GLOBALIZE THIS!

Friday, September 10, 2004

THE BENEVOLENCE OF CHINA AND JAPAN

From the FT.com:

A Treasury auction of US government bonds yesterday attracted almost no private demand, creating confusion in the bond markets following a sale on Wednesday that had pulled in unprecedented private appetite.

...Yesterday's surprise collapse in demand added to a sense of unease following unprecedented levels of direct buying in a $15bn auction of five-year notes the day before. Bidders who deal direct with the Treasury usually only amount to about 1 per cent of any auction but on Wednesday, unknown parties took about one-third of the bonds on offer instead of going through the banks, prompting fears that Wall Street could be losing its grip on the market.

¶ 9/10/2004 01:54:52 PM

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MORE MERCENARY NEWS

Following the detainment of Sir Mark Thatcher on mercenary charges (private sector terrorist, if you will) in South Africa, Zimbabwe today sentenced Simon Mann to 7 years in prison for his role in a foiled coup to overthrow the government of Equatorial Guinea. Mann, of course, is the co-founder of the euphamistically named Executive Outcomes, a mercenary group comprised of former apartheid-era South African special forces, as well as human rights abusers from all walks of the former Soviet bloc.

One of Mann's former associates at Executive Outcomes, Nick du Toit, is currently on trial for his life in Equatorial Guinea for his part in the alleged plot. Sir Mark Thatcher, son of former prime minister Margaret Thatcher, has been charged in South Africa with helping to fund the plot via a payment to a third party (he was trying to flee to the US). He has been subpoenaed to answer questions on September 22. Sir Mark denies any involvement or knowledge of the coup.

A total of 88 people are in custody in South Africa, Equatorial Guinea and Zimbabwe in connection with the plot.

Though not an endorsement of the regime in Equatorial Guinea, my sentiment is less mercenaries = good news.

¶ 9/10/2004 01:27:44 PM

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PRE-SPINNING THE POST-ELECTION SPIN

ABC News' "The Note" this morning stakes a beach head for the parameters of discourse for the post-election pundit-o-crats (and also provides an incisive self-critique of the political media--with all the credibility of George Soros arguing for capital controls):

...if nothing changes in the race as it now stands — with President Bush winning a decent-sized victory — much of the talk will be about the greater technical proficiency of the Bush-Cheney effort.

In fact, even if Kerry wins, there will be much talk about the discipline, focus, success, and, yes, shamelessness of the BC04RNC team:

Avoiding a nomination challenge; merciless distribution of message of the day; deflection of any serious discussion of the war in Iraq, health care, jobs, or the tax burden; installing a White House press secretary willing to use the podium for political purposes but not respond directly to any hard questions; making the race not about the incumbent's record but the challenger's, all the while claiming to want to focus on "the future"; and the wielding of national security as the ultimate political trump card.

For the Democrats in Cambridge (under a Kerry loss scenario), the talk will be about August, reliving the Dukakis nightmare, and the press' inability to live up to the shared claim about the historic "importance" of the election.

For the journalists there, questions will be raised about the ease with which the establishment media was led around by the nose by the Internet, cable, and paid media that was just above the video-press-release level.

Some preliminary conclusions, sure to be part of the IOP discussion:

1. As long as political reporters — rather than reporters who cover health care, economics, and military affairs — dominate election coverage, there will always be more emphasis on narrative that implicitly celebrates tactical cleverness and bare-knuckles ruthlessness over narrative that celebrates ideas.

2. Serious scrutiny of four-year plans for deficit reduction, Iraq, homeland security, etc., were crowded out by coverage of polls, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Bob Shrum.

3. Neither candidate was made to answer detailed questions about his plans (We particularly look forward to reporters who got pre-convention Bush interviews recounting how about a third of their allotted time was taken up by a presidential speech!).

¶ 9/10/2004 10:54:01 AM

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Monday, September 06, 2004

IT'S SWA TIME

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It's Labor Day. It's an election year. It's time for SWA: The State of Working America 2004-05.

Fresh off the e-presses, SWA surveys in acute detail the economic conditions faced by America's working families. It contains a wealth of organized data and statistic--a veritable Bible of the labor market--and serves as an incredibly valuable resource for anyone needing up-to-date, off the shelf facts about the U.S. economy. (Disclosure: I worked on this, but have no financial interest in the book.)

Download tables and charts here.

¶ 9/06/2004 11:30:03 AM

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Sunday, September 05, 2004

HAPPY LABOR DAY

Everybody sing (to the tune of "Battle Hymn of the Republic"):

When the union's inspiration through the workers' blood shall run,
There can be no power greater anywhere beneath the sun;
Yet what force on earth is weaker than the feeble strength of one,
But the union makes us strong.

CHORUS:
Solidarity forever,
Solidarity forever,
Solidarity forever,
For the union makes us strong.

Is there aught we hold in common with the greedy parasite,
Who would lash us into serfdom and would crush us with his might?
Is there anything left to us but to organize and fight?
For the union makes us strong.

It is we who plowed the praries; built the cities where they trade;
Dug the mines and built the workshops, endless miles of railroad laid;
Now we stand outcast and starving midst the wonders we have made;
But the union makes us strong.

All the world that's owned by idle drones is ours and ours alone.
We have laid the wide foundations; built it skyward stone by stone.
It is ours, not to slave in, but to master and to own.
While the union makes us strong.

They have taken untold millions that they never toiled to earn,
But without our brain and muscle not a single wheel can turn.
We can break their haughty power, gain our freedom when we learn
That the union makes us strong.

In our hands is placed a power greater than their hoarded gold,
Greater than the might of armies, magnified a thousand-fold.
We can bring to birth a new world from the ashes of the old
For the union makes us strong.
------

Don't forget to check out my fellow union bloggers, and keep on fighting!

¶ 9/05/2004 11:58:32 AM

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