Barackface

Sunday, April 05, 2009

Onto A Nuclear Weapons Free Planet

Image by springhill2008 via Flickr

If we are a sane species, nuclear weapons will never be used. And nuclear weapons are not a good way to try and see if we are sane or what. They take a lot of money to build, and a ton of money to store. They are scary things to keep around even when not used. For some countries to have them, and then preach others to not have them, that is "nuclear apartheid," not my original phrase. The most powerful person on earth standing for a nuclear weapons free world is likely the biggest boost a non proliferation agenda will get.

I have wondered a long long time as to why someone powerful enough will not take this sane position. Finally President Barack has stepped out. He just reminded me why I came out to support him even before he announced he was running.

In The News

Obama pledges to pursue the elimination of nuclear weapons

· News(General) Los Angeles Times, CA
Obama nuclear vision ABC Online, Australia
Obama calls for total nuclear disarmament Independent, UK
North Korea tests missile as Obama urges denuclearization Canada.com, Canada
Obama outlines sweeping goal of nuclear-free world Daily Times, Pakistan
Obama promises leadership to rid world of nuclear arms Irish Times, Ireland
North Korea rocket puts Barack Obama on nuclear alert

· News(General) Times Online, UK
Leave Turkey’s bid to join EU to us, Nicolas Sarkozy warns Barack ... Times Online, UK
Obama calls for Turkey's admission to EU Radio Netherlands, Netherlands
Obama in Turkey after 'nuclear-free world' speech ABC Online, Australia

Text of President Obama in Prague Washington Post, United States we have an obligation to our common prosperity and our common humanity to extend a hand to those emerging markets and impoverished people who are suffering the most, which is why we set aside over a trillion dollars for the International Monetary Fund ......... We are targeting the same al-Qaida terrorists who have struck from New York to London ....... dangers that recognize no borders ...... The existence of thousands of nuclear weapons is the most dangerous legacy of the Cold War. No nuclear war was fought between the United States and the Soviet Union, but generations lived with the knowledge that their world could be erased in a single flash of light. Cities like Prague that had existed for centuries would have ceased to exist. ......... In a strange turn of history, the threat of global nuclear war has gone down, but the risk of a nuclear attack has gone up. More nations have acquired these weapons. Testing has continued. Black markets trade in nuclear secrets and materials. The technology to build a bomb has spread. Terrorists are determined to buy, build or steal one. Our efforts to contain these dangers are centered in a global nonproliferation regime, but as more people and nations break the rules, we could reach the point when the center cannot hold. ........... New York or Moscow, Islamabad or Mumbai, Tokyo or Tel Aviv, Paris or Prague ....... as a nuclear power _as the only nuclear power to have used a nuclear weapon ......... my administration will immediately and aggressively pursue U.S. ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty ....... If we are serious about stopping the spread of these weapons, then we should put an end to the dedicated production of weapons grade materials that create them. ........ The basic bargain is sound: countries with nuclear weapons will move toward disarmament, countries without nuclear weapons will not acquire them; and all countries can access peaceful nuclear energy. ......... a new framework for civil nuclear cooperation, including an international fuel bank ........ We want Iran to take its rightful place in the community of nations, politically and economically. We will support Iran's right to peaceful nuclear energy with rigorous inspections. ....... One terrorist with a nuclear weapon could unleash massive destruction. al-Qaida has said that it seeks a bomb. And we know that there is unsecured nuclear material across the globe. ....... a new international effort to secure all vulnerable nuclear material around the world within four years. ....... turn efforts such as the Proliferation Security Initiative and the Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism into durable international institutions ......... When nations and peoples allow themselves to be defined by their differences, the gulf between them widens.

