The Japanese Economic Dilemma in a Nutshell

From Jesse's Cafe:

Here is a note from a friend in Japan:

In today's Nikkei (Japanese version), on page 5, tucked behind all the hype about the government's decision to lower corporate taxes, in hopes that major companies will raise wages, was a short article on "three miscalculations about the economy" this year.

1. Tax revenues increased with the increase in the sales tax but consumer spending fell. Tax revenues expected to increase by about 5 trillion yen.

2. Weaker yen and higher stock market improved family assets for some I would say, but exports did not improve, and were about 8% lower than 4 years ago.

3. CPI (excluding fresh food) increased, resulting in a real wage decline. Rreal wages have been falling since mid 2013 and are now around 4% lower year over year.

Over the past few days I have been reading about the so-called lost decade of the 1990s and the government's policy decisions to try to kick-start the economy.

In 1990 the government had about 60 trillion in tax revenues and 69 trillion in general account total expenditures.

Now, the government estimates 52 trillion in tax revenues for fiscal 2014 but has more than 95 trillion in expenditures.

Even a second grade student can see that something is not working.

As you know, I think that there are three things that must be done.

Reform, reform, reform.

The Japanese economy is burdened with an unusually bad demographic problem, made much worse by the burdens of insider dealing, crony capitalism, and zombie banks and their corporations.

And its greatest burden of all is an elite that serves itself and its friends first and foremost, and that finds a greater kinship with its global counterparts than with the people whose interests it purports to represent.

 

http://jessescrossroadscafe.blogspot.kr/2014/12/the-japanese-economic-dilemma-in.html

The Cartel: How BP Got Insider Tips Through a Secret Chat Room

From Bloomberg:

Copies of messages sent to BP traders over the course of a year were provided to Bloomberg News by a person with access to the online conversations. The person, who redacted the names of banks sending the messages and dates of conversations, said they came from firms whose senior foreign-exchange traders belonged to a chat room called “The Cartel” that was set up by Usher and included dealers at JPMorgan, Citigroup Inc., Barclays Plc and UBS Group AG.

The information offered an insight into currency moves minutes, sometimes hours before they happened. The messages could drag the U.K.’s biggest energy company into a scandal that has enveloped 11 banks and led to more than 30 traders from London to Singapore losing or being suspended from their jobs. Last month six banks were fined $4.3 billion for passing along information about their clients and working together to rig foreign-exchange markets.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-12-30/-cartel-chat-room-tied-to-bp-gave-fx-tips-from-banks-to-client.html

TPP Is Not a Free-Trade Agreement

From CEPR:

People in places like rural Kansas and downtown Washington, DC often have a misplaced trust in authority and elected officials. They are inclined to take their comments at face value, not realizing that these people often have ulterior motives.

The Washington Post gave us an example of this confusion in a front page article on President Obama's effort to push the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), which it repeatedly refers to as a "free-trade" pact. The piece follows the administration's line in telling readers that:

"the president threw his full support behind the pact as part of a broader effort to rebalance U.S. foreign policy to the fast-growing Asia-Pacific region."

This assertion makes little sense since the administration is simultaneously pursuing a similar trade pact, the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Pact, with Europe. What both deals have in common is that they are primarily about imposing a business-friendly structure of regulation on both our trading partners and the United States. The more plausible explanation is that President Obama is trying to get more business support for the Democratic Party...

http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/beat-the-press/new-for-washington-post-politicians-dont-always-tell-the-truth-and-tpp-is-not-a-free-trade-agreement?

