Weekend Economists: Fanfare for the Common Man and Woman - October 11-12 2015

[MattSh]

MattSh here, getting this started for Demeter this morning. So, when I took on this awesome responsibility, I had nothing. No idea for a theme especially. But did I let that stop me? No way! Something would strike me, even if it was a branch falling from a tree! I threw around a couple ideas, some of which were probably too narrow and hard to do much of anything with. So, I came up with this idea. Cool, no? But then I thought maybe it's too much like the Labor Day theme, so I traveled through time to look at that and figured this idea would probably be different enough. So, enough about the process. On to some WEE!

Fanfare for the Common Man - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Fanfare for the Common Man is a musical work by American composer Aaron Copland. The piece was written in 1942 for the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra under conductor Eugene Goossens. It was inspired in part by a famous speech made earlier in the same year where vice president Henry A. Wallace proclaimed the dawning of the "Century of the Common Man". Several alternative versions have been made and fragments of work have appeared in many subsequent US and British cultural productions, such as in the musical scores of movies.

The Fanfare

Copland, in his autobiography, wrote of the request: "Eugene Goossens, conductor of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, had written to me at the end of August about an idea he wanted to put into action for the 1942-43 concert season. During World War I he had asked British composers for a fanfare to begin each orchestral concert. It had been so successful that he thought to repeat the procedure in World War II with American composers". A total of 18 fanfares[1] were written at Goossens' behest, but Copland's is the only one which remains in the standard repertoire.

It was written in response to the US entry into World War II and was inspired in part by a famous 1942 speech[2] where vice president Henry A. Wallace proclaimed the dawning of the "Century of the Common Man".[3]

Goossens had suggested titles such as Fanfare for Soldiers, or sailors or airmen, and he wrote that "it is my idea to make these fanfares stirring and significant contributions to the war effort...." Copland considered several titles including Fanfare for a Solemn Ceremony and Fanfare for Four Freedoms; to Goossens' surprise, however, Copland titled the piece Fanfare for the Common Man. Goossen wrote "Its title is as original as its music, and I think it is so telling that it deserves a special occasion for its performance. If it is agreeable to you, we will premiere it 12 March 1943 at income tax time". Copland's reply was "I [am] all for honoring the common man at income tax time".[4]

Copland later used the fanfare as the main theme of the fourth movement of his Third Symphony (composed between 1944 - 1946.)

Complete story at - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fanfare_for_the_Common_Man

Since some of the best stories of the common man and woman are in the form of music, I envision this as more of a music theme, though written word narratives are more than welcome too!

[MattSh]

1. Stop Using My Song: 34 Artists Who Fought Politicians Over Their Music | Rolling Stone

Neil Young: 'I Make My Music for People, Not for Candidates'

Bruce Springsteen vs. Ronald Reagan, Bob Dole and Pat Buchanan

When: 1984, 1996, 2000
Song: "Born in the U.S.A."

Bobby McFerrin vs. George H.W. Bush

When: 1988
Song: "Don't Worry, Be Happy"

Isaac Hayes vs. Bob Dole

When: 1996
Song: "Soul Man"

Sting vs. George W. Bush

When: 2000
Song: "Brand New Day"

Boston vs. Mike Huckabee

When: 2008
Song: "More Than a Feeling"

Sam Moore vs. Barack Obama

When: 2008
Song: "Hold On, I'm Comin'"

Gretchen Peters vs. Sarah Palin

When: 2008
Song: "Independence Day"

Jackson Browne vs. John McCain

When: 2008
Song: "Running on Empty"

Orleans vs. John McCain, George W. Bush

When: 2008, 2004
Song: "Still the One"

Foo Fighters vs. John McCain

When: 2008
Song: "My Hero"

Heart vs. Sarah Palin

When: 2008
Song: "Barracuda"

Van Halen vs. John McCain

When: 2008
Song: "Right Now"

John Mellencamp vs. John McCain, George W. Bush and Ronald Reagan

When: 2008, 2000 and 1984
Songs: "Our Country," "Pink Houses"; "R.O.C.K. in the U.S.A."; "Pink Houses"

Abba vs. John McCain

When: 2008
Song: "Take a Chance on Me"

Bon Jovi vs. Sarah Palin

When: 2008
Song: "Who Says You Can't Go Home"

MGMT vs. Nicolas Sarkozy

When: 2009
Song: "Kids"

Joe Walsh vs. Joe Walsh

When: 2010
Song: "Walk Away"

Rush vs. Rand Paul

When: 2010
Songs: "The Spirit of Radio," "Tom Sawyer"

Don Henley vs. Chuck DeVore

When: 2010
Songs: "All She Wants to Do Is Dance," "The Boys of Summer"

David Byrne vs. Charlie Crist

When: 2010
Song: "Road to Nowhere"

Journey vs. Newt Gingrich

When: 2011
Song: "Don't Stop Believin'"

Katrina and the Waves vs. Michele Bachmann

When: 2011
Song: "Walking on Sunshine"

Tom Petty vs. Michele Bachmann, George W. Bush

When: 2011, 2000
Song: "American Girl," "I Won't Back Down"

Survivor vs. Newt Gingrich

When: 2012
Song: "Eye of the Tiger"

The Heavy vs. Newt Gingrich

When: 2012
Song: "How You Like Me Now?"

Cyndi Lauper vs. Democratic National Committee

When: 2012
Song: "True Colors"

Dee Snider vs. Paul Ryan

When: 2012
Song: "We're Not Gonna Take It"

Silversun Pickups vs. Mitt Romney

When: 2012
Song: "Panic Switch"

Al Green vs. Mitt Romney

When: 2012
Song: "Let's Stay Together"

K'naan vs. Mitt Romney

When: 2012
Song: "Wavin' Flag"

Eminem vs. New Zealand National Party

When: 2014
Song: "Lose Yourself"

Dropkick Murphys vs. Scott Walker

When: January 2015
Song: "I'm Shipping Up to Boston."

Axwell and Ingrosso vs. Marco Rubio

When: April 2015
Song: "Something New"

Neil Young vs. Donald Trump

When: June 2015
Song: "Rockin' in the Free World"


Complete story at - http://www.rollingstone.com/music/lists/stop-using-my-song-34-artists-who-fought-politicians-over-their-music-20150708/neil-young-vs-donald-trump-20150630

[DemReadingDU]

22. Mellencamp's songs are most used by the Republicans

Ironic. or some kind of political strategy

[MattSh]

2. Bruce Springsteen - The River

"The River"

I come from down in the valley
where mister when you're young
They bring you up to do like your daddy done
Me and Mary we met in high school
when she was just seventeen
We'd ride out of this valley down to where the fields were green

We'd go down to the river
And into the river we'd dive
Oh down to the river we'd ride

Then I got Mary pregnant
and man that was all she wrote
And for my nineteenth birthday I got a union card and a wedding coat
We went down to the courthouse
and the judge put it all to rest
No wedding day smiles no walk down the aisle
No flowers no wedding dress

That night we went down to the river
And into the river we'd dive
Oh down to the river we did ride

I got a job working construction for the Johnstown Company
But lately there ain't been much work on account of the economy
Now all them things that seemed so important
Well mister they vanished right into the air
Now I just act like I don't remember
Mary acts like she don't care

But I remember us riding in my brother's car
Her body tan and wet down at the reservoir
At night on them banks I'd lie awake
And pull her close just to feel each breath she'd take
Now those memories come back to haunt me
they haunt me like a curse
Is a dream a lie if it don't come true
Or is it something worse
that sends me down to the river
though I know the river is dry
That sends me down to the river tonight
Down to the river
my baby and I
Oh down to the river we ride

[MattSh]

3. Gotta step away for a while...

Last edited Sat Oct 10, 2015, 04:01 AM - Edit history (1)

Demeter will be along a bit later with some economic news, no doubt. You remember economic news, don't you? That's what these Weekend Economist threads are nominally all about.



