CNBC: Circa 1862

 

For Those Who Understand Metaphors:

What if the 24 hour news cycle existed in 1864 and Europe watched the American Civil War unfolding before them?

Middle East RSVP

O wad some Pow'r the giftie gie us

To see oursels as ithers see us!

It wad frae mony a blunder free us,

An' foolish notion:

As I was gazing into my Liquid Crystal Ball, I had the opportunity to see myself in a previous life.  I am watching television when my programme is interrupted by a special report from Brussels.

The UN Security Council is holding an emergency meeting over the conditions in America.  World Leaders are condemning the atrocities of the Civil War citing over 50,000 dead at Gettysburg and now, after the burning of Atlanta, Sherman’s March to the Sea.

On official said, in exchange for remaining anonymous, “Will we wait until every American has been Shermanised before we take action?”

Recent reports have confirmed that 50,000 American’s died in the three day battle at Gettysburg and almost 9,000 Americans were killed in the burning of Atlanta.

Leaders in England and France have reported that they are already sending warships to the Gulf of Mexico and the Potomac Basin, but claimed this was only to prevent a blockade to prevent the shipment of tobacco and cotton to Europe.  They did, however, admit that they were discussing putting boots on the ground to intervene.

The Russian Ambassador to the UN has stated that he will veto any resolution that involves military intervention.  He went on to issue this statement:  “It took the Americans from 1776 to 1789—thirteen years—to create a constitution.  This is a Civil War, and Europe has no business interfering with American domestic problems.”

The Greek Ambassador to the UN said, “We had a democracy 3,000 years ago.  We may have made some mistakes, but we learned from them.  We will be only too happy to send a delegation to Washington to help the Americans set up a stable democracy.”

The Italian Ambassador to the UN issued a statement saying, “Our government supports the initiative proposed by the Greek government and will be happy to participate.  After all, we had a democracy 2,000 years ago. We too, made a few mistakes, but we also learned from them and want to help protect the American people from this carnage.”

England’s Foreign Minister denied reports that the warships en route to America are carrying cannons to bombard Washington, saying “We are not taking the cannon-fire option off the table.  We are only saying that it is an option that we are prepared to exercise if the carnage in America does not stop.”

The Ambassadors from Spain and Portugal will be arriving in Brussels soon, carrying a joint proposal for a cease-fire but conceded, “There is little hope.”

On a related note,  A statement from Sandringham House:

The King, The Emperor, and The Czar issued the following joint statement.

In fewer than 100 years, Democracy in America has led to this Civil War of horrific proportions. 
An Annus horribilis.  Therefore we are planning to send a delegation to meet with Presidents Lincoln and Davis and with Generals Grant and Lee to discuss the establishment of Monarchy in America.

The nice thing about the Liquid Crystal Ball is that is reveals history as it might have been.  It does not, however, reveal history as it will be.

SANTAYAN “Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it.”

SLIM FAIRVIEW “Those who never learned history are doomed—Period!” 

Fin

Warmest regards,

Slim

Bob Asken

Box 33 

Pen Argyl, PA 

18072

LinkedIn Profile

slimfairview@yahoo.com

If you find anything here to be helpful, please don't hesitate to send me a really tricked out Mac Book and to tuck a few dollars into the envelope along with the thank you note.  Slim.

Copyright (c) 2013  Bob Asken:
All Rights Reserved

Technology or Strategy?

 Technology or Strategy?

The game of Chess was invented in India circa 6th C. AD. It

is a game of strategy. It was invented centuries before the invention

of computers, of technology, of electricity.

Through the magic of metaphor--you are there. And your friend, who invented Chess, shows you the game. But he feels the game is lacking. He asks you for some advice about strategy. You ponder the game and suggest some changes. Flash forward, 1,500 years.

Through the magic of metaphor, Chess was never invented. However, your friend calls you up to say he's invented a video game called Chessboy. However he feels the game is lacking and asks you for advice. You tell him you know nothing about technology. He tells you, he doesn't need tech advice, he needs strategy advice.

You ponder the game. You tell him, "Well, the Bishops move diagonally and the rook moves in a straight line up and back and side to side. That's good. But the Knight should have a different move. Say, two up and one to the side or one up and two to the side. You invent the strategy of castling. And you describe the strategy of en passant.

He thanks you and reprogrammes the game with the strategies you described.

Caveat: The difference between strategy and technology.

Regards,

Slim.

© 2021 Robert Asken

All rights reserve

Box 33

Pen Argyl, PA 18072

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Merkel Caves! Slim Wins!

For nearly eight full years, the blogger known as Slim Fairview has inveighed
against austerity with the celerity of a honey badger.  
Scores of articles have been written, and thousands of tweets have sent links to
the articles to thousands of readers around Europe and the world.  
From Grexit to Brexit and beyond the articles were intended to bring about the
reforms that are  imminent.

With the forming a government, and to make that government possible,
The Chancellor caved and handed over the keys to the
Foreign and the Finance Ministries to the opposition party.

Some of the article links listed below.

This is Brexit 15 June 2016

Merritt, Galbraith, & Stiglitz 22 August 2016

GreekEnomics 8 June 2015

{The only real value to this article is the number of links to articles regarding Merkel and Europe)

Merkel's Big Lies? 2 May 2014

Merkel and the Salesman 18 May 2012

Eurocracy, with Apologies to Swift 29 September 2011

Germany Slaps Greece 1 July 2015

Greek Proposal 8 July 2015

Beware! The Chancellor is Consolidating Power 5 February 2013

Merkel and Charybdis 22 June 2015

Firewall or Farce? 27 February 2012

Brit-In Brit Out 19 February 2016

Et. al.