YouTube: London Summit 2009

In a Town With Few Immigrants, an Unlikely Horror New York Times
Our alliance is part and parcel of UPA, says Lalu Prasad Hindu
India ready with $20 bn for IMF, not for stimulus Indian Express
Barack Obama and the G20, Nato and EU-US summits guardian.co.uk
Obama May Lift US Travel Restrictions to Cuba, Official Says Bloomberg
From the hills of Nepal, making music in NYC msnbc.com
The isolation of George Fernandes Indian Express
Congress' budget blueprint contains a warning to Obama Los Angeles Times
India's political kaleidoscope comes alive Hindu
China: G20 summit boosts confidence China Daily
What is Biz Stone doing? San Francisco Chronicle
Google Seen As Being Likely To Partner With, Not Buy, Twitter Wall Street Journal
Levi Johnston says Sarah Palin let him and Bristol share a room Chicago Tribune

Political parties differ over Nepal's new constitution Hindu
Clinton Reveals Small Contacts With Iran Washington Post
Opinion poll says NDA will sweep Bihar, keep MP Indian Express
George Fernandes expelled from JD (U) Times of India
Bihar not to allow Wal-Mart-Bharti stores Economic Times
Obama counsels 'effective dialogue' between India and Pak Hindu
Biz Stone Plays It Cool On Colbert Washington Post
Google buying - or not buying - Twitter San Francisco Chronicle
Why Google Should Buy Twitter PC Magazine
I'm in pain, says Amitabh NDTV.com
Amitabh Bachchan tops India celeb power list Reuters India
Amitabh Bachchan to launch his own news channel—India 24/7 Spicezee
IBM And Sun: There Will Be Blood Forbes

Leaked drafts of Gordon Brown's 'Global new deal' plans
'Terror plot' to disrupt G20 summit uncovered

'Fourth Front' has suitors queueing up Times of India, India
Union ministers gear up for battle royale in Bihar The Statesman, India
RJD spokesman joins Congress Times of India, India
Turncoats make a beeline to Congress in Bihar Times of India, India
Suspicious Congress aims to cut allies to size Times of India, India
Friends again Indian Express, India
'Secular Alliance' will open card on PM after polls: Paswan Press Trust of India, India

Sonia, Rahul, Manmohan to campaign in Bihar Times of India
Obama Says He Is Bringing Sharper Focus to Afghan War Washington Post
McCain: I'd like to see Palin compete for 2012 WH bid CNN Political Ticker
GOP watch: Jindal vs. Obama msnbc.com
Bobby Jindal Don't Like No Science And Don't Like No Art-- So That ... Huffington Post
Nepal Maoists isolated as key partner begins stir against govt Press Trust of India
Nepal celebrates first person to scale top peaks of all continents Xinhua
Fourth Front forward Hindustan Times
Congress fights battle for revival in Bihar Hindu
All eyes on Manmohan-Obama meet on April 2 Times of India
World looks to India to spur global economy: PM AFP
Sprint Pushing 'Clear' WiMAX to 10 Cities in 2009 PC Magazine Atlanta, Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas, Forth Worth, Honolulu, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, Portland, and Seattle. Next year, that will also expand to Boston, Houston, New York, San Francisco and Washington, D.C Sprint also plans to introduce new 4G devices over the next two years, including a single-mode 4G data card, embedded laptops, a small-office-home-office broadband modem and a tri-mode phone. ...... cities planned for 2010 - which includes the Big Kahuna, New York City
Sprint preps 15-city WiMAX roll-out Register
Is Women's Pro Soccer Really Coming Back Now? TIME
Verizon Wireless Rep: 'Yep, Netbooks On The Way' InformationWeek Verizon competitor AT&T already offers a netbook in a partnership with RadioShack. The $99 device requires a two-year contract, which costs $60 per month for 5GB of wireless broadband data.
Madonna in Malawi, Part Deux Christian Science Monitor

