Sikainfluenssa on saapunut Seattleen.
Eilisesta alkaen on todettu kuusi tapausta koko Washingtonin osavaltiossa, joista kolme on Seattlessa. Varmistusta ei ole viela influenssatyypista, mutta on todennakoista etta kaikki tapukset ovat juuri tuota pelottavaa laatua. Yksi sairastuneista on 11-vuotias poika, joka on sairaalassa, mutta toipumaan pain. Hanen koulunsa on suljettu tasta paivasta lahtien ensi keskiviikkoon. Nyt vaan kasien pesuun…
- T
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Arlen Specter Gets Wise
Arlen Specter is switching to the Democratic Party. This is really getting interesting.
Paul Krugman writes:
The Specter of Republican marginalization
Arlen Specter’s party switch isn’t all that startling. Richard Shelby and Ben Nighthorse Campbell switched to the Republicans right after the 1994 election, without (as far as I know) facing the same kind of primary challenge. But this switch is especially important, because once Al Franken finally gets seated it will give the Democrats the magic 60 number. The way is now open to a seriously progressive agenda.
What strikes me, however, is the extent to which this is a self-inflicted wound. If Pat Toomey of the Club for Growth weren’t so diligent about enforcing supply-side purity; if Republicans hadn’t made Rush Limbaugh the effective head of the party; Specter might still be GOP, and the Obama agenda much more limited.
Instead, though, we have a party that seems to be in a death spiral: the smaller it gets, the more it’s dominated by the hard right, which makes it even smaller. In the long run, this is not good for American democracy– we really do need two major parties in competition. But I’ll settle for getting that back after we get universal health care and cap-and-trade.
Paul Krugman writes:
The Specter of Republican marginalization
Arlen Specter’s party switch isn’t all that startling. Richard Shelby and Ben Nighthorse Campbell switched to the Republicans right after the 1994 election, without (as far as I know) facing the same kind of primary challenge. But this switch is especially important, because once Al Franken finally gets seated it will give the Democrats the magic 60 number. The way is now open to a seriously progressive agenda.
What strikes me, however, is the extent to which this is a self-inflicted wound. If Pat Toomey of the Club for Growth weren’t so diligent about enforcing supply-side purity; if Republicans hadn’t made Rush Limbaugh the effective head of the party; Specter might still be GOP, and the Obama agenda much more limited.
Instead, though, we have a party that seems to be in a death spiral: the smaller it gets, the more it’s dominated by the hard right, which makes it even smaller. In the long run, this is not good for American democracy– we really do need two major parties in competition. But I’ll settle for getting that back after we get universal health care and cap-and-trade.
Friday, April 24, 2009
The Defining Moment
(By Paul Krugman)
One addendum to today’s column: the truth, which I think everyone in the political/media establishments knows in their hearts, is that the nine months or so between the summer of 2002 and the beginning of the Iraq insurgency were a great national moral test — a test that most people in influential positions failed.
The Bush administration was obviously — yes, obviously — telling tall tales in order to promote the war it wanted: the constant insinuations of an Iraq-9/11 link, the hyping of discredited claims about a nuclear program, etc.. And the question was, should you stand up against that? Not many did — and those who did were treated as if they were crazy.
For me and many others that was a radicalizing experience; I’ll never trust “sensible” opinion again. But for those who stayed “sensible” through the test, it’s a moment they’d like to see forgotten. That, I believe, is the real reason so many want to let torture and everything else go down the memory hole.
Let’s hope that doesn’t happen.
One addendum to today’s column: the truth, which I think everyone in the political/media establishments knows in their hearts, is that the nine months or so between the summer of 2002 and the beginning of the Iraq insurgency were a great national moral test — a test that most people in influential positions failed.
The Bush administration was obviously — yes, obviously — telling tall tales in order to promote the war it wanted: the constant insinuations of an Iraq-9/11 link, the hyping of discredited claims about a nuclear program, etc.. And the question was, should you stand up against that? Not many did — and those who did were treated as if they were crazy.
For me and many others that was a radicalizing experience; I’ll never trust “sensible” opinion again. But for those who stayed “sensible” through the test, it’s a moment they’d like to see forgotten. That, I believe, is the real reason so many want to let torture and everything else go down the memory hole.
Let’s hope that doesn’t happen.
