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Showing posts from July, 2014

Europe’s ground zero and other news and views for Thursday 31 July

Europe’s Ground Zero: Fairy Tales and Fabrications in Eastern Ukraine  – “There’s an eerie silence at the MH 17 crash site in eastern Ukraine, even as a civil war and propaganda battles rage around it. Few here seem concerned that the investigation into the tragedy could influence future ties with Europe.” Arab Leaders, Viewing Hamas as Worse Than Israel, Stay Silent  - “After the military ouster of the Islamist government in Cairo last year, Egypt has led a new coalition of Arab states — including Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates — that has effectively lined up with Israel in its fight against Hamas, the Islamist movement that controls the Gaza Strip. That, in turn, may have contributed to the failure of the antagonists to reach a negotiated cease-fire even after more than three weeks of bloodshed.” Gaza’s Network Of Tunnels Is A Major Hole In Israel’s Defenses  - “Many Israelis [are] asking why their forces didn’t stop Hamas from building the elaborate tunnels in

Ho hum – just another billion dollar fine for a bank

Another day and another ruling against a bank for fraudulent practices. A New York judge has ruled that Bank of America’s Countrywide business must pay the US government $1.3bn for selling defective home loans. Former Countrywide executive Rebecca Mairone must also pay $1m. A  BBC report  says Countrywide was found guilty of selling bad loans, as part of a programme called “hustle”, to US mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in 2007. Bank of America has spent nearly $40bn on legal matters relating to the housing market collapse, and the bank is expected to announce a multi-billion dollar settlement with US regulators over similar charges in the coming weeks. The “hustle” suit came about after Edward O’Donnell, a former Countrywide executive, issued a whistleblower complaint alleging fraud. Mr O’Donnell said a programme Countrywide instituted in 2007 known internally as the “high-speed swim lane” (also known as “HSSL” or “hustle”) did not properly screen mortgage applica

The Federal Marijuana Ban Is Rooted in Myth and Xenophobia and other news and views for Wednesday 30 July

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The Federal Marijuana Ban Is Rooted in Myth and Xenophobia If minimum wages, why not maximum wages? Ebola outbreak: What you need to know about its spread Ebola virus a threat to UK, Philip Hammond warns  – “The Ebola virus, which has killed more than 670 people in West Africa, poses a threat to the UK, Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond has told the BBC.”

El Niño back to fifty fifty

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The odds of an  El Niño developing this year, and with it the chances of an ultra-hot year for the planet, have dropped considerably. The Australian Bureau of Meteorology reported this afternoon that despite the tropical Pacific Ocean being primed for an El Niño during much of the first half of 2014, the atmosphere above has largely failed to respond. Hence the ocean and atmosphere have not reinforced each other. As a result, some cooling has now taken place in the central and eastern tropical Pacific Ocean, with most of the key NINO regions returning to neutral values. While the chance of an El Niño in 2014 has clearly eased, warmer-than-average waters persist in parts of the tropical Pacific, and the (slight) majority of climate models suggest El Niño remains likely for spring. Hence the establishment of El Niño before year’s end cannot be ruled out. If an El Niño were to occur, it is increasingly unlikely to be a strong event. Given the current observations and the climate mod

The physical attributes that underpin our first impressions and other news and views for Tuesday 29 July

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Synthesized face-like images illustrating the changes in facial features that typify each of the three social trait dimensions How facial features drive our first impressions  – “Whether it’s a curled lip or a keen cheekbone, we all make quick social judgements based on strangers’ faces. Now scientists have modelled the specific physical attributes that underpin our first impressions. Small changes in the dimensions of a face can make it appear more trustworthy, dominant or attractive. The results,  published in the journal PNAS , could help film animators or anyone looking to create an instant impression on a social network. Dr Tom Hartley, a neuroscientist at the University of York and the study’s senior author, said the work added mathematical detail to a well-known phenomenon.” Transparency and central banking - More data, less gumption  – “The Federal Reserve is ‘the most transparent central bank to my knowledge in the world,’ claims its chairwoman, Janet Yellen. Transparenc

Japanese financiers no different? Fraud at the home of the mafia

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It seems appropriate somehow that the Japanese financial giant Nomura chose Sicily for what Italian police allege was a  175 million euros fraud. According to police Colonel Francesco Mazzotta, four Nomura employees from back in 2000 to 2006 are under investigation, along with three other people, for using complex financial products to defraud the regional government of Sicily in the years leading up to the financial crisis. Bloomberg   reports  that Italy’s financial police have seized bank accounts and credit valued at 98 million euros from Nomura, along with 6 million euros in property, shares and cash belonging to the seven suspects. The amount represents the profit the bank allegedly made from the trades, police said. Nomura created three derivatives contracts to restructure Sicily’s debt that wound up costing the region 60 million euros, police said. Sicily also lost 115 million euros on the securitization, or bundling, of health-care debt in 2002 at an “onerous” intere

