Monthly Archives: February 2014

Is voter apathy and little control by non-elites baked into western “liberal” democracy?

Posted on February 26, 2014 by tokugawa98

And if so, can internet initiatives improve things, asked Yanis Varoufakis on NC. The entire post is rather interesting in its interpretation of what western “liberal” democracy was supposed to mean and achieve: Magna Carta, the defining document to which … Continue reading →

Posted in democracy, developed countries | Leave a comment

Winners and Losers of “Free Trade”

Posted on February 26, 2014 by tokugawa98

NC has reposted a piece by Don Quijones about free trade and its repercussions. In light of the bullshit spouted about the current attempts at sharpening IP regulations, and weakening democracy in the fact of profit, it helps to time … Continue reading →

Posted in "free trade", geostrategy, GMOs, standards of living | Leave a comment

Stratfor on Ukraine

Posted on February 25, 2014 by tokugawa98

It seems that there has been some kind of solution to what has been going on in the Ukraine. I found some of the goings-on there rather surprising – I still don’t understand how a decision of the president to … Continue reading →

Posted in democracy, geostrategy, oligarchy | Leave a comment

Reality is too big for a nutshell

Posted on February 18, 2014 by tokugawa98

There’s a video out, produced by the Venezuelan opposition, titled “What’s going on in Venezuela in a nutshell.” They’re pushing it hard on social media, which is how I came to see it. Well, parts of it. I simply couldn’t … Continue reading →

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Economics and Morality

Posted on February 13, 2014 by tokugawa98

NC has a relatively short but interesting post up, called Economics is Applied Morality: Utilitarianism is the moral foundation of economics. The idea of the greatest good for the greatest number is intuitively appealing. But applying a utilitarian framework relies … Continue reading →

Posted in belief systems, economic policy, health care policy, wealth distribution | Leave a comment

Moving stories vs true stories

Posted on February 11, 2014 by tokugawa98

Watched “Dallas Buyers Club” last night: Jared Leto is very impressive! The story itself, however: when one looks at the facts, this is a story of how FDA procedures worked, getting a drug approved rather quickly that is still used … Continue reading →

Posted in health benefits, health care, media, science-based medicine | Leave a comment

With friends like these…

Posted on February 7, 2014 by tokugawa98

NC has a post up that takes Krugman to task for peddling outdated theories w.r.t. the trouble Argentina has experienced recently.

Posted in deficit spending, developed countries, economic policy, inflation, public debt, standards of living | Leave a comment

Can Democracy help with Inequality?

Posted on February 7, 2014 by tokugawa98

NC has a post up with the above-mentioned title. It’s a summary of a research paper and the short answer is: “Yes but it doesn’t always.” I like this kind of research since it helps refute some propagandizing. There was … Continue reading →

Posted in democracy, standards of living, wealth distribution | Leave a comment

Idiosyncracies of stock pricing

Posted on February 6, 2014 by tokugawa98

I admittedly don’t know much about the stock market. In the past I knew even less and a friend (who works by now in banking) explained to me that a current stock price already includes profit expectations, which is also … Continue reading →

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The thirties all over again

Posted on February 5, 2014 by tokugawa98

Naked Capitalism gives some props to Flassbeck and in the comments one commenter shows himself I am troubled by the comment that public reaction to this crisis will be to move more to the right. Reality-based thinker that Flassbeck is, … Continue reading →

Posted in democracy, eurocrisis, media | Leave a comment