Google’s Self-Driving Car Hits Roads Next Month—Without a Wheel or Pedals

From Wired:

Google’s latest self-driving car prototype has headlights, but no steering wheel or pedals. Google

The self-driving, goofy-looking car with no steering wheel or pedals that Google revealed in May is now “fully functional” and should start testing on public roads next month, the tech giant says. Over the past seven months, Google has made a series of prototypes, testing different aspects of the design, from steering and braking to the sensors and software that brings it all together. The result, it says, is “our first complete prototype for fully autonomous driving.”

http://http://www.wired.com/2014/12/google-self-driving-car-prototype-2/

"Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable to you, O Lord."
Psalm 19:14

Game Over Japan: Real Wages Crash Most In 21st Century, Savings Rate Turns Negative

From Zero Hedge:

When about a month ago it was revealed that Japan's shadow economic advisor is none other than Paul Krugman, we said it was only a matter of time before the Japanese economy implodes. Terminally. We didn't have long to wait and last night the barrage of Japanese economic data pretty much assured Japan's transition into failed Keynesian state status.

In fact, after last night's abysmal Japanese eco data, we doubt even the most lobotomized Keynesian voodoo priests have anything favorable left to say about Abenomics: not only did core inflation miss expectations and is now clearly in slowdown mode despite Japan openly monetizing all gross Treasury issuance, not only did industrial production decline 0.6% missing expectations of an increase and record its first decline in 3 months with durable goods shipments crashing, not only did consumer spending plunge for the 8th straight month dropping 2.5% in November (with real spending on housing in 20% freefall), but - the punchline - both nominal and real wages imploded, when total cash wages and overtime pay declined for the first time in 9 months and 20 months, respectively.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-12-26/game-over-japan-real-wages-crash-most-21st-century-savings-rate-turns-negative

Movie on North Korea: New Yorkers Explain Why They Are Waiting In Line To See "The Interview"

From Zero Hedge:

And just like that Americans got punk'd again. From one of the countless New Yorkers waiting in line to see The Interview: "We are taking a stand for freedom. We want to show the world that Americans won't be told what they can and can not see. If we want to see a movie we'll go see a movie and make up our own minds.... I came to express my very strong support for the free expression of ideas."



http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-12-25/we-are-taking-stand-freedom-new-yorkers-explain-why-they-are-waiting-line-see-interv

Happy Holidays

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

May life and light fill your hearts.

3D Printed Prosthetics Allow Dog To Run

From Makezine:

3D printing prosthetics isn’t exactly the newest thing in the world, but this take on it is surprisingly refreshing. This dog named Derby was born with disfigured legs. Running, or even walking, simply wasn’t possible. While you can see that a wheel rig was in use for some time, 3D Systems has created some prosthetics that allow Derby to actually run.
I’ll admit, I was fairly skeptical as I hit play. However, the moment you see the dog actually using the prosthetics in what appears to be a fairly natural way, I was won over. I would have loved to have seen the next iterations that were taller too. Great Job 3D Systems, this is absolutely how you should be showing off your tools!

http://makezine.com/2014/12/16/3d-printed-prosthetics-allow-dog-to-run/

David Cay Johnston: Keynote Address to Symposium on Wealth Disparity In America

From Jesse's Cafe:

David Cay Johnston is an American investigative journalist and author, a specialist in economics and tax issues, and winner of the 2001 Pulitzer Prize for Beat Reporting.

Since 2009 he has been a Distinguished Visiting Lecturer who teaches the tax, property and regulatory law of the ancient world at Syracuse University College of Law and Whitman School of Management.' From July 2011 until September 2012 he was a columnist for Reuters, writing, and producing video commentaries, on worldwide issues of tax, accounting, economics, public finance and business. Johnston is the board president of Investigative Reporters and Editors.



http://jessescrossroadscafe.blogspot.kr/2014/12/david-cay-johnston-keynote-address-to.html

David Cay Johnston: The Hunger Games Economy

From Jesse's Cafe:

As you know The Hunger Games society has been a recurrent theme here for some time.

An elite minority economically oppresses the rest of the nation, using force and fraud to keep the public in line.

The Capitol district is unproductive, effete, and consumed with the self, consumption, fads, status, power, and fashions. And of course the sentimentality and reality televised gore of The Hunger Games themselves. They are beautiful on the outside, in inwardly filled with every manner of corruption and the bones of their victims.

The games are designed to provide the Districts with some hope, but primarily fear. Anyone may be chosen and destroyed, with debt increasing the odds of being chosen.

