leLaissezFaireisOver { LF_O }

like a vague feeling of deja-vu...

Bloomsberg.com reports that the church of the Holly Free Market fears for its future and might be on the way to adopt the Bumper-sticker slogan of NRA supporters. (Guns don't kill people, people do).

Great Priest Henry Paulson (You might remember him. He had an alibi-job as US Treasury secretary at some point) testified to US Congress this summer that massive public money spending has been necessary to keep the faith in the Invisible Hand alive.

As bonus season is near, Bloomberg reports that nervous Goldman Sachs executives are arming themselves and applying for gun permits ahead of the holidays for fear of the public's reaction once they start receiving their year-end rewards.

Columnist Alice Shroeder reporting that Goldman banker are stocking up on ammo sounds like blast from the past: it’s the spirit, it’s the wild west, it’s the cowboyz, … dude… it’s the vibe….

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=ahD2WoDAL9h0

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After all the recent Australian politics, time for a break... back to Ameereeka...

The invisible hand of Wall Street is no longer driving America in a positive direction, writes Paul B. Farrell in the WSJ, MarketWatch. On the contrary, TGTF (too greedy to fail) banks are undermining democracy and capitalism. And you can't call him an anarcho-liberal.

He lists 15 symptoms of a Wall Street disease destroying democracy and capitalism: Goldman's secret moral pathology
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/15-signs-wall-street-pathology-is-spreading-2009-11-24?pagenumber=1

1. Gross denial of any moral damage caused by their rampant greed

2. Narcissistic egomaniacs with secret 'God complexes'

3. Paranoid obsessives about secrecy, guilt and non-disclosure

4. Power-hungry need to control government using Trojan Horses

5. Borderline personalities who regularly ignore conflicts of interest

6. Pathological liars incapable of honesty even with own investors

7. Sole fiduciary duty to insiders, not investors, never the public

8. Moral issues are PR glitches, violations of 'don't get caught' rule

9. Charitable donations are tax and PR opportunities, not moral issues

10. When exposed in a massive fraud, feign humility, fake an apology

11. When bankruptcy threatens, bribe friends in 'Happy Conspiracy'

12. Engage co-conspirators to cover up, distract, do your dirty work

13. As money-hungry vultures they will prey on vulnerable Americans

14. Treat everyone not in the 'Happy Conspiracy' with tough love

15. Addicts consumed by money: 'Jesus would throw them out ...'

{ NKN }

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Psychologist Jonathan Haidt studies the five moral values that form the basis of our political choices, whether we're left, right or centre. He pinpoints the moral values that liberals and conservatives tend to honor most.

Quite topical after the #spill of leadership in the Australian Liberal Party that saw Liberal Malcolm Turnbull ousted in favour of Conservative Tony Abbott.

Lib or Con? Which one are you? Comment below for a quick Poll. I'm really curious.

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Left Centre Right 1page

The traditional opposition between Left and Right is

- "Economically Conservative, Culturally Liberal": defiance towards free markets and business agendas, pro- gay rights, pro- abortion, against death penalty, activism in favour of minorities, etc

- "Economically Liberal, Culturally Conservative": embrace free markets and entrepreneurship, defence of family and traditional values.

The shift of the Left from suburban working class voters to inner-city (perceived) cultural elites (the Chardonnay-latte Labour voters) (teachers, journalists, artists, educated and well travelled professionals) is blurring a few lines.

The French coined the term of "bobos" (bourgeois bohèmes), both culturally liberal (hence on the Left) and economically liberal (hence on the Right): dilemma....

The current Mayor of Paris Bertrand Delanoë (Gay, Socialist, patron of the Arts, etc ) typifies this side of politics.

Malcolm's issue is that Australia is not Paris.The worldly, liberal minded, well read, environment conscious vote does exist but has to compete against a seriously conservative agenda (we are talking about some fairly heavy stuff: people who come on national television and assert that Climate change is a left-wing conspiracy to de-industrialise the world )

As *da slide* shows he must work on one axis: the penetration to the conservative side.

The paradox and irony of the situation is that as Leader of the Right Wing Party he might actually need to look for inspiration in Labour / Democrat / Social-Democrat figures to overcome this little issue.

{ LF_O }

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The paper has got pretty graphs and a morale 'à la Robin Hood'. It says that unless investors and shareholders accept lower returns on investment & capital we will face 2 issues:

Flash Natixis Exigence de Rendement

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source: http://xkcd.com/635/

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SG Worst Case Debt Scenario 091120052307 Phpapp02

It's like *2012* for economy wonks. 

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After the previous post on US households food shortage, and the Economist cover on "How to feed the world", a quick Google trends query on: "food crisis, food shortage, food security, world hunger" is de rigueur:

http://www.google.com/trends?q=food+crisis,+food+shortage,+food+security,+world+hunger&ctab=0&geo=all&date=all&sort=0

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