Russian: чао, chao; ("goodbye&quot ; also jokingly - чао-какао, chao-kakao (from чай — "tea" and какао — "cocoa&quot

[Fuddnik]

4. A later version.

[MattSh]

5. A bad hair day in Kiev – POLITICO

KIEV — The average salary of a Ukrainian woman is just under a $150 a month, which is less than in many countries in the developing world. Yet the gorgeous locks of hair on her head are worth as much as $2,000 — more than a year’s salary — in an upscale New York salon, where it’s tipped in keratin and sold as “Russian” hair extensions.

It’s this discrepancy between the hardscrabble life of its inhabitants, and the ferocious global demand for natural “Slavic” hair, that fuels my lucrative “Russian hair” business in Ukraine.

It’s a business that has proven recession-proof, thriving even as Ukraine’s economy shrank by over 10 percent last year, and the currency lost over 70 percent of its value. My colleagues in the hair business drive Porsches and Range Rovers, and spend their summer holidays on the Mediterranean.

“Blond Ukrainian hair is a slice of gold,” jokes Oleg Lisenko, a brash, tracksuit-clad entrepreneur from the east of Ukraine, who now runs a successful hair business in Kiev. “Even though local demand is slack, we are overwhelmed by orders from abroad.”

When I stopped by Oleg’s salon the other week, four Hasidic men in black suits and top hats were gathered around a big bale of Russian hair — one running his fingers sensually through a long blond ponytail — while the others counted out a big wad of crisp $100 bills.


Complete story at - http://www.politico.eu/article/bad-hair-day-kiev-ukraine-lucrative-business-virgin-hair/

[MattSh]

6. Why This Feels Like A Depression For Most People « The Burning Platform

“And the little screaming fact that sounds through all history: repression works only to strengthen and knit the repressed.” – John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath

Everyone has seen the pictures of the unemployed waiting in soup lines during the Great Depression. When you try to tell a propaganda believing, willfully ignorant, mainstream media watching, math challenged consumer we are in the midst of a Greater Depression, they act as if you’ve lost your mind. They will immediately bluster about the 5.1% unemployment rate, record corporate profits, and stock market near all-time highs. The cognitive dissonance of these people is only exceeded by their inability to understand basic mathematical concepts.

The reason you don’t see huge lines of people waiting in soup lines during this Greater Depression is because the government has figured out how to disguise suffering through modern technology. During the height of the Great Depression in 1933, there were 12.8 million Americans unemployed. These were the men pictured in the soup lines. Today, there are 46 million Americans in an electronic soup kitchen line, as their food is distributed through EBT cards (with that angel of mercy JP Morgan reaping billions in profits by processing the transactions).

These 46 million people represent 14% of the U.S. population. There are 23 million households on food stamps in a nation of 123 million households. Therefore, 19% of all households in the U.S. are so poor, they require food assistance to survive. In 1933 there were approximately 126 million Americans living in 30 million households. The government didn’t keep official unemployment records until 1940, but the Department of Labor estimated 12.8 million people were unemployed during the worst year of the Great Depression or 24.9% of the labor force. By 1937 it had fallen to 14.3% or approximately 8 million people.

The number of people unemployed during the 1930’s is an excellent representation of the number of households on government assistance during the Great Depression because 79% of all households were occupied by married couples with 4 people per household versus 48% married couple households today with 2.5 people per household. The unemployment rate averaged 19% during the heart of the Great Depression. Therefore, approximately 19% of all the households in the U.S. needed government assistance to feed themselves. That happens to be the exact percentage of households currently needing food stamps to feed themselves.

Complete story at - http://www.theburningplatform.com/2015/10/08/why-this-feels-like-a-depression-for-most-people/

[Demeter]

8. Note: Food stamps are being cut

Michigan, long a leader in a Depression-style local economy, is reducing food stamp "awards" from $120/month for a disabled person to God knows what pittance. This follows a previous reduction from $2oo/month...

Every year I have to wrestle with the state as to providing support for the Kid, who will never be self-supporting. It is just one more of those unpaid tasks we women are supposed to do for love...and we do, because the alternative is an even faster death.

Do not ask me on what basis the legislature has decided that the disabled do not need to eat. IOKIYAAR

[DemReadingDU]

20. and food prices never decrease

How are people supposed to do more with less and less

[MattSh]

7. The West’s ‘Ukraine fatigue’ – POLITICO

Well, I generally think the first half of the article is BS, but it starts to redeem itself about 1/2 way down. Starting here...

Ukraine is also imperiled from within. Corruption is the Ukrainian disease — it has gnawed at the state since its independence 24 years ago. According to Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index, in 2014 Ukraine was the 142nd most corrupt country in the world, below Kazakhstan, Malawi and Liberia. In a report last year by the Legatum Institute, “Looting Ukraine: How East and West Teamed up to Steal a Country,” the journalist Oliver Bullough estimates that about 30 percent, or $15 billion, was stolen annually from Ukraine’s $50 billion state procurement budget alone.

One year into his tenure, how has President Petro Poroshenko done? At the highest levels of government the message seems clear: Corruption is going to be fought. But it’s not an easy task.

.....

Describing himself as being responsible for “the earth, water and sky — plus the post” Pyvovarsky is responsible for around 5 percent of GDP. One of his most pressing tasks is to improve Ukraine’s road system — 97 percent of roads, he tells me, require major repair. The problem is tackling those that don’t want reform. Pyvovarsky has a solution to this. “I have to liquidate certain companies completely because they are so corrupt and inefficient I cannot reform them,” he says. “The people working in them are so corrupt that I cannot change just 10 or 20 percent — I must change everyone.”

Pyvovarsky is trying to take the weight off Ukraine’s roads, an undertaking which shows the dysfunctional nature of modern Ukraine and the challenges facing reformers. “During Soviet times 60 million tons of cargo were carried on the river,” he tells me. “This year it will be 6 million tons: Overweight vehicles are killing Ukrainian roads. So I am bringing in new legislation to rectify this. This will bring in insane strikes, the owners of the trucks and other heavy vehicles will go nuts, but we have no choice.”

What Pyvovarsky fears most is populism — along with the return of what he calls “the old guys.” “Due to national economic hardship and the hard reforms we are implementing, the general public is suffering in the short term and the populists are succeeding in making them believe that they are suffering because of the reforms. But they are suffering because the previous government stole billions of dollars and we are trying to fix it. We have local elections at the end of October and I hope that the old guys [from ex-President Viktor Yanukovych’s party] won’t make a comeback.”

My note: If they are worried about populism, looking at those from Yanukovych’s former party is looking the wrong way. They need to be looking at Yulia Timoshenko. She got shut out in the last election; but now she's rising fast and currently the second most popular politician in the country. But hey, when you're calling for rolling back the outragious rise in utility rates in the last 1.5 years, you're going to get yourself a following, and you're going to get it quick.

Complete story at - http://www.politico.eu/article/the-wests-dangerous-ukraine-fatigue/

[Demeter]

9. It's not fatigue, it's the petulance

of a nasty child throwing and breaking things because s/he doesn't get what s/he wants.

Obama the poker player, the 11 dimensional chess player, is a total fraud: the Wizard of Oz.

“Oh - You're a very bad man!"

Oh, no my dear. I'm a very good man. I'm just a very bad Wizard.”
― L. Frank Baum, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

Although in this case I have my doubts about "good man" part, too.

