How to protect schools — and other public places — from active shooters: available pepper spray cans should be emptied into the hallways; then, doors closed and windows opened. That could make it impossibly uncomfortable for the shooter to move around the building.
Back in the early 70s, I stayed for a while in a “pre-detention center” down the block from Washington Square Park, formerly known as the Village Plaza Hotel. Every so often we had a “Mace party” — sprayed one shot of pepper spray up in the air in the lobby and then all ran outside until we could breath inside again. Once a couple of dope fiends came downstairs to the Coke machine — we yelled for them to come outside in the street but at that point in their day you could have comfortably removed their appendixes.
In grade and high schools the teachers could carry. Elsewhere managements could carry. Would definitely work sometimes.
I have a friend who once referred to Americans as cattle, incapable of independent thought. While in the US Army I was warned that human beings have a herd instinct which must be consciously overcome.
All of that would be of little consequence except for what this herd instinct means in the current economic environment. We are presented with manipulated CPI data, carefully crafted presentations of unemployment data, and just plain wrong headed interpretations from the economics profession. And the vast majority of politicians and the public just wander along as though in a trance.
We are coming up on NINE years of recession. Yes I know that the Great Recession was officially ended years ago but that was nonsense. If you step back far enough and squint then this economy almost looks normal. Extend and pretend should be our official motto.
We are coming up on EIGHT years of the Federal Reserve’s zero interest rate policy. Only a complete idiot can believe that this is normal! Our current zero interest policies encourage rampant speculation.
There are still dimwits in this country defending free trade treaties and negotiating more of them. We have been running a study in real time since about 1990. The results are in, free trade fails on multiple levels.
1. The countries in southeast Asia set themselves up as export based economies which import raw material and relatively little else.
2. There is no balance in the trade between those countries and the United States or Europe.
3. These trade treaties have encouraged corporations to move production overseas and sell the products in the developed world. This is NOT sustainable on anything other than the short term.
4. This no/low tariff environment allows corporations to play off one government against another with impunity. They can avoid taxes, dictate wages to labor, and dictate economic policy to government. (Intellectual property rights are nothing but the right to act as a monopoly.)
5. China has used its large trade surpluses to build a larger and more modern army and navy which they use to expand their territory and intimidate their neighbors.
That combination will eventually be lethal to good order in southeast Asia and in the developed world. Eventually no gated community in the developed world will be safe enough.
A few days ago some French workers tore the clothes off of Air France company officials who are planning to layoff staff. Weren’t Air France management bonuses large enough?
How much longer will the ‘powers that be’ ignore the spiraling down of the US economy? One decade, two decades?
Spiraling down from 2000:
Economy goes into recession and recovers only with a very low Effective Fed Funds Rate.
Economy goes back into recession, Effective Fed Funds Rate is take to 0%, and never really recovers.
Economy goes back into recession while Effective Fed Funds Rate is still 0%.
And each time the labor participation rate goes lower. Real wages stagnate.
Blame irrational exuberance. Blame the financial crisis. Blame the world economy?
It’s insane , I agree , but for the global elite , it’s not insane – it’s the plan. After each crash / recovery they find themselves holding a larger share of global capital. Labor is weaker , they’re stronger , making it even easier to engineer the next heist.
It will continue until we stop it , and we’re too busy updating Facebook to even think about stopping it.
It’s called a General Strike. It hasn’t been tried much here.
And now I am not sure how such a thing could be organized. The experience with Occupy (and Ferguson et. al.) demonstrated a rather shocking willingness on the part of the police state to use extralegal surveillance and intimidation to prevent meaningful participation.
Hint: I wouldn’t plan on organizing a Facebook strike page.
@JimH
If you ask me, the blame squarely falls on economists who have liberal policy preferences but a conservative attitude toward economics, including the authors at Angry Bear. But Krugman is really the poster child.
The economics leads the policy makers. “The Wealth of Nations” was written in a mercantilist world.
