The "Plane That Ate the Pentagon"

Wonder why US Person goes on about the F-35 Lightning II? Because it is absurdly expensive at a cost of $1.5 trillion, and it does not perform as advertised, being beaten in simulations by last generation Russian and Chinese jets. Lockheed-Martin rakes in $36 billion a year of taxpayer money for this project. It spent $21 million of that for political contributions. The sad fact is that military spending produces fewer jobs per dollar than spending on transportation, healthcare, or education. So this procurement epitomizes how desperately misguided military Keynesianism as an economic policy is:

COTW: Prelude to Recession

The US economy is now mostly a service and consumption economy as opposed to a manufacturing economy as it was in the last century.  Manufacturing accounts for only about 12% of the economy.  In the last two recessions manufacturing contracted first, then the service sector.  In this chart presented by the Dallas Fed manufacturing has already contracted for four months in a row.  Will the purple line (service sector) follow?

 

Democratic Debate: Live Blog!

Update: BERNIE WINS MICHIGAN! Proving he can attract disenfranchised voters in a big diverse state, Socialist Bernie Sanders won the Michigan primary. He even split the younger black vote with Ms. Clinton who is counting on the black voting bloc to beat back the rising challenge from the populist left.  On to Ohio and another win there will be the start of a seismic shift in support for fundamental social change. Res ipsa locquitor!

08/03/16 The candidates are in Flint MI to 'feel the pain' and hopefully talk about some effective policy proposals to stop the slow poisoning of 'Merica after four centuries of capitalism:

5:13pmPST Good point, Senator Sanders.  Most of America's problems can be fundamentally traced to a skewed set of national values. The war machine-national security state is swallowing our tax revenues which need to be spent elsewhere such as rebuilding our civilian infrastructure.

5:20PST Effective enforcement of existing federal laws may have prevented the state of Michigan from switching water sources without installing the necessary and required corrosion protection for a system full of lead pipes.

5:22PST Senator Sanders brought F-35 jobs to Vermont, but that is not a solution to America's joblessness.  The war machine is not enough to create a vibrant economy.  Tax incentives for corporate America to ship manufacturing jobs overseas to low-wage regions has to stop. The tax subsides handed out to rich corporations like oil and aerospace companies has to end. Free trade agreements that force 'Mericans to compete with third-world workers for wages cannot be tolerated.

6:25PST Detroit's property tax base has been essentially destroyed.  The state of Michigan must explore ways to replace the needed tax revenues to support the school system.  The federal government can help in this process.

5:26PST The Wall Street bail-out is the worse example of crony capitalism this country has ever experienced since Tea-Pot Dome.

5:28PST  The 2009 bailout of the Detroit auto industry was not the first one. Mitt Romney was against rewarding an inefficient industry.  He was right.    Incidentally, Sanders did vote to save Detroit jobs in another bill that did not include the infamous Wall Street aid package!  Senator Sanders is offering a different vision of this country, not just tinkering with the status quo.

5:32PST Prove it, Ms Clinton.  Release your records!  Can you really accept $100,000 checks with one hand and pass tough financial regulation to prevent another meltdown with the other?  Will you break up the banks to big to regulate?

5:36PST  Capitalism is not in the business of social wage scales.  That is why US Person says the profit motive is socially inadequate because it creates a society of unfair subsidized competition, not beneficial efficient cooperation.

5:41PST Are you talking about companies in socialist countries, Secretary Clinton? You can bet your bottom dollar those companies bear a lot more in social costs than American companies do. Germany's major corporations are  prime examples of social capitalism.

5:50PST Abigail might have been spared suffering if guns were not destroying our society due to a historic misinterpretation of the Second Amendment. Guns R US because of the profit motive. Gun manufacturers need to be held accountable as well as those who misuse their product. The nature of our gun crime tells us what is fundamentally wrong with the system: multiple casualties in shootings made possible by high-volume military weapons in the hands of deranged or criminal individuals. These types of inherently dangerous weapons have no place in a modern mass society full of irresponsible people and schoolchildren. 'Merica is no longer the wild west or the colonial frontier. If you must shoot a deer to feel fulfilled use a bow and arrow, a shotgun, or a bolt-action rifle. The deer will respect you more. If you think you need a revolver to defend yourself, then register it with the local police so it can be easily traced if used in a crime.

