MA & PhD in Critical Thinking Blog

On January 21 2010, the US Supreme Court overturned the most recent attempt to put some kind of limits on political campaign finance activities – the so-called McCain Feingold law -

with a far-ranging decision that insures the already broken and corrupt American political system will become even more so almost immediately, barring the unlikely passage of new laws by the current Congress.

While this shocking, if not surprising, decision has already occasioned much commentary, especially in the US, relatively little has been written about the ruling’s equally disastrous likely effects on the US and world economies.

SPECIAL SNEAK PREVIEW

This third article on the inter-connection of today’s 24-hour / 7 days a week global media and marketplaces – “economedia” © –

will look at some of the OTHER little bits of “bad” or scandalous news that were also “hidden in plain sight” in the New York Times during this period –

while extending it to the Friday of the first week AFTER the holidays, a day when all most people can look forward to is the end of what is usually a difficult re-entry into the work-week.

# 25 in Questions Solicited by New York Times for Financial Investigation:

The general justification for a) the banking system in general and b) the government bailout is that you provide the financing necessary for the running of the “real economy.”

Given this, can you please explain:

a) Why the lending freeze and ridiculously difficult new metrics for lending instituted in the wake of the Lehman collapse in September 2008 are still in place more than a year later, when the most obvious economic problem is slow growth caused, in no small measure, by lending standards that are as overly strict as the previous ones were too lax?

b) How you can justify the massive bonuses you are planning to hand out – in whatever combination of cash / deferred stock options / etc – in light of these excessively strict standards for loaning money to people OUTSIDE the banking sector ???

and

c) Whether the argument “we need it to retain the ‘best’ people” can’t easily be overcome by government regulation that will set ranges for the ENTIRE sector, so as not to give any one of your institutions some sort of “competitive advantage” in the recruitment & retention of any particular individuals ???

In this second in a three-part series of the interpenetration of media and the world political economy,

we lay out in detail the different ways companies manipulate media by timing release of bad news they want to say “well, we DID tell you,” while hoping that no one sees it.

In that context, we look at how the New York Times “buried” – by publishing on Xmas Eve –

a crucial expose of how TBTF banks like Goldman Sachs sold debt packages they knew were bad while simultaneously “selling short” against those same packages.

We then say this is a perfect example of the “double game” media organizations play with companies they are allegedly watching over “in the public interest” by keeping bad news about them as “invisible” as possible …

Relatively few people have intuited the existence, let alone explored the significance of, the increasing interpenetration of the world of global finance / economics / trading with the global media society in which it is encased — what we call the world of “economedia” (c).

In this first of three pieces, we trace the sources of this ever more important inter-connection between the worlds of money and the media, examining both the macro factors in general, as well as particular features such as the 24-hour trading day and the rise of emerging markets.

The obvious temptation at this time of year is to a) look backwards – especially given the “end” of a decade [depending on how you count it], and b) go with the “Top Ten” theme – especially given that the New Year is 20-“10.”

But we’re going to keep it simple and look forward with only ONE resolution:

the single MOST important aim for the world economy in not just this year, but the whole decade, is to radically decrease the levels of income inequality in practically every country in the world.

While it lacked the dramatics of a 2008 that featured a Black September that will go down in history as one of the most chaotic and fear-inspiring episodes in modern financial / economic history,

2009 has been pretty rough in most places, as the aftermath of that trauma has continued to reverberate throughout the year.

In that context, here are our Top Five Christmas wishes for the world political economy as it concludes a roller-coaster of what Queen Elizabeth, in a different context, called, an ‘annus horribilus‘

Here’s my comment IN the NYTimes on its INCREDIBLY important story about how Goldman Sachs was betting AGAINST the very same mortgage-backed securities securities they were SIMULTANEOUSLY selling TO their clients … …

Please note that my point is about the MEDIA aspect of this …

I tried to keep it short & sweet … you might want to find the comment and RECOMMEND it … … that would be MUCH appreciated … …

http://community.nytimes.com/comments/www.nytimes.com/2009/12/24/business/24trading.html?sort=oldest&offset=6

Beyond this, my “Five Top Christmas Wishes” piece will be up shortly on Economy Watch — as soon as I can figure out how to do the CMS that my brilliant colleague Keith usually handles … … …

Enjoy … …

This is a BRILLIANT piece of IMPORTANT reporting … thank you so much … …

Just one question: why did it appear on the day before Christmas ???

It would seem many people would be interested in seeing this who probably won’t, given the usual holiday “madness” …

http://www.economywatch.com/

The Copenhagen environmental talks ended in a weak, informal ‘agreement’ that some called the end of the UN-based world ecological process that began in the early 1990s with the Rio de Janeiro meetings.

In the midst of this generally dismaying sequence, there were, however, some significant events – the most important of which, unfortunately, bodes even worse for the global future than the generally disheartening results from the Danish capital.

This was the extraordinary blow-up between the US and China at the climactic moment of negotiations, involving both Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and President Barack Obama personally.

While it wouldn’t take much to have a more activist response than the downright laissez-faire – and, consequently, increasingly irrelevant –

approach of the Obama administration to the on-going and, indeed, steadily deteriorating economic / financial situation,

the UK government of Gordon Brown – and his surprisingly cogent and active Chancellor of the Exchequer [Treasury Secretary] Alistair Darling – are at least doing something, albeit not too much either … …