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chocolatpi
chocolatpi's Journal
chocolatpi's Journal
March 31, 2020
Playing for Change, Stand By Me
I just wanted to thank everyone on DU for sharing. It's been a daily inspiration during my third week of going out only for food, medicine and an occasional visit with my daughter and SIL.
My daughter received her Coronovirus test results, nearly 3 weeks after an emergency room visit, she is negative. I ask again, the Gov. of Arizona Ducey, where are the tests and results?
https://playingforchange.com/
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March 30, 2020
Love and Happiness: an Obama Celebration, 2016
In November let's remove the pretender, the bearer of plagues and pestilence. "Change Gonna Come".
This video requires 1 hr. 21 min. of viewing. The video begins with the entrance of First Lady Michele and President Barack Obama, the opening remarks displaying his wit, verbal skills and charm, what a handsome couple and role models.
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March 27, 2020
"music, sweet music"
Change is coming, I hope to be here to celebrate.
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March 26, 2020
The Politics of the Coronavirus
For the far right, the pandemic is a chance to enact border controls and erode the rule of law. It could also expose their utter incompetence.
By John Feffer
March 25, 2020.
…snip
As the Trump administration finally switched into its own incompetent version of engagement, some sections of the far right zoomed well past the denial phase. Those of a survivalist and apocalyptic bent are already halfway to their bunkers, with Alex Jones of Infowars infamy trying to profit off the panic by raising the prices on his prepper products. It’s part of a more general wave of profiteering that encompasses Amazon price-gougers and traffickers of inside information like Richard Burr (R-NC) in the Senate.
Neo-Nazis and sovereignists, meanwhile, are rejoicing at the failures of the federal state to handle the crisis. They are anticipating the realization of their cherished dream: the collapse of the liberal order. Still other extremists in the QAnon camp believe that Trump will use the virus as a pretext to arrest members of a global liberal pedophile ring (like Trump, they simply double down when their assertions are proven wrong, as in the Comet Pizza debacle).
Then there’s the blame game. Jerry Falwell Jr. fingered North Korea as the culprit behind the coronavirus. California Republican Joanne Wright, like many of her tribe, has asserted that China manufactured the disease but added the twist that Bill Gates financed the plot. And it wouldn’t be a wacky right-wing conspiracy if George Soros somehow weren’t implicated as well.
…snip
The overwhelming obsession of the far right in Europe has been to reduce or eliminate immigration from points east and south. Some political parties, like Germany’s Alternative fur Deutschland, even support “remigration”: namely, forcing established immigrants to leave the country.
...snip...much more at link above
The Politics of the Coronavirus
https://fpif.org/the-politics-of-the-coronavirus/The Politics of the Coronavirus
For the far right, the pandemic is a chance to enact border controls and erode the rule of law. It could also expose their utter incompetence.
By John Feffer
March 25, 2020.
…snip
As the Trump administration finally switched into its own incompetent version of engagement, some sections of the far right zoomed well past the denial phase. Those of a survivalist and apocalyptic bent are already halfway to their bunkers, with Alex Jones of Infowars infamy trying to profit off the panic by raising the prices on his prepper products. It’s part of a more general wave of profiteering that encompasses Amazon price-gougers and traffickers of inside information like Richard Burr (R-NC) in the Senate.
Neo-Nazis and sovereignists, meanwhile, are rejoicing at the failures of the federal state to handle the crisis. They are anticipating the realization of their cherished dream: the collapse of the liberal order. Still other extremists in the QAnon camp believe that Trump will use the virus as a pretext to arrest members of a global liberal pedophile ring (like Trump, they simply double down when their assertions are proven wrong, as in the Comet Pizza debacle).
Then there’s the blame game. Jerry Falwell Jr. fingered North Korea as the culprit behind the coronavirus. California Republican Joanne Wright, like many of her tribe, has asserted that China manufactured the disease but added the twist that Bill Gates financed the plot. And it wouldn’t be a wacky right-wing conspiracy if George Soros somehow weren’t implicated as well.