Hope and fear. And what happens when the people lose confidence in a corrupt and manipulative system, and therein lose their hope?

And may the odds be ever in your favour.

The ‘Hunger Games’ Economy

By David Cay Johnston

December 15, 2014

That our Congress is intent on taking from the many to enrich the few was on full display during passage of the new $1.1 trillion federal spending bill, as five provisions show.

In a Washington run by and for oligarchs, official theft happens suddenly and without warning. No public hearings. No public debate. Instead, as we saw in North Carolina and Wisconsin, it occurs with just abrupt moves to shift power and money from the many to the richest few.

And with little focus by our best news organizations on the consequences for people’s lives, especially if they are in the 90 percent, many people have no idea they just got officially mugged.

The continuing resolution to fund the government was combined with an omnibus spending bill to create a 1,603-page statutory monster called the “cromnibus.” Among the provisions that show how both political parties help corporations pick the pockets of the vast majority, while far too many mainstream journalists help obfuscate the awful truth...

Read the entire article with details here.

 http://jessescrossroadscafe.blogspot.kr/2014/12/david-cay-johnston-hunger-games-economy.html

The Golden Age: Why China and Russia Are Buying Gold

From The New York Times:

Needless to say, in an era when the balance sheets of many central banks have expanded to unprecedented scope, there has been plenty of discussion of those last two trends, causing a pessimistic sect of economic experts to augur pending doom in the repatriation schemes and the shopping sprees by Moscow and Beijing.

“By purchasing gold, China and Russia have indicated that they understand how fragile things are and that they’re getting ready for the demise of the dollar,” said James G. Rickards, author of “The Death of Money: The Coming Collapse of the International Monetary System.” “At the same time, other countries have been watching what they’re doing and are saying to themselves, ‘If things are really that bad, then we better get our gold back,’ possession being nine-tenths of the law.”

Of course, not all economists have interpreted gold’s resurgence as heralding a geopolitical disaster.

To Joshua Aizenman, a professor of economics and international relations at the University of Southern California, dabbling in gold is mainly an attempt by bankers and officials to send a message to the world — one that signals an appetite for power or that broadcasts a desire to challenge a rival. “I doubt that the Chinese or the Russians actually believe that gold is such a great investment in terms of pure returns,” Professor Aizenman said. “But if they’re trying to suggest that they’re unhappy with the dollar or that they want to become a global player, then gold is very powerful.

“The investment is a symbol,” he explained. “It’s made for political, not financial, gain.”

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/07/sunday-review/the-golden-age.html?_r=2

"But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them, in her heart."
Luke 2:19

How 3-D printing is revolutionizing medicine

From the New Yorker:

