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Javier E

Britain entering first world war was 'biggest error in modern history' | World news | T... - 0 views

www.theguardian.com/...r-biggest-error-niall-ferguson

history UK WWI

shared by Javier E on 22 Feb 14 - No Cached
  • google_ad_client = 'ca-guardian_js'; google_ad_channel = 'worldnews'; google_max_num_ads = '3'; // Comments Click here to join the discussion. We can't load the discussion on theguardian.com because you don't have JavaScript enabled. if (!!window.postMessage) { jQuery.getScript('http://discussion.theguardian.com/embed.js') } else { jQuery('#d2-root').removeClass('hd').html( '' + 'Comments' + 'Click here to join the discussion.We can\'t load the ' + 'discussion on theguardian.com ' + 'because your web browser does not support all the features that we ' + 'need. If you cannot upgrade your browser to a newer version, you can ' + 'access the discussion ' + 'here.' ); } comp
  • Britain could have lived with a German victory in the first world war, and should have stayed out of the conflict in 1914, according to the historian Niall Ferguson, who described the intervention as "the biggest error in modern history".
  • Britain could indeed have lived with a German victory. What's more, it would have been in Britain's interests to stay out in 1914,
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  • "Creating an army more or less from scratch and then sending it into combat against the Germans was a recipe for disastrous losses. And if one asks whether this was the best way for Britain to deal with the challenge posed by imperial Germany, my answer is no.
  • "Even if Germany had defeated France and Russia, it would have had a pretty massive challenge on its hands trying to run the new German-dominated Europe and would have remained significantly weaker than the British empire in naval and financial terms. Given the resources that Britain had available in 1914, a better strategy would have been to wait and deal with the German challenge later when Britain could respond on its own terms, taking advantage of its much greater naval and financial capability."
  • He continued: "The cost, let me emphasise, of the first world war to Britain was catastrophic, and it left the British empire at the end of it all in a much weakened state … It had accumulated a vast debt, the cost of which really limited Britain's military capability throughout the interwar period. Then there was the manpower loss – not just all those aristocratic officers, but the many, many, many skilled workers who died or were permanently incapacitated in the war.
  • He concedes that if Britain had stood back in 1914, it would have reneged on commitments to uphold Belgian neutrality. "But guess what? Realism in foreign policy has a long and distinguished tradition, not least in Britain – otherwise the French would never complain about 'perfidious Albion'. For Britain it would ultimately have been far better to have thought in terms of the national interest rather than in terms of a dated treaty."
brookegoodman

Tulsi Gabbard, running for president, won't seek re-election to Congress - 0 views

www.nbcnews.com/...on-t-seek-re-election-n1071756

politics us

shared by brookegoodman on 25 Oct 19 - No Cached
  • Democratic presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard said Thursday that she will not run for re-election for her U.S. representative seat, saying she wants to focus on trying to secure her party’s nomination to challenge President Donald Trump.
  • "I believe that I can best serve the people of Hawaii and our country as your president and commander-in-chief,"
  • An Iowa Democratic caucus poll out this week put Gabbard at 3 percent, with former Vice President Joe Biden, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, and South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg in the top three spots.
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  • Clinton did not mention Gabbard by name but said she believes one candidate is "the favorite of the Russians."
  • Clinton was referring to the GOP grooming Gabbard, not Russians.
  • Gabbard reacted by tweeting that Clinton is “the queen of warmongers, embodiment of corruption, and personification of the rot that sickened the Democratic Party for so long."
  • Trump attacked Clinton for the suggestion earlier this week, and said Clinton and other Democrats claim everyone opposed to them is a Russian agent.
  • ratic presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard said Thursday that she will not run for re-election for her U.S. representative seat, saying she wants to focus on trying to secure her party’s nomination to challenge President Donald Trump.Gabbard, who represents Hawaii, made the announcement in a video and email to supporters."I believe that I can best serve the people of Hawaii and our country as your president and commander-in-chief," Gabbard said in the video.Let our news meet your inbox. The news and stories that matters, delivered weekday mornings.Sign UpThis site is protected by recaptcha Privacy Policy | Terms of Service She also expressed gratitude to the people of Hawaii for her nearly seven years in Congress.In January, Hawaii state Sen. Kai Kahele, a Democrat, said he would run for Gabbard's seat, NBC affiliate KHNL of Honolulu reported.An Iowa Democratic caucus poll out this week put Gabbard at 3 percent, with former Vice President Joe Biden, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, and South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg in the top three spots.She is in a crowded field of Democrats seeking the nomination to run for president. Another candidate, U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan, D-Ohio, ended his long-shot presidential campaign Thursday.RecommendedvideovideoMcConnell: If the House impeaches Trump, Senate will hold trial 'until we finish'2020 Election2020 ElectionTim Ryan drops out of presidential raceHillary Clinton recently suggested that she believed Republicans were grooming one of the Democrats for a third-party candidacy. Clinton did not mention Gabbard by name but said she believes one candidate is "the favorite of the Russians."
lilyrashkind