…snip
The overwhelming obsession of the far right in Europe has been to reduce or eliminate immigration from points east and south. Some political parties, like Germany’s Alternative fur Deutschland, even support “remigration”: namely, forcing established immigrants to leave the country.
...snip...much more at link above
March 23, 2020
Don’t use coronavirus to bail out oil and gas companies
March 23, 2020 at 10:26 a.m. ET
By Basav Sen
The fossil-fuel industry’s problems were self-inflicted, and it’s barreling us toward the next crisis
In 2008, the U.S. economy went into its deepest recession since the Great Depression, brought low by reckless financial institutions, deregulation, and lax regulatory enforcement. The recession led to millions losing their homes to foreclosure.
The federal government could have stepped in and rescued struggling homeowners. That would have kept families in their homes, and preserved the tax base and social fabric of communities.
Instead, they handed out $700 billion in public money to the very banks responsible for the crisis (not counting more than $3 trillion in zero or very low interest rate loans), allegedly because that was the only way to avert a deeper recession. But the recession worsened, and the “too big to fail” banks became even bigger.
This scenario is replaying itself today, with even higher stakes. We’re facing down not just a pandemic and a global economic meltdown, but an unraveling of our planet’s entire life support systems.
..snip
So let’s not blame a virus, or Russia, or Saudi Arabia. If U.S. oil and gas producers are in trouble, they are the ones at fault, and it takes nerve on their part to ask the government for a handout. While oil and gas workers facing layoffs deserve assistance, their undeserving bosses do not.
Then, consider what science tells us about this industry. A healthy future for oil and gas inevitably means a bleak future for most humans and for ecosystems. At precisely the time that scientists say we should be phasing out oil and gas production, a bailout to this destructive industry is a giant step backwards.
A much smarter use for stimulus funds would be major investments in renewables and energy efficiency, industries that employ far more Americans than fossil fuels without harming the planet. If fossil-fuel workers are being displaced, they can be fast tracked into jobs growing these industries that are vital for our future.
Let’s not repeat the mistakes of 2008. Emergency funds should be freed up for direct assistance to those workers and communities who need it most. In the longer term, stimulus funds should be used to build just and effective solutions for the other looming crisis humanity faces: the climate crisis.
Basav Sen directs the Climate Policy Project at the Institute for Policy Studies.
Don't use coronavirus to bail out oil and gas companies
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/dont-use-coronavirus-to-bail-out-oil-and-gas-companies-2020-03-23?&mod=home-pageDon’t use coronavirus to bail out oil and gas companies
March 23, 2020 at 10:26 a.m. ET
By Basav Sen
The fossil-fuel industry’s problems were self-inflicted, and it’s barreling us toward the next crisis
In 2008, the U.S. economy went into its deepest recession since the Great Depression, brought low by reckless financial institutions, deregulation, and lax regulatory enforcement. The recession led to millions losing their homes to foreclosure.
The federal government could have stepped in and rescued struggling homeowners. That would have kept families in their homes, and preserved the tax base and social fabric of communities.
Instead, they handed out $700 billion in public money to the very banks responsible for the crisis (not counting more than $3 trillion in zero or very low interest rate loans), allegedly because that was the only way to avert a deeper recession. But the recession worsened, and the “too big to fail” banks became even bigger.
This scenario is replaying itself today, with even higher stakes. We’re facing down not just a pandemic and a global economic meltdown, but an unraveling of our planet’s entire life support systems.
..snip
So let’s not blame a virus, or Russia, or Saudi Arabia. If U.S. oil and gas producers are in trouble, they are the ones at fault, and it takes nerve on their part to ask the government for a handout. While oil and gas workers facing layoffs deserve assistance, their undeserving bosses do not.
Then, consider what science tells us about this industry. A healthy future for oil and gas inevitably means a bleak future for most humans and for ecosystems. At precisely the time that scientists say we should be phasing out oil and gas production, a bailout to this destructive industry is a giant step backwards.