When are people like Krugman and DeLong and (maybe, not sure) Waldmann going to reject the idea that Free Trade is always good. Krugman dodges by saying TPP isn’t a free trade deal. DeLong hedges with lists of special circumstances. When policy makers continue to do exactly what Krugman and DeLong say they should do, K and D get grumpy and start pointing to all the little nuanced reasons why policy makers should know that because of x, y, and z, you should ignore what we say most of the time and instead follow special rules m, n, o and p.
You’re spot-on about the so-called progressive economists. If they really want to help , they should draft and circulate a confessional — something like this : ” Forget everything we’ve said over the last few decades. Everything that one needs to know to get out of this stagnant economy can be found within the deliberations of the FDR administration. The FDR fix worked until the 1970s , at which time people like us set out to improve upon it , and we made a godawful mess of it. We are deeply sorry , and from now on we will attempt to set things right. ”
Thornton Hall wrote: “If you ask me, the blame squarely falls on economists who have liberal policy preferences but a conservative attitude toward economics, including the authors at Angry Bear.”
Conservatives and liberals each had their own reasons to favor free trade. And both continue to champion it for those same reasons.
Only the outsiders have the guts to reject free trade.
Ross Perot said about NAFTA: “If this agreement is signed as it is currently drafted, the next thing you will hear will be a giant sucking sound as the remainder of our manufacturing jobs– what’s left after the two million that went to Asia in the 1980s–get pulled across our southern border.”
Currently Donald Trump speaks against free trade with China. If he was elected, heaven only knows what his position would be.
I understand that self interest drives politicians. They are political savants, only good at winning elections. Most are worthless once elected, they join the herd. The economist savants are no better.
Refusing to accept the reality of our current situation after 7 years of zero interest rates is unforgivable.
The Feds refusal to raise rates by any tiny amount is an admission that this economy has still not recovered from the recession which began in December 2007.
The Democrats have had their crack at this problem. They response has been to negotiate another free trade treaty.
But any Republican who honestly believes that they can resurrect this economy while leaving free trade in place should be hauled in for a drug test and a 72 hour hold to verify that they are not a danger to themselves or others.
This country’s politicians are an embarrassment to the human race.
@JimH
You’ve got the exact same mindset that Tea Party voters have.
For the Tea Party, conservativism never fails. They define it as never ever compromising with Democrats. Therefore, conservatism, as they define it, is impossible. It will never happen. Therefore they are always right.
For you, politicians are worthless if they don’t do what you want them to do. You don’t ever have to think about them carefully or be engaged or do any work because you’ve defined away the possibility that effort on your part could ever help.
Just like the Tea Party, you’ve created a world where you are always right and never satisfied. Well done.
Thornton Hall wrote: “For you, politicians are worthless if they don’t do what you want them to do.”
I have been registered as an Independent for over 40 years.
I expect politicians to represent the interests of the majority of voters who elected them.
The politicians of the last 25 years took the greatest economy on earth and through a series of trade treaties proceeded to take it apart.
The last 15 years of operation under these trade treaties have been very telling. They have not been a rising tide that lifted all boats as was promised before NAFTA.
If we can not form a good judgement now, then when?
The goal of a democratic government should be to promote the interests of the majority of the population. Otherwise we should move to a dictatorship, it would be more efficient.
From time to time both major political parties in this country seem to forget that goal.
When those free trade treaties were being debated, anyone who disagreed with them was written off as ignorant of the possibilities. I saw NAFTA as idealism taken to an extreme and so did others. But all disagreements were overridden in the US Congress. That is our system, elections have consequences. We move on. The treaties that came later were no better.
That was then, this is now. The results are in, free trade has not benefitted the majority of the population. Reread my comment at October 6, 2015 11:16 am.
The population has a right, a duty, to point out when their elected representatives have failed and this time they have failed miserably!
I blame the US Congress for our 7 years of zero interest rate policies, and 8 years of an economy so weak that the experts at the Federal Reserve refuse to raise interest rates.
More specifically, I blame our representatives who served in that Congress. Shame on them!
I would like to thank all for the many fine comments and especially from JImH and Marko were most important relevant. I can only add that for those who want even greater clarity and transparence please go see Paul Craig Roberts.com, Wallstreetonparade.com, Gerald Celente.com and Global Research.com…IMHO.