Westward Expansion - Timeline, Events & Facts - HISTORY - 0 views

www.history.com/...westward-expansion

expansion history

shared by lilyrashkind on 16 Jan 22 - No Cached
  • In 1803, President Thomas Jefferson purchased the territory of Louisiana from the French government for $15 million. The Louisiana Purchase stretched from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains and from Canada to New Orleans, and it doubled the size of the United States. To Jefferson, westward expansion was the key to the nation’s health: He believed that a republic depended on an independent, virtuous citizenry for its survival, and that independence and virtue went hand in hand with land ownership, especially the ownership of small farms.
  • On the contrary, as one historian writes, in the six decades after the Louisiana Purchase, westward expansion “very nearly destroy[ed] the republic.”
  • By 1840, nearly 7 million Americans–40 percent of the nation’s population–lived in the trans-Appalachian West. Following a trail blazed by Lewis and Clark, most of these people had left their homes in the East in search of economic opportunity. Like Thomas Jefferson, many of these pioneers associated westward migration, land ownership and farming with freedom. In Europe, large numbers of factory workers formed a dependent and seemingly permanent working class; by contrast, in the United States, the western frontier offered the possibility of independence and upward mobility for all. In 1843, one thousand pioneers took to the Oregon Trail as part of the “Great Emigration.”
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  • to carry the “great experiment of liberty” to the edge of the continent: to “overspread and to possess the whole of the [land] which Providence has given us,” O’Sullivan wrote. The survival of American freedom depended on it.
  • Meanwhile, the question of whether or not slavery would be allowed in the new western states shadowed every conversation about the frontier. In 1820, the Missouri Compromise had attempted to resolve this question: It had admitted Missouri to the union as a slave state and Maine as a free state, preserving the fragile balance in Congress. More important, it had stipulated that in the future, slavery would be prohibited north of the southern boundary of Missouri (the 36º30’ parallel) in the rest of the Louisiana Purchase.
  • They did not necessarily object to slavery itself, but they resented the way its expansion seemed to interfere with their own economic opportunity.
  • In 1837, American settlers in Texas joined with their Tejano neighbors (Texans of Spanish origin) and won independence from Mexico. They petitioned to join the United States as a slave state.
  • This promised to upset the careful balance that the Missouri Compromise had achieved, and the annexation of Texas and other Mexican territories did not become a political priority until the enthusiastically expansionist cotton planter James K. Polk was elected to the presidency in 1844. Thanks to the maneuvering of Polk and his allies, Texas joined the union as a slave state in February 1846; in June, after negotiations with Great Britain, Oregon joined as a free state.
  • Wilmot’s measure failed to pass, but it made explicit once again the sectional conflict that haunted the process of westward expansion.
  • In 1848, the Treaty of Guadelupe Hidalgo ended the Mexican War and added more than 1 million square miles, an area larger than the Louisiana Purchase, to the United States. The acquisition of this land re-opened the question that the Missouri Compromise had ostensibly settled: What would be the status of slavery in new American territories? After two years of increasingly volatile debate over the issue, Kentucky Senator Henry Clay proposed another compromise. It had four parts: first, California would enter the Union as a free state; second, the status of slavery in the rest of the Mexican territory would be decided by the people who lived there; third, the slave trade (but not slavery) would be abolished in Washington, D.C.; and fourth, a new Fugitive Slave Act would enable Southerners to reclaim runaway slaves who had escaped to Northern states where slavery was not allowed.
  • A decade later, the civil war in Kansas over the expansion of slavery was followed by a national civil war over the same issue. As Thomas Jefferson had predicted, it was the question of slavery in the West–a place that seemed to be the emblem of American freedom–that proved to be “the knell of the union.”
katherineharron

Ranking the Top 5 Democrats in the 2020 race - CNNPolitics - 0 views

www.cnn.com/...index.html

shared by katherineharron on 17 Jan 20 - No Cached
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  • But the level of not-knowing-what-the-hell-is-going-to-happen is much higher in this race than any we've seen in modern memory. Just four in 10 Iowa Democrats said they were locked in on their candidate choice in a CNN/Des Moines Register poll earlier this month. That's significantly lower than the 59% who said they had made up their minds about a candidate at the same time in 2016.
  • 5. Amy Klobuchar: The Minnesota senator wanted (needed?) a star turn at the debate earlier this week in Iowa to close the gap between herself and the four top candidates in Iowa.
  • ...4 more annotations...
  • 3 (tie). Elizabeth Warren: We're moving the senior senator up on our list for two reasons. First, although Warren is arguably in a worse position than Buttigieg in Iowa and New Hampshire, she is in a better position than he is nationally.
  • 3 (tie). Pete Buttigieg: Buttigieg is, weirdly, the most divisive candidate in the field. Just take his debate performance on Tuesday night as an example. Chris wrote that he came across as well-versed on the issues, authoritative and possessing the necessary gravitas to serve as commander-in-chief.
  • . Bernie Sanders: We've both written about how it's not far-fetched at all that the junior senator from Vermont could win the nomination.
  • 1. Joe Biden: The former vice president has the easiest path to the nomination. If Biden wins in Iowa, he is the heavy favorite to be the nominee.
Javier E

