Archive for the Greece Category

Marching For Science And Momma (April 24, 2017)

Posted in Environment, Gender, Global Climate Change, Global Warming, Greece, International Finance, International Monetary Fund, Journalism, Newspapers, Press/Media, Trumpi on April 24, 2017 by e-commentary.org

. . .

K          “What if as many folks had rallied in support of Galileo?”

J          “Signs intoning ‘No sides in science’ and ‘Science not silence’ and ‘Don’t let scientists go extinct’ floated amid and among the rising sea of concerned citizens.  ‘Free Galileo’ was raised toward the heavens.”

. . .

K          “In January, the pink pussy hats responded to the red Make America Great Again baseball caps.  On Saturday, a few white lab coats and many rain coats shielded the folks who marched peacefully on a gray rainy day.” 

J          “The women’s jaunt planned on the Mall in January gestated into an impromptu march from the foot of Capitol Hill to the White House and spawned the March for Science in April.  The March for Science and Earth Day Network started south of the White House and moved to the Capitol.  Going full circle.  And going forward.”

K          “The Women’s March was an emotional release and catharsis.  The March for Science was an intellectual rally and resurgence.”

J          “A walk is an antidote to insanity and irrationality.”

. . .

K          “At the same time the people were marching in the streets, the big money players were machinating in the suites.  The ‘green eye shade’ types at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) concluded that Greece has recovered slightly and thus needs to be burdened substantially.”

. . .

K          “The next public gig in Washington is the ‘(Former) Bikers for Trump Rally’ on October 14 to ride to the White House and Congress from all over the country.”

J          “The ‘What happened Donnie?  Ride and Rally’.  Everyone hates to be conned, yet so many of his supporters simply cannot repudiate him because he is their last hope.  By October, a few of his black leather and blue collar supporters may accept that they were bamboozled.”

K          “Sturgis runs from August 4 until 13 and Daytona from March 9 until 18, 2018.  October is a great time for the last long fall ride.”

J          “Somebody needs to inflame and inspire the national imagination.”

. . .

[See the e-commentary at “Happy Birthday Earth Day (April 23, 2012)”, “Women’s March On Washington (Woodstock With Conviction) / Coronation (January 23, 2017)” and the discussion of some of the underlying issues involving Greece and the IMF at “‘Grexit’, ‘GrexEUnt’, Percolating Problems:  PIIGS, BRICS, EU, EC, ECB, IMF, NATO, WTO, WTF, WAR (February 23, 2015)”.]

Bumper stickers of the week:

March on

“There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there always has been.  The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that ‘my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.’”  Isaac Asimov, “A Cult of Ignorance”, Newsweek, January 21, 1980.  

Signs of the times on the Washington Mall:

Free Galileo

You must be smoking deGrasse if you de-Nye the facts

Science is good

Good science is better

Great science is best

Geology rocks

There is no PLANet B

This is not a moment, it is a movement

Make America 90   49   18 Again

Evidence based governance

What do you call a female scientist?  Scientist

4   28 58   To   1 68

Ignorance is a dish best served at absolute zero

Delusion is not the solution to pollution

Support 21   53   E   7   58

Factism Trumps Fascism

Facts are non-partisan

Make 95   68   53   20 Scientific Again

You can fool the voters but not the atmosphere

Repent the end is NIH

The elements of outraged disbelief  74   90   9

Science:  Because you can’t pray a rocket into space.

Free entropy

So bad that even introverts are here

Resistance is not futile:  It is voltage divided by current

Fact-based policy not policy-based alt.facts

In science we trust

Clinical research is healthy for children and other living things (on a yellow poster with a flower)

The Endangered Species Act is endangered

No science, no chance

This is what a scientist looks like

More mitosis, less division

Save our planet, plant a tree

Stem cells have potential and without them our children don’t

Science Trumps ignorance

Noah saved us once  Let NOAA save us now

They drowned the last climate deniers

Atoms and Trump both make up things

Science is not an opinion

Make America hypothesize again

It’s not rocket science, actually it is

Defiance for science

Extinction is forever  Animals need science

Don’t let science go extinct

Alternative facts are for quacks

Evolution:  Happened.  Climate change:  Happening.  Recognition:  Must happen

There are no jobs on a dead planet

I love science because God created it

I’m with her [arrow pointing to picture of the beautiful blue marble]