The Daily Mail gets it right - throw crooked bankers in jail

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London’s  Daily Mail  reports this morning  that the clamour grows as the Bank of England chief says Lloyds traders ‘clearly broke the law’. In summary: Mark Carney says Lloyds staff involved may be guilty of ‘criminal conduct’ Bank ripped off Treasury during financial crisis with creditworthiness lies It gained access to tens of billions from Government at favourable rates MP says public don’t understand why rogue bankers haven’t been jailed The Mail  was not alone in taking a hard line on banking practices. That daily bible of the financial community  The Financial Times  reported how Lloyds Banking Group  has been criticised for  “highly reprehensible” behaviour  by the Bank of England after it became the first lender to be fined for rigging rates to cut the cost of a financial crisis rescue scheme, effectively costing the taxpayer millions of pounds.

Eric Abetz a sure fire vote loser

I must have spent too much time behind that one way glass. I can’t help thinking when I see a politician on television how those ordinary swinging voters will be reacting. Not to the words coming out of the mouth. They don’t really count. But to the look and the sound of the person uttering them. And if there is one thing this old political adviser is certain of it is that Eric Abetz is doing his team great harm every time he appears on the screen or is heard on the radio. The Minister for Employment is a Liberal disability of the highest order. He just looks and sounds frightening whether or not you agree with his work for the dole message. A guaranteed vote loser who Labor must be hoping is kept in his role as government leader in the Senate where he will be guaranteed frequent appearances as the Abbott team struggles with being a minority administration.

Time to stop Putin and other news and views for Monday 28 July

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Stopping Putin: The Time Has Come for Europe to Act  - a  Der Spiegel  editorial – “Vladimir Putin has ignored Western demands that he cease arming and supporting pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine. As such, he shares responsibility for the shooting down of MH17. It is now time for Europe to take tough action.” Is India’s politics becoming less dynastic?  “New research by political scientist Kanchan Chandra of New York University actually points to a fall in the number of dynastic MPs in the new parliament, formed after May’s general election.” The NSA’s New Partner in Spying: Saudi Arabia’s Brutal State Police  – “The National Security Agency last year significantly expanded its cooperative relationship with the Saudi Ministry of Interior, one of the world’s most repressive and abusive government agencies. An April 2013 top secret memo provided by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden details the agency’s plans “to provide direct analytic and technical support” to the Saudis on “i

No ethics in the political classes and are journalists any better?

Most voters probably will never know the story of the lost dictaphone machine so the impact on the Victorian political future will be near enough to zilch. Which is a pity really. For the lesson that should be learned is that operatives on both sides of politics are unethical grubs. Anyone interested in honesty in politics would avoid Labor and Liberal like the plague. And when it comes to journalists, they should be despised for their habit of secretly recording conversations in a manner condoned by their editors. A pox on the lot of them. And if you wondering what I’m going on about then read this report from the ABC:  Victorian Labor admits staff destroyed journalist’s recording device after listening to its contents . It is a shameful story.

When Australia is not Australia – Scott Morrison and the mad, mad world of boat people

On  AM   this morning: CHRIS UHLMANN: Why have you broken your policy for off-shore processing and decided to sent them to Curtin? SCOTT MORRISON: We haven’t broken our promises for off-shore processing. Off-shore processing is the backstop measure. Where we can get people sent back to the country from which they’ve come from, then that’s exactly what we’ll do and that’s the step we’re now engaged in.  It’s not the policy of this Government to send out the water taxi the second the whistle goes up, as was the practise of the previous government, that’s not what we do. We seek to frustrate every aspect of this venture, and that includes having people sent back where we can do that. And now you’ll know that he mainland of Australia is an excised off-shore place for the purposes of the migration act. CHRIS UHLMANN: That’s true, Australia is no longer part of Australia for the purposes of the Migration Act. SCOTT MORRISON: And that was the legislation brought in by the previous governm

Big hook nosed Jews

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From my former Crikey colleague Christian Kerr in the Oz’s  Strewth!  column this morning comes this observation: SATURDAY’S Sydney Morning Herald featured a nuanced — not — column on current events in the Middle East by Mike Carlton, accompanied by an equally subtle cartoon of a nasty Israeli with little round pebble glasses and a big nose. Just like, as eagle-eyed spotters at Quadrant noticed, this cartoon from Der Sturmer from 1934. How very tasteful.