6:03PST Madame Secretary, do you think corporations should be building and staffing prisons for a profit? The sad fact is law enforcement and security has become another big business in 'Merica

6:16PST You seem fond of the word "stalker" too, Madam Secretary.

6:19PST Stop taking credit for the dot-com boom! It was new technology and the financial enthusiasm for it that made the 90s prosperous, and fueled by the deregulation of the financial markets begun in your husband's administration (repeal of Glass-Steagall Act; Commodity Futures Modernization Act).  The rest is unfortunate history!

6:28PST Detroit's property tax base has been crippled by the city's mismanagement and bankruptcy. These taxes support the local school system.  Ways have to be found to reinvigorate Detroit's economy so working and tax-paying people return to the city.  The state of Michigan must step in to help in this process, as should the federal government.

6:30PST We spend trillions on weapon systems like the Navy's Littoral Combat Ship that we do not really need. In contrast, Germany, a nation that was totally defeated and largely destroyed in war seven decades ago offers its citizens free university education.

6:39PST  A carbon tax is the right way to go.  Even Yale University says this. For better or worse a lot of our social policies are implemented using a complex system of tax incentives and disincentives.  Fracking is ripping up our western landscapes causing more seismic activity and polluting our underground water supplies.  Its not a good thing.

6:44PST Why waste valuable air time talking about the immature loony tunes on the other side?  They can't talk about policies because they are controlled by the plutocracy; so they talk about the size of the Donald's physical endowment.  To change a corrupt system, you cannot be a part of a corrupt system because just when you think you are out of it, they drag you back in.

6:53PST Why is the victory gap so large?  Because the distinction is even more stark between a member of the plutocracy and an 'alleged' communist.  The Cold War is over, and so is McCarthyism.  Donald does a passable impression of insult artist Don Rickles or Benito Mussolini, take your pick; he would make a disastrous president.

Nebraska Democrats voted for Bernie; they are some of the most conservative voters in the United States, but they also have a strong populist tradition.  They understand what Bernie promises:  it takes a political revolution to take down a corrupted political system.

Yellowstone Grizzly Bears May Loose Protection

US Fish & Wildlife Service has proposed removing the Yellowstone grizzly bear from protection under the Endangered Species Act.  The bear has had intermittent protection of threatened status since 1975 when their population reached a nadir of 312. The new proposal is not the first time the species has been removed.  In 2007 the agency de-listed the species and was promptly sued by conservation groups.  The dispute centered on the effects of the whitebark pine beetle infestation on grizzly survival rates and feeding habits.  Conservationists think the grizzly population in Yellowstone leveled off because of the lack of nuts while the agency preferred the interpretation that the carrying capacity of the Park for grizzly had reach maximum.  By 2011 the litigation was resolved and the bear put back on the list because the agency was deemed by federal courts not to have considered the impact of the loss of whitebark pine.

Since then, scientists determined that grizzlies have switch food sources from nuts to more meat and grubs.  An increased meat diet puts more pressure on ungulates [photo] and brings the big bear into more contact with humans and their livestock.  Last year 59 bears died due to conflicts with agriculture and hunters; but the number of grizzlies, estimated at 714 down from a peak of 757 in 2014, are still above the assigned recovery number of 500.  Bears are very slow breeders, so it will take time to determine if the latest drop in their numbers is the start of a long-term trend.  Hence conservationists say de-listing now is premature.

note: do not dance!