Banking Plan Propels Wall St. to Best Day in Months New York Times
India likely to provide 500 mw to Nepal Economic Times
More trouble for Lalu as SP joins Bihar poll fray Indian Express
Details of David Letterman's Surprise Wedding Revealed People Magazine
Stay focused on big picture, Obama urges USA Today
Obama says Geithner defied critics on US bank plan Reuters
US Market Responds Well To Obama's Toxic-Debt Plan RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty
Jindal to GOP: Time for navel-gazing over Dallas Morning News He opened with a joke, comparing his last speech to torture, and quipped it's not allowed at Gitmo anymore. ...... "The Republican Party has decided once again to be the conservative party in America," Jindal told a crowd of about 1,200 people at the GOP congressional fundraising dinner. "It's been almost five months since the last election. It's time to declare our time of introspection and navel-gazing over." ........ He urged his colleagues to be the party of ideas and better solutions and launched into a survey of policy areas, starting with health care, one of his areas of expertise.
La. Gov. Jindal urges GOP to stand up to Obama The Associated Press Jindal opened his speech by poking fun of himself. He threatened to deliver a reprise of the earlier performance and then jokingly compared it to torture. ..... "They're not allowed to show my speech at Gitmo anymore," he said. "They've banned that."
'Bobby Jindal not in race for 2012 presidential polls' Indian Express Supriya Jindal, wife of Indian-American Republican leader Bobby Jindal, has denied that her husband is in the race for 2012 US presidential elections
Bobby Jindal at-bat against Obama (II) The Swamp - Tribune's Washington Bureau
'Hillary: The Movie' gets high court attention CNN
Paswan tries to expand LJP base outside Bihar Times of India
RJD to field candidates against Cong in Bihar: Lalu Press Trust of India
RJD-LJP will contest all Bihar seats: Lalu NDTV.com
Congress to contest 37 seats in Bihar Sify
India's Nano, Driving Like a (National) Dream Washington Post
Obama rejects China's call for new global currency AFP China's call for a new global currency as an alternative to the dollar. ..... a replacement of the dollar, installed as the reserve currency after World War II, with a different standard run by the International Monetary Fund. ...... Zhou suggested the IMF's Special Drawing Rights, a currency basket comprising dollars, euros, sterling and yen, could serve as a super-sovereign reserve currency, saying it would not be easily influenced by the policies of individual countries...... the world's largest holder of US dollars as a reserve currency, at more than one trillion dollars. ....... Russia has also proposed the summit discuss creating a supranational reserve currency.
China's plan to end the dollar era Financial Times It would, of course, make it more difficult for the US to finance its deficits. But America should not want the world to be yoked so tightly to its willingness to generate demand. Such imbalances are at the root of this crisis. ......... Married with other necessary reforms, this plan would also empower the IMF to act more flexibly. ....... Beijing now wants to play an active role in reshaping the world monetary order.
Obama's TV push jolts presidential tradition Los Angeles Times "It took me a couple of days because I like to know what I'm talking about before I speak, OK?" ..... Television launched him from Chicago politician to presidential candidate, and if it ain't broke don't fix it. ....... lucidly explaining complex issues while exuding the calm and easy dignity ...... As the first real television president, John Kennedy managed to make even civil service seem glamorous. ....... He prefers basketball to golf, never seems to know who gets to keep what pen and his first big, real fight as president was to keep hold of his BlackBerry. ...... the ultimate Ready for Prime Time President -- an American leader in the era of reality television. He came of age in front of cameras and digital screens, and he understands not just their power, but their nature. ....The Obama brand is about calm amid chaos, strength through humility, and transparency through television.
Google makes changes to search results Los Angeles Times
“WiMAX has seen very good traction and adoption in India”, says ... TelecomTiger
Amitabh gets back to politics Oneindia
Amitabh Bachchan in a political thriller Apun Ka Choice
Stanford gets international soccer match San Jose Mercury News
Gore Revisits Climate Crisis in New Book New York Times
Obama floats questions at astronauts Los Angeles Times

Thursday, March 26, 2009

A Single Global Currency, A Global New Deal, A Global Economic Council

Single Currency

The proposal on the table does not have street value. It only is to do with reserve value. The person on the street will not find a new currency in hand. The change would only affect the major institutions of global finance, primarily the central banks of the world. The very long term goal might be to end up with a single global currency that does have street value, because the market of currencies is quite a nuisance, if you think about it.

