Mois : août 2015

The Boundaries and Future of Solution Space – Part 1

Published on The Automatic Earth, by Raúl Ilargi Meijer, Aug 15, 2015.

We’re going to try something a little different. Nicole wrote another very long article and I suggested publishing it in chapters; this time she said yes. So in the next five days we will post five different chapters of the article, one on each day, and then on day six the whole thing. That way, you will have some time left over to spend with your families. Continuer la lecture de « The Boundaries and Future of Solution Space – Part 1 »

Spain Gets Bitter Costly Foretaste of its Beloved Trade Pacts

Published on Wolf Street, by Don Quijones, Aug 13, 2015.

US brokerage firm Schwab Holdings and Malta-based OperaFund Eco-Invest Sicav have lodged a new international complaint against the Spanish State over its recent cuts to renewable energy subsidies. The case will be heard in the International Center for Settlement Investment, a Washington DC-based investment arbitration institution that is a member of the World Bank.   Continuer la lecture de « Spain Gets Bitter Costly Foretaste of its Beloved Trade Pacts »

A Yemen road trip

Published on Al-Ahram weekly online, by Hossam Radman, Aug 13, 2015: about an overland journey from Sanaa to Aden in Yemen through areas held by Houthi and anti-Houthi forces.

… Today, Aden is free. But half its buildings are gone, having been razed to the ground in recent battles. The young men who had crowded the streets to demand secession are nowhere to be seen. They are fighters now, or they are dead. Continuer la lecture de « A Yemen road trip »

Unsettling Encounters – Tourists and Refugees Cross Paths in the Mediterranean

Published on Spiegel Online International, by Özlem Gezer, Frank Hornig, Martin Knobbe, Walter Mayr, Maximilian Popp and Helene Zuber, Aug 7, 2015 (14 Photos in the Gallery – translated from the German by Christopher Sultan).

Two worlds are colliding on the beaches of the Mediterranean this summer: Vacationers looking for relaxation and migrants seeking relief from poverty or warfare. The result is a moral conundrum for Europe.   Continuer la lecture de « Unsettling Encounters – Tourists and Refugees Cross Paths in the Mediterranean »

Are the World's Largest Central Banks Independent?

Video on YouTube, 2.36 min, uploaded by csFinancialist, April 5, 2013 … the world’s largest central banks, including the U.S. Federal Reserve, the Bank of England and the Bank of Japan, are overseeing unprecedented easing programs *. While the European Central Bank, unlike the BoJ or the Fed, has not purchased large amounts of sovereign debt, it could do so in the future by ramping up its Outright Monetary Transactions (OMT) program. That program allows the ECB to purchase sovereign government bonds on the secondary market, which would be expected to lower interest rates in the event of renewed turbulence in the euro zone. Continuer la lecture de « Are the World's Largest Central Banks Independent? »

The Real Cost of Being Poor, reflections from the heartland

Published on Zcommentaries, by Paul Street, Aug 8, 2015.

Serious debates over what the minimum wage should be in various U.S. locales and jurisdictions should start with serious information on what it actually costs to live in the different places where Americans live.   Continuer la lecture de « The Real Cost of Being Poor, reflections from the heartland »

EPIC video of sunlit ‘dark side’ of moon crossing over Earth revealed by NASA

Published on Russia Today RT, Aug 5, 2015.

NASA has released spectacular footage of the “dark side” of the moon – fully illuminated – as the Earth’s natural satellite was moving across the sunlit side of our planet. The unique shots were captured by the Deep Space Climate Observatory.   Continuer la lecture de « EPIC video of sunlit ‘dark side’ of moon crossing over Earth revealed by NASA »

Accumulation of what?

Published on Real-World Economics Review Blog RWER, by Editor, Aug 4, 2015.

The answer depends on what we mean by capital accumulation. The common view of this process is deeply utilitarian. Capitalists, we are told, seek to maximize their so-called ‘real wealth’: they try to accumulate as many machines, structures, inventories and intellectual property rights as they can … // Continuer la lecture de « Accumulation of what? »

german Know-Nothings today

Published on MrZine.org, by Victor Grossman, Aug 2, 2015.

« I don’t know. » Those words, often repeated 160-odd years ago in the USA, earned the gang of those using them the nickname « Know-Nothing Party. » Those were no expressions of intellectual modesty; party doings were secret, so members were not supposed to disclose anything about them, but just say, « I don’t know. » Their patriotic title was actually « American Party, » but many members truly knew almost nothing except that they hated immigrants, especially Catholic Germans and Irish, and wanted to bar them from entry, from citizenship and from the vote. Continuer la lecture de « german Know-Nothings today »

the growing pains of urban agriculture

Published on Montreal Gazette, by Donna Nebenzahl, Aug 1, 2015.

… The beds of this Action Communiterre collective garden in Notre-Dame-de-Grâce are already yielding lettuce, Swiss chard, peas, nasturtiums and a variety of herbs, along with raspberries from the bushes that form a pollinating garden around the edges of the space. The runner beans are climbing above the carrots, marigolds grow alongside eggplant, and peppers and tomatoes are being tied to strings attached to the wood frames that support them. Continuer la lecture de « the growing pains of urban agriculture »