Some World News Headlines, and a footnote

It is strange.  We are all in the same boat but some are laughing and others are not.  Look at a small random selection of News Headlines of the past two weeks and do take note of the sources.

http://swampland.blogs.time.com/2009/08/20/storm-clouds-gather-for-democrats/

Three extracts from comments:

“The United States and Britain had already sharply warned Tripoli of serious diplomatic repercussions if Megrahi received a hero’s welcome after Scotland released him on compassionate grounds as he has terminal cancer.”

“I guess the Libyans missed the memo that Obama was Jesus.”

“We’re careening wildly on the rollercoaster to oblivion so why not just take potshots and enjoy the thrill ride right up until the point where the cart crashes through the railing and the ground rushes up to claim us all?

Everything does seem to be out of control. Everything does have the “this doesn’t make any sense at all” feel to it, so why not hoot and holler until the ride is over and we either get up and walk away amazed that we’re still here or wake in intensive care wondering why everyone looks so concerned when we smile and ask nonsensical questions?”

Big Oil adds to the heat on President Obama

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/barackobama/6073863/Oil-industry-protest-campaign-adds-to-summer-heat-on-President-Barack-Obama.html

Protests against Barack Obama are spreading across America like wildfire on a summer prairie, fuelled by an angry and fearful oil industry.

1,000 Words

http://swampland.blogs.time.com/2009/08/22/1000-words-23/

Do read the “spoof” discussion between Bill Clinton and Rahm Emanuel.  It’s hilariously funny but accurate.

http://my.telegraph.co.uk/mutton_jeff/blog/2009/08/29/all_we_europeansmust_bear_responsibilty

Do read it and note the comments.

Here is a small item tucked away in:

FoxNews Sunday, August 30, 2009

Letters reveal British government decided it was in its ‘overwhelming interest’ to release Lockerbie bomber — reportedly for oil exploration deal with Libya.

But now for the footnote that says it all having had Obama crawling all over Africa just more than one month ago followed by Hillary Clinton oozing confidence when she visited old Nelson two weeks ago; strange that it did not make the Headlines, or is that the way to do it?

China and South Africa quietly signed comprehensive agreements on everything from construction, communication, transport and banking last week.  Those things take months of negotiation by large teams of top government officials on both sides, but warranted no Headlines and was only broadcasted on local SA Radio.  Maybe China will be called in to save the World?  They don’t seem to care about the problems that beset the “other half of the Globe.”  See:

Can China Save the World?

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1913638,00.html

Insert:  The following Blog has just come to my attention.  Readers may find it interesting:

 « Africans ‘under siege’ in Moscow…Rather obvious that Muscovites and Russians in general, have never read a speech that said “content of character” NOT “color of skin”… « Africans ‘under siege’ in Moscow…Rather obvious that Muscovites and Russians in general, have never read a speech that said “content of character” NOT “color of skin”…  « Africans ‘under siege’ in Moscow…Rather obvious that Muscovites and Russians in general, have never read a speech that said “content of character” NOT “color of skin”…  http://elcampeador.com/2009/08/31/africans-under-siege-in-moscow-rather-obvious-that-muscovites-and-russians-in-general-have-never-read-a-speech-that-said-content-of-character-not-color-of-skin/

 It makes you think, or am I wrong?

On Bulls and Bears

A Blogger name of Diomalco ran a good Blog that attracted fine debate in the UK Telegraph Blogsite.  See:

Recession. What recession?

http://my.telegraph.co.uk/diomalco/blog/2009/08/12/recession_what_recession

I didn’t want to steal his thunder or clutter his excellent Blog up with my laconic contributions but I do want to clarify the Comments that I submitted in his Blog.

First look at what Time Magazine says about the same matter:

“Too Much Profit at Goldman and Morgan?  Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase are raking it in because they’re good – if not virtuous.”  Read his word choice with care, and see:

http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1912202,00.html?xid=newsletter-daily

I predicted this in a previous Blog and ask that you please look at the date of my Post and the word choice in the latest Time article that I mention above:

https://ikejakson.wordpress.com/2009/04/22/bolt-everything-down-%e2%80%93-the-robbing-hoods-have-a-new-trick/

In the good old days Economies ran on the principles of demand and supply; that formed the foundation for all economic activity and, indeed, the cornerstone on which Capitalism was built.  Wealth was measured on the products of you labor: the number of bicycles made on one day, or how many cattle you had in the herd that was going to market next week.

Modern day Economics run on paper.  No, worse than that, they don’t even use paper now that we have the Internet.  It’s just imaginary figures, and lots of media hype about bulls and bears; the guy handling your pension fund money on Wall Street wouldn’t know the difference between a dairy cow and a bull.

You’ve got to laugh at he latest derivative addition to the market; they call it futures options or something like that.  You don’t even buy the share.  What you get is an option to buy the thing at some date in the future but Moneybags straight away “bundles it into a package” with some others and start selling the packages.  Another report following on the above one from Time stated that each of the three hundred odd Goldman Sachs employees has netted himself a cool million in the last few weeks from selling these things.  No single new bicycle left the factory.

Any old farm boy knows that a lot of bull like that cannot last.

The day the students laughed in China

The Headlines say it all.

Time Magazine:

Can China Save the World?

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1913638,00.html

Quote verbatim:

“Numbers alone do not capture the sense that the balance of global economic power is shifting eastward. There have been several moments that seemed to crystallize the zeitgeist, none more memorable than U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner’s speech in June before the best and the brightest at Peking University, the Harvard of China. Not long ago, students there would have been the most respectful and polite of audiences. Yet when Geithner tried to reassure one questioner that China’s investments in U.S. government debt were “very safe,” the response was perhaps an indication of the onset of a new economic order: the students laughed.”

It is perhaps ironic that it comes at a time when this other Headline runs in Time/Swampland/CNN Worldwide News:

http://swampland.blogs.time.com/2009/07/30/the-beer-heard-around-the-world/?xid=newsletter-daily

What happened to the Country that was the undisputed Leader of the World lees than one year ago?