Antarctica’s point of no return and other news and views for Sunday 27 July

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Antarctica’s Point of No Return  – “Recent satellite observations have confirmed the accuracy of two independent computer simulations that show that the West Antarctic ice sheet has now entered a state of unstoppable collapse. … Rather than reacting to global warming with gradual and predictable patterns of change, the West Antarctic ice sheet has suddenly “tipped” into a new state. A relatively small amount of melting beneath the Amundsen Sea’s ice shelf has pushed its grounding line to the top of a sub-glacial hill, from which it is now “rolling down.” Simply put, one thermal kick was enough to initiate an internal dynamic that will now continue under its own momentum, regardless of any action that humans might take to prevent it. Powerful and Coldhearted  – “Can people in high positions of power — presidents, bosses, celebrities, even dominant spouses — easily empathize with those beneath them? Psychological research suggests the answer is no. … On the basis of a study we  recen

Miranda Devine’s selective selection to “prove” Fairfax hating

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From Miranda Devine’s  Sunday Telegraph  column this morning: Look at the original SMH letters page and decide for yourself who has “an obsession bordering on sickness”. A critical and, in my opinion, wrong-headed letter, sandwiched between two that praise the government, does not seem very obsessive to me. But then, I clearly have different view on many things to Miranda Devine. Consider for a moment the implications of this opinion also offered in this morning’s column: Now I have no desire to support head-lopping terrorists but I do worry about a system that would allow people with Ms Devine’s views to judge which natural born Australian citizens are to be forever banished from Australia. Just a tad sick and obsessive?

An update on bank settlements still flowing from the financial crisisticket

A deal to resolve a U.S. regulator’s claims against Goldman Sachs Group Inc over mortgage-backed securities sold to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac leading up to the financial crisis could cost the bank between $800 million and $1.25 billion, according to a person familiar with the matter. The person said Goldman Sachs is discussing a settlement with the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), which filed 18 lawsuits against Goldman and other banks in 2011 over about $200 billion in mortgage-backed securities that later went sour. Goldman Sachs and the FHFA declined to comment on Saturday. via  Goldman mortgage deal with federal agency could reach $1.25 billion: source | Reuters . In other ticket clipping news, Reuters reports that according to a Swiss newspaper about 80 of the 106 Swiss  banks  that signed up for a deal with U.S. tax authorities could be fined less than they had feared for their role in helping wealthy Americans cheat on their taxes, but must widen their cooperat

A 1968 Robert Kennedy speech on GDP I’d like an Australian politician to give today

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Robert Rubin Echoes Robert F. Kennedy: GDP Is Fatally Flawed Measure Of Economic Health  – “Former Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin has a must read piece in the Washington Post, ‘How ignoring climate change could sink the U.S. economy.’ The centrist economic panjandrum main point: The notion that tackling climate change will harm the economy is the exact opposite of the truth. In this regard he makes a similar point to one Climate Progress made last week — one that Sen. Robert F. Kennedy made so powerfully on the presidential campaign trail nearly half a century ago ,,, — the GDP is a deeply flawed measure of the economy’s health.” When all the jobs belong to robots, do we still need jobs?  – “… there’s a real scarcity of economists willing to think about the possibility that abundance makes markets obsolete altogether. Property rights may be a way of allocating resources when there aren’t enough of them to go around, but when automation replaces labor altogether and there’s lots of

Down under a carbon tax goes down and other news and views for Friday 25 July

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Down under a carbon tax goes down  – “Australia’s right-wingers made a move to outdo their American counterparts. Prime Minister Tony Abbott and his Liberal Party (as these Antipodean conservatives style themselves), won final legislative approval for repeal of Australia’s carbon tax on major polluters, which had been enacted under the previous Labor government and had set a price of more than twenty dollars a ton on carbon-dioxide emissions.” A country where liberal journalists risk death Chris Davis, former LNP member for Stafford, could run for Labor at next state election Feds Consider Ban On Bluefin Tuna Fishing As Population Dips 95 Percent Why Ukraine’s government, which just collapsed, is such a mess Darth Vader is polling higher than all potential 2016 presidential candidates  – “On Tuesday FiveThirtyEight released the results of a poll of Americans’ opinions on the “Star Wars” universe. Not surprisingly, Jar Jar Binks is the most reviled character in the series. As Walt