@JimH
What is a politician to do when Larry Summers, Brad DeLong and Paul Krugman tell him or her that free trade raises the real wages of the working class and generate new, high paying, jobs for their children?
You’re right, it is possible for a smart lawyer like Obama (or me) to figure out that the economists don’t know what they are talking about. But I’m a born contrarian and couldn’t get elected dog-catcher.
You expect a majority of politicians to be creative, intellectually curious and extremely observant. Then they must tell Larry Summers–universally regarded as the smartest person in almost every room–that he’s full of shit? Or they are worthless?
The Dow is up 1,000 points since 10/2. The big rally started when the Payrolls report was released. The report was so bad that the market concluded that the Fed was on hold for an imminent rate increase.
This is a good example of how powerful the Fed is. A few months ago, when the word from the Fed that October was lift-off month, stocks dived 10%. But the Fed was concerned with stock prices declining. (Fed “Minutes” Link follows). Post the report the market’s ‘bet’ is that any increase will not happen until 2016. And as that is an election year the Fed’s hands will be tied.
Does it matter that a $ trillion+ of wealth got created the past five trading days? To some it does.
The price of Crude is also up big – 10%. The promise of cheap money is a powerful force. Does that matter? To some it does.
Thornton Hall wrote: “What is a politician to do when Larry Summers, Brad DeLong and Paul Krugman tell him or her that free trade raises the real wages of the working class and generate new, high paying, jobs for their children?”
First as I said before “But all disagreements were overridden in the US Congress. That is our system, elections have consequences. We move on.” The trade treaties became law. Period. Done.
Second, now skip forward to 2008.
Take a look at the Effective Fed Funds rate which was on a downward trend from 1985 until it reached almost 0% in December 2008. (Why was the Fed stimulating the economy with lower and lower rates during each recession during that period?)
See: https://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/graph/?g=25JW
And the 2007 Greenspan and Kennedy study of home equity withdrawal documented huge amounts of money being spent into the economy, not from income, but from new debt. (Why were Americans borrowing so much money and putting their homes at risk after about 1996?)
See:http://www.federalreserve.gov/pubs/feds/2007/200720/200720pap.pdf
Just that much information should have been enough for our elected representatives to begin ringing alarms bells in 2008 and keep ringing them. (Where the hell was that rising tide that was to lift all boats, which had been promised) And when the economists starting saying that ‘correlation is not causation’ they should have shouted them down and accused them of playing with other peoples lives.
Larry Summers: “Today, we have such an economy, and it has supported the greatest economic progress in the history of the world in emerging markets and is working spectacularly well for capital and a cosmopolitan elite that moves easily around the world. But being pressed down everywhere are middle classes who lack the wherewithal to take advantage of new global markets and do not want to compete with low-cost foreign labor. Our challenge now is less to increase globalization than to make the globalization we have work for our citizens.”
See: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/rescuing-the-free-trade-deals/2015/06/14/f10d82c2-1119-11e5-9726-49d6fa26a8c6_story.html
So we have damaged the US middle class to produce economic progress in the emerging markets and the capital markets? That does not sound like a good campaign soundbite to me.
Our elected representatives did not ring alarm bells in 2008. They stayed with the herd. And they continue to stay with the herd in 2015.
The US economy is spiraling down a little further with each recession. The labor participation rate goes lower, and the national debt goes higher. Consumers have stagnant real income and very high total household debt. More people are on food stamps.
How to protect schools — and other public places — from active shooters: available pepper spray cans should be emptied into the hallways; then, doors closed and windows opened. That could make it impossibly uncomfortable for the shooter to move around the building.
Back in the early 70s, I stayed for a while in a “pre-detention center” down the block from Washington Square Park, formerly known as the Village Plaza Hotel. Every so often we had a “Mace party” — sprayed one shot of pepper spray up in the air in the lobby and then all ran outside until we could breath inside again. Once a couple of dope fiends came downstairs to the Coke machine — we yelled for them to come outside in the street but at that point in their day you could have comfortably removed their appendixes.
In grade and high schools the teachers could carry. Elsewhere managements could carry. Would definitely work sometimes.