Welcome to the blah blah blah economy - 0 views

image

unpredictable economy global

started by Javier E on 17 Dec 22 no follow-up yet
runlai_jiang

H&M stores in South Africa trashed over 'racist' hoodie - BBC News - 1 views

www.bbc.com/...world-africa-42675665

shared by runlai_jiang on 15 Jan 18 - No Cached
  • South African police have used rubber bullets to disperse a mob trashing H&M stores in and around Johannesburg, after the brand used a controversial picture of a black child.
  • The retailer withdrew both the product and the image after it sparked outrage and allegations of racism on social media. "We're deeply sorry that the picture was taken, and we also regret the actual print," it said in a statement. The Weeknd cuts ties with H&M over advert Rapper G-Eazy ends partnership with H&M
  • South African Police (SAPS) also tweeted about the vandalism, writing: "Several incidents of protests at H&M stores around the province have been reported."At the East Rand Mall the protesters managed to enter the shop & stole several items. #SAPS members had to intervene and dispersed the group of protesters by firing rubber bullets."EFF leader Julius Malema defended the rampage, saying: "We make no apology about what the fighters did today.""We are not going to allow anyone to use the colour of our skin to humiliate us, to exclude us," he added.
  • ...2 more annotations...
  • While consumers in several countries had called for a boycott of H&M as the picture went viral, the mother of the child model has said that she did not find it offensive. She said the hoodie was "one of hundreds of outfits my son has modelled", and urged people to "stop crying wolf all the time".
  • He was joined by rapper G-Eazy, who had been due to bring out a clothing line with H&M in March."I can't allow for my name and brand to be associated with a company that could let this happen," the musician said."I hope that this situation will serve as the wake up call that H&M and other companies need to get on track and become racially and culturally aware, as well as more diverse at every level."
delgadool

7 Little-Known Legacies of Teddy Roosevelt - HISTORY - 0 views

www.history.com/...teddy-roosevelt-legacies

shared by delgadool on 19 Jan 20 - No Cached
  • 1. He Was America’s First Cowboy President
  • 2. He Was the First US President to Win a Nobel Peace Prize
  • 3. He Passed Laws for Clean Meat
  • ...4 more annotations...
  • 4. He Spared a Bear and Inspired the Teddy Bear
  • 5. He Helped Save Football
  • 6. He Became an Anti-Corporate Crusader
  • 7. He Championed Conservation
katherineharron

Criminalizing Trump may undermine the Biden presidency - CNN - 0 views

www.cnn.com/...index.html

trump

shared by katherineharron on 20 Nov 20 - No Cached
  • The 2020 election is over, and Joe Biden won.
  • It's time to get on with the transition and move America forward.
  • President-elect Joe Biden ran a campaign to heal the nation. He wants to turn the political temperature down in America and seek bipartisan agreements on matters of public policy. In short, Biden wants to steady the ship of state and return White House operations to some semblance of normalcy.
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  • To advance his "Build Back Better" agenda, Biden must look forward, not backward
  • No doubt Biden will hear demands from some elements of the Democratic base to "lock him up" and cries to unleash the full power of the US Department of Justice against his vanquished opponent, Donald Trump. And why not? After all, it's a fair turn of events given the numerous Trump campaign rallies where shameful chants of "lock her up," a reference to Hillary Clinton and her alleged misdeeds, were a regular refrain. There have been reports that Biden has expressed reluctance in pursuing investigations of Trump, concerned it would further divide the country.
  • Trump was impeached by the House of Representatives for abuse of office and obstruction regarding his brazen attempt to pressure Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate the Bidens in exchange for the release of promised military aid. Though Trump has denied any quid pro quo, impeachment will forever be a stain on Donald Trump's record, reputation and legacy. And it will hurt.
  • none of this is to suggest that Trump has not violated norms, traditions and standards of conduct with alarming indifference to the damage he has brought upon the presidency itself; he most assuredly has swung a wrecking ball at the very institutions that undergird the American constitutional order.
  • Trump and his supporters would cry "witch hunt," which may pressure Republican lawmakers to push back against Biden's forward-looking agenda on Covid-19, infrastructure and other important issues.
  • Just as impeachment dominated the narrative and virtually every news cycle, so would a federal criminal prosecution that nearly half of Americans would label political.
  • Mueller found no criminal conspiracy but did not exonerate the President on the question of obstruction.
  • For those who believe impeachment was not enough of a sanction, then the legal problems of Trump and his family under investigation by authorities in the State of New York could bring some satisfaction.
  • Not putting pressure on the US Department of Justice to prosecute Trump will be unpopular with much of the Democratic base, but it may be necessary to steer the ship of state from turbulent and dangerous waters. It won't be easy. The alternative will be more bitterness and the never-ending cycle of hostility that define today's American political debate.
rerobinson03

