EU Spectacle
The word spectacle is carefully chosen, since this is what the current drama of which Greece is the symptom, not the cause, has become. It no longer bears any relationship to coherent democratic leadership or process of governance in a workable political and currency union. The cancellation at a moment’s notice of a summit of all EU leaders is extraordinary.
There is a problem with Greece, but it is not that difficult to solve. Indeed this blog working alone would be able to negotiate a workable solution. What is proving impossible is to find an acceptable solution, because the institutions normally established to process decision making at national and international levels are not there, or there in such abundance nobody can detect who is in charge. And to make matters worse the structure of the currency itself is unsustainable as it lacks a treasury and a finance minister answering to an elected government. A committee of finance ministers at loggerheads, elected by only one member state in each case, on conflicting mandates and to differing electoral timetables will work only in the good times and becomes dysfunctional under pressure.
So all we know at this moment is that Greece may or may not go bust tomorrow, the euro looks more like an impediment to growth than an engine of it, and the reputation of the EU as a coherent political union is severely damaged. Beneath that a big gap is developing between the north and the south of Europe, between the politicians and their electors everywhere and between those in the eurozone who want to stand firm to high principle even if it brings the whole thing down, led by the Germans, and by those who feel pragmatic reality demands compromise, led by France and Italy.
At the heart of of this crisis now engulfing the whole EU are three violated principles. You cannot have a democratic political union without an elected forum from which all authority flows. You cannot have a currency which cannot be printed. You cannot have capitalism which does not permit debtors to go bust. The first is violated because the whole EU is wrongly configured. The last two are rescinded because Germany says No.
message 951:
by
Linda
(new)
Feb 10, 2016 07:33AM
There are a lot of people in America who don't vote by party, probably a majority in fact. That's frequently how an election is won here. Somebody who is a Republican or a Democrat candidate gets not only his followers or hard core supporters to vote for him but also the "undecided" or "swing votes". If there are enough "undecided" in a particular state, then the state goes in his column and he wins the electoral votes. In recent years I think Ohio has done a lot of this sort of thing.
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Places like Texas aren't likely to provide swing votes. In recent decades Texas has been very conservative. It used to be that Virginia hadn't voted Democratic since 1964. But that was broken in a recent national election, I think, so things change. And that's all happened since I left Virginia. (It doesn't matter that I visited for a week last summer).
What do you think of the results of the New Hampshire Primary? New Hampshire is supposed to be an important one. Have you blogged about it yet?
Linda wrote: "What do you think of the results of the New Hampshire Primary? New Hampshire is supposed to be an important one. Have you blogged about it yet?"Yes I have. Briefly as have been busy today with visitors. Here is the link
http://malcolmblair-robinson.com/word...
More tomorrow!
Your blog sounds very inspired. It’s the sort of thing peopel would want to read. I hope you are tweeting it. However, it is curious how I think that there is nothing very important going on in politics right now. There hasn’t been in a long while. I think we are in an era when people find business tycoons more interesting than politicians. You hear more about the CEO of Facebook or Amazon than you do about who is running for office. As the stature of those running for office lowers and the candidates become more and more insignificant, the business people start running things more and more. They set trends. They determine the means of communication. They regulate employment and the economy. Apparently they’ve even taken over the space program! (There is a Brit involved in this, too). In some respects it reminds me of the late nineteenth century after the Civil War and before WW1. In this country with the single exception of TR, no one can remember the names of those Presidents and politicians. But everybody remembers Rockefeller, etc.
I think I predicted months ago that whoever won the Presidential election this year would be somebody you had not heard about before. Whoever Sanders is, he fits the bill in that regard. You say he is a socialist? I didn't even know. I certainly have no idea what he looks like, where he comes from, or what office he currently holds. But knowing my luck, he will probably end up as the next President. However, I did say that at least I get rid of the current occupant of the White House.
Trump must be running as some sort of entertainment factor. He doesn't fit the bill or the mold or whatever for somebody who gets elected as President. But then I didn't think the current occupant would get elected either. But really in the case of Trump it must be impossible even if he does get the Republican nomination. All that means is that the Democrat is going to win.