I have a friend who once referred to Americans as cattle, incapable of independent thought. While in the US Army I was warned that human beings have a herd instinct which must be consciously overcome.
All of that would be of little consequence except for what this herd instinct means in the current economic environment. We are presented with manipulated CPI data, carefully crafted presentations of unemployment data, and just plain wrong headed interpretations from the economics profession. And the vast majority of politicians and the public just wander along as though in a trance.
We are coming up on NINE years of recession. Yes I know that the Great Recession was officially ended years ago but that was nonsense. If you step back far enough and squint then this economy almost looks normal. Extend and pretend should be our official motto.
We are coming up on EIGHT years of the Federal Reserve’s zero interest rate policy. Only a complete idiot can believe that this is normal! Our current zero interest policies encourage rampant speculation.
There are still dimwits in this country defending free trade treaties and negotiating more of them. We have been running a study in real time since about 1990. The results are in, free trade fails on multiple levels.
1. The countries in southeast Asia set themselves up as export based economies which import raw material and relatively little else.
2. There is no balance in the trade between those countries and the United States or Europe.
3. These trade treaties have encouraged corporations to move production overseas and sell the products in the developed world. This is NOT sustainable on anything other than the short term.
4. This no/low tariff environment allows corporations to play off one government against another with impunity. They can avoid taxes, dictate wages to labor, and dictate economic policy to government. (Intellectual property rights are nothing but the right to act as a monopoly.)
5. China has used its large trade surpluses to build a larger and more modern army and navy which they use to expand their territory and intimidate their neighbors.
That combination will eventually be lethal to good order in southeast Asia and in the developed world. Eventually no gated community in the developed world will be safe enough.
A few days ago some French workers tore the clothes off of Air France company officials who are planning to layoff staff. Weren’t Air France management bonuses large enough?
How much longer will the ‘powers that be’ ignore the spiraling down of the US economy? One decade, two decades?
Spiraling down from 2000:
Economy goes into recession and recovers only with a very low Effective Fed Funds Rate.
Economy goes back into recession, Effective Fed Funds Rate is take to 0%, and never really recovers.
Economy goes back into recession while Effective Fed Funds Rate is still 0%.
And each time the labor participation rate goes lower. Real wages stagnate.
Blame irrational exuberance. Blame the financial crisis. Blame the world economy?
Excuse, excuse, excuse, wishful thinking, wishful thinking, wishful thinking, spiral, spiral, spiral.
Will ‘potential output’ go down again during the next recession?
Dennis, the perp would simply avail himself of a gas mask before embarking on the slaughter.
Al Gore interview by James fallows reveals that his environmental sustainability focused investment company is beating industry benchmarks by >500 basis points. http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/10/al-gore-at-the-washington-ideas-forum/408607/
A punchline no more, laughing all the way to the bank?
JimH ,
It’s insane , I agree , but for the global elite , it’s not insane – it’s the plan. After each crash / recovery they find themselves holding a larger share of global capital. Labor is weaker , they’re stronger , making it even easier to engineer the next heist.
It will continue until we stop it , and we’re too busy updating Facebook to even think about stopping it.
It’s called a General Strike. It hasn’t been tried much here.
And now I am not sure how such a thing could be organized. The experience with Occupy (and Ferguson et. al.) demonstrated a rather shocking willingness on the part of the police state to use extralegal surveillance and intimidation to prevent meaningful participation.
Hint: I wouldn’t plan on organizing a Facebook strike page.
@JimH
If you ask me, the blame squarely falls on economists who have liberal policy preferences but a conservative attitude toward economics, including the authors at Angry Bear. But Krugman is really the poster child.
The economics leads the policy makers. “The Wealth of Nations” was written in a mercantilist world.
When are people like Krugman and DeLong and (maybe, not sure) Waldmann going to reject the idea that Free Trade is always good. Krugman dodges by saying TPP isn’t a free trade deal. DeLong hedges with lists of special circumstances. When policy makers continue to do exactly what Krugman and DeLong say they should do, K and D get grumpy and start pointing to all the little nuanced reasons why policy makers should know that because of x, y, and z, you should ignore what we say most of the time and instead follow special rules m, n, o and p.