In February of 2012, a medical team at the University of Michigan’s C. S. Mott Children’s Hospital, in Ann Arbor, carried out an unusual operation on a three-month-old boy. The baby had been born with a rare condition called tracheobronchomalacia: the tissue of one portion of his airway was so weak that it persistently collapsed. This made breathing very difficult, and it regularly blocked vital blood vessels nearby, including the aorta, triggering cardiac and pulmonary arrest. The infant was placed on a ventilator, while the medical team set about figuring out what to do. The area of weak tissue would somehow need to be repaired or replaced—a major and dangerous operation in so small a patient. The team consulted with the baby’s doctors at Akron Children’s Hospital, in Ohio, and they soon agreed that they had just the right tool for this delicate, lifesaving task: a 3-D printer.
As its name suggests, a 3-D printer prints ink not on a flat substrate, such as paper, but in three dimensions, in successive layers; the ink is substrate and substance in one. The first 3-D printers were developed in the nineteen-eighties, by an American engineer named Charles Hull. The “ink” was an acrylic liquid that turned solid when exposed to ultraviolet light, typically from a laser beam. Makers of cars and airplanes could design complicated parts on a computer and then print out prototypes for manufacture; now they often print the part, too. Three-dimensional printers have become inexpensive and ubiquitous. Staples and Amazon now offer 3-D printing services, and the list of 3-D-printed products generally available includes nuts, bolts, earbuds, eyeglasses, athletic cleats, jewelry, cremation urns, “Star Wars” figurines, architectural models, and even entire houses. In the United States, debates have erupted over whether citizens should be allowed to 3-D-print handguns at home, which the technology makes possible. Today’s printers print in plastics, and also in silver, gold, and other metals, along with ceramics, wax, and even food. (NASA is working on a zero-gravity 3-D printer that can make pizza for orbiting astronauts.) For a small fee, you can upload a photograph of your face and receive back your likeness in the form of a 3-D-printed bobblehead doll.
The medical procedure at the University of Michigan worked on a similar principle. The researchers began by taking a CT scan of the baby’s chest, which they converted into a highly detailed, three-dimensional virtual map of his altered airways. From this model, they designed and printed a splint—a small tube, made of the same biocompatible material that goes into sutures—that would fit snugly over the weakened section of airway and hold it open. It was strong but flexible, and would expand as the boy grew—the researchers likened it to “the hose of a vacuum cleaner.” The splint would last for three years or so, long enough for the boy’s cells to grow over it, and then would dissolve harmlessly. Three weeks after the splint was implanted, the baby was disconnected from the ventilator and sent home. In May of 2013, in The New England Journal of Medicine, the researchers reported that the boy was thriving and that “no unforeseen problems related to the splint have arisen.”
This sort of procedure is becoming more and more common among doctors and medical researchers. Almost every day, I receive an e-mail from my hospital’s press office describing how yet another colleague is using a 3-D printer to create an intricately realistic surgical model—of a particular patient’s mitral valve, or finger, or optic nerve—to practice on before the actual operation. Surgeons are implanting 3-D-printed stents, prosthetics, and replacement segments of human skull. The exponents of 3-D printing contend that the technology is making manufacturing more democratic; the things we are choosing to print are becoming ever more personal and intimate. This appears to be even more true in medicine: increasingly, what we are printing is ourselves.

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/11/24/print-thyself

Delicate Knee Tissue Regeneration with 3D Printed Implant

From Science Daily:

“At present, there’s little that orthopedists can do to regenerate a torn knee meniscus,” said study leader Jeremy Mao, DDS, PhD, the Edwin S. Robinson Professor of Dentistry (in Orthopedic Surgery) at the Medical Center. “Some small tears can be sewn back in place, but larger tears have to be surgically removed. While removal helps reduce pain and swelling, it leaves the knee without the natural shock absorber between the femur and tibia, which greatly increases the risk of arthritis.”
A damaged meniscus can be replaced with a meniscal transplant, using tissue from other parts of the body or from cadavers. That procedure, however, has a low success rate and carries significant risks. Approximately one million meniscus surgeries are performed in the United States each year.
Dr. Mao’s approach starts with MRI scans of the intact meniscus in the undamaged knee. The scans are converted into a 3D image. Data from the image are then used to drive a 3D printer, which produces a scaffold in the exact shape of the meniscus, down to a resolution of 10 microns (less than the width of a human hair). The scaffold, which takes about 30 minutes to print, is made of polycaprolactone, a biodegradable polymer that is also used to make surgical sutures.
The scaffold is infused with two recombinant human proteins: connective growth factor (CTGF) and transforming growth factor β3 (TGFβ3). Dr. Mao’s team found that sequential delivery of these two proteins attracts existing stem cells from the body and induces them to form meniscal tissue.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/12/141210171356.htm

3D Print Your Medical Scan: Prep CT images to print, using open-source software

From Makezine:

3D printing is all around us, opening possibilities for us to do in our garages what traditionally could only be done by large organizations. It’s now possible to 3D-print a model of your own bones, innards, and other anatomical structures starting from a CT scan 3D image, and using only open source software tools. I’ll show you how to do it using a couple of common desktop 3D printers; if you don’t have access to a 3D printer, check out makezine.com/where-to-get-digital-fabrication-tool-access to find a machine or service near you.