You say that people are fed up with the establishment. Believe me, that's nothing new in American politics. I think it started with Andrew Jackson, the 7th President, and his wild Presidential campaign along with his unorthodox celebration after he took office. "Establishment" sounds like the era of 60's hippies or maybe even the 1920's (though that era was more serious). Supposedly Jimmie Carter campaigned on that platform. So did Reagan to some extent. Didn't he? Wasn't he the California outsider? Even Bush 2 was sparse in the offices he had held before he became President in 2001.
A collection of very interesting comments, Linda. We shall have to see how it plays out. Economic factors will play into the actual race for the White House. Things are looking tricky just now. If they have turned sour by November it would normally work against the party in power. but at the moment you have the democrats in the White House and Republican domination of both Congress and the Senate. So you could blame either or both.
Linda wrote: "P.S. I do know what Trump looks like."Even his appearance is over the top.
Why do you say that Donald Trump's appearance is "over the top"?
The business about the party in power is in trouble if the economy turns south is frequently directed only at the President. I've read, for instance, that it helped do in Jimmy Carter seeking a second term in 1980. Of course there was the business, I think, about how Carter handled the Iran Hostage Crisis, too. But still Reagan won mostly on economic issues. if the disillusionment is big enough, then they say that the newly elected Presidential candidate has "coattails" and he gets senators and congressmen of his party elected, too. I don't think I've ever seen an instance where the voters get angry only at senators and congressmen and leave the President alone. I guess it's possible.
Oddly enough I don't think that politicians can control the economy as much as people think they can. Even FDR's New Deal wasn't all that successful. However, Hitler and his economic moves in the 1930's WERE successful in a very rare way. That was due to his almost hypnotic powers over the German people. Not to be repeated in America. I think that's why they came up with the FED. It's a tribute to America's belief in capitalism. They try to control the economy in almost scientific way. The jury's out on that one.
The FED isn’t supposed to be political. And in a way I think it is more independent than say the Supreme Court where you can pack the court with judges and lawyers who think like you do if you are President and then they rule accordingly. There are a few different schools of thought for members of the FED and the FED chairman. But still it’s supposed to be based more on economic principles than on politics.
Linda wrote: "Why do you say that Donald Trump's appearance is "over the top"?"All that fake blond hair and stuff. It looks silly to European eyes but it's fine in America.
Linda wrote: "The business about the party in power is in trouble if the economy turns south is frequently directed only at the President. I've read, for instance, that it helped do in Jimmy Carter seeking a sec..."I have an idea Clinton won a second term but Newt Gingrich led a Republican landslide in Congress and they ended up having to shut down the government because a quarrel over the budget. It lasted about a week. I may have got the wrong term but I remember the event because my American father-in-law was visiting. He worked for the Federal govt and his pay stopped.
Linda wrote: "Oddly enough I don't think that politicians can control the economy as much as people think they can. Even FDR's New Deal wasn't all that successful. However, Hitler and his economic moves in the 1..."Good point.
My latest on Syria may interest you. Below the Purple Killing promo.http://www.malcolmblair-robinson.co.u...
I see, he either dyes his hair or wears a wig or both. So that is what you think looks odd about Donald Trump. What I remember about Donald Trump was seeing pictures of him long ago and hearing about some divorce of his. I know I've seen photos of him over the years. I can summon up a picture in my mind when you say his name. But I haven't looked at him in the news lately.
I certainly am not qualified to talk much about the FED. They control interest rates and look at inflation numbers. That sort of thing. It's more direct control over the economy that the President can exercise. It goes beyond my education and expertise to understand pure economics, you know, macro and micro, that sort of thing. I once signed up for a course in economics in college. But I dropped the course during the first two weeks. Not for me. Too much math.
Shutting down the government is real fake. It’s one of those showy manueuvers that politicians engage in here. The President and the Congress blame each other and try to gain political points to see who wins. Clinton somehow managed to win the war against Newt Gingrich. I asked Gary. But it doesn’t mean anything and can safely be ignored. They say that Federal workers don’t have to come to work except “essential personnel”. Your father-in-law must not have been considered “essential”. But I’m sure he got paid. As far as federal workers go, I’ve always thought that if they are not “essential” why do they hire them to begin with?
