, we would probably have a lot more respect for what we have and use.
Money, as a method of easily storing wealth, has also enabled humans to bank exploitation - of people, the environment and animals - and has also replaced communities, friendships and families as the No.1 source of security for people.
****************
What's our 'pay-it-forward'
The philosofree behind the Freeconomy community differentiates it from other forms of alternative economy.
Whilst others are still focused on the concept of exchange, Freeconomy is based on 'Pay-it-forward' principles and economics. One week someone who you have never helped may share their time, skills, tools or spare spaces with you for free; another week someone who has never helped you may ask you to do the same. Every time you help someone you just ask him or her to 'pay the favour forward'.
Not only do you then still have access to a huge resource, you also build the trust and friendships in communities that inevitably form when someone does something 'just for the love of it'.
This is our point - if somebody needs help, why do we need to get anything in return? Is the fact that another human being needs your help not excuse enough?
*******************
So what is it all about?
It's about helping others and providing an opportunity for others to help you.
It's about sharing the skills you have learnt through your life and learning those you haven't for a time when you may need them.
It's about sharing your tools so you can have access to all the tools under the sun without it costing the earth.
It's about using any free space you have to either benefit positive, ethical and local projects, or to enable volunteers to keep doing their amazing work for free.
It's about getting to know people in your own community.
It's about learning to help each other again.
It's about getting ready for a post peak oil world.
It's about making dinner for a friend who was yesterday a stranger.
It's about putting the soul back into society.
It's about helping each other not for profit, but just-for-the-love-of-it...
The Freeconomy Community's aim is to help reconnect people in their local communities through the simple act of sharing. Not only is sharing our resources better for the environment, it saves you money and builds friendships with those people who live closest to you. It is what we call a WIN-WIN-WIN situation.
Everything is shared for FREE on Freeconomy, and no money changes hands between members.
**************
Why no-money?
One of the critical reasons that we have so many major issues in the world today - such as climate change, sweatshops, wars over oil reserves, factory farms, polluted oceans and rivers - is because we never have to see the direct repercussions that our purchases have on the people, environment and animals they affect. The degrees of separation between the consumer and the consumed have increased so much that it now, conveniently, means that people are completely unaware of the levels of destruction and suffering involved in the making of the 'stuff' they purchase. We have no longer any idea how much embodied energy has gone into the things we consume. The main reason we have no appreciation for this energy is because we are so disconnected from what we buy. The tool that has enabled us to be so disconnected, so separated from what we consume, is money, especially in it modern globalised format.
Take this for an example. If we grew our own food, we wouldn't waste a third of it as we do today. If we made our own tables and chairs, we wouldn't throw them out the moment we changed the interior decor. If we had to clean our own drinking water, we probably wouldn't defecate in it.
If we could see the child working under military presence in a sweatshop, we would probably think twice about buying that new pair of jeans on the High St. If we could see the face of the mother in Iraq as her child lies dead from a cluster bomb, we'd probably think twice about going on an oil-guzzling cheap flight for the weekend. If we could see the size of the landfill sites where our 'stuff' goes, we would probably have a lot more respect for what we have and use.
Money, as a method of easily storing wealth, has also enabled humans to bank exploitation - of people, the environment and animals - and has also replaced communities, friendships and families as the No.1 source of security for people.
****************
What's our 'pay-it-forward'
The philosofree behind the Freeconomy community differentiates it from other forms of alternative economy.
Whilst others are still focused on the concept of exchange, Freeconomy is based on 'Pay-it-forward' principles and economics. One week someone who you have never helped may share their time, skills, tools or spare spaces with you for free; another week someone who has never helped you may ask you to do the same. Every time you help someone you just ask him or her to 'pay the favour forward'.
Not only do you then still have access to a huge resource, you also build the trust and friendships in communities that inevitably form when someone does something 'just for the love of it'.
This is our point - if somebody needs help, why do we need to get anything in return? Is the fact that another human being needs your help not excuse enough?
*******************
So what is it all about?
It's about helping others and providing an opportunity for others to help you.
It's about sharing the skills you have learnt through your life and learning those you haven't for a time when you may need them.
It's about sharing your tools so you can have access to all the tools under the sun without it costing the earth.
It's about using any free space you have to either benefit positive, ethical and local projects, or to enable volunteers to keep doing their amazing work for free.
It's about getting to know people in your own community.
It's about learning to help each other again.
It's about getting ready for a post peak oil world.
It's about making dinner for a friend who was yesterday a stranger.
It's about putting the soul back into society.
It's about helping each other not for profit, but just-for-the-love-of-it...
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