Reading

Created
Tue, 21/03/2023 - 11:30
We have some bad news I don’t think this is even hitting the front pages but it should: Scientists have delivered a “final warning” on the climate crisis, as rising greenhouse gas emissions push the world to the brink of irrevocable damage that only swift and drastic action can avert. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), made up of the world’s leading climate scientists, set out the final part of its mammoth sixth assessment report on Monday. The comprehensive review of human knowledge of the climate crisis took hundreds of scientists eight years to compile and runs to thousands of pages, but boiled down to one message: act now, or it will be too late. The UN secretary general, António Guterres, said: “This report is a clarion call to massively fast-track climate efforts by every country and every sector and on every timeframe. Our world needs climate action on all fronts: everything, everywhere, all at once.” In sober language, the IPCC set out the devastation that has already been inflicted on swathes of the world.
Created
Tue, 21/03/2023 - 10:00
A Black in power man trying to get a white man No surprise: it’s working. He pulled that chain and they came running: Bump writes: One of Donald Trump’s less-appreciated political skills is getting his supporters to view attacks on him as attacks on them. His supporters have often seen him that way, viewing criticism of Trump’s presidency or of him personally as an attack on the political movement he leads and, therefore, on them. The tactic works. Or: It generally does. When Trump’s primary frustration was the investigation into Russia’s interference in the 2016 election and possible overlap between that effort and his campaign, turning the probe into a perceived attack on his supporters was tricky. Sure, there was a lot of “the Deep State is out of control and could do this to you,” but it’s not clear that this really landed. Instead of building his base’s reserves of empathy, the Russia probe drew from them. Instead of Trump making everyone the victim, he mostly fell back on complaining about being a victim himself. Since he lost the 2020 election, though, he’s had better luck.
Created
Tue, 21/03/2023 - 09:30
What is missing from the debates over monetary policy today is the understanding that the Fed was not established to control inflation. It was created to prevent financial crises by acting as a lender of last resort in times of distress. Indeed, that’s exactly what the Fed is doing now — opening up its lending facilities to banks in need. But rather than focus on maintaining financial stability, the Fed has become obsessed with controlling inflation, something it cannot really do without causing either a recession or a financial crisis (or both).

What the Fed needs to do is abandon misguided economic theories that have subverted its primary goal of financial stability to inflation targeting. Rather than change interest rates to control inflation it should pivot to a policy of stable interest rates with the goal of maintaining financial stability. The current experience is yet another stark example that unstable interest rates are inconsistent with financial stability. This approach is counterproductive and unnecessary since we have more effective tools for macroeconomic stabilization, such as fiscal policy..…
Created
Tue, 21/03/2023 - 09:00
A theory I’ve been wondering about this too. It’s rather bizarre. He’s in the midst of what is already a tough primary fight and his twitter game was instrumental in his 2016 campaign. But despite Elon Musk’s entreaties to return he’s not back on the platform for some reason where he still has a massive following.It just seems unlikely that he’s content with Truth Social where his engagement is tiny by comparison. Today in the Bulwark, Kimberley Whele discusses that SEC investigation I mentioned the other day in which Trump may be implicated in a money laundering crime to do with his Trump Media company. In the process she notes that this may be the reason he’s not returning to twitter: Donald Trump is involved in yet another probe that could potentially result in criminal charges against him or his associates, this one a yearslong federal investigation by the SEC and DOJ relating to the creation and funding of his Truth Social platform. A final twist in the criminal probe involving Trump Media involves the former president’s use of social media.
Created
Tue, 21/03/2023 - 08:14
Disputes with train operating companies continue, but RMT solidarity brings big win while managements of some other unions undermine their members Mick Lynch’s RMT union has won a major victory – and a significant pay-rise – for members working in Network Rail. 76% of members on a 90% turnout voted to accept an improved offer […]
Created
Tue, 21/03/2023 - 07:10
It should be obvious to just about anyone by now that transnational capitalism cannot survive in its present form if humanity is to survive. The amount of negative externality that is not priced in is too great. Markets are not a mechanism that delivers accurate economic calculation, contrary to what Hayek argued in his Nobel Prize Lecture (1974), and is now widely accepted as received wisdom. Valuation is biased by failing to consider true cost and reliance on this is leading to more erroneous assumptions about addressing emergent challenges.