You know what I think on the subject of Syria and the Middle East. The US should occupy the area and set up a government there ruled by appointed locals and backed up by the US military. That should go on for several generations until the population learns English and starts thinking right. That's about the only thing that would work.This business with the Middle East has been going on since WW1 and the Arab Revolt with Lawrence of Arabia. It was also going on between the wars. If you remember I send Edward to Jerusalem to fight. Headquarters is at the King David Hotel. The British were doing street to street fighting in those days. I have the Mufti capture him. And then Helga interferes. In this respect WW1 and its aftermath isn't over yet.
Linda wrote: "Shutting down the government is real fake. It’s one of those showy manueuvers that politicians engage in here. The President and the Congress blame each other and try to gain political points to se..."I do agree that both the US and UK (especially) governments employ far too many people doing silly non-jobs.
On the business of shutting down the government it could not happen here, but there is a precedent in Australia which as you know is still a Monarchy with the Queen as Head of State. As she is not there her function is performed by her representative called the Governor General.
Round about 1970 there was a majority Labour government in the Lower House, but it did not have a majority in the Senate.The prime minister introduced a high spend budget which went through the lower house but was blocked by the Senate. The stand off went on until the coffers nearly ran dry.
The governor general, acting as the Queen, then sent for the prime minister, fired him and his government on the spot, then sent for the Leader of the opposition (Conservative) and appointed him caretaker PM. The GG then dissolved parliament and ordered a general election.
The Conservatives won comfortably. Labour went into meltdown and a republican movement started up, because the events had not only proved that Australia was a monarchy, but the monarch's power was absolute.
Eventually a referendum was held to become a republic and all the polls put the republicans ahead but on the day they lost and it is still a monarchy by popular choice. And the absolute power of the monarch was not only proven but accepted.
The Australian example you cite I've never heard of before. I don't even know how to look it up. I'd have to ask Gary if he's ever heard about it. So I can't comment on it except to say that having a Prime Minister means in essence that the legislature rules and the executive comes from the legislature. So if the legislature can't decide on a budget it really does seem as if the government isn't working. Here you have separate branches of government and you can get a temporary standoff. The real reason it works here is that nobody really cares what the government does. If they want to shut themselves down temporarily fine. No real crisis here. Just fake playacting stuff.
Another reason shutting down the government works here is that they don't really shut down the government. I don't know what they did in Australia, but here if you have a "government shutdown" the military still operates, the President goes about his business including state visits, speeches, proclamations, interviews, etc. It doesn't affect the Supreme Court at all. They just ignore it. Congress still meets when they want to. Even certain national parks continue to operate on a state budget such as the Grand Canyon which is worth too much to the state of Arizona to shut down (did you know that the East Rim Drive in the Grand Canyon is operated by the state of Arizona at all times even though it is supposedly a federal enclave?). What you're talking about here is part of the Civil Service that temporarily doesn't go to work. So the government operates just fine anyway. Nobody in the public notices anything different except the news tries to make a crisis of it if they can't find anything better to write and talk about.
I have my own crisis here today with my laptop. My track pad doesn't work. I have to use the up and down keys to scroll at all. The computer is still under warranty, and we will have to take it to get fixed. Right now the camera I sent to Leica is still there. Parts are on back order. They've had it for months. It's almost as if they've stolen the item from me. As it is, I've had to buy another laptop every year for several years now. I used to be able to use them longer. Junk!
Linda wrote: "Another reason shutting down the government works here is that they don't really shut down the government. I don't know what they did in Australia, but here if you have a "government shutdown" the ..."Yes I thought maybe it was not as dramatic as it sounded.
Linda wrote: "I have my own crisis here today with my laptop. My track pad doesn't work. I have to use the up and down keys to scroll at all. The computer is still under warranty, and we will have to take it to ..."You do seem to have a lot of trouble with your computer kit etc. My impression here is that stuff is pretty reliable. I never use the touch pad. I prefer a mouse, which is wireless on my new laptop.
My old laptop is still going after 8 years of use. But it is Windows Vista which is very out of date and it has not got the hardware to have the more modern software. My new one has Windows Ten.