It is like this, ultimately, down the line, in the distant future, you can not have five powers wielding veto at the UN. The General Assembly, redesigned, will have to have all the power. That would make for a much more efficient global political architecture.

Even the current proposal is not meant for immediate implementation. But homework on it has to begin. Now is good time.

Global New Deal

If a stimulus plan is right for America, it is right for the world. The global economy asks for some shock therapy treatment. Something big needs to get done. Gordon Brown has a point.

Global Economic Council

I back the Stiglitz idea. It makes abundant sense. The World Bank and the IMF need to be reporting to the UN.

In The News

New reserve currency idea needs work-German minister Reuters

China's united currency idea divides nations CBC.ca revives a debate that can be traced back at least a half a century. ..... the U.S. greenback, much like the American economy, has fallen into disfavour with foreign investors and governments. ....... "The benefits (of a new currency) are far from certain and this is certainly not a "shovel-ready" project" ...... China is not proposing a single currency that individuals and companies in most countries would use for domestic transactions à la the European Union's euro. ..... an international standard for foreign currency reserves. ........ Right now, many countries hold a large portion of their reserves in U.S. dollars. The thinking is that the American greenback will keep its value against the cash of most other countries ........ the dollar just recorded its worst weekly performance in 24 years, while the euro simultaneously recorded its strongest week since its inception in 1999 ........ special drawing rights, or SDRs. ...... a basket of four currencies — the Japanese yen, the euro, the British pound and the dollar. ........ The Chinese government proposal would expand the number of currencies involved in valuing the SDR

Replacement of the Dollar? BusinessWeek Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz explained why he has also advocated the replacement of the dollar ..... the current system of depending on a single currency and the political and economic management of that currency is volatile. It’s inequitable because poor people are lending to the U.S. at low interest rates. In a global economy, you need a global reserve system ..... moving to multiple currencies. Over time you would replace the dollar as a reserve currency. No one thinks it would happen overnight. ...... [Obama] has to say that. It doesn’t mean anything. ...... a huge giveaway to the banks. ....... replacing the G20 with a United Nations body. ....... a Global Economic Coordination Council. ..... It could demand, for instance, that the World Bank and the IMF report to it and evaluate how they are performing.
Obama dismisses idea of single global currency Reuters dismissed suggestions by emerging economic powers that the world move away from using the dollar as the world's main reserve currency. ...... both China and Russia earlier urged an overhaul of the global monetary system. ...... Chinese central bank chief Zhou Xiaochuan ..... Brazil, India, China, South Korea and South Africa.

