Get More Bost and Cutler - Now!

Mike Bost explosion: One of the best political rants you’ll ever see: "Illinois state Rep. Mike Bost’s (R) explosion on the floor of the Illinois state House may go down in history as one of the great political rants of all time." Aaron Blake, 053012

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/post/mike-bost-explosion-one-of-the-best-political-rants-youll-ever-see/2012/05/30/gJQAnzZc2U_blog.html


Mike Bost
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Bost






Ivor Cutler (1923–2006)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivor_Cutler

Looking for Truth with a Pin (Ivor Cutler Documentary) [1/6]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AmEARHNmsZg

The Imperial Downfall - And As Usual There Are No Fucking Barbarians That Can Take Care Of It All

… there are no barbarians any longer


Now what’s going to happen to us without barbarians?


Those people were a kind of solution.

Constantine Cavafy

In BBC Magazine, 25 May 2012, there is a good text that compare today with the fall of the Roman Empire (- i.e. it can´t be hidden any more).

Viewpoint: The time Britain slid into chaos, The social unrest, economic gloom and austerity in Europe today mirrors one of the greatest crises in British history, says the historian Michael Wood.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-18159752


The same day, 25 May 2012, in The Wall Street Journal: New signs of a global slowdown are darkening the economic outlook.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304840904577423961992317658.html

....

Update 19 July 2012: America's fascination with the apocalypse
BBC, 19 July 2012
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-18877449



Update 17 June 2012: The Perils of Ignoring History -This Time, Europe Really Is on the Brink, A Commentary by Niall Ferguson and Nouriel Roubini 12 June 2012

The European Union was created to avoid repeating the disasters of the 1930s, but Germany, of all countries, has failed to learn from history. As the euro crisis escalates, Berlin should remember how the banking crisis of 1931 contributed to the breakdown of democracy across Europe. Action is urgently needed to stop history from repeating itself.

http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/the-germans-have-learned-nothing-from-history-a-838429.html





Update 25 May 2012: Theresa May: we'll stop migrants if euro collapses - The Government is drawing up plans for emergency immigration controls to curb an influx of Greeks and other European Union residents if the euro collapses, the Home Secretary discloses today.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/immigration/9291493/Theresa-May-well-stop-migrants-if-euro-collapses.html


....

However, the ultimate text about this topic is Waiting for the Barbarians by Constantine Cavafy (1863–1933).




Text: Waiting for the Barbarians
http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/181780

W. H. Auden has/had also some good points.



Text: The Fall of Rome
http://www.poetryarchive.org/poetryarchive/singlePoem.do?poemId=14280


But, back to Cavafy, to reach out for the full story - Ithaka:

When you set sail for Ithaca,
wish for the road to be long,
full of adventures, full of knowledge.


Please, note that the translation in the video is much better.



Text: Ithaka
http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/181782


Constantine Cavafy (1863-1933)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constantine_P._Cavafy

The Cavafy Archive website
http://www.cavafy.com/


W. H. Auden (1907-1973)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._H._Auden


Roman Empire
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Empire

Ithaca or Ithaka
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ithaca

Odysseus, king of Ithaca
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odysseus

Odyssey
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odyssey

The best about Here and Now - 2012 - The Foundation

Photo: David Shankbone http://blog.shankbone.org

Occupy Wall Street September 28, 2011

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occupy_Wall_Street

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johann _Wolfgang_von_Goethe

http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Johann _Wolfgang_von_Goethe #Elective_Affinities_.281808.29

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elective_Affinities

Here is the best that has been written about Europe right now - so far - and what I know of. Even if it is was written almost one year ago – but nothing has changed since then.

"... The young protesters' demands are modest. They want more citizen involvement, a reform of voting rights and curbs on the power of banks. One of the protest signs reads: "We are not against the system. The system is against us."

... It is also Europe's current state that prompts Frenchmen like Julien Boyer to head out to the Place Bellecour in Lyon every evening at 7 p.m. "The free republic," one of the banners reads. Phrases like "Let's be outraged!" "They're our banks!" and "Democracy 2.0" appear on other banners ...

 ... "One of the old officers said to me: Our revolution was easy. We had one enemy: the Portuguese government and the dictator. But who are you fighting?" ..."

From:  Fighting (for?) Europe - How European Elites Lost a Generation

"The European Union is in bad shape. Not only is the common currency in a shambles and the economies of many member states moribund, but young Europeans no longer see how the EU helps them. Millions of them are taking to the streets to demand a future. By Spiegel Staff" 230611

Read it all:

http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/
0,1518,769831,00.html


And more:


Spiegel Interview with Francis Fukuyama 'Where Is the Uprising from the Left?'

”Political scientist Francis Fukuyama was once the darling of American neo-conservatives. In a SPIEGEL interview, the author of "The End of History" explains why he now believes that the excesses of capitalism are a threat to democracy and asks why there is no "Tea Party on the left." 020112

http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/
0,1518,812208,00.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Fukuyama


Those Revolting Europeans
Paul Krugman, 060512

”The French are revolting. The Greeks, too. And it’s about time.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/07/opinion/
krugman-those-revolting-europeans.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Krugman


Outrage against Apathy - Occupy Movement Hopes for New Lease on Life

By Wiebke Hollersen, 050312

"The Occupy movement got off to a great start last fall, but living in a tent camp seemed less attractive during the Northern European winter. Now that spring is back, activists are hoping for a protest renaissance. But the loose-knit group still needs to figure out what it actually stands for."

http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/
0,1518,830906,00.html


In Sweden they produce strange arguments - to hide the simple fact that the protests are censored - deemed to be political incorrect. For example:

 “Betydelsen av att vara indignerad, I Sydeuropa har proteströrelserna engagerat hundratusentals människor. "Los indignados" kallas rörelsen som enar de som upprörs över hur den ekonomiska utvecklingen drabbar gemene man, samtidigt som demokratin hamnar på undantag när teknokrater tar över rodret. Hedvig Weibull om varför rörelsen hamnat i skymundan i svenska medier”

Sveriges radio, Kulturnytt, 250412
http://sverigesradio.se/sida/artikel.aspx?programid
=478&artikel=5079135

Why Nations Fail (or prosper) - Enjoy The Lecture!

Here is the link to to a very good lecture about: Why Nations Fail and down below is about the book the lecturer, has co-written.

To the video that is in my place for such stuff: Hyperpicture
http://hyperpicture.blogspot.se/2012/04/why-nations-fail-origins-of-power.html



20 May 2012 Update

The New York Review of Books

Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty
by Daron Acemoglu and James A. Robinson

By Jared Diamond, June 7, 2012

Diamond´s final remark:

Why Nations Fail should be required reading for politicians and anyone concerned with economic development. The authors’ discussions of what can and can’t be done today to improve conditions in poor countries are thought-provoking and will stimulate debate. Donors and international agencies try to “engineer prosperity” either by foreign aid or by urging poor countries to adopt good economic policies. But there is widespread disappointment with the results of these well-intentioned efforts. Acemoglu and Robinson pithily diagnose the cause of these disappointing outcomes in their final chapter: “Attempting to engineer prosperity without confronting the root cause of the problems—extractive institutions and the politics that keeps them in place—is unlikely to bear fruit.”

http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2012/jun/07/what-makes-countries-rich-or-poor/?pagination=false