United states
David Brooks, Self-Doubt and Self-Confidence

David Brooks lectures us this morning on the need to have a balance between self-doubt and self-confidence. “Western democratic systems were based on a balance between self-doubt and self-confidence. They worked because there were structures that protected the voters from themselves and the rulers from themselves. Once people lost a sense of their own weakness, [...]

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Posted on 18th May 2012No Comments
Matt Miller Celebrates the Stinking Corpse of Americans Elect

Matt Miller is the perfect embodiment of the Washington punditry. In his weekly column in the Washington Post he complains about being a victim of the “False Equivalency Police.” These would be the people who point out that many of the assertions that he and other professional centrists make about the Democratic and Republican parties [...]

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Posted on 18th May 2012No Comments
Matt Miller Celebrates the Stinking Corpse of Americans Elect

Matt Miller is the perfect embodiment of the Washington punditry. In his weekly column in the Washington Post he complains about being a victim of the “False Equivalency Police.” These would be the people who point out that many of the assertions that he and other professional centrists make about the Democratic and Republican parties [...]

Read More
Posted on 18th May 2012No Comments
David Brooks, Self-Doubt and Self-Confidence

David Brooks lectures us this morning on the need to have a balance between self-doubt and self-confidence. “Western democratic systems were based on a balance between self-doubt and self-confidence. They worked because there were structures that protected the voters from themselves and the rulers from themselves. Once people lost a sense of their own weakness, [...]

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Posted on 18th May 2012No Comments
Spanish Bank Debt With ECB Up 15.7% in April; Surprise VAT Hike Coming Up; Moody’s Downgrades 16 banks; Capital Flight at Bankia; Scramble for Deposits Leads to System-Wide Cannibalization

Courtesy of Google translate, please consider the following bleak reports from Spain. Spanish Bank Debt With ECB Up 15.7% in April El Confidencial reports The Spanish bank debt with the ECB increased by 15.7% in April The debt of Spanish banks with the ECB shot up to 263.535 billion euros in April, that is 15.7% [...]

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Posted on 18th May 2012No Comments
My Wife Joanne Has Passed Away; Stop and Smell the Lilacs

Yesterday afternoon, my wife, Joanne went on to a better place. For those still on this planet, please remember to stop and smell the lilacs. That picture is from our honeymoon on Mackinac Island, Michigan, about 27 years ago. Lilacs were her favorite flower. In lieu of flowers or food, I ask the living to [...]

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Posted on 18th May 2012No Comments
German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble Tosses Hat Into Ring Seeking to Become "Grand Keiser for All Europe"

In the truth is stranger than fiction category, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble is calling for a political union “now” with a directly elected EU president (and of course he is the unstated logical candidate). Translation: Schäuble is running for “Grand Keiser of All Europe”. Please consider Schäuble calls for closer EU integration Wolfgang Schäuble, [...]

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Posted on 17th May 2012No Comments