Islam - Five Pillars, Nation of Islam & Definition - HISTORY - 0 views

www.history.com/...islam

shared by rerobinson03 on 31 Oct 20 - No Cached
  • Islam is the second largest religion in the world after Christianity, with about 1.8 billion Muslims worldwide.
  • 7th century
  • Islam started in Mecca, in modern-day Saudi Arabia, during the time of the prophet Muhammad’s life.
  • ...25 more annotations...
  • , making it the youngest of the major world religions.
  • The word “Islam” means “submission to the will of God.”
  • Muslims are monotheistic and worship one, all-knowing God, who in Arabic is known as Allah.
  • Followers of Islam aim to live a life of complete submission to Allah
  • Mosques are places where Muslims worship.
  • The prophet Muhammad
  • was born in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, in 570 A.D
  • Muslims believe he was the final prophet sent by God to reveal their faith to mankind.
  • Starting in about 613, Muhammad began preaching throughout Mecca the messages he received. He taught that there was no other God but Allah and that Muslims should devote their lives to this God.
  • n 622, Muhammad traveled from Mecca to Medina with his supporters. This journey became known as the Hijra
  • marks the beginning of the Islamic calendar.
  • He continued to preach until his death in 632.
  • After Muhammad’s passing, Islam began to spread rapidly.  A series of leaders, known as caliphs, became successors to Muhammad. This system of leadership, which was run by a Muslim ruler, became known as a caliphate.
  • During the reign of the first four caliphs, Arab Muslims conquered large regions in the Middle East, including Syria, Palestine, Iran and Iraq. Islam also spread throughout areas in Europe, Africa, and Asia.
  • he caliphate system lasted for centuries and eventually evolved into the Ottoman Empire, which controlled large regions in the Middle East from about 1517 until 1917, when World War I ended the Ottoman reign.
  • When Muhammad died, there was debate over who should replace him as leader. This led to a schism in Islam, and two major sects emerged: the Sunnis and the Shiites.
  • The Quran (sometimes spelled Qur’an or Koran) is considered the most important holy book among Muslims.
  • t contains some basic information that is found in the Hebrew Bible as well as revelations that were given to Muhammad.
  • The book is written with Allah as the first person, speaking through Gabriel to Muhammad. It contains 114 chapters, which are called surahs.
  • The Islamic calendar, also called the Hijra calendar, is a lunar calendar used in Islamic religious worship. The calendar began in the year 622 A.D., celebrating the journey of Muhammad from Mecca to Medina.
  • Muslims follow five basic pillars that are essential to their faith. These include:Shahada: to declare one’s faith in God and belief in MuhammadSalat: to pray five times a day (at dawn, noon, afternoon, sunset, and evening)Zakat: to give to those in needSawm: to fast during RamadanHajj: to make a pilgrimage to Mecca at least once during a person’s lifetime if the person is able
  • Islam’s legal system is known as Sharia Law. This faith-based code of conduct directs Muslims on how they should live in nearly every aspect of their lives.
  • The prophet Muhammad is credited with building the first mosque in the courtyard of his house in Medina.
  • Muslim prayer is often conducted in a mosque's large open space or outdoor courtyard. A mihrab is a decorative feature or niche in the mosque that indicates the direction to Mecca, and therefore the direction to face during prayer.
  • Men and women pray separately, and Muslims may visit a mosque five times a day for each of the prayer sessions.
lilyrashkind

French and Indian War - Seven Years War - HISTORY - 0 views

www.history.com/...french-and-indian-war

french indian war history

shared by lilyrashkind on 16 Jan 22 - No Cached
  • Also known as the Seven Years’ War, this New World conflict marked another chapter in the long imperial struggle between Britain and France.
  • William Pitt, the British turned the tide with victories at Louisbourg, Fort Frontenac and the French-Canadian stronghold of Quebec. At the 1763 peace conference, the British received the territories of Canada from France and Florida from Spain, opening the Mississippi Valley to westward expansion.
  • In the early 1750s, France’s expansion into the Ohio River valley repeatedly brought it into conflict with the claims of the British colonies, especially Virginia. In 1754, the French built Fort Duquesne where the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers joined to form the Ohio River (in today’s Pittsburgh), making it a strategically important stronghold that the British repeatedly attacked. 
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  • During 1754 and 1755, the French won a string of victories, defeating in quick succession the young George Washington, Gen. Edward Braddock and Braddock’s successor, Governor William Shirley of Massachusetts. In 1755, Governor Shirley, fearing that the French settlers in Nova Scotia (Acadia) would side with France in any military confrontation, expelled hundreds of them to other British colonies; many of the exiles suffered cruelly. Throughout this period, the British military effort was hampered by lack of interest at home, rivalries among the American colonies and France’s greater success in winning the support of the Indians. 
  • The tide turned in 1757 because William Pitt, the new British leader, saw the colonial conflicts as the key to building a vast British empire. Borrowing heavily to finance the war, he paid Prussia to fight in Europe and reimbursed the colonies for raising troops in North America. 
  • In July 1758, the British won their first great victory at Louisbourg, near the mouth of the St. Lawrence River. A month later, they took Fort Frontenac at the western end of the river. 
  • The British then closed in on Quebec, where Gen. James Wolfe won a spectacular victory in the Battle of Quebec on the Plains of Abraham in September of 1759 (though both he and the French commander, the Marquis de Montcalm, were fatally wounded). 
  • The arrangement strengthened the American colonies significantly by removing their European rivals to the
  • north and south and opening the Mississippi Valley to westward expansion.
  • The British crown borrowed heavily from British and Dutch bankers to bankroll the war, doubling British national debt. King George II argued that since the French and Indian War benefited the colonists by securing their borders, they should contribute to paying down the war debt.To defend his newly won territory from future attacks, King George II also decided to install permanent British army units in the Americas, which required additional sources of revenue.
  • Fifteen years after the Treaty of Paris, French bitterness over the loss of most of their colonial empire contributed to their intervention on the side of the colonists in the Revolutionary War.
kaylynfreeman

How the US could help Uighur Muslims in China with 5 steps - Vox - 0 views

www.vox.com/...uslims-trump-forced-labor-help

Politics US trump history crisis Culture

shared by kaylynfreeman on 14 Jan 21 - No Cached
  • That rare consensus in Washington has generated some action, most importantly the Uighur Human Rights Policy Act, which President Donald Trump signed into law last month. The law imposes sanctions on foreign individuals and entities involved in abuses in Xinjiang and requires the president to periodically “send Congress a list identifying foreign individuals and entities responsible for such human rights abuses.
  • The US has invoked that and other laws to sanction several Chinese companies and individuals — most prominently Chen Quanguo, who governs Xinjiang and is a top member of the politburo in China.
  • But many activists and experts say it’s not enough, and that the US can and should do more to pressure China.
lmunch

