Utopia, you are standing in it!

The latest data from the California Department of Education indicates that three out of four African-American failed to meet reading and writing standards.  We have previously discussed how our schools continue to fail to educate minority students despite large budgetary allotments.  The problem is clearly money.  I have long advocated more funding but schools must also be held accountable for this appalling performance.  These kids are entering society with a huge disadvantage in seeking employment and advancement.

This morning it was announced that something that purports to be a Policy Targets Agreement, to cover the conduct of monetary policy during the six months after Graeme Wheeler leaves office, had been signed between the Minister of Finance and Grant Spencer, currently the deputy chief executive of the Reserve Bank.  The Minister announced some months ago that he intended to appoint Spencer as acting Governor for six months, to get the appointment of a permanent Governor clear of the election period.

There are a number of problems with this:

• first, the Minister has no statutory power to appoint an acting Governor, except where a Governor resigns or otherwise leaves office during an uncompleted term, and
• second, even if it were argued, contrary to the clear sense of the legislation, that the Minister had such appointment powers, there is also no statutory provision for a Policy Targets Agreement between…

A conflict has broken out in the Middle East, as the Saudi Princes seek to re-establish hegemony over the Qatar Princes. It is yet another fissure in the Middle East, the world’s most critical flash point. Here Stratfor explains the origin of the conflict, what has happened, and its likely consequences. Of course, the extreme but unlikely consequences could be much worse — such as sparking the long-awaited destabilization of the region.

Former friends Saudi King Bin bin Abdulaziz and Qatar Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.

Photo by Pool / Bandar Algaloud / Anadolu Agency / Getty Images.

“Qatar’s Feud With the Gulf States Reaches New Levels”

Stratfor, 5 June 2017.

Summary.

Long-standing tensions among members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) that intensified over the past two weeks have culminated in several Arab governments suspending relations with Qatar. The current crisis has roots in multiple areas in which…

A HT to colleague Nick Lloyd for this great explanation of the relationship between the current account and the capital and financial accounts. In theory the balance of payments should equal zero and this is one area that students find hard to comprehend. Hope you find it as useful as I did.

The Relationship between the Current Account and the Capital and Financial Account

A few starting points:

1. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) = C + I + G + (X – M)
2. Gross National Product (GNP) = GDP plus Net Income (Income Credits (Yc) – Income Debits (Yd))
3. Saving/Investment Gap (S – I) = Balance on Capital and Financial Account (Capital Outflows (Ko) – Capital Inflows (Ki))
4. Current Account Balance = Trade Balance (X – M) + Net Income (Yc – Yd)
5. National Savings = GNP – (Private Spending (C) + Government Spending (G))

Now:

GNP                                      =               GDP…

by Robert Warren Anderson (University of Michigan-Dearborn), Noel D. Johnson and Mark Koyama (George Mason University).

Jewish communities in pre-industrial European societies were more likely to be vulnerable to persecutions during periods of economic hardship.

The authors’ study finds that colder springs and summers, which led to reduced food supply, were associated with a higher probability of Jewish persecutions. What’s more, the effect of colder weather on the probability of Jewish persecutions was larger in cities with poor quality soil and in states that were weaker.

Throughout most of history, religious minorities were the victims of persecution. Violence against religious and ethnic minorities remains a major problem in many developing countries today. This study investigates why some societies persecute minorities.

To answer these questions, the researchers focus on the persecution of Jews in medieval and early modern Europe. Violence against Jews was caused by a complex set of factors that…

A hung parliament is a possible – if still unlikely – outcome of the election on Thursday. Akash Paun discusses what would happen next if no one party has an overall majority once the results have declared. He explains that in the UK system ultimately who forms a government is determined by who is best placed to command the confidence of the House of Commons. 

The recent and dramatic shift in the polls makes a hung parliament a plausible, if still unlikely, outcome on Thursday. Westminster has little recent experience of inconclusive elections – just two since the war, in 1974 and 2010. A third hung parliament in seven years would make things interesting, but it would be no crisis.

The sky won’t fall in

A hung parliament might produce a period of uncertainty about the composition of the new administration. The UK is accustomed to a government being formed immediately…

D-DAY PLUS 73 YEARS

This was my D-Day post from 2014 which was the 70th anniversary of the invasion.

I saw a show on the History Channel this past weekend and it got me thinking about the men who were involved in the Normandy invasion code-named Operation Overlord, especially my uncle Bill. Staff Sergeant William Sackenheim, was a paratrooper in Company E  508th Parachute Infantry Regiment 82nd Airborne Division. He jumped into Normandy approximately 1:30 am on June 6 1944 with the mission to take the town of Ste.-Mere-Eglise.

When I was growing up I knew my Uncle Bill as a man who seemed larger than life, was really funny, and lit up the room he was in. I was always laughing within seconds of seeing him. My mom told me he was a paratrooper in WWII and was awarded a purple heart, but I didn’t know much more than…

Bill Millin, Lord Lovat’s personal piper, is pictured here ready to jump from the ramp of the landing craft into the icy water of Sword beach on June 6, D–Day, 1944.  Lord Lovat is thigh-deep in the water just to the left of Bill Millin’s arm.  As the Telegraph obituary says: “As the Cameron tartan of his kilt floated to the surface he struck up with Hieland Laddie.  He continued to pipe even as the man behind him was hit, dropped into the sea and sank.”

Millin said “I was so relieved of getting off that boat after all night being violently sick.  When I finished, Lovat asked for another tune.  Well, when I looked round — the noise and people lying about shouting and the smoke, the crump of mortars, I said to myself  “Well, you must be joking surely.” He said “What was that?” and he said…

Last week I’d been discussing house prices etc with a couple of friends whose kids are a bit older than mine, of an age where they might in years gone by (not that long ago) have been thinking of buying a house.   As one noted, they didn’t know what to advise their kids.  Another talked of the seeming inevitability of parental assistance –  which, in many families, isn’t much of an option.  I know of another friend who decided that parental assistance was probably inevitable, so bought another house himself so that at least his position was hedged –  if house prices went down, so would the needs of his kids, and if they stayed high or rose further, there would be some additional wealth in the inflated value of the additional house.   When this week’s Listener reports yet another poll suggesting housing is the most important issue…