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Generational Dynamics Web Log for 21-Jul-2010
21-Jul-10 News -- Liberal journalists conspired on racism charges

Web Log - July, 2010

21-Jul-10 News -- Liberal journalists conspired on racism charges

PIIGS to the slaughter

Liberal mainstream journalists conspired to call Obama opponents racist

In a happening reminiscent of last fall's release of the "Climate-gate," some e-mail messages exchanged on a list server for liberal and left journalists, professors and analysts only have been released.

The formerly secret "Journolist" e-mail list server came to light last month, when it was revealed by the conservative Daily Caller web site, revealing that Washington Post David Weigel was guilty of biased reporting. Weigel resigned, and the Journolist list server was shut down.

Now in a new story, the Daily Caller has released additional e-mail messages showing that there during the 2008 presidential election there was widespread bias among mainstream reporters, who conspired to aid the Obama campaign by targeting Obama opponents and smearing them as racists.

In one case, there was a discussion of Obama's pastor, Reverend Jeremiah Wright, who had given sermons in which he yelled, "God Damn America! God Damn America!" Left-wing reporter Spencer Ackerman posted the following on the Journolist list server:

"And I think this threads the needle. If the right forces us all to either defend Wright or tear him down, no matter what we choose, we lose the game they’ve put upon us. Instead, take one of them — Fred Barnes, Karl Rove, who cares — and call them racists. Ask: why do they have such a deep-seated problem with a black politician who unites the country? What lurks behind those problems? This makes *them* sputter with rage, which in turn leads to overreaction and self-destruction."

In fact, as we recall, this is exactly the strategy that was followed, not only by journalists, but by members of the Obama campaign itself. Even Bill and Hillary Clinton were labeled racist when they disagreed with Obama. And the strategy continues to this day, as we saw recently when the NAACP accused the Tea Party of being a racist organization.

To be fair, only a small group of liberal journalists took part in this smear campaign, but apparently the ones who didn't participate were not offended enough to blow the whistle on the smear campaign.

This is just one more example of a sickness that we see over and over again. Here are some other examples:

Financial engineers at investment banks created trillions of dollars of synthetic securities that turned out to be "toxic assets," and defrauded investors in order to collect fat fees and commissions.

Financial regulators ignored or encouraged fraud, and are still encouraging it to this day, by telling banks not to mark toxic assets to market prices, thus continuing to defraud investors with bloated balance sheets.

Financial journalists at CNBC, WSJ, and other mainstream outlets present only positive news in order to please sponsors.

The health care legislation passed by Congress was based on misrepresentations and many lies, resulting in something of economic insanity, as I've said many times.

The climate change researchers have been largely exonerated of making up data, but they're still guilty of hiding unfavorable results from the media and skeptics.

This is only a small fraction of the things that I've written about over the years, and that's only a fraction of the things you can read about in the mainstream media.

There's something like this happening almost every day. Is there anyone in any leadership position who can say anything that we should believe?

More evidence of stock market analyst incompetence

This is really amazing, and shows how incompetent financial analysts are.

The following graph from the McKinsey newsletter compares estimated earnings growth with actual earnings growth for the stock market:

Estimated vs actual earnings growth <font size=-2>(Source: McKinsey)</font>

Estimated vs actual earnings growth (Source: McKinsey)

As you can see, stock market analysts almost always estimate annual earnings growth to be 10-12% annually. However, the actual annual earnings growth has been only 6%.

What should we make of this? These guys always make the same estimates, year after year, and their estimates are, on the average, 100% wrong. Don't these guys ever learn? Don't their clients ever learn?

PIIGS to the slaughter

The acronym PIIGS refers to the countries Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece and Spain -- the European countries in greatest financial trouble, and considered most likely to need a bailout. In fact, these countries were already bailed out by the trillion dollar bailout in May. (See "11-May-10 News -- Europe's super-nuclear bailout.") Much of the bailout money came from Germany.

A lengthy analysis in the Asia Times points out that the PIIGS countries are going to need further bailouts, but that they won't be coming.

According to the article,

Germany's unemployment rate is much lower than that of the PIIGS countries.

The Germans hated the bailout package. To the German public, it appears that "Thrifty, hard-working Germans in May bailed out dissolute, corrupt, feckless, spendthrift and lazy Greeks, Spaniards, Italians and Portuguese."

Germany doesn't need Europe as much as it used to. Germany has an export-driven economy, but now Germany is shipping a lot more to Poland, Russia and China.

The conclusion is that when "the next round of European debt crisis erupts, Germany will not come to the rescue."

Additional links

In the last two months, street protests have been growing in Egypt for a variety of reasons -- demanding higher wages and better working conditions, and condemning the government's role in the blockade of Gaza. With Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak near death, it's feared that Egypt may be on the brink of chaos. Global Post

It seems that the days of a Chinese foreign policy based on not ‘rocking the boat’ are over. Over the next few years, expect Beijing to increasingly assert itself as a global power. Geopolitical Monitor

There is evidence that Pakistani nationals were involved in the recent suicide bombings in Kampala, Uganda. The Somali terrorist group Al-Shabaab claimed responsibility. CS Monitor

Direct democracy is so deeply rooted in Switzerland that almost every decision to change the law is taken by public referendum. Thus, Switzerland has refused to agree to allow itself to be ruled by Brussels, or to automatically accept European Union laws. Officials are looking for a compromise. EuObserver

PKK terrorists have notified Turkish government officials that they will disarm Turkey will agree to certain demands granting Kurds with political and cultural rights. BBC

Snakes need love too. Omaha.com

(Comments: For reader comments, questions and discussion, see the 21-Jul-10 News -- Liberal journalists conspired on racism charges thread of the Generational Dynamics forum. Comments may be posted anonymously.) (21-Jul-2010) Permanent Link
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Generational Dynamics Web Log for 21-Jul-2010 21-Jul-10 News -- Liberal journalists conspired on racism charges

Liberal mainstream journalists conspired to call Obama opponents racist

More evidence of stock market analyst incompetence

PIIGS to the slaughter

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Generational Dynamics Web Log for 21-Jul-2010
21-Jul-10 News -- Liberal journalists conspired on racism charges