The Data Is Yours

So you broke your arm, got send to the emergency room, and while you were there the doctor recommended to acquire a CT scan for good measure. While you wait in the emergency room, it occurs to you that it will be interesting to see a 3D printed model of your broken bone, so you kindly ask the nurse for a copy of the CT Scan.
In the United States, you have the right to this data and the health care provider is required to give it to you within 30 days. They can charge you a reasonable fee for the process of reproduction and mailing.
U.S. laws give patients the right to access their own personal records. More specifically:

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Privacy Rule gives you, with few exceptions, the right to inspect, review, and receive a copy of your medical records and billing records that are held by health plans and health care providers covered by the Privacy Rule. If you want a copy, you may need to pay for copies and mailing.

or if you are in the state of New York, the following rules apply.
In the case of a CT scan, you want to ask for the digital data, not printouts in film. This will typically be delivered to you in a DVD containing files that are encoded using the DICOM format.

Image Processing Software

Probably the most commonly used Open Source software applications for processing medical images are OsiriX and 3D Slicer (not to be confused with Slic3r, the G-code generator for 3D printers).
Both of these applications are open source. Both OsiriX and Slicer are built upon the open source toolkits ITK and VTK. However, OsiriX is only available in Mac, while Slicer is available for Windows, Mac, and Linux, which is the reason we’ll focus on it for the rest of this article.
Let’s start by getting Slicer from its download page.

Parts

• Your medical data in DICOM formator try this free dataset from OsiriX instead: osirix-viewer.com/datasets/DATA/PELVIX.zip
• 3D printer or printing service
• Computer running free, open-source software:3D Slicer (slicer.org), MeshLab (meshlab.sourceforge.net), ParaView (paraview.org), Slic3r (slic3r.org)

Tools

Print Project

Steps

• Project Steps View All
• 1. Read the DICOM images
• 2. Read the DICOM images (cont’d)
• 3. Segment the bones
• 4. Segment the bones (cont'd)
• 5. Generate a surface mesh
• 6. Save the surface in STL format
• 7. Inspect your mesh
• 8. Refining
• 9. This time we save that...
• 10. Post-processing
• 11. Printing — with Printrbot Simple
• 12. Printing — with Makerbot Replicator 2X
• 13. Share your data

Step #1: Read the DICOM images

• The images of a 3D scan are typically saved as individual slices, using one file per slice. To enable you to reproduce the demonstration in this article, we use a DICOM dataset that's publicly available, from the OsiriX sample images page. We chose the PELVIX dataset, that contains a fractured pelvis and part of the adjacent femur bones.
• Download the images from the OsiriX page and extract the content of the zip file into a directory.
• To load the images, launch Slicer and go to the File menu in the top bar, then select DICOM. This opens a new dialog window, exposing the options for loading DICOM images. In this new window, select from the top menu the Import button.

http://makezine.com/projects/make-42/3d-print-your-medical-scan/

TechShop and Fujitsu Launch Mobile Makerspace for Student Education

From Makezine:

The nationwide chain of makerspaces known as the TechShop franchise has partnered up with Fujitsu the Japanese multinational IT equipment manufacturer to produce a mobile makerspace ready to hit the road.
Inside the 24 foot trailer is a wide variety of high tech tools including mini 3D printers, laser cutters, and laptop computers all stocked in an effort to bring a hands-on learning environment to nearby schools.
Details of the joint venture were released at the 1st Annual World Open Innovation Conference hosted at the Garwood Center for Corporate Innovation located on the University of California, Berkeley.
As the press release from TechShop states, this project “underscores a commitment to education and to increasing youth’s creativity and interest in science, technology, engineering, arts and math (STEAM) fields through ‘learning by making,’ offering students hands-on activities and access to technologies.”
Now, TechShop and Fujitsu will continue the trend of mobile makerspaces hitting the road spreading knowledge wherever they go. Talks have already been established for the TechShop trailer to visit a couple of Northern California educational organizations and institutions including Mulberry School, Brentwood Academy, Design Tech High School, Los Altos School District, SIATech, San Jose libraries, and Santa Clara County libraries.
The inaugural tour kicked off at the World Open Innovation Conference in Napa, California with plans to travel from school to school in the San Francisco Bay area providing students with fascinating new ways to learn.

http://makezine.com/2014/12/08/techshop-and-fujitsu-launch-mobile-makerspace-for-student-education/

Reprise: The Quiet Coup d'Etat in the Anglo-American Financial System

I made a post on this a few years back.