[MattSh]

10. George Bailey to Mr. Potter - It's a Wonderful Life

Just a minute... just a minute. Now, hold on, Mr. Potter. You're right when you say my father was no businessman. I know that. Why he ever started this cheap, penny-ante Building and Loan, I'll never know. But neither you nor anyone else can say anything against his character, because his whole life was... why, in the 25 years since he and his brother, Uncle Billy, started this thing, he never once thought of himself. Isn't that right, Uncle Billy? He didn't save enough money to send Harry away to college, let alone me. But he did help a few people get out of your slums, Mr. Potter, and what's wrong with that? Why... here, you're all businessmen here. Doesn't it make them better citizens? Doesn't it make them better customers? You... you said... what'd you say a minute ago? They had to wait and save their money before they even ought to think of a decent home. Wait? Wait for what? Until their children grow up and leave them? Until they're so old and broken down that they... Do you know how long it takes a working man to save $5,000? Just remember this, Mr. Potter, that this rabble you're talking about... they do most of the working and paying and living and dying in this community. Well, is it too much to have them work and pay and live and die in a couple of decent rooms and a bath? Anyway, my father didn't think so. People were human beings to him. But to you, a warped, frustrated old man, they're cattle. Well in my book, my father died a much richer man than you'll ever be!

[Demeter]

11. The future of cryptocurrencies: Bitcoin and beyond BY Andy Extance

REMEMBER THAT THE GOAL OF BITCOIN AND ITS BRETHREN WAS TO CREATE A CURRENCY INDEPENDENT OF ANY NATION OR STATE (OR BANK)....A PURE CURRENCY THAT COULD NOT BE DEFILED BY POLITICS...A CURRENCY FOR THE COMMON MAN, IF YOU WILL.

http://www.nature.com/news/the-future-of-cryptocurrencies-bitcoin-and-beyond-1.18447

The digital currency has caused any number of headaches for law enforcement. Now entrepreneurs and academics are scrambling to build a better version...When the digital currency Bitcoin came to life in January 2009, it was noticed by almost no one apart from the handful of programmers who followed cryptography discussion groups. Its origins were shadowy: it had been conceived the previous year by a still-mysterious person or group known only by the alias Satoshi Nakamoto. And its purpose seemed quixotic: Bitcoin was to be a 'cryptocurrency', in which strong encryption algorithms were exploited in a new way to secure transactions. Users' identities would be shielded by pseudonyms. Records would be completely decentralized. And no one would be in charge — not governments, not banks, not even Nakamoto.

Yet the idea caught on. Today, there are some 14.6 million Bitcoin units in circulation. Called bitcoins with a lowercase 'b', they have a collective market value of around US$3.4 billion. Some of this growth is attributable to criminals taking advantage of the anonymity for drug trafficking and worse. But the system is also drawing interest from financial institutions such as JP Morgan Chase, which think it could streamline their internal payment processing and cut international transaction costs. It has inspired the creation of some 700 other cryptocurrencies. And on 15 September, Bitcoin officially came of age in academia with the launch of Ledger, the first journal dedicated to cryptocurrency research.

What fascinates academics and entrepreneurs alike is the innovation at Bitcoin's core. Known as the block chain, it serves as the official online ledger of every Bitcoin transaction, dating back to the beginning. It is also the data structure that allows those records to be updated with minimal risk of hacking or tampering — even though the block chain is copied across the entire network of computers running Bitcoin software, and the owners of those computers do not necessarily know or trust one another.

Many people see this block-chain architecture as the template for a host of other applications, including self-enforcing contracts and secure systems for online voting and crowdfunding. This is the goal of Ethereum, a block-chain-based system launched in July by the non-profit Ethereum Foundation, based in Baar, Switzerland. And it is the research agenda of the Initiative for CryptoCurrencies and Contracts (IC3), an academic consortium also launched in July, and led by Cornell University in Ithaca, New York.

Nicolas Courtois, a cryptographer at University College London, says that the Bitcoin block chain could be “the most important invention of the twenty-first century” — if only Bitcoin were not constantly shooting itself in the foot....MORE

[MattSh]

12. Putin – the incredible Abou Ali | The Vineyard of the Saker

by Ghassan Kadi

As the news of the Russian military action in Syria intensifies and takes more rather affirmative steps, the rest of the world cannot help but to look with a mixed bag of emotions all the way from awe to gratitude, anxiety, disappointment, frustration or fear and many others in between. Diverse as they may be in their outlooks, all observers are united in their gasps of disbelief.

It may look daunting to ascertain what best represents the major point of view of each stakeholder concerned, let alone to bundle the whole lot together in a manner that makes a comprehensive sense. However, if the main punch lines are considered simultaneously, the picture becomes much clearer.

One can almost conclusively say that the Russian strikes of one single week have been at least much more effective than those of the US-led coalition conducted over the whole last year or so. The actual news of Russian missions are not very detailed. They come in dribs and drabs without the American Hollywood-style razzmatazz that we have got used to ever since the 1991 Operation Desert Storm in Iraq. However, the fact that enemies of the legitimate government of Syria are upset, to say the least, is a clear indication that the Russian strikes are achieving their objectives.

Why else would Saudi Arabia be formally asking for Russia to stop its strikes? (1). The Saudis have had quite an intensive dialogue with the Russians in the last two years or so. Ever since Prince Bandar returned from Moscow empty handed in the middle of 2013, the Saudis realized that as far as Russia was concerned, Syria was a redline. Perhaps they didn’t realize how red that redline was; not even after the Russians brokered a peace initiative between the Saudis and the Syrian government, an initiative that only resulted in one formal meeting between government officials. The Saudis remained obstinate, and imagined that they could push Russia further and/or coerce it into submission; not knowing to what extent Russia was prepared to go after it had exhausted all avenues of diplomacy.

As for Turkey, according to M. Nour-Eddin’s article in the Lebanese daily, Assafir, published on the 3rd of October 2015 under the title of “Russia in Syria; Mass Turkish Losses” (2), Russia has tried very hard at different levels to bring Turkey into a brokered peace deal that would see the end of the “War On Syria”. The Russians have also tried to include Turkey in an anti-terror axis alongside Russia and Iran, but to no avail. Russia had gone further earlier when it used economic incentives for Turkey using the “South Stream” pipe line. But President Putin was getting quite annoyed with Erdogan who would promise one thing and then do exactly the opposite.

Now the Turks are also pleading for the cessation of Russian strikes on Syrian soil. The recent incursions of Russian fighters into Turkish air space are leaving them extremely concerned, huffing and puffing that they would affect the rules of engagement, but, for anyone to fathom that Turkey would dare shoot down a Russian fighter/bomber they would have to wait and see this eventuate.

For the first time in nearly five years, and in a bizarre twist of fate, the table has turned and the Turks are now worried about their own sovereignty and about the events to the south of the border after they have opened the flood gates for jihadists, looters, and arm supplies. From masters of the scene, the Turks have been reduced to beggars, and from Sultans to serfs.

Complete story at - http://thesaker.is/putin-the-incredible-abou-ali/

[Demeter]

17. House of Saud and Ergodan are dead to Putin, and rightly so

After all the shit they've pulled.

The Saudis have been trying to hurt the Russian economy with their depressing the oil price.

Both Sauds and Ergodan have been thugs, starting trouble and war and supporting terrorists.

If they don't dissolve NATO soon, they should at least throw Turkey out.

[Demeter]

13. The Billion-Dollar Moldovan Bank Scam, Scottish Limited Partnerships, and the UK’s Anti-Money-Launde

The Billion-Dollar Moldovan Bank Scam, Scottish Limited Partnerships, and the UK’s Anti-Money-Laundering Mess BY RICHARD SMITH

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2015/10/the-billion-dollar-moldovan-bank-scam-scottish-limited-partnerships-and-the-uks-anti-money-laundering-mess.html

Back in June, the BBC World Service covered the ruinous bank fraud in Moldova, a staggeringly complex affair in which a billion dollars, amounting to 12% of GDP, was removed from the heavily-manipulated Moldovan interbank lending system, plonked into Latvian banks, and whisked away to destinations unknown. The scam was years in the making, but reached its fruition in November 2014. Three bust banks were left behind in Moldova, and economic and political uproar ensued.

