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Journalism and other myths.

Black Lives Matter

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The Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests were forcefully removed from their 18 day encampment outside the Fourth Precinct in Minneapolis – and then took their protest to City Hall. In between they reiterated their demands – Release the tapes, appoint a special prosecutor with no grand jury to investigate the death of Jamar Clark, and institute a safety plan to protect Minneapolis residents from continued police violence.

It’s far from over and the problems did not start with the shooting of Clark by the Minneapolis police. This is a systemic problem and while it wasn’t the protesters’ choice this belongs squarely in City Hall at this point. It’s not about one incident with one police officer but a system, a city, that are not functioning anything like they must.

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Violence at the Core

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Another week, another shooting. This one at a Planned Parenthood clinic, leaving three dead. The shooter, as is so often the case, was a white guy – a European-American – who in this case muttered, “No more baby parts” as he was led away. The reports that Planned Parenthood sold aborted fetuses for cash, long proven to be false, may have pushed him over the edge but that may be beside the point.

He was in a murderous state of mind. And that state is remarkably common among people of European descent.

Where we often site “Islamic Extremists” as being particularly violent, history tells us that those of us who come from European stock are much worse. It’s time we confront this problem and stop assigning the characteristic “violent” to others.

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Rising Again?

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The best bet for economic growth in the US comes from simply looking around the world. Japan is in a recession, Europe appears hopeless, and China is struggling. Where else can you put your money?

The answer appears to be the developing world, or emerging markets. Granted, whenever someone talks about “emerging markets” they usually wind up focusing on China – which definitely carries a lot of risk in terms of both currency value (fixed by the still communist government) and slowing growth. But throughout the rest of the planet there is opportunity. Lots of it, in fact.

While the US still looks great as a “safe haven” there is plenty of reason for cash to start flowing back to the developing world. But that investment is almost certainly going to be led by US investors given the strength of the US dollar.

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All Politics is … Stupid?

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Syrian refugee resettlement in the US has created the political cause of the moment. Dozens of governors immediately lined up to say, “Not in my state” causing many others to say, “We welcome refugees”.  Nevermind that they don’t actually get a say.  Social media has lit up with memes and statements arguing the morality, legality, and practicality of all positions.

This has all the markings of a classic modern American political issue that could actually last into the next election in some form. It’s purely emotional and, more importantly, has absolutely no basis in anything that is actually important in the world.

The question of Syria, long ignored while it burned, has come to us as a feeble cartoon now that there’s the possibility that the situation might vaguely inconvenience us. And that’s all we’ve ever cared about.

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Not so Fast …

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It’s been week since a blowout jobs report set fire to financial markets and signaled that everything is about to change. Barataria predicted a good report, if very timidly, and gave everything a week to shake out. So where do we stand a week from the first clear signal liftoff is occurring?

The short answer is that markets have absorbed the reality of a rising Fed Funds Rate. The long answer is that it sure doesn’t look like it for a lot of reasons which are complicated and confusing. In an increasingly smaller world there is nothing that confines money to one “market”, meaning that pressure is on from all directions.

The upshot is that after an initial spike there is reason to believe a rise in interest rates by the Fed may yet trigger a net medium-term fall in interest rates paid by consumers, as predicted. It’s worth explaining further.

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