Category Archives: US Government

How Protectionism Makes Things Worse

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Greece is having hard times. The Greeks hope they can export more stuff in order to earn more money.

The problem is that Greece isn’t the only nation trying to export and run a current account surplus. It’s not even the most successful of the neo-mercantilist states: look to Japan and China as champs in those roles. The US wishes it could export more stuff, though, and resents the way China keeps exporting everything from inside its borders that isn’t nailed down.

That’s the danger sign: resentment in trade issues. When the world economy is going through hard times, some nations can weather the storm better than others by running a current account surplus. It’s just that for every current account surplus, there has to be an equal and opposite deficit somewhere else. When the nations in deficit despair of ever running a surplus, they can turn to protectionist trade policies to at least stop running up the deficits.

When the protectionist barriers go up in one place, other nations follow suit to the point where world trade is choked off and no nation is running a current account surplus and all nations endure the brunt of those hard times.

It happened in the 1930s. There’s a possibility it happens in the 2010s. And when it does happen, it does not help the nations that ran a huge trade deficit – because there goes their current account surplus that was investing in their nation.

US-Israeli Relations: Time for a Divorce?

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No, it’s not all the Jews’ fault. I want to get that right out: the security of the state of Israel is being betrayed by its politicians and the extremist factions they must cater to in order to remain in power. Got that? Politicians and extremists in Israel are endangering the state of Israel, its relationship with the US, and the people that live in Israel.

The current Israeli government expects to be able to swing the US’ military power around like it was its own. For the last 60+ years, the US has been funding Israel like a co-dependent mother paying for her son’s heroin habit, particularly so after Britain and France stepped away from Israel after the Suez debacle in 1956. Every time Israel has thrown a fit, the US has caved in to pressure from the AIPAC and given Israel what it needs. What does the US get in return?

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Ram Gopal Varma Delivers in Rann

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I was disappointed with the last American movie I saw, Alice in Wonderland, but was more than satisfied with the last Bollywood film I saw, Rann. Both feature a strong actor-director combination, but the Indian version is the one that paid off most satisfyingly.

Johnny Depp is at his best with Tim Burton at the helm, but Alice went off the rails for me as it drew to a climax. I loved the landscapes and the clever CGI stuff, but a movie needs a real plot to keep it going. Sorry, Alice, but I can’t feel excited about seeing you again.

Amitabh Bachchan is amazing with Ram Gopal Varma directing, as was proven in Sarkar and Sarkar Raj. Rann gives Bachchan a milder character but just as much drama and intrigue as we had in RGV’s earlier work with Big B. I planned on watching the DVD half-way through last night and then finishing it tonight, but I absolutely could not bear to stop watching it when I got to the half-way point. The plot punched its way through to the very end. Even though it ended with some tragedy, the finish made good sense in the confines of the plot as well as in a real-world sense. Rann tackles the way media, politics, and ratings intertwine to corrupt the system and I plan to use this in my AP Government class. Forget the emotionalism of Mr. Smith Goes to Washington: Rann is the real deal. First class film hain.

Questions for the Tea Party

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All, right, deficits are bad. No argument about that from me. Taxes can damage the economy. Again, I agree wholeheartedly. Now, Tea Party, tell me how you’re going to rein in deficits and cut taxes without bringing on a catastrophe to make the events of the 1930s seem like the “Not All That Bad Depression.”

The Tea Party is too little, too late. Yes, we fear deficits, but what politician is going to vote to dismantle entitlement programs? How are we going to get rid of entrenched politicians when the interest groups backing them have put so much money into discrediting their opponents? And how do we know if the replacements the Tea Party puts forward are mentally sound?

In War, Politics, and Insanity, C.S. Bluemel put forward the idea that many of the world’s politicians, particularly the populist ones, are certifiably insane. They grew up with hard lives and became rebellious mavericks – psychotic mavericks. The book was written in 1949, so the author was thinking of Hitler, Mussolini, and Stalin, not Palin. The comparison still applies. The danger of populism is that it attracts leaders just like the common man that believe in themselves to the point of megalomania. My final question for the Tea Party is this: beyond your economic solution, how will you keep your movement from producing an American dictator?