File on Four, UK national radio’s premier investigative programme, has just broadcast a follow-up piece on the role of UK companies and partnerships in the Moldovan fraud...But for a quirk of Moldovan politics, we wouldn’t even know that British companies were involved. They’re written up in a confidential report by Kroll Investigations, who were engaged by the Moldovan government to trace the funds. In April, for political or other reasons, the Speaker of the Moldovan Parliament, Andrian Candu, decided that Kroll wouldn’t mind a bit if the report’s confidentiality was breached, and leaked it on his web site...As one delves into the report, a huge network of shell companies emerges, dozens registered in Moldova itself, and 48 in the UK. Along with plain vanilla UK Limited companies, and a sprinkling of the new-fangled Limited Liability Partnerships, a surprising number (28) of the UK companies are Scottish Limited Partnerships (SLPs).

SLPs are a remarkably obscure form of business vehicle: a mere 5,000 SLPs survive from the century between 1907, when their governing law was passed, and 2007. By way of indicative contrast, some three and a half million plain vanilla Limited Companies are currently active in the UK. Since 2007, though, there’s been something of a boom in SLPs: the other 15,000 or so that are extant have all been created since 2008, and they are currently being registered at a rate of 3-400 per month. Clearly someone’s recently noticed something very special about SLPs, and given their predominance in the Kroll report, it must be something that crooks rather like. The programme explains what it is...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06flmfz

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-34445201


...Meanwhile in Moldova, nearly a year after the fraud was completed, the consequences continue to ramify. Inflation surged after the government funded the urgent bank bailout via money printing. By September this year, the resulting economic hardship had led to renewed street protests, in which those Moldovans who tend to favour Russian affiliations pointed the finger at the corruption and ineptitude of the narrowly-elected pro-Europe government. It’s all pretty toxic, and on some kind of a knife edge. What a shame it is that UK companies and laws have had such a major role in this imbroglio, which may yet get much worse, given the regional politics.

MORE

[Demeter]

14. Risk of global financial crash has increased, warns IMF

http://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/oct/07/risk-global-financial-crash-increased-imf-emerging-economies-eurozone-stability-report?CMP=ema_565a

The risk of a global financial crash has increased because a slowdown in China and decline in world trade are undermining the stability of highly indebted emerging economies, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The Washington-based lender of last resort said the scale of borrowing by emerging market countries, whose debts are vulnerable to rising interest rates in the US, mean policymakers need to act quickly to shore up the financial system.

José Viñals, the IMF’s financial counsellor, said the threat of instability and recession hanging over economies including China, Brazil, Turkey and Malaysia was one of a “triad of risks” that could knock 3% off global GDP. The second, he said, was the legacy of debt and disharmony in Europe, while the third is centred on battered global markets that are more likely to transmit shocks rather than cushion the blow.

At the very least, central banks would need to remain vigilant and be prepared to increase their stimulus programmes should difficulties in emerging market countries spill over into the financial system...

YEAH, LIKE THAT WILL HELP...MORE

[Demeter]

15. Universal Thanks from the Common WEE Readers to MattSh for an EXCELLENT Topic!

If nobody else will celebrate us, we will do it ourselves! After all, we outnumber them!

[Hugin]

16. Excellent choice of topics.

Rarely can I make it through FFTCM/W (maybe it's time to drop the "man" part and leave it at common) with dry eyes.

and, I find it only gets more difficult with age.

[DemReadingDU]

18. I second the choice of the weekend theme

Awesome, thanks MattSh

[Demeter]

19. Candide by Voltaire is a story about the life of the common man

Candide, ou l'Optimisme is a French satire first published in 1759 by Voltaire, a philosopher of the Age of Enlightenment. The novella has been widely translated, with English versions titled Candide: or, All for the Best (1759); Candide: or, The Optimist (1762); and Candide: or, Optimism (1947).

It begins with a young man, Candide, who is living a sheltered life in an Edenic paradise and being indoctrinated with Leibnizian optimism (or simply "optimism&quot by his mentor, Professor Pangloss. The work describes the abrupt cessation of this lifestyle, followed by Candide's slow, painful disillusionment as he witnesses and experiences great hardships in the world. Voltaire concludes with Candide, if not rejecting optimism outright, advocating a deeply practical precept, "we must cultivate our garden", in lieu of the Leibnizian mantra of Pangloss, "all is for the best" in the "best of all possible worlds".

Candide is characterised by its sarcastic tone as well as by its erratic, fantastical and fast-moving plot. A picaresque novel with a story similar to that of a more serious Bildungsroman, it parodies many adventure and romance clichés, the struggles of which are caricatured in a tone that is mordantly matter-of-fact. Still, the events discussed are often based on historical happenings, such as the Seven Years' War and the 1755 Lisbon earthquake. As philosophers of Voltaire's day contended with the problem of evil, so too does Candide in this short novel, albeit more directly and humorously. Voltaire ridicules religion, theologians, governments, armies, philosophies, and philosophers through allegory; most conspicuously, he assaults Leibniz and his optimism.

As expected by Voltaire, Candide has enjoyed both great success and great scandal. Immediately after its secretive publication, the book was widely banned because it contained religious blasphemy, political sedition and intellectual hostility hidden under a thin veil of naïveté. However, with its sharp wit and insightful portrayal of the human condition, the novel has since inspired many later authors and artists to mimic and adapt it. Today, Candide is recognized as Voltaire's magnum opus and is often listed as part of the Western canon; it is among the most frequently taught works of French literature. The British poet and literary critic Martin Seymour-Smith listed Candide as one of the 100 most influential books ever written...https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Candide

LEONARD BERNSTEIN DID A FABULOUS OPERETTA FROM THIS:

AND USING VOLTAIRE'S ADVICE, I HAVE POTTED TWO ROSE TREES, BOUGHT AT 75% OFF AT CLEARANCE, AND INSTALLED THEM IN MY BEDROOM, WHICH HAS THE BEST EXPOSURE TO THE SUN. THEY ARE LAVENDER MUSK ROSES, HEAVENLY AND HUGE, AND THEY EVIDENTLY LIKE THEIR NEW DIGS! I AM THINKING OF PLANTING CARROTS AND LETTUCE AT THE BASE. THERE'S 3 GALLONS OF RICH COMPOST IN EACH POT. (YOU WOULDN'T BELIEVE WHAT IT COST TO FIND A SUITABLE POT, AND HEAVY-DUTY CASTERS TO MOVE THE POTS AROUND WITH...4 TIMES THE COST OF THE ROSE TREES, BUT THEY WILL LAST...THE DIRT WAS FREE FROM THE CONDO ASSOCIATION).

I AM HOPING THAT THEY WILL HELP ME GET THROUGH WINTER...THE LEAVES ON THE TREES ARE SWIFTLY TURNING NOW, THE FARM STANDS CLOSING, THE FURNACE IS ON, AND MY SANITY HANGS BY A THREAD.

MY SISTER IS HOME FROM THE HOSPITAL. SHE HAS TO DECONTAMINATE HER HOUSE OF C DIFF, AND SHE'S TRYING TO DO IT ALL HERSELF, WHICH IS INSANE, BUT SHE'S HOLDING TRUE TO FAMILY TRADITION THERE....SHE REACTED WITH HORROR TO MY SUGGESTION THAT SHE MIGHT WANT TO MOVE CLOSER, SO AS TO HAVE SOME FAMILY SUPPORT...

NEED I MENTION THAT WE SHARED A BEDROOM FOR 18 YEARS? EVIDENTLY 40 YEARS APART HAS NOT BEEN SUFFICIENT TO MUTE THE HORRORS OF THAT CROWDED BOOMER CHILDHOOD...

[Demeter]

21. New Book: America Was Built On Slavery And It Was Much Worse Than You Might Imagine

http://www.alternet.org/books/new-book-america-was-built-slavery-and-it-was-much-worse-you-might-imagine

This August, when Hillary Clinton met with Black Lives Matter protesters, they told her that ongoing violence and prejudice against blacks was part of a long historic continuum where, for example, today’s prison system descended from the old Southern plantations. Slavery, Clinton replied, was the “original sin... that America has not recovered from.”