Make Earth great again

No science no beer

Dear future generations:  We’re sorry

Science is peer-reviewed not politician-reviewed

Not a sign type of person but geez

Let the forest be with you

Distinguish sense from nonsense

Science fights bad shit with evidence

I’ve reached my 100º C (212º F)

Your momma’s so hot

All the good chemistry jokes argon

Make America think again

Stop plate tectonics

Don’t frack with our future

Act like a proton; think positively

Keep calm and trust science

Resist [resistance symbol]

Veterans for science

_________________________________________________

“Proper press credentials”; “Are your papers in order?”:

From: e-commentator
Sent: Thursday, April 13, 2017 1:37 PM
To: International Monetary Fund SEC, Press <PRESS@imf.org>; IMF Media Relations <Media@imf.org>
Subject: IMF Meetings – Press Credentials

Dear sir or madam,

I am a journalist whose work appears weekly at www.e-commentary.org. and includes regular commentary on and about the IMF (e.g. https://e-commentary.org/category/international-monetary-fund/ and the AIIB, CFETS, NDB, CIPS and SWIFT.

I am interested in applying for press credentials for next week’s IMF meetings.

Thank you for your attention to this request.  Best wishes.

[e-commentator]

 

From: Elnagar, Randa Mohamed [mailto:RElnagar@imf.org]
Sent: Thursday, April 13, 2017 9:52 AM
To: [e-commentator]

Cc: COMMRAST
Subject: RE: IMF Meetings – Press Credentials

We will need proper press credentials issued by a US media organization and a letter of assignment from them to approve your accreditation.

Thank you.

 

From: e-commentator
Sent: Friday, April 14, 2017 2:40 PM

To: Elnagar, Randa Mohamed <RElnagar@imf.org>
Cc: COMMRAST <COMMRAST@imf.org>
Subject: RE: IMF Meetings – Press Credentials

Dear Mr. Elnagar,

The nature of news, news gathering and the media has changed and expanded in America.  www.e-commentary.org provides weekly electronic commentary that has been uploaded since the first week of January, 2005.  You can confirm this contention by reviewing the site.  This note authorizes [e-commentator] to attend the IMF public press conferences.  He can provide a passport and valid state driver’s license for identification.  This note suffices to obtain press credentials.

Thank you for your attention to this request.  Best wishes.

[e-commentator]

 

From: Elnagar, Randa Mohamed [mailto:RElnagar@imf.org]
Sent: Friday, April 14, 2017 10:51 AM
To: [e-commentator]
Cc: COMMRAST; Gaviria, Angela
Subject: RE: IMF Meetings – Press Credentials

Dear Mr. [e-commentator],

Unfortunately, the IMF does not issue register press/media without proper press credentials issues from either the country of origin (in case of non-U.S. nationals), or press credentials issues from the U.S. State Department, the White House, or the U.S. Treasury.

We apologize for the inconvenience.

Thank you.

Randa

 

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Global Climate Craziness (GCC) And Taxation (March 23, 2015)

Posted in Carbon Surcharge & Dividend, Gas/Fossil Fuel, Global Climate Change, Global Warming, Greece, Market Solutions, Population, Taxation on March 23, 2015 by e-commentary.org

. . .

A          “Global climate change is the most accurate and neutral description of the mess.  The globe is warming in some places and cooling in other places.  And the boundaries are neither certain nor stable.  And the contours are changing and shifting like a lava lamp.”

B          “Global climate craziness, I say.  The changes also involve geopolitical considerations.  In the warmer climates, tax participation is more relaxed.  In Italy, speed limits and tax obligations are purely advisory.  In Greece, tax obligations hardly rise to a nuisance or an inconvenience.  Why bother.  By contrast, in Sweden, Norway, Finland and other cooler climates, tax rates are much higher and tax participation is much greater.  Global climate craziness may have a greater impact on the fiscal health of a nation than the pundits have acknowledged.”

A          “And the Fins finish first in math.”

. . .

B          “The ‘Sunburnt Country’ adopted a celebrated ‘carbon cap and trade program’ for two years before the reactionaries and wankers rejected it.  In the next go round, Australia should take the lead, adopt a ‘carbon fee and dividend program’ and skewer the notion that hot countries are against rational taxes.  It is getting crazy out there.”

A          “Seems that their situation could be described by the outmoded term – global warming.”

. . .

Bumper sticker of the week:

“I worry about the world I am leaving to my five children and my twelve grandchildren.”  “Imagine the world you should be leaving to your two children and your four grandchildren.”