My Name Is Khan: A Review

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My Name Is Khan This film was a real gem. Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol are fantastic together: they’re truly one of cinema’s greatest screen couples. I’m going to confess there are melodramatic scenes and moments of imperfection. I don’t care. There are also scenes with fantastic cinematography in the San Francisco sun and truly touching and heartfelt moments. The leads, SRK and Kajol, are in their prime and their characters drive the film through twists and turns and on to its satisfying climax.

The second half of the film involves touches of magical realism in coastal Georgia. I guess that’s a nice way of saying there’s probably nowhere in Georgia that looks like a Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings set, but that’s what we get in the film. It serves as a metaphor for New Orleans, that much I get: so let it go at that. I still maintain this is an important – and entertaining – film. It’s a must-see, and bring the Kleenex.

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Is Bayh a Big Loss?

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Not really. There’s 99 other guys just like him in the Senate. Check out Muckety for his associations. It’s the typical mosh pit of banking, defense, pharmaceutical, and special interest groups that fetters every other senator. Check out some of the guys he’s immediately connected to and who they’re one jump away from. Like other senators, he’s just a legal partnership away from a truckload of special interests. A brief search turned up Roche and JP Morgan among the clients of a firm he has a direct relationship with.

So, no, he’s not a real loss. The next senator from Indiana, be he Demican or Republocrat, will look a lot like Bayh: someone with a much closer relationship with the board of directors of JP Morgan than I’ll ever have. Still, the Muckety link is nice. Check out your favorite Congressperson or Senator with it!

Debt Limit Now 100% of GDP

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The image to the right shows the national debt in 2004, when it was just over $7 trillion, or $7,000,000,000,000 for those who like zeroes. In scientific notation, it’s $7.0 * 10^12. Currently, the debt stands at $12 trillion or so, and the debt limit now lets it go to $14 trillion.

$14 trillion is 100% of GDP, and taking our debt beyond that number puts us in danger of going over a tipping point.

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Bureaucracy vs. the President

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The director of the CIA recently testified to Congress that a terrorist attack was highly likely in the next 3-6 months. Coincidentally, it’s also budget time in Washington, as various departments scramble for increasing their share of federal dollars. Obama indicated he wanted to cut some spending down the road: all government bureaucracies want to avoid those cuts, so they’ll send out their respective heads to fight for their slice of the budget pie.

The CIA guy came in with the biggest splash. I’m not saying his announcement was false – and if it was, shame on him – but his announcement was timely. There was plenty of media coverage, as well. That means it’s likely the CIA prepared a media package to go with the Congressional testimony. Government agencies do that. They hand stories to the media and the media reads those stories to the cameras, often with little investigation on the part of the major media outlets, from Fox to CNN and all the major networks in between. They take the government word as gospel and pass it on to us. The pundits will howl one way or another to credit or discredit the sitting president or one of his close political cronies, but the bureaucracy itself is held sacrosanct. That suits the needs of the bureaucracy just fine.

When it comes to budget time, every bureaucracy wants a director or cabinet member that can get out and fight his president for every scrap of the budget he can grab. They don’t want someone that agrees with the president that, yes, the bureaucracy is overstaffed with middle managers and could do with a bit of a trim. There was one director of the USDA under Clinton that tried to rein in his department who soon found himself the target of an ethics query. When you fight the bureaucracy, one takes on a very powerful and resourceful opponent. It’s much easier to go native and become one of them than it is to support one’s president.

I’d expect other agencies to regard the CIA’s presentation to Congress with alarm. Not because the CIA pointed out a terrorist attack is likely to happen. Rather, because the CIA is likely to get a bigger budget at their expense. Look for more urgent meetings with Congress from other departments in the days to come as the budget fight thickens.

My Name Is Khan

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My Name Is Khan The film comes out Friday, February 12th, but I’m thinking of seeing it either on a Saturday or a Wednesday. Tickets are 2-for-1 on Wednesday and only $5.00 for matinee showtimes on Saturday. THIS WILL BE FOR CLASS PARTICIPATION POINTS, IF YOU WANT THEM!!! It’s not required, but this does look to be an awesome film. One aspect of the film deals with life in America post 9-11 for Muslims, but there’s much more to it than just that.

Let me know what days work for you and I’ll try to pick an AP Government night at Funasia. It’s got stadium seating, retractable armrests, and a great snack bar that features South Asian goodies. (Snack bar is cash only, so bring cash if you want to munch or get a coke…) If you can’t see it with the rest of the class, you can still see it on your own and talk about it with me.