But how much do modern Americans really know about slavery in colonial America? In the genocide of Native Americans? In the War of Independence or the drafting of the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights? Or afterward for decades until the Civil War? Chances are, not very much. Not that slaves, for example, were money in the antebellum South—currency and credit—which led to the enforced, systematic break-up of black families in generation after generation. There was no national currency, and little silver or gold, but there was paper tied to slaves bought on credit whose offspring were seen as a dividend that grew over time.

That’s just one of the riveting and revolting details from a new book, The American Slave Coast: A History of The Slave Breeding Industry, by Ned and Constance Sublette. They trace other telling details that are not found in traditional American history books, where slavery is usually described as an amoral but cheap labor system. For example, have you read about the rivalry between Virginia and South Carolina, which had competing slave economies?

Virginia was the epicenter of a slave breeding industry, in which enslaved women were expected to be constantly pregnant, were sold off if they didn't produce children, and sometimes were force-mated to achieve that end. The offspring were sold to newer settlers and those migrating west. Charleston, South Carolina, in contrast, was colonial America’s slave importing and exporting port. In the late seventeenth century, Carolina exported captured native Americans as slaves to Caribbean plantation islands, gradually replacing them with imported laborers. As the South was emptied of native Americans and American plantations grew, South Carolina became the major slave importer in the colonies and in the early republic. Virginia eventually won out when Congress, at President Thomas Jefferson's urging, banned slave importation as of January 1, 1808—protectionism, say the Sublettes, for Virginia's slave-breeding industry, and sold to the public as protection against the alleged terrorism of "French negroes" from Haiti. After that, a new interstate slave trade grew, propelled by territories and new states that wanted slavery, and by the breeders who wanted new markets. Thus, the slave-breeding economy spread south and west, driving the expansion of the U.S. into new territories...

[DemReadingDU]

23. Facebook!

Lol!

[MattSh]

24. How Our Aversion To Change Leads Us Into Danger - The Automatic Earth

The deeply embedded, genetically determined aversion -or resistance- to change that we are all born with is an important survival tactic. Since change equals potential danger, our aversion to it keeps us out of danger.

We are ‘programmed’ to prefer familiar surroundings, to first look at what we recognize, and to ignore what we do not until we feel comfortable enough about what we do know.

Ironically, though, the aversion to change can also lead us into danger. Because it prevents us from preparing for change, and therefore preparing for danger.

Yes, people can adapt, they have that ability too, but we don’t fully adapt to change until and unless we’re forced to. And while it may not be too late then, it certainly tends to make adaptation much more difficult.

We prefer to focus on those things that stay the same, or seem to stay the same, ignoring those that don’t, even if they change in -comparatively- radical ways, until we no longer can. But by then we have most often missed a significant part of the time and the opportunity to adapt to them. Our resistance to change causes us to miss those changes that happen despite our efforts at keeping things the same.

The deeper problem, as every thinking human can recognize, is that things always change, life changes, the world does. Nothing ever stays the same. Change itself is the only constant. Life equals change. Without change, there would be no life.

And arguably -since time is perhaps not a constant-, changes come even faster today than they have historically, in the perception of our ancestors, both in human designed systems and in natural systems. And the faster the changes come, the more vulnerable our inborn aversion to change makes us. Which in turn reinforces that aversion all the more.

In today’s world, plant and animal species go extinct at a far faster pace than ever in human history. The planet warms, sea levels rise. Pollution of multiple kinds increases at an exponential speed.

Complete story at - http://www.theautomaticearth.com/2015/10/how-our-aversion-to-change-leads-us-into-danger/

[DemReadingDU]

25. a must read, n/t

[Demeter]

26. If you were raised in a household where any man overruled any woman

you were not adverse to change.

The only ones who are change-adverse are those who see loss in their future. Those designated losers by birth have no such mental handicap.

[Demeter]

36. Perhaps it's my genes and training

Engineers work to make change, it is the rai·son d'ê·tre of engineering.

It's also the Darwinian solution...adaptation is the only alternative to extinction.

[MattSh]

27. Musical Interlude: Bruce Springsteen - How Can A Poor Man Stand Such Times and Live?

Boy, I do have a few Springsteen stories I could tell...

[DemReadingDU]

28. a future theme for an upcoming weekend?

Bruce Springsteen?

or chance encounters with celebrities?

[Demeter]

35. Go right ahead

I certainly couldn't...no experience with either!

[DemReadingDU]

38. none either

but maybe MattSh can tell his stories

[MattSh]

43. tomorrow...

it's late here. In fact, it's almost tomorrow!

[MattSh]

48. Well actually, I suggested to Demeter a couple of times...

A Springsteen theme. The previous suggestion was a couple of weeks ago, right before Springsteen's birthday. This thread was going to be a Springsteen thread until I broadened it a bit.

So anyway, my Springsteen story.

I was going into my last year at Rutgers, New Brunswick, and needed a place to stay. I already had a single room in university housing (a very hard to get commodity at RU, but it was on one of the outlying campuses in beautiful downtown Piscataway NJ). I really wanted to be closer to the action, so to say. One of my friends in the Chinese community (yes, there's a story there too), set me up with a place one block off the main campus in NB, and right behind the campus pub. And this was back when 18 year olds could drink, though I was already 24 at the time. So yeah, it was action central.

I had a room on the second floor, and the second room was occupied by Jean and her boyfriend. Yeah, Jean and I got along real well, especially since we both hated Ronald Reagan with a passion. So fast forward a bit. Her and her boyfriend had scored a place down the shore, while I stayed in NB. But now I had a reason to go to the shore (beyond the obvious reasons, that is), and a place to crash when I got there. Cool.

So, she called me up one day and said you might want to come down this Sunday. Springsteen will be playing at the Pony (the Stone Pony, that is). So of course I said "why not"? Now he wasn't exactly an unknown at this time, being this was between "The River" and "Born in the USA". And the Pony couldn't put on their marquee "Springsteen playing tonight" because 10,000 people would line up for a place that could fit maybe 200. So this is like, you had to know someone who knew someone who knew someone.

Being Sunday night, their Sunday house band "Cats of a Smooth Surface" was playing. We got there, a good crowd for a Sunday, but not overly crowded. Hours went by, and no Bruce. Then a bit after midnight, who should appear? Bruce and a couple members of the band. They couldn't bring the whole band, because the place is small, so they just jammed with Cats for a few songs. The area around the stage was crowded, no surprise there, so I had to watch from a distance. Maybe 25 feet. Missing accomplished, so to say.

So, a couple of days later, Jean calls me again and says Bruce will drop in at the Pony again on Sunday. Would you like to come? So of course I came again. Same story as the previous week, though a slightly bigger crowd, same house band, many hours pass, but sure enough, Bruce and a couple band members show up to jam with Cats again. This time we had a better table to start with, so it was a lot easier to work my way up to the stage. Like I'm right there, with no one in front of me to block the view. How cool is that?

So, lightning struck twice. Buzz was real heavy in town that since Springsteen showed two Sundays in a row, that he'd likely show again. I was still in town and we passed by the Pony. There was a line waiting to buy tickets for the upcoming Sunday, at $10 a pop. Jean said, no, Springsteen will not appear this Sunday. And sure enough, he did not. And do keep in mind that the 2 times in a row that Springsteen did appear, there was no cover. We saw Springsteen for the price of drinks, while these people were paying $10 to see the Pony's house band.

I was able to take her up on a couple of other occasions to see Springsteen at the Pony. But being 50 miles away, and finding myself more in the "responsible job" capacity, it got to a point where I could no longer accept these invites.