One chance grizzly advocates may have in court to stop the latest removal is a federal court ruling. In the case of grey wolves the court ruled that the agency may not separate a species into distinct sub-species in order to remove protections from a distinct population it thinks is "recovered".  This is exactly what the agency has done with the Yellowstone grizzly.  When first protected in 1975, the agency made a status determination for grizzlies throughout the lower 48 states.  The grey wolf case is currently on appeal in the District of Columbia.  Once again the federal government's primary wildlife protection agency has been caught out playing politics with the lives of animals slowly recovering from man's past exploitation.  The de-listing is bound to become a political football since the Current Occupant, "Black Eagle", is an adopted member of the Crow tribe and forty Native American tribes want protections for the bear, considered a totemic animal, to continue.   Conservatives, lead by an Idaho (R) senator want the protections removed.

Possible New Octopod Species Located

NOAA researchers have located a ghost-like octopod living in the deep waters off the Hawaiian island of Necker (Mokumanamana).  A submersible spotted the animal at a depth of 2.5 miles, and unlike other cephalopods,  it does not have any pigmentation cells, called chromatophores.  Immediately it was nicknamed 'Casper' after the cartoon character for its ghostly appearence.  The animal seemed unfazed by being observed, its dark eyes starring directly into the camera.  But when the camera got too close it started to climb away. [video] The submersible Deep Discoverer is part of a geologic survey of a narrow ridge feature that extends past the current US exclusive economic zone.

Apparently a member of the incirrate (lack of fins) octopod family, the animal did not look very muscular but more gelatinous, an adaptation that would help it survive a great depths where food is scarce.  'Casper' is almost certainly a member of an undescribed species, if not genus.  The discovery is the deepest observation ever recorded for this type of incirrate.

Toontime: Hillary's Secret Race

The nation's spy agencies scored a victory of sorts against Hillary Clinton's wall of denial about her fast and loose handling of classified material in her e-mail. A federal court found that some of the information leaked by her was properly classified. The last batch of her mails were released this week. At the center of the controversy is an e-mail concerning a North Korean missile launch which is now classified "secret" apparently because it reveals information about this nation's system of spy satellites which allow it to detect missile launches anywhere in the world. This leak prompted a referral of the case to the FBI for investigation along with three others. Only one email has now been classified top-secret.  None were classified at the time the e-mails were sent. Clinton supporters often point to a report by the State Department's IG saying former Secretaries of State Collin Powell and Condolizza Rice mishandled classified information in similar ways. Clinton's e-mail problems are not going away, however. Immunity has been granted by the Justice Department to her former tech staffer who set up the private, insecure server.   General Petraeus plead guilty to a similar offense of putting classified material into a non-classified setting, a misdemeanor. 

credit:  Darkow, Columbia Daily Tribune
Wackydoodle sez:  He's a lot faster than Bill!

Bernie Sanders Wins Colorado

He also won in Vermont, Oklahoma and Minnesota. The Vermont senator is locked in a close race in Massachusetts which has 91 delegates to award. Sanders was behind Clinton 48% to 50.5% when the AP called the race at midnight. Sanders will get about half of those pledged delegates. Compared to Clinton's wins in seven states, it could be the writing on the wall for the Sanders anti-establishment campaign since the Clinton corporate team appears to have an insurmountable lead particularly among super-delegates (she has the support of an estimated one-half of the total delegates needed to win the nomination), but Sanders' performance among Latinos in Colorado and his ability to raise a record $42 billion in small donations gives cause to continue his unlikely quest for the White House.

Clinton may beat Trump in the general election, but it will be an unpopular administration in debt to the corporate Money Power. Clinton's negatives are almost as high as the Donald's. Only an economic catastrophe--the 'Second Great Depression'--will impel more Americans to the political left, making a socialist federal government possible here. According to economic experts that future may not be far off. A chairman of the OECD (Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development) stated at the recent Davos confab of the rich and fabulous that, “The situation is worse than it was in 2007.” William White warned this time around the world’s central banks will not be in a position to bail out the financial markets. “Our macroeconomic ammunition to fight downturns is essentially all used up,” he told attendees.