Timothy Head: In Georgia Senate runoff elections, choice for Christian voters is clear ... - 0 views

www.foxnews.com/...lections-abortion-timothy-head

Georgia Politics gop

shared by lmunch on 03 Jan 21 - No Cached
  • American evangelicals broke their own records as well. They demonstrated overwhelming support for President Trump, all while showing up to the polls in the largest numbers in American history. In total, evangelicals made up 28% of the electorate in 2020, ensuring a tidal wave of support for faith-based concerns and Christian values.
  • As we approach the Tuesday Senate runoff elections in Georgia, where 79% of the population identifies as Christian and 38% identifies as evangelical, these same voters will decide who will represent Georgia in the Senate.
  • First and foremost, one of the biggest issues for American evangelicals is abortion. Evangelicals are decidedly pro-life; Pew research has found that a whopping 77% of evangelicals support making abortion illegal in all or most cases.
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  • Warnock has repeatedly expressed his belief that abortion is consistent with Christianity and has proclaimed he will "always fight for reproductive justice."
  • Loeffler and Perdue, by contrast, are unapologetically pro-life, and they both support banning late-term abortions. Both voted for the Born Alive Survivors Protection Act, a bill that pledged to protect the lives of babies born alive after abortions.
  • It’s an open secret that the radical, progressive wing of the Democratic Party wants to push Democratic elected officials further left. If the Democrats control the House of Representatives, the Senate and the White House, they would have almost free rein to enact whatever policies they see fit.
  • The Democrats would be that much closer to packing the Supreme Court to legislate the liberal agenda from the bench. Leading Democrats and even Joe Biden himself have already signaled their willingness to repeal the Hyde Amendment, a vital piece of legislation that ensures no federal funding supports abortions. That’s not even to mention the Democrats' growing hostility to true religious liberty for Christians.
Javier E

Opinion | America Looks Hopelessly Broke. It Isn't. - The New York Times - 0 views

www.nytimes.com/...ng-modern-monetary-theory.html

deficit government employment stimulus funding

shared by Javier E on 25 Jul 20 - No Cached
  • The Price of Peace,” Zachary Carter’s incisive biography of the British economist John Maynard Keynes, which illustrates the awesome power of economic theory to alter the fates of nations and the lives of millions of people.
  • “The Deficit Myth,” in which the economist Stephanie Kelton convincingly overturns the conventional wisdom that federal budget deficits are somehow bad for the nation.
  • Together, they suggest a compelling political, moral and economic case for the federal government to begin to do, again, what it once saw as its duty — to make big, bold and even expensive investments to improve the lives of Americans, and perhaps of people around the world.
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  • whenever anyone is brave enough to suggest that the government itself should provide useful services to Americans — whether big-ticket items like health care, child care and college education, or smaller things like an upgraded electric grid or a national broadband service — the first reaction from many on the right and the left is one of defeat and resignation. “How will you pay for it?” they ask. And, often, the whole conversation stops right there, because with a $26.5 trillion national debt, America looks hopelessly broke.
  • t is not. Kelton argues that our government’s inability to provide for citizens isn’t due to a lack for money; instead, our leaders lack political will.
  • Modern Monetary Theory, or M.M.T. The theory argues that because the government is in charge of its own currency, it cannot “run out” of money the way a household or a business can, and it therefore does not need to raise taxes to fund government spending.
  • Instead of being constrained by deficits, Kelton and other M.M.T.ers argue, policymakers should care about “real” measures of economic activity: unemployment and inflation.
  • Whatever the deficit, if unemployment is rife, it’s an indication that aggregate demand is low; to boost demand, the government can freely spend, spend, spend — and should stop spending only when there is a danger that it will lead to a rise in prices — that is, inflation
  • In practice, Kelton and other M.M.T.ers propose a federal jobs guarantee, in which the government would hire anyone who needs a job for a set wage. The policy, she argues, would promote full employment while keeping inflation stable.
  • in the 40 years since Ronald Reagan won the White House, both the left and the right have been unnecessarily obsessed with deficits, to the detriment of the well-being of citizens.
  • The cruelest example of this mind-set occurred after the Great Recession in 2008. At the time, many experts suggested that an adequate response to the downturn would require the government to spend a trillion dollars or more to boost demand. Instead, Obama and his aides, worried about sticker shock, lowballed their stimulus, and millions of people remained unemployed.
  • Keynesianism “is not so much a school of economic thought as a spirit of radical optimism, unjustified by most of human history and extremely difficult to conjure up precisely when it is most needed: during the depths of a depression or amid the fevers of war.”
brookegoodman