No Dollar, No Way: The US Responds to China Wall Street Journal Blogs

About this author: Seeking Alpha

China and the Dollar Wall Street Journal
Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand Support Call for Global Currency Bloomberg “Trade transactions using one currency that’s dependent on the condition of a single country’s economy is dangerous.” ....... it may benefit developing nations to have an alternative to the dollar. ...... “Asian central banks have been diversifying out of U.S. dollars for some time and they’re concerned about the sustainability of the U.S. financial system.” ....... would prevent “excessive” money printing by any single nation posing a risk to inflation worldwide ....... The U.S. Treasury will issue $2.5 trillion in new debt this year as the government boosts spending to help end a recession ....... One SDR was recently equivalent to $1.50872
Look to BeijingWashington Post A hundred years ago, London would have made sense as the spot where the world's leaders should gather, as they will this week, to grapple with a spreading economic crisis. The city was the early 20th century's nexus of finance and power, and Britain straddled the globe as the only true superpower. But we're in the 21st century now, and the G20 heads of state should not be plotting in the shadow of Big Ben. They should be sitting across from Mao's Tomb, near the Forbidden City, in the meeting halls off Tiananmen Square in Beijing. ........ the Washington-Beijing axis is the most important relationship in the world today ...... if China sells off or stops buying U.S. bonds, the American economy could sink even deeper, leaving us like England at the end of War World II, a broke and broken hegemon, dependent on an upstart power. ........... the rest of the world needs both of them equally. ........ China is no longer as poor as it claims; the United States is no longer as rich as it acts. ...... the world should focus less on the G20 and more on a "G2" of China and the United States. ....... In 2008, before the storm hit, China and the United States accounted for more than half of all global economic growth. ....... emerging economies would provide 100 percent of the world's growth in 2009 ...... contrast with the tepidness of European spending efforts and dwarf the means of other nations. ....... America's political class, long accustomed to military and economic predominance, tends to view any reliance on a foreign power as a sign of weakness. ........... reality allows neither China nor the United States the luxury of their illusions ....... a relative decline in influence, a development Washington considers undesirable and dangerous. ....... Beijing desperately needs a functional U.S. market. ........ China's domestic economy is in many ways fueled by U.S. companies ....... hugely popular KFC franchises ....... attacking one's primary creditor at a time of fiscal need is not particularly smart ......... America must learn to separate its need to be the indispensable nation from its desire to remain powerful and prosperous. Since the end of World War II, there has been no distinction. Today, there is.
G20: Can we really expect a global new deal authored by Gordon Brown? guardian.co.uk

China presses G20 reform plans BBC News a new global reserve currency and reforms of international financial institutions to give developing nations more power. ....... The G20 countries are Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, the United Kingdom, the US and the EU. ......... G20 members should also reaffirm their opposition to protectionism and uphold their financial commitments to the world's poorer countries. ......... China wants developing nations to have a bigger say in the International Monetary Fund ...... "Being the world's third-largest economy and the largest foreign reserves holder, China should get its due place in the monetary body." ........ currently dominated by the US and Britain ........ other developing countries, such as Brazil, India and South Africa, would also be demanding a bigger role.

No cheerleader for propping up greenback at G20 summit Canada Free Press the table being set for One World Government ......... The deadly duo, which has blocked all things America at the United Nations ........ both China and Russia posted their priorities for the new global system on their official websites. ...... removing the inherent deficiencies caused by using credit-based national currencies ....... “calling for the creation of a supranational reserve currency to be issued by international institutions as part of a reform of the global financial system” ......... Obama met secretly with Mikhail Gorbachev last week. ....... Joe Biden and Gorbachev had been discussing ways of reducing their countries’ respective nuclear arsenals .... a radical reform of the global financial system ....... calls for national banks and international financial institutions to diversify their foreign currency reserves. It said the global financial system should be restructured to prevent future crisis and proposed holding an international conference after the G20 summit to adopt conventions on a new global financial structure. .............. `Protectionism is the crack cocaine of economics. It may provide a high. It’s addictive and it leads to economic death.’
Touting Her Currency Conspiracy, Bachmann Insists: ‘This Is Not ... Think Progress

WTO forecasts huge drop in global trade World Socialist Web Site

World trade growth 'to plummet 9% in 2009' Sydney Morning Herald

WTO forecasts 9% fall in global trade Ninemsn

Image via Wikipedia

Mulayam, Lalu to form alliance for secular vote bank Economic Times

Mulayam, Lalu, Paswan join hands Hindu

Lalu, Mulayam, Paswan join hands Chandigarh Tribune

Cong in trouble; Lalu, Paswan and Mulayam join hands IBNLive.com
UPA in serious trouble as Lalu leaves Congress Khabrein.info

Congress turns table on Lalu Yadav NDTV.com

Lalu Yadav's brother-in-law Sadhu Yadav joins Congress BreakingNewsOnline.