Warmest regards,

Slim.

SlimFairview@yahoo.com

SlimViews@Gmail.com

Copyright (c) 2018  Bob Asken  All Rights reserved.

Merritt, Galbraith, and Stiglitz

I read the reviews in The New York Times Book Review.

I read the reviews of the new books by Giles Merritt, James K. Galbraith, and Joseph Stiglitz.  I read with rapt attention. This, because I've been writing articles about the EuroCrisis for the past 6 years.

Of course, The Drs. Merritt, Galbraith, and Stiglitz don't need me to explain the EuroCrisis to them.  And I don't need them to explain the EuroCrisis to me.

"Everybody knows what everybody knows."  ~Slim Fairview.  

The first of "The Quotations of Slim Fairview (c) 2016

When there is a crisis, or a disaster, as with the European Economy, it is a sad indictment of Economics that Economists will tell us what happened and why rather than tell us what will happen and what to do about it.

I am in good company.  

Chancellor Merkel has been a strict adherent to austerity.  On the other hand, President Obama has been an advocate of Economic Stimulus.  Now, to insure that I do not sound too Keynesian, let me express it in Republican Terms.  "You have to spend money to make money."

Ken Rogoff, the purported architect of austerity expended some energy making the Network rounds.  He appeared on CNBC, on CNN, and on BBC--World News America.  Each time he said the same thing.

"Even if we go back to 2010...."

Can we go back to 2010?  No? What else have you got?

"Even if we were to wipe out Greece's entire debt...."

Can we wipe out Greece's entire debt?  No? What else have you got?

When Fareed Zakaria asked Dr. Rogoff, point blank, about the success of President Obama's economic stimulus programme, Dr. Rogoff made a sarcastic allusion to the economic travails of Puerto Rico and returned to Europe.  "Even if we were to wipe out Greece's entire debt...."

Now, there is Urban Legend suggesting that some youngsters majoring in Economics tried running Dr. Rogoff's numbers through the computer and failed to duplicate his results.  The story died with no resolution, or conclusion.  It is still urban legend.  

Back to the EuroCrisis and Slim Fairview's Empirical Method of Analysis.

Did we try austerity?

Yes.

Did the European economy get more high, good, better?

No.

Did the European economy get more low, bad, worse?

Yes.

Conclusion?

Abandon austerity: embrace economic stimulus.

We all know what Einstein said.  "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."

Slim Fairview builds on that.  "By extension, the argument can be made that sanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting the same results."  Meaning.  We had economic stimulus.  We had good results.  Europe embraces economic stimulus, Europe has good results.

Some may cite slowing global growth as part of the cause of Europe's problems.  Others may say that Europe's economic travails have been part of the cause of slowing global growth.

Heart Warming Moments.

When the reviewer, Paul Hockenos, imputed the following to the author, James K. Galbraith:

"The EU erred egregiously in making draconian austerity policies the price of Greece's rescue...."  And concluded the paragraph, "Greece's withdrawal from the Eurozone, he suggests, would have been preferable."  I wrote, the problem is not that Europe can't afford Greece.  The problem is that Europe can't afford Germany.

The latter, a sentiment expressed to Steve Liesman on Squawkbox by a guest as Mr. Liesman indicated with..."So in other words, what you're saying is Europe can't afford Germany."

The review by Roger Lowenstein of The Euro, the book by Nobel Laureate Dr. Joseph Stiglitz was more dense.  Just as Mr. Lowenstein says of the book.  (imagine an economic text written by Michael Moore.)  I would have written, imagine an economic text written by Marie-Claire Blais.  

Mr. Lowenstein "indicts" Dr. Stiglitz for descending to slurs evoking the Nazi era; but, concludes the paragraph with, "The fact is, German industry is more productive."

I reject the Nazi slurs.  That the German economy benefited from deficit spending elsewhere in Europe has been generously expressed. However,  I would have written, Merkel fed the German economic machine at the expense of the Satellite Nations in southern Europe.

The example "US v. EuroUnion" vis-a-vis their respective structures is something I expressed--perhaps not eloquently--several years ago in an interview with solotablet.it   

As far as the democratisation of the EuroUnion, I would suggest that The European Commission exists for one reason and one reason only.  To justify the existence of The European Commission.

MIGRANTS are NOT the problem.  Merkel is the problem.  However, I called that in 2013 when I wrote:

Merkel's Big Lies?  Ten tactics used in an Economic Putsch.  Or, Merkel's Economic Theatre of Operation.

"Austerity only makes it sound bad.  I just wanted to balance the budget."

"Don't you think I've seen the posters of me dressed as a Nazi?  Poor me. I'm the victim here."

And, I did forecast the unrest and the rise of the right.

I posted  Greek Proposal.  Tsipras folded.  Merkel issued a fait-accompli, and Tsipras returned to Greece with his tail between his legs.  

I also wrote  This is Brexit.

"But don't bother listening to me. Everyone always doesn't listen to me." ~Slim Fairview

The last quotation from "The Quotations of Slim Fairview (c) 2016

Warmest regards,

Slim

P.S.  If you find anything here to be helpful, please don't hesitate to send me a really tricked out Mac Book & to tuck a few dollars into the envelope along with the Thank you note.

Bob Asken
Box 33
Pen Argyl, PA 18072

Copyright (c) 2016  Bob Asken

All rights reserved.