The Russian Revolution, Through American Eyes - HISTORY - 0 views

www.history.com/...volution-through-american-eyes

history politics

shared by brookegoodman on 31 May 20 - No Cached
  • On a muggy July night in 1917, American journalist Arno Dosch-Fleurot joined the protestors parading along Petrograd’s Nevsky Prospekt when gunshots suddenly rang out. Banners pleading for liberty and freedom crashed to the ground as blood stained the Russian capital’s most fashionable thoroughfare. After diving for cover in a gutter, the New York World correspondent came face-to-face with a Russian officer and asked him what was happening. “The Russians, my countrymen, are idiots,” he replied. “This is a white night of madness.”
  • “St. Petersburg was a very Western-looking city with much more contact with Western culture than Moscow,” Rappaport tells HISTORY. In addition to a large British population, the city was home to a sizable American community that included employees of major corporations such International Harvester, the Singer Sewing Machine Company and Westinghouse. The American presence only grew after the start of World War I as entrepreneurs arrived to sell weapons to the imperial government.
  • Empty stomachs, rather than political philosophy, launched the onset of the Russian Revolution, and Rappaport says the spark that ignited the political tinderbox came on March 8, 1917, when tens of thousands of protestors marked International Women’s Day by marching through the streets of Petrograd demanding not just the right to vote—but food for their families. In the ensuing days, the protests grew in size and turned violent as the imperial forces tried to keep order. Courts, police stations and other buildings of the czarist regime were torched. Morgues could not keep up with the flow of bodies, which were flung into mass graves.
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  • Unfortunately, the February Revolution also mimicked the French Revolution by giving way to anarchy, violence and repression. As Alexander Kerensky’s provisional government floundered, Petrograd’s expatriates watched in horror as the air of optimism quickly grew toxic. Their diaries and letters detail the descent into violence as looting and killing became a common occurrence.
  • The February Revolution had surprised the Bolsheviks as much as anyone, and they were not powerful enough to take control early in 1917, Rappaport says. The return of Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin from exile, however, galvanized the radical socialists. By the fall of 1917, the residents of Petrograd were so desperate for relief from the seemingly endless chaos that they cared little about who could bring it.
  • Rappaport says the first-hand accounts of Americans and other foreigners in Petrograd are valuable because they provide an unvarnished window into the events of 1917. “These were private citizens writing personal diary entries or letters. They didn’t have a particular political agenda. I looked at Russian accounts and had to wade through so much tedious politics. Their response, though, was natural and instinctive.”
Javier E

'U.S. Workers Only': Companies Hesitate to Hire Foreign M.B.A. Students - WSJ - 0 views

www.wsj.com/...eign-m-b-a-students-1533124800

immigration international students MBA

shared by Javier E on 02 Aug 18 - No Cached
  • If he could do all over again, he said, he wouldn’t choose a school in the U.S.
  • “It was really, really difficult,” said Mr. Asif, who sent out more than 1,000 job applications in recent months and said he repeatedly got the message in interviews with companies and from job postings that his lack of permanent work authorization was a hurdle. “If I could go back, I would choose another country which offers more stability.”
  • The tougher hiring climate for foreign workers is having, in turn, a chilling effect on international applications to U.S. universities. For the first time in over a decade, foreign applications to two-year M.B.A. programs were down last year at the vast majority of U.S. schools, and fell 5.8% nationwide, according to GMAC.
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  • That decline is on track to continue this fall, after the nation’s business programs received 13% fewer GMAT score reports from foreign applicants for the coming academic years
  • Meanwhile, the data show business schools in Europe and Canada, such as Insead in France and the Rotman School of Management in Toronto, have seen an uptick in applications from international students.
  • At Texas A&M University’s Mays Business School, international enrollment fell 40% last year, to just 24 students in the Class of 2019, the school said. At Columbia University and University of Georgia business schools, officials said international enrollment was down 14% and 32%, respectively.
ethanshilling

What the 'Invisible' People Cleaning the Subway Want Riders to Know - The New York Times - 0 views

www.nytimes.com/...covid-mta-subway-cleaning.html

new york pandemic

shared by ethanshilling on 26 Mar 21 - No Cached
  • Yaneth Ochoa, a Colombian woman who lives in Queens, was glad to find a job cleaning the subway last summer, as demolition jobs had dried up during the pandemic.
  • But as trains rolled into the Jamaica-179 Street Station in Queens, she learned she would not just be wiping down cars to remove traces of the coronavirus.
  • Like workers at end-of-line stations all over New York City, Ms. Ochoa, 30, was expected to scrub away grime, sputum and even human excrement, she said, without adequate training or special equipment.
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  • Cleaning the New York City subway has always been a dirty job. But when the pandemic hit last spring, it became even more challenging.
  • The thousands of workers the contractors hired — largely low-income immigrants from Latin America — were envisioned as a stopgap measure, as M.T.A. workers were falling ill and dying of the virus.
  • Now, as the M.T.A. prepares to welcome more riders, the workers are pushing back, raising concerns about their safety, salaries and working conditions that they say feel like exploitation.
  • The New York Times interviewed a dozen contract cleaners, including three who in late February had met with Patrick J. Foye, the chairman and chief executive of the M.T.A. to describe their job and share a list of “needs” with transit agency leadership.
  • “It’s so scary to be left without work right now that you’ll accept almost anything,” she said.
  • A spokeswoman for the M.T.A., Abbey Collins, said the agency was disinfecting the subway with the help of “licensed and reputable outside companies whose performance is monitored regularly.”
  • Ms. Ochoa, who earned around $15 per hour, New York State’s minimum wage, finally quit after refusing to clean a train smeared with excrement with just a few rags, she said.
  • “If you’ve got workers on the property for a year, it’s a matter of basic equality,” said Zachary Arcidiacono, the chair of the Train Operators Division for the union.
  • The cleaning program, which the M.T.A. plans to continue indefinitely, will cost about $300 million this year.
  • Their accounts paint a picture of dismal working conditions, and highlight their unequal treatment compared with transit cleaners, who are paid up to $30 an hour and enjoy health insurance and other benefits, uniforms and MetroCards to swipe themselves into the system.
  • Transit officials said they had called on City Hall to send more police officers and mental health workers into the subway to ensure that all workers and passengers were safe.
  • “Many people were getting paid minimum wage or just a dollar or two more,” Mr. Tecaxco said. “The conditions were terrible.”
  • Ms. Muñoz, who cleaned the offices of an architecture firm before the pandemic, said the work was taxing and the rules were strict. Workers were let go for arriving minutes late, or for calling in sick, including from Covid-19, she said.
  • Ms. Muñoz said she was fired in November without explanation. As the sole provider for her four children and parents in Puebla, Mexico, she pleaded to keep her job.
  • Since then, she has not found steady work; she cleans someone’s home every two weeks. As for her former co-workers at the end of the Q line, “My compañeros are still there,” Ms. Muñoz said. “Nothing has changed.”
anniina03

