Month: May 2013

Niall Ferguson’s Apology for His Homophobic Screed Ignores Decades of Homophobic Screeds

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Niall Ferguson recently made headlines by equating John Maynard Keynes sexuality with his positions, and using his homosexuality and childless state to condemn his policies.

When a firestorm brewed up over this, he quickly apologized, and while this apology seems sincere, the fact that he has a long history of making this statement:

Earlier Cambridge Professor and economist Michael Kitson tweeted out that he had heard Ferguson make the comments in the past:

Niall Ferguson’s empty apology niallferguson.com/blog/an-unqual… These were not ‘off the cuff’ remarks. I heard him make the same over 20 years ago.
— Michael Kitson (@MichaelKitson) May 4, 2013


Niall FergusonHarvard professor Niall Ferguson kicked off a storm yesterday, after it was reported that he had linked John Maynard Keynes’ economic philosophy to a lack of concern for future generations.

 This was a result, Ferguson reportedly told an investment conference, of Keynes’ own lack of children and homosexuality.

 Ferguson issued a swift — and seemingly sincere — apology, but it may already be too late. Critics of the noted historian are now going over his history to find more evidence that he truly believes in what he has now admitted to be “stupid and tactless” comments.

 Earlier Cambridge Professor and economist Michael Kitson tweeted out that he had heard Ferguson make the comments in the past:

 Business Insider reached out to Kitson, who offered more detail (emphasis ours):

I was at history seminar given by Niall Ferguson over 20 years ago. I am not good at dates but I think it was around 1990/91. I am better at locations – it was held in the Rushmore Room at St Catharine’s College, Cambridge. Ferguson gave a paper, my recollection is that it was on German hyperinflation in the 1920s. But I remember distinctly his response to a question about Keynes: he stated that Keynes and his economics was completely short-termist and that he (Keynes) did not care about the long term or future generations because he was homosexual and did not have children. He elaborated at length on this point – it did not seem as off the cuff remark but a deeply held conviction. I remember being stunned at the time: because of the bigotry and because it showed a complete lack of understanding of Keynes’s work. So, it was with a sense of déjà vu that I read the comments that Ferguson has made recently about Keynes.

(Business Insider has asked Ferguson for comment on Kitson’s allegation. At the time of writing he has not responded.

Of course, Ferguson has a long history of being offensive, and being wrong about pretty much everything, so this should come as no surprise.

What is depressing that this guy has achieved an unusually level amount of professional credibility despite his record.

Whee!

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About to enter Hershey park.

Charlie’s band is doing a regional competition, and we get discounted admission.

This year, Charlie wants to game with his band mates, so he’s with the chaperone instead of us, so its just Natalie, Sharon, and me.

I don’t get to hear him screaming like a little girl on the rides, and Natalie is more stoic.

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Holy Crap!

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Israeli airstrikes in Syria.

It appears that they are targeting arms shipments to Hezbollah in Syria:

The United States believes Israel has conducted an airstrike into Syria, CNN reported on Friday, citing two unnamed U.S. officials.

CNN quoted the officials as saying Israel most likely conducted the strike “in the Thursday-Friday time frame” and that Israel’s warplanes did not enter Syrian air space.

It said the officials did not believe Israel had targeted a chemical weapons facility.

There was no immediate confirmation. A White House spokeswoman referred questions on the CNN report to the Israeli government.

The Israel Defense Forces had no comment on the officials’ remarks, but a source in the Israeli defense establishment told CNN: “We will do whatever is necessary to stop the transfer of weapons from Syria to terrorist organizations. We have done it in the past and we will do it if necessary the future.”

It is possible that the strikes were in Syria, but Israeli aircraft were operating from over the Golan or Lebanon, but that is just speculation on my part.

Monthly Jobs Numbers are Relatively Decent

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176,000 jobs added to the non-farm payroll in April, which is somewhat better than natural growth in the labor force, and additionally, the adjustments to February and March added 100,000 to the NFP.

It should be noted thought, that this really is only a bit better than treading water:

The American economy continues to add jobs in proportion to population growth. Nothing less, nothing more.

 The share of American adults with jobs has barely changed since 2010, hovering between 58.2 percent and 58.7 percent. This employment-to-population ratio stood at 58.6 percent in April. That is about four percentage points lower than the employment rate before the recession, a difference of roughly 10 million jobs. In other words, the United States economy is not getting any closer to recreating the jobs lost during the recession.

And here is the scary quote:

Furthermore, the projections were wrong. Participation has actually risen among people older than 55. The decline is entirely driven by younger dropouts.

So, better, but our economy still sucks wet farts from dead pigeons.

In a Rare Bit of Honesty

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Roy Roberts the retiring emergency manager appointed to run the Detroit public schools, has admitted that he was told to destroy the school district when he was selected:

Roberts also told those gathered that when he arrived at DPS, he was told to “blow up” the district and dismantle it, [Detroit Federation of Teachers President Keith] Johnson said.