Sadhu goes all out against Jijaji, flays Lalu-Paswan tie up Bihar Times
No fear of allies deserting Third Front after polls: Gowda Hindu
Lalu, Paswan join hands with Mulayam Economic Times

Allies desert north and south, Cong shrugs it off Indian Express

Another jolt for UPA: PMK all set to join AIADMK Merinews

Allies leave Congress in the lurch Chandigarh Tribune

Internal poll shows Congress crossing 150 seats Sify

Bihar NDA also in trouble Economic Times

SP open to post-poll pact Business Standard

Mulayam, Lalu likely to join hands, says Amar Singh Press Trust of India

Mulla yam goes berserk, warns female officer JaiBihar

Saturday, March 21, 2009

A Brighter Future Ahead

Image via Wikipedia

Big Crisis = Big Opportunity

I am for a second trillion dollar stimulus package. It was not the New Deal, but World War II that got America out of the flunk last time. We can't have a world war, but we sure can have a second stimulus package. And this second stimulus package has to have global dimensions.

Anatomy Of A Crisis

Money poured into America because the American banks were thought to be the safest for the elites around the world. What did they know? The American bankers did not know what to do with all this flush cash. So they started running ponzy schemes, legal ponzy schemes, subprime mortgage backed securities, credit default swaps, what have you.

The problem in the world is not too much capital, but too little. But the architecture of global finance made it look like there was too much capital, too few capital outlets. And so all that extra money went on to create a housing bubble. This was not exactly wealth creation, but it got counted as wealth creation in the banks' books.

Old White Men Need To Chew Gum
Needed: A New Global Financial Architecture
Stimulus: Make It A Trillion
Stimulus: Size Matters
Global Finance, Global Terrorism, Global Warming

Too Many Big Banks

If a bank is too big to be allowed to fail, that bank is too big, it should be broken into a few different banks. And it is never too late to break up banks like that.

Transparency, Accountability

There are banks and regulations. And there is this huge financial sector that has so far stayed out of that tent, without regulations. That is bad, that always was bad. Got to bring the entire financial sector under the tent. Infuse massive transparency and accountability. You can't play great soccer without the basic ground rules. I am all for the market, I am all for innovation. I am not saying the referee should now join the game. I am saying we need a referee.

America Can't Do It Alone

Over the past few years we have seen wild wildfires in Greece, California, in Australia. In each case the culprit was global warming, but local law enforcement hunted for arsonists.

Imagine a climate version of this financial crisis. Imagine a dirty bomb each in 10 big cities of the world on the same day. What we are going through is a finance version of such worst case climate and terrorism scenarios. The finance version is less heartbreaking, and it is so very heartbreaking as is.

But this is dress rehearsal. Handling this crisis will and should help us build mechanisms to deal with some future crisis in a different domain. More importantly, we should learn to prevent them. Could America and the world have taken actions over the past few years to prevent what is happening now? You bet.

Democratize the IMF, World Bank

Treat the people in the Global South like human beings. Pump more money into both. Bar the two from humiliating the poor countries every time they deal with them.

A Global Marshall Plan Needed

We don't need a world war, but we do need a global Marshall Plan. I am not sure about old fashioned aid. I am proposing a trillion dollars into microfinance. If the US Treasury gives a 5% return, microfinance gives twice as much. What has China been thinking lending Bush a trillion dollars to wage a wrong war? It should instead get into microfinance.

Big money needs to get into big infrastructure projects across the Global South. We have to make major investments in human capital.

Microeconomics, Macroeconomics, Globoeconomics

The theoretical framework of the academic discipline is not aware the world exists. Just like economics added macroeconomics to its body about 70 years ago, now is time to add globoeconomics to the same. The theoretical framework is missing.

Long Term Goal: World Government

Christianity is just one among many religions. America is just one among many countries, definitely true of Britain. When we are talking global cooperation on issues like climate and terrorism and finance, ultimately we are talking of a world government, anathema to the right in the US. But it is cooperation or doomsday. That is the stark choice. This financial crisis is dress rehearsal.

Global Finance: New Architecture

The ad hoc ways of global finance so far have proven so very inadequate. We need a framework. We need ground rules. We need transparency. We need accountability.