Naruhito: Japan's emperor formally proclaims enthronement in centuries-old ceremony - CNN - 0 views

www.cnn.com/...index.html

culture history

shared by anniina03 on 24 Oct 19 - No Cached
  • Japan's Emperor Naruhito has officially proclaimed his enthronement, in a ritual-bound, centuries-old ceremony attended by more than a hundred dignitaries from around the world.
  • The head of state began his reign in May, after his father, Akihito, became the first emperor to abdicate in 200 years. But on Tuesday, Naruhito, 59, announced his change in status to the world, in an elaborate series of rituals known as "Sokui no Rei"
  • Prime Minister Shinzo Abe stood before Naruhito's throne, and read a speech. He then bowed deeply and yelled "Long live the emperor!" As Naruhito ascended the throne, boxes were placed next to him that are believed to contain a sword and ancient jewel that, according to legend, date back to the mythical forefather of Japan's first emperor, Jimmu, who ruled almost 2,700 years ago. Along with a fabled octagonal mirror, they form Japan's royal regalia, or the Three Sacred Treasures. The sword and the jewel are so sacred that they've never been seen in public.
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  • The high-profile occasion comes as Japan reels from Typhoon Hagibis -- one of the strongest storms to hit the country in years. The typhoon left dozens dead and caused extensive damage after it smashed into the country earlier this month.The devastation prompted the palace to postpone a 4.6-kilometer (2.9-mile) public parade from the Imperial Palace to Akasaka Palace until November.
  • On Friday, the government announced that about 550,000 petty criminals will be pardoned to mark the emperor's enthronement.
  • Unlike other monarchs, Naruhito is a symbol of the state rather than the head of state, and the Japanese emperor wields no political power. .m-infographic--1556606459996 { background: url(//cdn.cnn.com/cnn/.e/interactive/html5-video-media/2019/04/30/Japan_Imperial_family_2019_new_smallx2.png) no-repeat 0 0 transparent; margin-bottom: 30px; padding-top: 233.33333333333334%; width: 100%; -moz-background-size: cover; -o-background-size: cover; -webkit-background-size: cover; background-size: cover; } @media (min-width: 640px) { .m-infographic--1556606459996{ background-image: url(//cdn.cnn.com/cnn/.e/interactive/html5-video-media/2019/04/30/Japan_Imperial_family_2019_new_medium.png); padding-top: 59.13978494623656%; } } @media (min-width: 1120px) { .m-infographic--1556606459996{ background-image: url(//cdn.cnn.com/cnn/.e/interactive/html5-video-media/2019/04/30/Japan_Imperial_family_2019_new_medium.png); padding-top: 59.13978494623656%; } }
tsainten

How the Wealthy World Has Failed Poor Countries During the Pandemic - The New York Times - 0 views

www.nytimes.com/...oronavirus-imf-world-bank.html

economy global economics pandemic

shared by tsainten on 02 Nov 20 - No Cached
  • On the other side of the world in Washington, two deep-pocketed organizations, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, vowed to spare poor countries from desperation. Their economists warned that immense relief was required to prevent a humanitarian catastrophe and profound damage to global prosperity. Emerging markets make up 60 percent of the world economy, by one I.M.F. measure. A blow to their fortunes inflicts pain around the planet.
  • The shutdown of tourism has punished many developing countries.
  • Billions of people have lost the wherewithal to buy food, increasing malnutrition. By next year, the pandemic could push 150 million people into extreme poverty, the World Bank has warned, in the first increase in more than two decades.
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  • ut the World Bank and the I.M.F. have failed to translate their concern into meaningful support, say economists. That has left less-affluent countries struggling with limited resources and untenable debts, prompting their governments to reduce spending just as it is needed to bolster health care systems and aid people suffering lost income.
  • The wealthiest nations have been cushioned by extraordinary surges of credit unleashed by central banks and government spending collectively estimated at more than $8 trillion. Developing countries have yet to receive help on such a scale.
  • A longtime government finance official who worked in the Trump administration’s Treasury Department, he has displayed contempt for the World Bank and the I.M.F.
  • “The World Bank Group intends to respond forcefully and massively,” Mr. Malpass said. At the I.M.F., Ms. Georgieva said she would not hesitate to tap the institution’s $1 trillion lending capacity. “This is, in my lifetime, humanity’s darkest hour,” she declared.
  • $11 billion going to low-income countries.
  • excessive faith in a widely hailed initiative that aimed to relieve poor nations of their debt burdens to foreign creditors. In April 2020, at a virtual summit of the Group of 20, world leaders agreed to pause debt payments through the end of the year.
  • World leaders played up the program as a way to encourage poor countries to spend as needed, without worrying about their debts. But the plan exempted the largest group of creditors: the global financial services industry, including banks, asset managers and hedge funds.
  • As the pandemic spread, Pakistan raised health care spending but cut support for social service programs as it prioritized debt payments.
  • Mr. Summers recently described the debt suspension initiative as “a squirt gun meeting a massive conflagration.”
  • Private creditors maintain that poor countries have not requested relief, recognizing that credit rating agencies may treat debt suspension as a default — a status that jeopardizes their future ability to borrow.
  • the I.M.F. has allocated $500 million to cover the costs of debt suspension, while handing out more than $100 billion in fresh loans. More than $11 billion from the loan proceeds has paid off private creditors, according to a report from the Jubilee Debt Campaign.
martinelligi

