The British Journalist

You cannot hope
to bribe or twist,
thank God!
the British journalist.

But, seeing what
the man will do
unbribed, there’s
no occasion to.

Humbert Wolfe (1886 – 1940)

Εχουμε deal με τρόικα;

Εν Σπάρτη

Δεν ήξερεν ο βασιλεύς Κλεομένης, δεν τολμούσε-
δεν ήξερε έναν τέτοιον λόγο πώς να πει
προς την μητέρα του: ότι απαιτούσε ο Πτολεμαίος
για εγγύησιν της συμφωνίας των ν’ αποσταλεί κι αυτή
εις Αίγυπτον και να φυλάττεται•
λίαν ταπεινωτικόν, ανοίκειον πράγμα.
Κι όλο ήρχονταν για να μιλήσει• κι όλο δίσταζε.
Κι όλο άρχιζε να λέγει• κι όλο σταματούσε.

Μα η υπέροχη γυναίκα τον κατάλαβε
(είχεν ακούσει κιόλα κάτι διαδόσεις σχετικές),
και τον ενθάρρυνε να εξηγηθεί.
Και γέλασε• κ’ είπε βεβαίως πιαίνει.
Και μάλιστα χαίρονταν που μπορούσε νάναι
στο γήρας της οφέλιμη στην Σπάρτη ακόμη.

Όσο για την ταπείνωσι – μα αδιαφορούσε.
Το φρόνημα της Σπάρτης ασφαλώς δεν ήταν ικανός
να νοιώσει ένας Λαγίδης χθεσινός•
όθεν κ’ η απαίτησίς του δεν μπορούσε
πραγματικώς να ταπεινώσει Δέσποιναν
Επιφανή ως αυτήν• Σπαρτιάτου βασιλέως μητέρα.

Κ. Π. Καβάφης

Η Ανάπτυξη, όπως την καταλαβαίνουν στο ΔΝΤ

«Phase one is growth. You get a lot of foreign investment. It is mainly relocation of production facilities. Cheap brown people to do dirty jobs for nothing. You dig up, cut down everything you can. The locals deregulate everything because the World Bank tells them it will attract foreign investment. Government-owned businesses are sold cheaply to the favoured sons and their foreign cronies. Government controls are relaxed as the foreigners tell the locals that it will create jobs and wealth.

‘In phase two, living standards improve for the fortunate. For the bulk of people nothing changes, of course. A middle class develops chasing McDonald’s and Wal-Mart consumer heaven. Property prices and shares go crazy. More and more money comes in. Local banks lend recklessly. Foreign banks lend recklessly to local banks. The foreign banks think the local banks won’t fail because of government support. Investors dive in. They talk about “growth” and “portfolio diversification”. People are excited. Prices spiral up as the tidal wave of money pours in.

‘Phase three. Costs rise to levels that make the economies uncompetitive. They are not cheap any more. Alas, the capitalist caravan must move on. Everything is over priced. Politicians talk bravely about the “need to move up the value chain”. They launch ambitious initiatives – the world’s tallest building, the world’s longest building, a new port in a country which has no sea access, bridges over rivers between two cities that do not exist, entire new cities! Locals bristle at any criticism. Everybody tries to shake off the opprobrium of being an emerging market nation. Talk of new paradigms becomes popular – “the Asian century”, “Asian values”.

Prices don’t make any rational sense. You only buy because you think you can sell it tomorrow to someone else at a higher price. You are caught in an endless spiral of higher and higher prices. Fear and greed rule financial markets. You are afraid that you might miss out. Your greed is endless.

‘Then, of course, kaput. It all collapses’.»

Satyajit Das: «Tr a d e r s , G u n s & M o n e y»

Human Behavior

«Human behavior was never explained as merely habitual, capricious, accidental, superstitious, religious, altruistic, or as simply emotional and nonrational. All human acts came to be seen as the consequence of rational, calculated decisions in which the individual acted much like an accountant, weighing all of the benefits (pleasures) that would come from any particular act, deducting all the costs (pains) of that act, and then rationally choosing the action that would maximize the surplus of pleasure over pain. Thus, in modern neoclassical textbooks on microeconomic theory, all human behavior is reduced to rational, calculated attempts to maximize either profits or utility».

History of Economic Thought

Civil Government

«…civil government, so far as it is instituted for the security of property, is in reality instituted for the defence of the rich against the poor, or of those who have some property against those who have none at all».

Adam Smith

Στη Λιβερία η σημαία ευκαιρίας, στις ΗΠΑ τα έσοδα και οι θέσεις εργασίας

«Fortunately, the shipping registry service is in good shape, after suffering badly during the war. Today, the country’s “Lone Star” flag flies on about 3,750 ships, second only to Panama, and Liberian vessels carry about a third of the oil imported by the US each year. The service, run by a US company, Liberian International Ship & Corporate Registry, nets the government more than $20m a year, and the revenue is increasing. The drawback is that the registry provides precious few jobs for Liberians – something the government is acutely aware of.

FT 14/09/2012

Lenin vs Koran

«The intellectual diet of Leninism was as compulsory for every Soviet citizen as the Koran is for an observing Muslim. On 1 January 1990 in the Soviet Union there were more than 653 million copies of Lenin’s writings in 125 languages—perhaps the only area of abundance achieved by Communist effort».

Dmitri Volkogonov: «Lenin»

Lex Romana Burgundionum

«XII Of Stealing Girls

If anyone shall steal a girl, let him be compelled to pay the price set for such a girl ninefold, and let him pay a fine to the amount of twelve solidi.
If a girl who has been seized returns uncorrupted to her parents, let the abductor compound six times the wergeld of the girl; moreover, let the fine be set at twelve solidi.
If indeed, the girl seeks the man of her own will and comes to his house, and he has intercourse with her, let him pay her marriage price threefold; if moreover, she returns uncorrupted to her home, let her return with all blame removed from him».

 

Από το βιβλίο: «Vanished Kingdoms:The Rise and Fall of States and Nations»

The Ideology of Media Journalism

«Whatever the individual aspirations of its reporters and editors, the ideology of media journalism is the ideology of consumerism, presentism, competition, hyperbole (characteristics evoked in its readers and watchers)—as well as skepticism, envy, and contempt (the reactions it rains on government officials). No State that bases its legitimacy on claims of continuity with tradition, that requires citizen self-sacrifice, that depends on a consensus of respect, can prosper for very long in such an environment. It must either change so as to become less vulnerable to such assaults, or resort to repression. Some nation-states do the latter; the liberal democracies, whose claims to ensure civil liberties are as much a part of their reason for being as any other functions, cannot do this».

Philip Bobbitt: «The Shield of Achilles»