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“Grexit”, “GrexEUnt”, Percolating Problems: PIIGS, BRICS, EU, EC, ECB, IMF, NATO, WTO, WAR (February 23, 2015)

Posted in Banks and Banking System, China, Greece, International Finance, Iran, Russia, Sports on February 23, 2015 by e-commentary.org

. . .

1          “‘GrExit’ admixes ‘Greek’ with ‘exit’ and may be the ‘Portmanteau Word of the Year for 2015’.”

2          “Or 2016?  Who knows.  They are punting and kicking.”

1          “What about ‘GrexEUnt’ for the ‘Greece’ ‘exeunt’ from the ‘EU’ because the dancing is so dramatic?  Devastating to stay, devastating to go.  So we Do-si-do and around we go.”

. . .

1          “Two prize fighters are circling each other warily, a flyweight versus a heavyweight.  In one corner, Greece cannot under any circumstances pay the massive debt to Germany (now d.b.a. IMF, ECB and EC) amassed by the Greek oligarchs.  In the other corner, Germany cannot under any circumstances allow Greece not to pay the massive debt it claims is owed to Germany.  In the stands, Greek citizens who now realize that the banks got bailed out but the citizens were abandoned and will suffer under any scenario.  On the sidelines, Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Spain (PIIGS) and other sovereign colonies await the outcome and their turn in the ring.  An unstoppable force meets an immovable object.”

2          “The Parthenon painted in black, red and gold does not seem striking.”

1          “The Pantheon bedecked in black, red and gold could trigger some strikes.”

2          “Another great battle between the ‘Versailles Reparations’ paradigm and the ‘Marshall Plan’ paradigm.”

1          “The central Lesson of the Twentieth Century is that it is easier to take by investment than by invasion.  The central Corollary of the Twenty-First Century is that you cannot take too much by investment or you risk an invasion.”

2          “The German group should not have foisted all the funds on the Greek oligarchs; the Greek oligarchs should not have gotten all the lucre from the German group.  Seems that they are each about fifty percent culpable.  Split the difference?”

. . .

1          “Markets usually price in inevitable developments and go on with life and business.  Which side has the market priced to prevail and how will the outcome play out on the planet?”

2          “What if Greece remains in NATO, pivots to Russia for assistance and opposes sanctions against Russia from the inside?  The BRICS Confederacy will need to fashion a new acronym.”

1          “The astute Western players might keep Greece cum a new drachma in the European Union for trade and transportation purposes and for international security concerns.”

2          “O’Bama traveled to India to keep India from allying more closely with the BRICS.”

1          “Senator Bernie Sanders wants the Federal Reserve to ride to the rescue.  He understands the Corollary.  However, expanding the Federal Reserve to become the American Monetary Fund (AMF) may not be wise or prudent.”

. . .

2          “The Europeans are fighting their civil war with each other and were drafted to serve as proxies and mercenaries to fight America’s currency war with Russia.  The French cannot sell fromage, the Pols cannot sell apples, and even the Germans cannot sell brats.  And no one can buy inexpensive gas from Russia.  And America does what America does.  America sits back far from the front and consumes.”

1          “And secretly funds some folks.  The Europeans are fighting America’s war with Russia and not making their required NATO defense expenditures.  The Germans and others could write off some of the debts and then book the amounts against their required NATO defense expenditures.  America is committed to fighting the Russians until the last European collapses.”

2          “America may not be able to sit back.  Under settled international law, America’s cyberespionage against Russia, China, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran are each acts of war that provide justification for those countries to attack America.  America’s antics may trigger an unattractive response.  Not a pretty situation.”

1          “But remember that America has proclaimed that it can always unilaterally exempt itself from international law.”

. . .

2          “The punting and kicking the can now is measured in time not in distance.  With the four month reprieve until June 21, the new ‘high noon’ show down occurs on the longest day of the year.”

. . .

2          “Greece is a failed state with few clear public records describing private property ownership, a tax collection non-system and a distended pension system.  Without a functioning country or economy in Greece, the prospect of a functioning country or economy in Greece is not promising.  Stay tuned.  Film at 11.”

1          “During the sports segment, surely.”

. . .

[See the article at “U.S. Embedded Spyware Overseas, Report Claims” in “The New York Times” by Nicole Perlroth and David E. Sanger dated February 16, 2015.]

Bumper stickers of the week:

You can provide liquidity but you cannot provide solvency

Can God create a stone so heavy that not even God is strong enough to lift it?  Can man create a debt so heavy that not even mankind is strong enough to lift it?

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