What happens if the President of the United States can't serve? (Opinion) - CNN - 0 views

www.cnn.com/...index.html

president united states pandemic crisis

shared by martinelligi on 06 Oct 20 - No Cached
  • But the 25th Amendment, fortunately, is both clear and specific about what happens if the president is "unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office." That may be because the 25th Amendment is one of the newest on the books, proposed in 1965 and ratified in 1967, shortly after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy (which raised questions about what would happen if a president was rendered comatose).
  • After this certification, the vice president assumes the powers of the presidency. The president, in turn, can contest this by certifying to congressional leaders that "no inability exists," at which point he returns to power -- but it's not necessarily over at that point.
  • There also is no clear answer as to whether and when we go into succession if the president has passed away or is incapacitated and the vice president is alive but incapacitated. And, while the Presidential Succession Act specifies that the speaker of the House and Senate president pro tempore are third and fourth in line to the presidency, followed by the secretary of state, there is a constitutional question about whether congressional leaders can properly assume the presidency by succession, or whether the secretary of state should properly be next in line after the vice president.
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  • Even in the exceedingly unlikely event that Congress passes and the President signs legislation postponing the 2020 general election, the date can only be pushed back so far. The 20th Amendment to the Constitution requires that the terms of the president and vice president end at noon on January 20. The Constitution can, of course, be amended, but that requires votes of two-thirds of both the House and the Senate, plus ratification from three-fourths of all state legislatures. That simply is not going to happen, either as a political or practical matter, before January 2021.
rerobinson03

The Black Death: A Timeline of the Gruesome Pandemic - HISTORY - 0 views

www.history.com/...black-death-timeline

shared by rerobinson03 on 01 Nov 20 - No Cached
  • Modern genetic analysis suggests that the Bubonic plague was caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis or Y. pestis. Chief among its symptoms are painfully swollen lymph glands that form pus-filled boils called buboes. Sufferers also face fever, chills, headaches, shortness of breath, hemorrhaging, bloody sputum, vomiting and delirium, and if it goes untreated, a survival rate of 50 percent.
  • It is possibly passed to humans by a tarabagan, a type of marmot. The deadliest outbreak is in the Mongol capital of Sarai, which the Mongols carry west to the Black Sea area.
  • Mongol King Janiberg and his army are in the nearby city of Tana when a brawl erupts between Italian merchants and a group of Muslims. Following the death of one of the Muslims, the Italians flee by sea to the Genoese outpost of Caffa and Janiberg follow on land. Upon arrival at Caffa, Janiberg’s army lays siege for a year but they are stricken with an outbreak. As the army catapults the infected bodies of their dead over city walls, the under-siege Genoese become infected also.
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  • A different plague strain enters Europe through Genoa, brought by another Caffan ship that docks there. The Genoans attack the ship and drive it away, but they are still infected. Italy faces this second strain while already battling the previous one.
  • Y. pestis also heads east from Sicily into the Persian Empire and through Greece, Bulgaria, Romania and Poland, and south to Egypt, as well as Cyprus, which is also hit with destruction from an earthquake and deadly tidal wave at the same time.
  • The plague also moves through Austria and Switzerland, where a fury of anti-Semitic massacres follow it along the Rhine after a rumor spreads that Jews had caused the plague by poisoning wells
  • The plague awakes an anti-Semitic rage around Europe, causing repeated massacres of Jewish communities, with the first one taking place in Provence, where 40 Jews were murdered.
  • the plague kills 60 percent of the Venetian population.
  • A group of religious zealots known as the Flagellants first begin to appear in Germany. These groups of anywhere from 50 to 500 hooded and half-naked men march, sing and thrash themselves with lashes until swollen and bloody. Originally the practice of 11th-century Italian monks during an epidemic, they spread out through Europe. Also known for their violent anti-Semitism,
  • The plague enters England through the port of Melcombe Regis, in Dorset. As it spreads through the town, some escape by fleeing inland, inadvertently spreading it further.
  • An English ship brings the Black Death to Norway when it runs aground in Bergen
  • While waiting on the border to begin the attack, troops became infected, with 5,000 dying. Choosing to retreat, the soldiers bring the disease back to their families and a third of Scotland perishes.
  • The plague’s spread significantly begins to peter out, possibly thanks to quarantine efforts, after causing the deaths of anywhere between 25 to 50 million people, and leading to the massacres of 210 Jewish communities. All total, Europe has lost about 50 percent of its population.
  • With the Black Death considered safely behind them, the people of Europe face a changed society
  • It becomes easier to get work for better wages and the average standard of living rises.
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