From Jesse's Cafe:

This is a reprise of an interview with MIT economist Simon Johnson which I first wrote about in February, 2009.

I think I ought to republish this as a reminder every few years, until reform has been achieved, or until the Internet as we know it goes dark.

Have we heeded Simon Johnson's warning? Has he proven to be prescient? Is crony capitalism and the kleptocracy becoming bolder, more aggressive, ever more demanding?

"I think I'm signaling something a little bit shocking to Americans, and to myself, actually. Which is the situation we find ourselves in at this moment, this week, is very strongly reminiscent of the situations we've seen many times in other places.

But they're places we don't like to think of ourselves as being similar to. They're emerging markets. It's Russia or Indonesia or a Thailand type situation, or Korea. That's not comfortable. America is different. America is special. America is rich. And, yet, we've somehow find ourselves in the grip of the same sort of crisis and the same sort of oligarchs...

But, exactly what you said, it's a small group with a lot of power. A lot of wealth. They don't necessarily - they're not necessarily always the names, the household names that spring to mind, in this kind of context. But they are the people who could pull the strings. Who have the influence. Who call the shots...

...the signs that I see this week, the body language, the words, the op-eds, the testimony, the way they're treated by certain Congressional committees, it makes me feel very worried.

I have this feeling in my stomach that I felt in other countries, much poorer countries, countries that were headed into really difficult economic situation. When there's a small group of people who got you into a disaster, and who were still powerful. Disaster even made them more powerful. And you know you need to come in and break that power. And you can't. You're stuck....

The powerful people are the insiders. They're the CEOs of these banks. They're the people who run these banks. They're the people who pay themselves the massive bonuses at the end of the last year. Now, those bonuses are not the essence of the problem, but they are a symptom of an arrogance, and a feeling of invincibility, that tells you a lot about the culture of those organizations, and the attitudes of the people who lead them...

But it really shows you the arrogance, and I think these people think that they've won. They think it's over. They think it's won. They think that we're going to pay out ten or 20 percent of GDP to basically make them whole. It's astonishing....

...these people are throughout the system of government. They are very much at the forefront of the Treasury. The Treasury is apparently calling the shots on their economic policies.

This is a decisive moment. Either you break the power or we're stuck for a long time with this arrangement."

Bill Moyer's Journal - Interview with Simon Johnson, February, 2009.

Johnson also wrote a piece in the Atlantic Magazine titled The Quiet Coup. It may be worth re-reading.

"I am not so optimistic that this reform is possible, because there has in fact been a soft coup d'etat in the US, which now exists in a state of crony corporatism that wields enormous influence over the media and within the government.

Let's be clear about this, the oligarchs are flush with victory, and feel that they are firmly in control, able to subvert and direct any popular movement to the support of their own fascist ends and unslakable will to power.

This is the contempt in which they hold the majority of American people and the political process: the common people are easily led fools, and everyone else who is smart enough to know better has their price. And they would beggar every middle class voter in the US before they will voluntarily give up one dime of their ill gotten gains.

But my model says that the oligarchs will continue to press their advantages, being flushed with victory, until they provoke a strong reaction that frightens everyone, like a wake up call, and the tide then turns to genuine reform."

As far as I can tell, we are right on track for a very bad time of it. And you might be surprised at how far a belief in exceptionalism and arrogant superiority can go before it finally ends, or more likely, fails.