The only trouble I have had in those eight years is with updates causing problems, but I can fix that myself although it can be quite time consuming..
You say maybe it wasn't as dramatic as it sounded. I wasn't aware that anybody right now had even threatened to "shut down the government." That is a graphic illustration that it doesn't mean anything at all.
Yes, Apple laptops have been giving me fits since at least 2011. Every time I buy one it starts to malfunction within the first year which is the warranty period. Usually if we go to all the trouble to take it to the store to be fixed, they say that it is not malfunctioning at that particular moment so they cannot fix it. By the time the computer gets to malfunctioning all the time, the warranty period is over and it's not worth fixing. You have to get a new one. One problem I constantly have is hard to describe. The screen starts to flash bright colors at you and it starts to move on its own. Sometimes it looks like the Fourth of July. I've got movies of this sort of thing. It seems to be endemic. And yes, the laptop I have right now that I bought at the end of April last year has already flashed colors at me more than once. Now the trackpad wasn't working yesterday but somehow is working today. It's all very mysterious.I used to be able to keep a computer for 3 years when I had a desktop model. Right now we have a large desktop model which is fixed at a desk of its own. It is a server and keeps all the backup files and all the photo files in storage. We've got something called drobos associated with it. If my laptop ceases to function I may have to start using that during the day. Right now that computer is three years old. The portability with the laptops seems to be the problem. And the laptop I'm using right now went to Europe with me last summer.
When you travel, don't you take your iPad instead of your laptop? I tried using my iPad last summer. But the only functions I could find for it were taking panorama photos and using it as a kind of scanner for documents when you were on the go. I took photos of numerous menus and postcards using that device when I was on the road. We also use it to deposit checks from Gary's clients. But I don't seem to ever work on it. For one thing it doesn't have a real keyboard and it doesn't stand up straight without a stand. And then it would be too small. Also it doesn't have the storage capacity that my laptop does. For one thing I have all the photos I took on the trip last summer on my laptop. I'm using them on an almost daily basis for blogs, novels, making calendars and cards, gifts, etc. I don't think the iPad could store all those without being attached to external hard drives, etc.
Beware of software updates! Avoid them like the plague. We've had horrible problems with them, especially with cameras. Once we updated the software on a camera only to have it become useless. We had to get rid of the camera. My iPhone keeps wanting me to update something and bugs me every day about it. So far I've resisted. But I'm getting angry at the phone. Maybe I will let it update. When it ceases to work, I'll get a candy bar phone that seemed to work better anyway. The Apple iPhone half the time never gets through to anybody I call. And it doesn't work all that well playing music either. My old iPod was much more reliable and simpler to operate. Even when I try to use the phone as a hot spot it doesn't work right. What am I paying for every month? A Frankenstein monster phone?
My Leica camera that I bought last March 5 for $755.00 is still in the shop, too. Halfway through it use, it broke down. We sent it to the warranty service once. They were very slow. But I got it back. It broke again almost right away. This time the lens doesn't work. We sent it back in November. It's already February. Some part is on backorder. They can't tell me when I will get it back. This isn't warranty service. It's stealing the camera from me.
What do I use as a camera these days? I use my Canon Rebel. It's an SLR. It's not a pocket camera. It's awkward to carry around with a shoulder strap. But it's all that I've got left that works.
Next time to buy something try Samsung.But you should not have complex home computer systems. They are out of date. Back up on sticks or the Cloud.
I agree the iPad is not easy to work on, but it is good nevertheless. The trouble is you can download Word for free, but then you have to pay a subscription to actually work on it. The freebie is read only. I have downloaded Textillus which is free. If I want to work on something I email it in a Word file and then convert it to Textillus .It does the job if you are away from home and want to work on the iPad.
No, no, the Mac Pro that sits on the desktop is not out of date. As I said it is a server. None of the laptops would have the capacity to backup the photo library we have. I'll look up the exact number of photos that we have and put that in a separate post. We subscribe to Crash Plan which is a giant server probably in California. The drobos serve as duplicate backup. They have drobo cases for transporting them so the data doesn't get interfered with. This is in case something gets lost on the computer. We can restore it on our own. Restoring from Crash Plan isn't as quick even though it is "in the clouds". There is also the Apple Time Machine backup. I think that still works though we haven't used it in quite awhile. What that's primarily useful for is looking up past incarnations of various novels of mine.