This just popped up on Thoma’s site :
“You know who likes lackluster economic growth? The rich.”
http://www.theweek.com/articles/580975/know-who-likes-lackluster-economic-growth-rich
Thornton ,
You’re spot-on about the so-called progressive economists. If they really want to help , they should draft and circulate a confessional — something like this : ” Forget everything we’ve said over the last few decades. Everything that one needs to know to get out of this stagnant economy can be found within the deliberations of the FDR administration. The FDR fix worked until the 1970s , at which time people like us set out to improve upon it , and we made a godawful mess of it. We are deeply sorry , and from now on we will attempt to set things right. ”
I’m not holding my breath.
Thornton Hall wrote: “If you ask me, the blame squarely falls on economists who have liberal policy preferences but a conservative attitude toward economics, including the authors at Angry Bear.”
Conservatives and liberals each had their own reasons to favor free trade. And both continue to champion it for those same reasons.
Only the outsiders have the guts to reject free trade.
Ross Perot said about NAFTA: “If this agreement is signed as it is currently drafted, the next thing you will hear will be a giant sucking sound as the remainder of our manufacturing jobs– what’s left after the two million that went to Asia in the 1980s–get pulled across our southern border.”
Currently Donald Trump speaks against free trade with China. If he was elected, heaven only knows what his position would be.
I understand that self interest drives politicians. They are political savants, only good at winning elections. Most are worthless once elected, they join the herd. The economist savants are no better.
Refusing to accept the reality of our current situation after 7 years of zero interest rates is unforgivable.
The Feds refusal to raise rates by any tiny amount is an admission that this economy has still not recovered from the recession which began in December 2007.
The Democrats have had their crack at this problem. They response has been to negotiate another free trade treaty.
But any Republican who honestly believes that they can resurrect this economy while leaving free trade in place should be hauled in for a drug test and a 72 hour hold to verify that they are not a danger to themselves or others.
This country’s politicians are an embarrassment to the human race.
Look at who is making all the money.
Look at who is buying politicians.
Look at who has the power.
They are the same people and they are not us!
@JimH
You’ve got the exact same mindset that Tea Party voters have.
For the Tea Party, conservativism never fails. They define it as never ever compromising with Democrats. Therefore, conservatism, as they define it, is impossible. It will never happen. Therefore they are always right.
For you, politicians are worthless if they don’t do what you want them to do. You don’t ever have to think about them carefully or be engaged or do any work because you’ve defined away the possibility that effort on your part could ever help.
Just like the Tea Party, you’ve created a world where you are always right and never satisfied. Well done.
Thornton Hall wrote: “For you, politicians are worthless if they don’t do what you want them to do.”
I have been registered as an Independent for over 40 years.
I expect politicians to represent the interests of the majority of voters who elected them.
The politicians of the last 25 years took the greatest economy on earth and through a series of trade treaties proceeded to take it apart.
The last 15 years of operation under these trade treaties have been very telling. They have not been a rising tide that lifted all boats as was promised before NAFTA.
If we can not form a good judgement now, then when?
This is an excellent Michael Hudson interview that details the methods / madness of our overlords :
http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2015/10/michael-hudson-on-parasitic-financial-capitalism.html
Grab a six-pack , it’s lengthy.
That is a great interview it made me want to read his book.
The goal of a democratic government should be to promote the interests of the majority of the population. Otherwise we should move to a dictatorship, it would be more efficient.
From time to time both major political parties in this country seem to forget that goal.
When those free trade treaties were being debated, anyone who disagreed with them was written off as ignorant of the possibilities. I saw NAFTA as idealism taken to an extreme and so did others. But all disagreements were overridden in the US Congress. That is our system, elections have consequences. We move on. The treaties that came later were no better.
That was then, this is now. The results are in, free trade has not benefitted the majority of the population. Reread my comment at October 6, 2015 11:16 am.
The population has a right, a duty, to point out when their elected representatives have failed and this time they have failed miserably!