I guess you could say she's a Springsteen groupie. She's seen him easily 100 times, from the Pony and other small venues, to stadiums across the country and in Europe. Plus, she went on to co-write one of the books on the Asbury Park and NJ music scene.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Rock & Roll Tour of the Jersey Shore - Fourth edition: Stan Goldstein and Jean Mikle: 9780578134819: Amazon.com: Books

The fourth edition of Rock & Roll Tour of the Jersey Shore details close to 200 locations of historical rock 'n' roll sites in New Jersey's Monmouth, Ocean and Middlesex counties -- including Bruce Springsteen-related clubs, houses, street corners and other landmarks in Asbury Park, Freehold, Long Branch, Red Bank and beyond. The book is 200 pages with more than 600 photos of Springsteen, Jon Bon Jovi, Southside Johnny and many others who made their mark on the Asbury Park and Jersey Shore music scene over the years. The first three editions of this book, published in 2002 (64 pages) and 2005 (146 pages) and 2008 (200 pages), are sold out and are no longer available -- so this new edition is updated and particularly welcome, and highly recommended for those who have ever wondered what sites to see when they make that pilgrimage to Bruce Springsteen's Jersey Shore. More than 40 locations are listed for Asbury Park and 30 for Freehold, all well-annotated with maps, addresses and loads of history. Among the new features in the fourth edition are: * Seventeen places Bruce Springsteen has performed in Asbury Park since 1968 as well as where he has filmed several music videos and even did a book signing. * A look at 12 movies filmed in Asbury Park starring such great actors as Robert De Niro, Diane Keaton, Woody Allen and Mickey Rourke. *A special Sunday night in July 2011 when Springsteen played at the Wonder Bar in Asbury Park, his first public performance after the passing of Clarence Clemons. * A first-person report of being an extra in Springsteen's "We Take Care of Our Own" video filmed on Mattison Avenue in Asbury Park in January of 2012. * Sixteen places Springsteen has lived at the Jersey Shore prior to 1983. * Remembering Asbury Park's legendary West Side music scene. * Longtime Jersey Shore DJ Jeff Raspe reflects on his favorite shows over the years. * President Obama's visit to the Asbury Park boardwalk in May of 2013 * Superstorm Sandy's impact on the Jersey Shore and its music scene. * Sixteen full pages of color photos.

Find the book here: - http://www.amazon.com/Rock-Roll-Tour-Jersey-Shore/dp/0578134810/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1444549398&sr=8-1&keywords=jean+mikle

[DemReadingDU]

51. That is totally awesome, thanks for sharing!

There may be a future weekend when you could expand on Springteen's life and songs.

[mother earth]

29. K & R & TY, MattSh!

[mother earth]

30. William Shatner, at his best with "Common People"

[Demeter]

32. I'd never heard this! It's really good!

Shatner broke through kitsch to something with depth.

[mother earth]

34. I thought it fitting...

[DemReadingDU]

37. Here are the lyrics

Common People Lyrics

from Has Been
"Common People" is track #1 on the album Has Been. It was written by Banks, Nick / Cocker, Jarvis Branson / Doyle, Candida / Mackey, Stephen Patrick / Senior, Russell.


She came from Greece, she had a thirst for knowledge
She studied sculpture at Saint Martin's College
That's where I caught her eye
She told me that her dad was loaded

I said, in that case I'll have a rum and Coca Cola
She said fine and in thirty seconds time she said

I wanna live like common people
I wanna do whatever common people do
I wanna sleep with common people
I wanna sleep with common people like you
Well, what else could I do? I said, I'll see what I can do

I took her to a supermarket
I don't know why, but I had to start it somewhere
So it started there
I said, pretend you've got no money
She just laughed and said, oh, you're so funny
I said, yeah? Well I can't see anyone else smiling in here

Are you sure you want to live like common people?
You want to see whatever common people see?
You want to sleep with common people?
You want to sleep with common people like me?
But she didn't understand

She just smiled and held my hands
Rent a flat above a shop
Cut your hair and get a job
Smoke some fags and play some pool
Pretend you never went to school

But still you'll never get it right
When you're lyin' in bed at night
Watching roaches climb the wall
If you call your dad he could stop it all

You'll never live like common people
You'll never do whatever common people do
You'll never fail like common people
You'll never watch your life slide out of view
And dance, and drink, and screw
Because there's nothing else to do

Sing along with the common people
Sing along and it might just get you through
Laugh along with the common people
Laugh along, even though they're laughing at you
And the stupid things that you do
'Cause you think "poor" is cool

Like a dog lying in a corner
It'll bite you and never warn you
Look out, they'll tear your insides out
Because everyone hates a tourist
'Specially one who thinks it's all such a laugh
Yeah and the chip stains' grease will come out in the bath

You will never understand
How it feels to live your life
With no meaning or control
And with nowhere left to go
You're amazed that they exist
And they burn so bright, why?
You can only wonder why

Rent a flat above a shop
Cut your hair and get a job
Smoke some fags and play some pool
Pretend you never went to school

But still you'll never get it right
When you've laid in bed at night
Watching roaches climb the wall
If you call your dad he could stop it all

You'll never live like common people
You'll never do what common people do
You'll never fail like common people
You'll never watch your life slide out of view
And dance and drink and screw
Because there's nothing else to do

You wanna sleep with the common people
You wanna sleep with the common people
You wanna sleep with the common people

http://www.metrolyrics.com/common-people-lyrics-william-shatner.html

[Demeter]

31. I just spent an afternoon sweating over the keyboard

trying to use this funky new State of Michigan data entry program for logging the care I provide for the Kid (disabled home care).

Nobody's paying me for the hours it took to figure the damn thing out. You would think they could have done a 5 minute Youtube How-to lesson...

This website must have been designed by an accountant. So much verifying and reverifying...for nothing and no purpose. The self-importance of petty bureaucracy knows no bounds.

And the exertion has brought on a sneeze attack...the last lingering vestiges of the foul plague are still with me...maybe next week it will come to a final end?

Euchre night was the usual...I just wasn't in a good mood then, and my mood is even worse, now...I'm slapping DUers into the Ignore box right and left. Time to get my hands in some soil, again. It's the only non-fattening, solo thing I know that works to soothe my soul, and I'm out of chocolate (except for Halloween, and I'm not that kind of person, to eat all the goodies before handing it out to the kiddies...after Halloween, all barriers are off!

It's a lovely day out, and the kitty is sitting in the windowsill, next to one rose tree. If she uses the pots as litter boxes, it will be free fertilizer....I am finally free to go out, (if I did it right) my income stream is assured, again. Hoop-jumping.

Thanks again, Matt. The break is greatly appreciated!

[mother earth]

33. And Common "The People"...

[mother earth]

39. Woody Guthrie: Voice of the Common Man

(Written and produced by Melissa Mergner in 2006, when she was a 14-year-old high school student.)

Woody Guthrie -- Voice of the Common Man is a short documentary about how the folk singer-songwriter overcame personal hardship and tragedy to become a spokesman for those Americans affected by the Great Depression and the dust storms. Although neither a politician nor activist, Guthrie brought attention to the plight of Okies, migrant workers and other disenfranchised people. He gave music a social conscience and influenced several generations of singer-songwriters, including Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Billy Bragg, Steve Earle, John Mellencamp, Ani DiFranco and Jeff Tweedy. The film uses Guthrie's own voice from Library of Congress recordings, as well as archival footage from the '30s. Soundtrack by Richard Drueding.

[mother earth]

42. John Mellencamp sings Woody Guthrie's Do Re Mi....

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woody_Guthrie
Woodrow Wilson "Woody" Guthrie (July 14, 1912 – October 3, 1967) was an American singer-songwriter and musician whose musical legacy includes hundreds of political, traditional and children's songs, ballads and improvised works. He frequently performed with the slogan This machine kills fascists displayed on his guitar. His best-known song is "This Land Is Your Land." Many of his recorded songs are archived in the Library of Congress.[1] Songwriters such as Bob Dylan, Phil Ochs, Bruce Springsteen, Robert Hunter, Harry Chapin, John Mellencamp, Pete Seeger, Andy Irvine, Joe Strummer, Billy Bragg, Jerry Garcia, Jay Farrar, Bob Weir, Jeff Tweedy, Bob Childers and Tom Paxton have acknowledged Guthrie as a major influence.