A much smarter use for stimulus funds would be major investments in renewables and energy efficiency, industries that employ far more Americans than fossil fuels without harming the planet. If fossil-fuel workers are being displaced, they can be fast tracked into jobs growing these industries that are vital for our future.
Let’s not repeat the mistakes of 2008. Emergency funds should be freed up for direct assistance to those workers and communities who need it most. In the longer term, stimulus funds should be used to build just and effective solutions for the other looming crisis humanity faces: the climate crisis.
Basav Sen directs the Climate Policy Project at the Institute for Policy Studies.
March 23, 2020
Don’t use coronavirus to bail out oil and gas companies
March 23, 2020 at 10:26 a.m. ET
By Basav Sen
The fossil-fuel industry’s problems were self-inflicted, and it’s barreling us toward the next crisis
In 2008, the U.S. economy went into its deepest recession since the Great Depression, brought low by reckless financial institutions, deregulation, and lax regulatory enforcement. The recession led to llions losing their homes to foreclosure.
The federal government could have stepped in and rescued struggling homeowners. That would have kept families in their homes, and preserved the tax base and social fabric of communities.
Instead, they handed out $700 billion in public money to the very banks responsible for the crisis (not counting more than $3 trillion in zero or very low interest rate loans), allegedly because that was the only way to avert a deeper recession. But the recession worsened, and the “too big to fail” banks became even bigger.
This scenario is replaying itself today, with even higher stakes. We’re facing down not just a pandemic and a global economic meltdown, but an unraveling of our planet’s entire life support systems.
..snip
So let’s not blame a virus, or Russia, or Saudi Arabia. If U.S. oil and gas producers are in trouble, they are the ones at fault, and it takes nerve on their part to ask the government for a handout. While oil and gas workers facing layoffs deserve assistance, their undeserving bosses do not.
Then, consider what science tells us about this industry. A healthy future for oil and gas inevitably means a bleak future for most humans and for ecosystems. At precisely the time that scientists say we should be phasing out oil and gas production, a bailout to this destructive industry is a giant step backwards.
A much smarter use for stimulus funds would be major investments in renewables and energy efficiency, industries that employ far more Americans than fossil fuels without harming the planet. If fossil-fuel workers are being displaced, they can be fast tracked into jobs growing these industries that are vital for our future.
Let’s not repeat the mistakes of 2008. Emergency funds should be freed up for direct assistance to those workers and communities who need it most. In the longer term, stimulus funds should be used to build just and effective solutions for the other looming crisis humanity faces: the climate crisis.
Basav Sen directs the Climate Policy Project at the Institute for Policy Studies.
Don't use coronavirus to bail out oil and gas companies.
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/dont-use-coronavirus-to-bail-out-oil-and-gas-companies-2020-03-23?&mod=home-pageDon’t use coronavirus to bail out oil and gas companies
March 23, 2020 at 10:26 a.m. ET
By Basav Sen
The fossil-fuel industry’s problems were self-inflicted, and it’s barreling us toward the next crisis
In 2008, the U.S. economy went into its deepest recession since the Great Depression, brought low by reckless financial institutions, deregulation, and lax regulatory enforcement. The recession led to llions losing their homes to foreclosure.
The federal government could have stepped in and rescued struggling homeowners. That would have kept families in their homes, and preserved the tax base and social fabric of communities.
Instead, they handed out $700 billion in public money to the very banks responsible for the crisis (not counting more than $3 trillion in zero or very low interest rate loans), allegedly because that was the only way to avert a deeper recession. But the recession worsened, and the “too big to fail” banks became even bigger.
This scenario is replaying itself today, with even higher stakes. We’re facing down not just a pandemic and a global economic meltdown, but an unraveling of our planet’s entire life support systems.
..snip
So let’s not blame a virus, or Russia, or Saudi Arabia. If U.S. oil and gas producers are in trouble, they are the ones at fault, and it takes nerve on their part to ask the government for a handout. While oil and gas workers facing layoffs deserve assistance, their undeserving bosses do not.