 

http://jessescrossroadscafe.blogspot.kr/2014/12/reprise-quiet-coup-detat-in-anglo.html

US Middle Class Wealth Has Collapsed

From Jesse's Cafe:

sustainable recovery.

http://jessescrossroadscafe.blogspot.kr/2014/12/us-middle-class-wealth-has-collapsed.html

Clothes that can monitor, transmit biomedical info developed

From Science Daily:

Researchers at Université Laval’s Faculty of Science and Engineering and Centre for Optics, Photonics and Lasers have developed smart textiles able to monitor and transmit wearers’ biomedical information via wireless or cellular networks. This technological breakthrough, described in a recent article in the scientific journal Sensors, clears a path for a host of new developments for people suffering from chronic diseases, elderly people living alone, and even firemen and police officers.
A team under the supervision of Professor Younès Messaddeq created the smart fabric by successfully superimposing multiple layers of copper, polymers, glass, and silver. “The fiber acts as both sensor and antenna. It is durable but malleable, and can be woven with wool or cotton. And signal quality is comparable to commercial antennas,” explained Professor Messaddeq, Canada Excellence Research Chair in Photonic Innovations. The surface of the fiber can also be adjusted to monitor a range of information such as glucose levels, heart rhythm, brain activity, movements, and spatial coordinates.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/12/141203125155.htm

The Long Slow Inexorable Demise Of America's Working-White-Male

From Zero Hedge:





http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-12-06/long-slow-inexorable-demise-americas-working-white-male

Bernie Sanders On The Myths, MIsconceptions, and Deceptions of Modern America

From Jesse's cafe:

http://jessescrossroadscafe.blogspot.kr/2014/12/bernie-sanders-on-myths-misconceptions.html

Roubini sees "Mother of all asset bubbles", but claims bubble will not burst until 2016

From Mish's blog:

How big can the current asset bubble get? Stocks, bonds (especially junk bonds), and equities are all in huge bubbles.

I know full well that calling the end is problematic. Economist Nouriel Roubini thinks he knows.

Roubini says we are in the "mother of all asset bubbles" but it's going to get even bigger, not popping until 2016.

We’re currently in the mid-late stretch of this boom, “so next year we’ll see economic growth and easy money. This frothiness that we’ve seen in financial markets is likely to continue from equities to credit to housing,” says Roubini. He predicts an eventual crash, but not for at least a few years.

http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.kr/2014/12/roubini-sees-mother-of-all-asset.html

Princes of the Yen: Central Banks and the Transformation of an Economy

From Jesse's Cafe:

http://jessescrossroadscafe.blogspot.kr/2014/12/princes-of-yen-central-banks-and.html

Piper: Learning Electronics with Raspberry Pi and Minecraft

From Makezine:

 

There’s no doubt that platforms like Raspberry Pi have made learning about computers and electronics more accessible for youth. But going beyond accessibility, how to you motivate and encourage young people to explore the possibilities that these platforms provide? The team behind Piper aims to do exactly that with their Raspberry Pi-based learning platform. The key to motivation and encouragement comes from an almost obvious source: Minecraft. Kids all over the world already invest countless hours building and playing within the popular 3D gaming environment. Piper, developed by Mark Pavlyukovskyy, Alex Stokes, and Shree Bose, uses a modified version of Minecraft running on Raspberry Pi to walk players through creating circuits and interacting with them.

Piper is currently under development, but the team is doing extensive hands-on testing in schools and at museums.

http://makezine.com/2014/12/01/piper-learning-electronics-with-raspberry-pi-and-minecraft/

The Three Reasons Why Moody's Just Downgraded Japan From Aa3 To A1

Sounds familiar?  The thing is that this is not just limited to Japan.

From Zero Hedge:

1. Heightened uncertainty over the achievability of fiscal deficit reduction goals and containing debt
2. Economic growth policy uncertainties and challenges in ending deflation
3. Erosion of policy effectiveness and credibility could undermine debt affordability

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-12-01/three-reasons-why-moodys-just-downgraded-japan-aa3-a1