Many of his songs are about his experiences in the Dust Bowl era during the Great Depression when Guthrie traveled with displaced farmers from Oklahoma to California and learned their traditional folk and blues songs, earning him the nickname the "Dust Bowl Troubadour."[2] Throughout his life Guthrie was associated with United States Communist groups, though he was seemingly not a member of any.[3]

Guthrie was married three times and fathered eight children, including American folk musician Arlo Guthrie. Guthrie died from complications of Huntington's disease, a progressive genetic neurological disorder. During his later years, in spite of his illness, Guthrie served as a figurehead in the folk movement, providing inspiration to a generation of new folk musicians, including mentor relationships with Ramblin' Jack Elliott and Bob Dylan.


ttps://

Do Re Mi

By Woody Guthrie, Will Geer

Well, thousands of folks back east, they say,
Are leavin' home most ev'ry day,
And they're beatin' the hot old dusty way
To the California line.
'Cross the desert sands they roll,
A-getting out of that old dust bowl,
And they think they're going to a sugar bowl,
Here's what they find:
The police at the port of entry say,
"You're number fourteen thousand for today."

[Chorus]
If you ain't got the do-re-mi, boys,
If you ain't got the do-re-mi,
Well you'd better go back to beautiful Texas,
Oklahoma, Georgia, Kansas, Tennessee.
California is a garden of Eden,
It's a paradise to live in or see.
But believe it or not,
You won't find it so hot,
If you ain't got the do-re-mi.

Well, if you want to buy you a home or farm,
That can't deal nobody harm,
Or take your vacations
By the mountains or sea,
Don't swap your old cow for a car,
You'd better stay right where you are;
Well you'd better take this little tip from me.
'Cause I look through the want ads every day,
And the headlines on the papers always say:

[Chorus]

[DemReadingDU]

44. Nice find!

Interesting to see the old black & white footage, as well as photos by Dorothea Lange, and to hear Woody Guthrie's voice.


There is much in the early history of our country that I don't know, or maybe knew and forgotten, or was taught a 'sanitized version'. For these reasons, our future looks bleak.
What is that saying... "Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it."
Maybe not repeat exactly, but rhyme.

[mother earth]

46. We are never taught the real history, we are taught a sanitized & manipulated version as you

know, I learn something everyday of my life that makes me understand just that.

Matt's theme is inspiring.

[antigop]

40. Dolly Parton: "Sing for the Common Man"

[mother earth]

41. Arlo, son of Woody Guthrie sings Pretty Boy Floyd, "If a farmer robs a bank

within minutes there's hundreds of people looking for that guy...If a bank robs a farmer well....robbery is a chapter in etiquette..."

If you'll gather 'round me, children
A story I will tell
'Bout pretty boy Floyd, an outlaw
Oklahoma knew him well

It was in the town of Shawnee
A Saturday afternoon
His wife beside him in his wagon
As into town they rode

There a deputy sheriff approached him
In a manner rather rude
Vulgar words of anger
An' his wife she overheard

Pretty boy grabbed a log chain
And the deputy grabbed his gun
In the fight that followed
He laid that deputy down

Then he took to the trees and timber
To live a life of shame
Every crime in Oklahoma
Was added to his name

But a many a starving farmer
The same old story told
How the outlaw paid their mortgage
And saved their little homes

Others tell you 'bout a stranger
That come to beg a meal
Underneath his napkin
Left a thousand dollar bill

It was in Oklahoma city
It was on a Christmas day
There was a whole car load of groceries
Come with a note to say

Well, you say that I'm an outlaw
You say that I'm a thief
Here's a Christmas dinner
For the families on relief"

Yes, as through this world I've wandered
I've seen lots of funny men
Some will rob you with a six-gun
And some with a fountain pen

And as through your life you travel
Yes, as through your life you roam
You won't never see an outlaw
Drive a family from their home

[mother earth]

45. Bread & Roses...Joan Baez

Bread And Roses

As we go marching, marching
In the beauty of the day
A million darkened kitchens
A thousand mill lofts grey
Are touched with all the radiance
That a sudden sun discloses
For the people hear us singing
Bread and roses, bread and roses

As we go marching, marching
We battle too for men
For they are women’s children
And we mother them again
Our lives shall not be sweetened
From birth until life closes
Hearts starve as well as bodies
Give us bread, but give us roses

As we go marching, marching
We bring the greater days
For the rising of the women
Means the rising of the race
No more the drudge and idler
Ten that toil where one reposes
But the sharing of life’s glories
Bread and roses, bread and roses

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bread_and_Roses

The slogan pairing bread and roses, appealing for both fair wages and dignified conditions, found resonance as transcending "the sometimes tedious struggles for marginal economic advances" in the "light of labor struggles as based on striving for dignity and respect", as Robert J. S. Ross wrote in 2013.

[Hotler]

47. Music of and for the blues..

Snowy White. Midnight Blues

Have a listen, nice quitar ear candy and a nice organ solo.

&list=PLBFF739651ADF5E52

I recommend ear buds or headphones

[Demeter]

49. Central Banks Lose Bond-Market Credibility as Woes Mount

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-10-04/world-s-central-banks-lose-bond-market-credibility-as-woes-mount

More and more, bond traders are drawing the same conclusion: central bankers globally are coming up short in their attempts to combat the world’s economic woes. Even after hundreds of interest-rate cuts and trillions of dollars in quantitative easing, the bond market’s outlook for inflation worldwide is approaching lows last seen during the financial crisis. In the U.S., Europe, U.K., and Japan, those expectations are now weaker than they were before their respective central banks began their last rounds of bond buying. That’s leading investors to write off the Federal Reserve’s chances of raising interest rates this year and increase their bets that it will tighten less than policy makers forecast in the years to come. Speculation has also increased that the European Central Bank and Bank of Japan will need to step up their quantitative easing in the face of deflationary pressures, despite statements to the contrary from their own officials.

“There’s a lack of faith in monetary policy -- you’ve thrown the kitchen sink at it, you’ve cut rates to zero, you’re printing money -- and still inflation is lower,” said Lee Ferridge, the head of macro strategy for North America at State Street Corp. “It leads to a risk-off environment.”

Recent economic reports have renewed calls for major central banks to do more. Consumer prices in the euro region unexpectedly fell, deflation re-emerged in Japan, while wages in the U.S. stagnated yet again. International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde also signaled the organization is preparing to lower its outlook for the world economy.

Those worries have caused investors to pile into haven assets such as Treasuries and German bunds in the past month. That’s driven down government bond yields in developed markets to just 1 percent, or within 0.2 percentage point of an all-time low, index data compiled by Bloomberg show. Last week, yields on the U.S. 10-year note ended below 2 percent for the first time since April, and was 2.02 percent as of 9:30 a.m. on Monday in New York.

As a result, investors are demanding virtually no additional compensation to hold 10-year Treasuries instead of investing in a series of shorter-term notes. On the eve of the last three Fed tightening cycles -- in June 2004, June 1999 and February 1994 -- the “term premium,” as they say in the bond market, was far higher, averaging 1.8 percentage points, Fed data compiled by Bloomberg show...

MORE

[Demeter]

50. Citigroup’s Morse Says Commodities Drop Hasn’t Hit Bottom

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-10-10/citigroup-s-morse-says-commodities-drop-hasn-t-hit-bottom-yet



Ed Morse, Citigroup Inc.’s global head of commodities research, said the worst slump in commodities prices in a generation isn’t over.

“I think we are not at the bottom because we are still seeing consistent cost deflation,” Morse said Saturday at a meeting of the Institute of International Finance in Lima, Peru.

The Bloomberg Commodity Index on Sept. 30 capped its worst quarterly loss since the depths of the recession in 2008. The economy in China, the biggest consumer of grains, energy and metals, is expanding at the slowest pace in two decades just as producers struggle to ease surpluses. Alcoa Inc., once a symbol of American industrial might, plans to split itself in two, while Chesapeake Energy Corp. cut its workforce by 15 percent.