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Reconsidering a Miracle
By Paul Krugman
In preparation for some recent teaching, I went back to something that was a hot topic not long ago, and will be again if and when the crisis ends: the apparent lag of European productivity since 1995. One recent, seemingly authoritative study is van Ark et al; and I noticed something that gave me pause.
In their paper, van Ark etc. identify the service sector as the main source of America’s pullaway — which is the standard argument. Within services, roughly half they attribute to distribution — roughly speaking, the Wal-Mart effect. OK.
But the other half is a surge in US productivity in financial and business services, not matched in Europe. And all I can say is, whoa!
First of all, how do we even measure output of financial services? If I read this BEA paper correctly, we more or less use “checks cashed” — or, more broadly, the number of transactions undertaken. This may be the best we can do, but it’s a pretty weak measure of actual work done by the financial system.
And given recent events, are we even sure that the expansion of the financial system was doing anything productive at all?
In short, how much of the apparent US productivity miracle, a miracle not shared by Europe, was a statistical illusion created by our bloated finance industry?
Dean Baker has argued for some time that, properly measured, the productivity gap between America and Europe never happened. I’m becoming more sympathetic to his point of view.
In preparation for some recent teaching, I went back to something that was a hot topic not long ago, and will be again if and when the crisis ends: the apparent lag of European productivity since 1995. One recent, seemingly authoritative study is van Ark et al; and I noticed something that gave me pause.
In their paper, van Ark etc. identify the service sector as the main source of America’s pullaway — which is the standard argument. Within services, roughly half they attribute to distribution — roughly speaking, the Wal-Mart effect. OK.
But the other half is a surge in US productivity in financial and business services, not matched in Europe. And all I can say is, whoa!
First of all, how do we even measure output of financial services? If I read this BEA paper correctly, we more or less use “checks cashed” — or, more broadly, the number of transactions undertaken. This may be the best we can do, but it’s a pretty weak measure of actual work done by the financial system.
And given recent events, are we even sure that the expansion of the financial system was doing anything productive at all?
In short, how much of the apparent US productivity miracle, a miracle not shared by Europe, was a statistical illusion created by our bloated finance industry?
Dean Baker has argued for some time that, properly measured, the productivity gap between America and Europe never happened. I’m becoming more sympathetic to his point of view.
Merirosvot
Obama paihitti merirosvot, tai ainakin voitti ensimmaisen eran... Mietin vain etta Somalian rannikolla purjehtivilla merimiehilla on taman jalkeen paljon tukalammat oltavat, silla panokset ovat nyt kovemmat molemmin puolin.
Onko kukaan ihmetellyt miksi nuoret somalimiehet ryhtyvat merirosvoiksi? En ole kuullut uutisissa puhuttavan siita, etta teollisuusmaiden isot kalastusalukset ovat kayneet ryostamassa kalat meresta eivatka jattaneet paikallisille kalastajille saalista. Somalian rannikolle on myos dumpattu saasteita muista maista ja pilattu kalastusvesia. Siina valossa merirosvous tuntuu jo paljon houkuttelevammalta.
- T
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Friday, April 10, 2009
Mass Murder
Since March 10 at least 57 people have been killed in 8 separate mass killings here in the US. It has become so common to hear the news about these shootings that we fail to be horrified any more. Nobody seems to be calling for stricter gun control laws. That was in the 90's - when we were still moved by such events. Now we just hope that it does not happen in our cities or towns...
Wednesday, April 08, 2009
Vermont
12-year old makes history in Vermont by testifying on behalf of her family, two moms. She is very brave, and she makes a difference in changing Vermont's laws to accept gay marriage.
Watch the video.
- T
Tuesday, April 07, 2009
Kevat Seattlessa
Seattlessa on vihdoin kevat. Paaskyset lentelivat yllani tana aamuna kirmaillen ja tehden uhkarohkeita kieppeja. Ilma oli lammin kuin linnunmaito. Talvi on ollut epatavallisen pitka ja kylma, siksi lampo tuntuu erityisen hyvalta.
Tervetuloa kesa!
- T
Saturday, April 04, 2009
Madonna and Child
It's annoying to me that Malawi is picking on Madonna by not letting her adopt the little girl from there. They have thousands of children who are in need of adoption and a good home, but Madonna obviously is "trying to get away with something", right?
She is a good parent who can provide for her kids. Leave her a lone!
- T
Thursday, April 02, 2009
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