I blame the US Congress for our 7 years of zero interest rate policies, and 8 years of an economy so weak that the experts at the Federal Reserve refuse to raise interest rates.
More specifically, I blame our representatives who served in that Congress. Shame on them!
I would like to thank all for the many fine comments and especially from JImH and Marko were most important relevant. I can only add that for those who want even greater clarity and transparence please go see Paul Craig Roberts.com, Wallstreetonparade.com, Gerald Celente.com and Global Research.com…IMHO.
@JimH
What is a politician to do when Larry Summers, Brad DeLong and Paul Krugman tell him or her that free trade raises the real wages of the working class and generate new, high paying, jobs for their children?
You’re right, it is possible for a smart lawyer like Obama (or me) to figure out that the economists don’t know what they are talking about. But I’m a born contrarian and couldn’t get elected dog-catcher.
You expect a majority of politicians to be creative, intellectually curious and extremely observant. Then they must tell Larry Summers–universally regarded as the smartest person in almost every room–that he’s full of shit? Or they are worthless?
The Dow is up 1,000 points since 10/2. The big rally started when the Payrolls report was released. The report was so bad that the market concluded that the Fed was on hold for an imminent rate increase.
This is a good example of how powerful the Fed is. A few months ago, when the word from the Fed that October was lift-off month, stocks dived 10%. But the Fed was concerned with stock prices declining. (Fed “Minutes” Link follows). Post the report the market’s ‘bet’ is that any increase will not happen until 2016. And as that is an election year the Fed’s hands will be tied.
Does it matter that a $ trillion+ of wealth got created the past five trading days? To some it does.
The price of Crude is also up big – 10%. The promise of cheap money is a powerful force. Does that matter? To some it does.
Bad news is good news. Go figure.
Fed Minutes:
http://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/press/monetary/20151008a.htm
Thornton Hall wrote: “What is a politician to do when Larry Summers, Brad DeLong and Paul Krugman tell him or her that free trade raises the real wages of the working class and generate new, high paying, jobs for their children?”
First as I said before “But all disagreements were overridden in the US Congress. That is our system, elections have consequences. We move on.” The trade treaties became law. Period. Done.
Second, now skip forward to 2008.
Take a look at the Effective Fed Funds rate which was on a downward trend from 1985 until it reached almost 0% in December 2008. (Why was the Fed stimulating the economy with lower and lower rates during each recession during that period?)
See: https://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/graph/?g=25JW
And the 2007 Greenspan and Kennedy study of home equity withdrawal documented huge amounts of money being spent into the economy, not from income, but from new debt. (Why were Americans borrowing so much money and putting their homes at risk after about 1996?)
See:http://www.federalreserve.gov/pubs/feds/2007/200720/200720pap.pdf
And look at the growth in US annual trade deficits after 1997. (By my calculation those trade deficits had gone up by a factor of about 6 between 1995 and 2007)
See: http://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/statistics/historical/gands.xls
Just that much information should have been enough for our elected representatives to begin ringing alarms bells in 2008 and keep ringing them. (Where the hell was that rising tide that was to lift all boats, which had been promised) And when the economists starting saying that ‘correlation is not causation’ they should have shouted them down and accused them of playing with other peoples lives.
Larry Summers: “Today, we have such an economy, and it has supported the greatest economic progress in the history of the world in emerging markets and is working spectacularly well for capital and a cosmopolitan elite that moves easily around the world. But being pressed down everywhere are middle classes who lack the wherewithal to take advantage of new global markets and do not want to compete with low-cost foreign labor. Our challenge now is less to increase globalization than to make the globalization we have work for our citizens.”
See: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/rescuing-the-free-trade-deals/2015/06/14/f10d82c2-1119-11e5-9726-49d6fa26a8c6_story.html
So we have damaged the US middle class to produce economic progress in the emerging markets and the capital markets? That does not sound like a good campaign soundbite to me.
Our elected representatives did not ring alarm bells in 2008. They stayed with the herd. And they continue to stay with the herd in 2015.
The US economy is spiraling down a little further with each recession. The labor participation rate goes lower, and the national debt goes higher. Consumers have stagnant real income and very high total household debt. More people are on food stamps.