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Journalism and other myths.

Scurry from the Light?

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When the lights are flipped on, tradition has it that the cockroaches that feast on the night quickly scurry for the darkness.  Those of us from more Caribbean climates know that the really big Palmetto bugs often keep going on about their roachy business as if light and dark mean nothing to them.  But you have to expect that in languid, humid air better suited for piracy and general disregard for “authority”.

Exactly what climate does the financial world operate in?  We may soon find out.  But there are many reasons to believe JP Morgan, the investment bank, already operates more like Captain Morgan, the pirate.  And they are apparently far from alone.

Just as the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is working to flip the switch, a survey has come out suggesting that it may well not make much immediate difference.  Then again, it does help to know that what you have are, in fact, roaches.

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The French Example

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It’s summer, and time to talk national budget!  No, not here in the USofA – we haven’t actually bothered to have a real budget in 3 years or more.  We’re talking about France, a nation with a bold new Socialist government and determination to move ahead into the future.  A future full of socialist visions of strong growth and commitment to reducing the deficit … wait a minute …

The fun thing about Europe these days is that it provides us with endless examples of alternative ways to run things.  By “alternative”, of course, we mean things that are utterly impossible to describe even as they seem vaguely familiar.  Yet, in the case of France, we might be looking at something like the future if we do manage to get a Democratic US House in the next election along with a second term for Obama.  It only gets weird when you think of the left as the responsible ones who are actually trying to make things work.

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Unemployed and Unenthusiastic

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Another month, another disappointing jobs report.  Following the same patterns as last year, employment gains over the summer are falling far short of what appeared to be momentum building in the winter.  The gain of 80k jobs in June is just enough to keep treading water, enough to absorb the net increase in the workforce as Millenials graduate in June and set out to make their own way in the world.

Given that politics, economics, and any other social arrangements we can think of are tied together we know this will have an effect on the election in November.  This should also shape the attitudes of an entire generation as they grow older and contemplate raising families, starting businesses, and generally making the world in their own image.

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Jubilee

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Terrible news piles up in the financial world.  The famous JP Morgan inexplicable $2B derivatives loss may be as much as $9B, making everyone wonder who is in charge.  The obscurely infamous shifts in the London Interbank Overnight Rate (LIBOR) that signaled the start of the major financial collapse included a lot of manipulation and other illegal activity that’s only now coming to light.  And China is experiencing a slowdown in manufacturing that is only deepening.

It all seems unrelated, and yet it all ties together in this thang called “Globalism” – what happens in one part of the world affects everyone.  Yet there are few agreements and organizations that really have this tied together in a way that seems appropriate, at least making sure that corruption and disease in one place does not bring down the whole world.  And this points to what will have to happen to get us all to start over again – something I have taken to calling “Jubilee”.

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Decisions, Decisions

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Here we were, having a quiet summer, and suddenly there is news!  On a hot Friday heading into what might be a very long weekend for many people there is a lot to talk about.  Let’s keep it light, like a salad in place of a big heavy meal.  We wouldn’t want the day to feel even heavier than it already does.

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