What is a stick? I've never heard of that before. I'll have to ask our local computer expert.
Are you recommending Samsung as a telephone brand? Apple is supposed to dominate the phone market, so I don't understand what's wrong with them. Perhaps they expect you to buy a new phone every year. So the phone stops working at that point. Mine is now just out of warranty.
The Mac Pro desktop model we own was purchased at the end of 2012. Apple doesn’t make it anymore. What replaced it was something smaller and much more expensive. But the newer model can’t be tampered with. The older model is still in great demand because you can add memory, ram, etc yourself. You can even fix it yourself.
Linda wrote: "What is a stick? I've never heard of that before. I'll have to ask our local computer expert."A memory stick? You must have heard of them. That's what everybody uses.
Linda wrote: "Are you recommending Samsung as a telephone brand? Apple is supposed to dominate the phone market, so I don't understand what's wrong with them. Perhaps they expect you to buy a new phone every yea..."Actually iPhone only has 15% of the phone market. It is thought to be the best, but it is very expensive because Apple demand a bigger margin. The Android operating system powers most of the other makes and works very well. Samsung is the next biggest but there are loads of phones out there, but they all use Android (owned by Google)
As for laptops, Samsung are good as are most makes. The vast majority are using Microsoft Windows. Both Android and Windows allow more user control and flexibility than Apple which is why they dominate the market. Apple is better for very specialist activity like graphic design or engineering etc. I imagine NASA use Apple.
I think your problems of unreliability arise because you have the wrong kit for your user profile. I think you may be a victim of the most expensive is best. It rarely is.
No, I've never heard of a memory stick. As far as I know, I don't have any sticks. There might a difference in terminology between British and American, but when it comes to the subject of computers I doubt it. I'll have to ask my computer expert about "sticks" and see what he says.
I said it would look it up and I did. I have all together192,598 photos and videos backed up on the drobos and by Crash Plan. All together we have 3.6 terabytes of photo data and 6 terabytes of all kinds of data to back up. So I need a desktop model. Apparently none of the laptops can back up that much data.
I've always had an Apple computer. Briefly we experimented with a non Apple computer but we switched back again. Considering that all the data is on an Apple computer and an Apple server it would be hard to switch at this point, perhaps almost impossible. If I switched at all it would have to be with the phone. But even now I've started to download audible files to be played on the iPhone so it would make a switch harder.
Linda wrote: "I said it would look it up and I did. I have all together192,598 photos and videos backed up on the drobos and by Crash Plan. All together we have 3.6 terabytes of photo data and 6 terabytes of al..."
Oh yes you need something big if you want to retain all that data.
Linda wrote: "No, I've never heard of a memory stick. As far as I know, I don't have any sticks. There might a difference in terminology between British and American, but when it comes to the subject of computer..."I have sent you a picture of a memory stick on my phone via email.
I asked my computer expert. Memory stick is a small hard drive on a stick that sticks into the USB port. It’s called a USB stick. He says it is very small and would not hold as much data as a drobo, which is much more massive. It would certainly not hold all my pictures. I’ve emailed you a photo of the type of device we use as storage.
Have you heard anything about Tim Cook, the Apple CEO, saying that the company will oppose a federal judge's order to unlock a phone used by a suspect of the San Bernardino terror attack? I don't really look at much news but this came up as something Gary told me. Apple claims it's impossible without the password anyway to break into the phone. Others say the FBI and CIA would have to hack into the phone.
I think I’m going to get Anonabox on Amazon. It’s a Tor Privacy Network Router. It helps you keep your physical location private when you post on the web. You can connect to public WiFi anonymously. The downside is that it is supposed to make things slower.
Linda wrote: "Have you heard anything about Tim Cook, the Apple CEO, saying that the company will oppose a federal judge's order to unlock a phone used by a suspect of the San Bernardino terror attack? I don't r..."Yes I heard about that. Apple are very controlling. Most people here think there should not be indiscriminate snooping but if it is national security and terrorism (or child kidnap or something awful) then an exception has to be made.