“Blow it up — those were his exact words,” Detroit School Board member Tawanna Simpson confirmed.

Only the article at the Freep has been sanitized and that quote is gone.  One wonders why. 

The above paragraph is still referenced in the comments.

You can still find a similar quote at the story from The Detroit News, as well as some more of the editing funnies engaged in by the Detroit Free Press in this Electablog post, which has Roberts acknowledges his statement, but claims that it wasn’t Governor Rick Snyder who told him this.

Yeah, sure.

It’s Jobless Thursday!!!!

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Good news everyone!

The initial jobless claim numbers came out today, and the numbers are pretty good:

Initial jobless claims — a rough gauge of layoffs — sank by 18,000 to a seasonally adjusted 324,000 in the week ended April 27, the Labor Department said Thursday. That’s the lowest level since January 2008.

………

Meanwhile, the four-week average of new claims, which smooths out weekly volatility, fell by 16,000 to 342,250. That’s the smallest amount in six weeks.

The number of people already receiving benefits, known as continuing claims, rose by 12,000 to a seasonally adjusted 3.02 million in the week ended April 20. Most states typically offer 26 weeks of unemployment pay.

Decent numbers.

Confusopolies are Obamacare’s Achilles Heel

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At the heart of healthcare reform, it is the insurance exchanges, and your average consumer lacks the sophistication necessary to see how the insurance companies will f%$# them until it is too late:

One of the big reasons I’m so pessimistic about the new health insurance exchanges created under the Affordable Care Act is the principle behind them. The idea is that everyone will be well- informed dedicated shoppers who will know how to select the best plan to fit their needs, which will reduce cost for everyone. Aflac’s 2013 WorkForces Report shows how deeply misguided this assumption is in reality.

Two numbers from the report really stick out. The survey found 54 percent of workers would prefer not to be more in control over their health insurance expenses and options because they will not have the time or knowledge to effectively manage it. This is completely understandable. Selecting the best insurance plan requires not only significant knowledge about every component of insurance, but also the ability to accurately predict the likelihood of future medical needs.

One thing that you can be sure of is that the insurance companies will do their level best to confuse customers so that they will make a decision that will increase their profits.

As John Maynard Keynes noted, “Capitalism is the theory that the worst people, acting from their worst motives, will somehow produce the most good.”

The health insurance industry is one of the best examples of this, and the health insurance reform plan requires us to rely on their good will.

Pleasant dreams.

The Beatings Will Continue Until Morale Improves

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Unemployment in the Euro Zone has hit a record high, and there is still no sign of inflation:

The latest eurozone unemployment data, due at 10am BST, is expected to show the region’s jobless rate has risen to a new record high of 12.1% in March (from 12% last month).

Italy’s unemployment rate is also forecast to increase, showing the challenges facing its new government as it strives to drag the country back to growth.

And in Spain, new GDP data will doubtless confirm that the country’s economy contracted again in the first three months of 2013 (economists expect a fall of 0.5%).

………

Eurostat also reported this morning that inflation across the Eurozone has fallen to just 1.2% in April. That’s a sharp fall on March’s 1.7%, and a much smaller rise in the cost of living than analysts had expected.

That makes it more likely that the European Central Bank will bow to pressure and cut interest rates at its next monthly meeting on Thursday.

Austerity is not working.

Fed Stays Course

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So their quantitative easing program continues unabated:

The Federal Reserve said Wednesday that its economic stimulus campaign would press forward at the same pace it has maintained since December, putting to rest for now any suggestion that it was leaning toward doing less.

The Fed emphasized that it was ready to increase or decrease its efforts to spur growth and reduce unemployment as necessary, a more balanced position than it took earlier in the year, reflecting the reality that a strong winter has once again yielded to a disappointing spring.

It was the first time that the Fed had explicitly mentioned the possibility of doing more in a policy statement, although officials, including the Fed’s chairman, Ben S. Bernanke, have made the point repeatedly in public remarks.

………

The Fed maintained a relatively sunny economic outlook in its statement, released after a two-day meeting of its policy-making committee. It said that the economy was expanding at a “moderate pace” and that the labor market had shown “some improvement.” It added, however, that federal spending cuts were “restraining economic growth,” an implicit critique of the rest of the government.

That language was stronger than the Fed had used in previous assessments of the economic impact of fiscal policy. Fed officials have repeatedly expressed frustration that fiscal policy is working at cross-purposes with their own monetary policy. The statement also noted that the pace of inflation had slackened, a potential sign of economic weakness. Bringing the annual rate of inflation closer to its target of 2 percent has been a primary goal of the Fed’s four-year-old stimulus campaign, but the statement expressed little concern about the recent deceleration to a pace of only about half that level.

Yeah, calling out the entire deficit fetish in DC is a good thing too.

I still think that Bernanke’s mental exercise, dropping massive quantities of cash from helicopters, is the way to go.