Then, consider what science tells us about this industry. A healthy future for oil and gas inevitably means a bleak future for most humans and for ecosystems. At precisely the time that scientists say we should be phasing out oil and gas production, a bailout to this destructive industry is a giant step backwards.
A much smarter use for stimulus funds would be major investments in renewables and energy efficiency, industries that employ far more Americans than fossil fuels without harming the planet. If fossil-fuel workers are being displaced, they can be fast tracked into jobs growing these industries that are vital for our future.
Let’s not repeat the mistakes of 2008. Emergency funds should be freed up for direct assistance to those workers and communities who need it most. In the longer term, stimulus funds should be used to build just and effective solutions for the other looming crisis humanity faces: the climate crisis.
Basav Sen directs the Climate Policy Project at the Institute for Policy Studies.
March 21, 2020
Teacher's version, I Will Survive
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March 21, 2020
Should Markets Be Closed?
I found the article on Barron’s. The link below the Barron’s link is to the original publication on jheconomics.com. There is a diary on DU discussing the topic. I am no expert and find the article below entertaining, and educational. Do I correctly have a “gut feeling” that ignorance is bliss. Don’t panic, stay calm and also, to repeat, do not panic.
(“how, in a desperate attempt to strike out some new line of fairy-lore, I had sent my heroine straight down a rabbit-hole, to begin with, without the least idea what was to happen afterwards” (Alice in Wonderland, biography Lewis Carroll @ britannica.com.)
https://www.barrons.com/articles/should-financial-markets-be-closed-over-the-coronavirus-51584735453
https://jheconomics.com/should-markets-be-closed/?mod=article_inline
Should Markets Be Closed?
Posted on March 20, 2020 by Alex Friedman | 0 Comments
Albert Einstein got so much right, so far ahead of his time, it is easy to forget he was ever wrong. But, one time he may have missed the boat is useful for us today as we try to navigate COVID-19’s unprecedented social and economic disruption.
Quantum physics has a concept called entanglement. In simple terms, it means that if a tiny object like a particle is observed, even a long way away (light years), that particle will change its properties. It reacts to the watcher. Einstein dismissed this idea as ‘spooky action at a distance,’ but over time science has proved him wrong. And recently, we have learned that all kinds of objects interact with each other at a distance, even large ones like a satellite in space reacting to something on earth at the quantum level.
Today, our species is in panic. COVID-19 is driving upheaval in every human realm. There can be no doubt that the primary mission is to slow the spread of the disease and develop a vaccine as soon as possible. But a close secondary critical mission is to protect our global economy. If we don’t succeed here, it is not far-fetched to fear that society may unravel in fundamental ways at extreme human cost. And the biggest secondary threat we face from the virus is panic.
Financial panic is a kind of quantum entanglement. Our global economy is nothing more than a giant multi-player game of pong, with each person’s motion bouncing off of another, forever. At each bounce, a good or service is exchanged and resulting monies (energy) move in a slightly different direction. All financial markets are basically built on predicting direction of motion and rates of velocity, present-valued to discount future interactions as well.
Today, financial market participants are mostly blind to the true trajectory of COVID-19 and will remain so until there is (i) an effective containment of the pandemic in the major economies, (ii) belief that governments are undertaking sufficient steps to spur demand via fiscal policy, to underpin the ‘plumbing’ of the financial system via central bank action and to backstop credit via state guarantees and (iii) confidence that asset prices properly discount the impairment to earnings (equities), to financial disintermediation (credit spreads) and to growth (yield curves).
...snip more at link above
March 9, 2020
For the adults in the room:
We are so near being totally F'd up by a moron elected by a minority. I'm so beyond intelligent reasoning and discussion with the "blank stares" and bat shit insanity of rump, his sick administration and his "dollar short and a dime late" mental cretins. Oh, by the way, rumpublicans planned a slow death at the ballot box, their "dear leader" failed, bigly. imo
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