Morse’s view contrasts with forecasts by Pacific Investment Management Co., which said Friday that the rout is probably over. Pimco, which manages about $1.52 trillion, said oil is poised to gain over the next 12 months and other commodities producers are shelving projects and scaling back output.

Morse said oil prices will reach a “turning point” next year and start to rise. The U.S. shale market has seen close to 30 percent cost deflation this year, with an additional 15 percent to 20 percent more to go, Morse said.

[DemReadingDU]

52. The Studs Terkel Radio Archive

Studs Terkel Radio Archive
Listen to hundreds of interviews
https://www.popuparchive.com/collections/938


Coming in 2016
Over the course of his 45 years on WFMT radio, Studs Terkel discussed every aspect of 20th-century life with movers, shakers, artists, and working folks.
From civil rights to labor to jazz, his work spanned an impressive array of topics and figures. These enchanting, historically-hignificant interviews — which have been largely inaccessible to the public — will soon come to life in a new website hosting the comprehensive Studs Terkel Radio Archive.

http://studsterkel.org/

[mother earth]

63. Terkel...so much to this man, sounds like a theme begging for expression...

Maybe an upcoming weekend?

[Demeter]

53. A U.S. Recession Just Got a Little More Likely

JUST THE THING FOR A PRIMARY YEAR...IF YOU WANT CHANGE YOU CAN BELIEVE IN

Economists now see a 15 percent chance of a downturn in the next year...A delayed Federal Reserve rate hike, turmoil in global equity markets... and now increased expectations for a downturn in the U.S.

The probability that the world's biggest economy will enter a recession in the next 12 months jumped to 15 percent, its highest level since October 2013, according to economists surveyed Oct. 2-7 by Bloomberg. The median had held at 10 percent for 13 consecutive months...

[MattSh]

54. Musical Interlude: Bruce Springsteen - Brothers Under the Bridge.

Music and lyrics by Bruce Springsteen, BROTHER UNDER THE BRIDGE was on the Tracks box set in 1998 and included on the 18 Tracks compilation album the following year. That officially released studio version was recorded at the Hit Factory on 22 Mar 1995. The song was frequently played during The Ghost Of Tom Joad Solo Acoustic Tour, and appeared once during The Reunion Tour, on 11 Apr 1999 at Palau Sant Jordi in Barcelona, Spain.

There was a group of homeless Vietnam vets who had left LA to set up a camp, camp out there in the mountains. This is a story about one of them who has a grown daughter he's never seen, and she grows up, and she comes looking for her dad.

Really listen to these lyrics, posted below...

Brothers Under the Bridge.

Saigon, it was all gone
The same Coke machines
As the streets I grew on
Down in a mesquite canyon
We come walking along the ridge
Me and the brothers under the bridge

Campsite's an hour's walk from the nearest road to town
Up here there's too much brush and canyon
For the CHP choppers to touch down
Ain't lookin' for nothin', just wanna live
Me and the brothers under the bridge

Come the Santa Ana's, man, that dry brush'll light
Billy Devon got burned up in his own campfire one winter night
We buried his body in the white stone high up along the ridge
Me and the brothers under the bridge

Had enough of town and the street life
Over nothing you end up on the wrong end of someone's knife
Now I don't want no trouble
And I ain't got none to give
Me and the brothers under the bridge

I come home in '72
You were just a beautiful light
In your mama's dark eyes of blue
I stood down on the tarmac, I was just a kid
Me and the brothers under the bridge

Come Veterans' Day I sat in the stands in my dress blues
I held your mother's hand
When they passed with the red, white and blue
One minute you're right there... and something slips...

[mother earth]

55. It ain't me, ita ain't me, I ain't no senator's son...it ain't me, it ain't me, I ain't no fortunate

Creedence Clearwater Revival-Fortunate Son

[MattSh]

59. A classic if there ever was one! nt

[mother earth]

56. Eddie Vedder's Society...

[antigop]

57. "Something to Point to" from "Working" the musical

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Working_%28musical%29

Working is a musical with a book by Stephen Schwartz and Nina Faso, music by Schwartz, Craig Carnelia, Micki Grant, Mary Rodgers, and James Taylor, and lyrics by Schwartz, Carnelia, Grant, Taylor, and Susan Birkenhead.

The musical is based on the Studs Terkel book Working: People Talk About What They Do All Day and How They Feel About What They Do (1974), which has interviews with people from different regions and occupations.

Also from the same show: "It's an Art"
The customer is Studs Terkel

"What I Could Have Been"

[antigop]

58. JPMorgan again wins dismissal of whistleblower lawsuit in U.S

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/10/10/us-jpmorgan-whistleblower-lawsuit-idUSKCN0S400H20151010

JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N) on Friday won the dismissal of a U.S. whistleblower lawsuit filed by a former vice president who claimed the bank ignored red flags about a client’s potential fraud, even after authorities exposed the massive Ponzi scheme operated by longtime JPMorgan client Bernard Madoff.

U.S. District Judge Robert Sweet in New York granted the bank’s motion to throw out the complaint, finding that Jennifer Sharkey had failed to demonstrate that her termination in August 2009 was in retaliation for speaking out.

Instead, he said, JPMorgan had shown there were legitimate performance-related reasons to fire her at the time.

Sharkey’s lawyer, Lawrence Pearson, said she would appeal. JPMorgan, which has previously denied her allegations, did not respond to a request for comment.

The decision marks the second time Sweet has dismissed Sharkey’s lawsuit. In December 2013, Sweet ruled that Sharkey had not met the necessary standard for whistleblower protection under the 2002 Sarbanes-Oxley Act.

[mother earth]

61. Of course they do, see my Arlo Guthrie, Pretty Boy Floyd above, when a banker robs a farmer...

they ignored red flags, could they possibly know what was going on... by now it's a broken record, but the too big to fail are too big to jail, so why even have the pretense of an investigation...they know laws are only for the common man.

[antigop]

60. Reporter gets angry and tell us the REAL news (satire)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=167&v=Syjp9lsWBhc

[antigop]

62. Opera for the common man: "La Boheme" in a pub

http://www.reuters.com/article/2009/12/23/us-stage-boheme-idUSTRE5BM30I20091223

It takes guts to stage an opera in a working man's pub in an Irish part of London, but the Cock Tavern Theater Company's production of Puccini's "La Boheme," in English and updated for modern audiences, has audiences mesmerized.

A very brief interlude of pole dancing may have something to do with it.

That perhaps un-Pucciniesque touch, performed by the tease Musetta, comes in Act Two when the entire company of mostly young singers, getting a big break to tackle such challenging roles early in their careers, troops downstairs from the tiny theater above the pub, where most of the opera is staged, to do the famous Cafe Momus scene right there -- in the pub.

"They love it," Michael Darby, 62, a native of County Westmeath in Ireland, said of the reaction of the Cock Tavern's regulars.

[Demeter]

64. I salute our Common Man Bernie Sanders!

A Man for All Seasons and all the right reasons, a member of the 99% who cares about the 99%.


Took the Kid to see Annie, the remake with Jamie Foxx. It brought me to tears a couple of times, which the original did not.

Jamie Foxx did a much better job of growing human than Daddy Warbucks ever did, and I even liked the new songs! I am planning to add a copy to our extensive (as in OMG how many do you have?) film collection.

It is a lovely day--sunny and it warmed up nicely. And I can sing! Rehearsal starts shortly, so I'll see you all on Monday's SMW? Be there, or be square!

[MattSh]

65. Yep...

But I'm still shocked how many people suck up to the rich fakes and phonies in the hope that some day they too will be rich fakes and phonies.

[kickysnana]

66. My first baby hit forty today. That gives me pause.

A year ago I thought I was headed out but it looks like I get a little more time. Looking for a game plan for a broken down, poor liberal in a cold, cold almost liberal state.