Thursday 16 October 2014
Chart, above: The eurozone crisis (often referred to as the euro crisis or the sovereign debt crisis) is an ongoing crisis that has been affecting the countries of the eurozone since early 2009, when a group of 10 central and eastern European banks asked for a bailout. At the time, the European Commission released a forecast of a 1.8 per cent decline in EU economic output for 2009. The main issues shaping the crisis are: weak actual and potential growth; competitive weakness; liquidation of banks and sovereigns; large debt-to-GDP ratios; and considerable liability stocks (government, private, and non-private sector).
The crisis made it difficult or impossible for some countries in the eurozone to repay or refinance their government debt without the assistance of third parties like the ECB or IMF. Banks in the eurozone were undercapitalised and have faced liquidity and debt problems. Additionally, economic growth was slow in the whole of the eurozone and was unequally distributed across the member states. Governments of the states most severely affected by the crisis have co-ordinated their responses with a committee dubbed "the Troika" formed by three international organisations: the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund. ["Non, je ne suis plus Draghiste."]
JOHN BATCHELOR SHOW
Hour One
Thursday 16 October 2014 / Hour 1, Block A: Daniel Henninger, WSJ WONDER LAND, in re: A Year of Living on the Brink
Thursday 16 October 2014 / Hour 1, Block B: Lanhee Chen, Hoover, in re: A report out today from the Republican staff of the Senate Budget Committee highlights a critical point about Obamacare: The law’s negative effect on labor markets helps explain why it will increasedeficits by $131 billion over the next 10 years. This finding stands in stark contrast to Democrats’ repeated assertions that the law will reduce the deficit.
Thursday 16 October 2014 / Hour 1, Block C: Liz Peek, The Fiscal Times, in re: Nearly 60 percent of Americans want the government to shut down flights to the U.S. from Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia, sources of the Ebola virus. Why isn’t the White House playing ball? One theory: because once again, President Barack Obama is serving his legacy at the expense of the country. Six years ago he put his legacy-building healthcare legislation ahead of the need to create jobs and reboot our fragile economy. Today, his ambition to be a hero to Africa is undermining common sense approaches to protecting Americans from the Ebola virus.
At issue is the enormous popularity of George W. Bush in Africa, a love affair that highlights how little, by comparison, Mr. Obama has done for that continent. As The New York Times reported in 2013, Bush “is seen as a lifesaver who as president helped arrest a deadly epidemic [AIDS] and promoted development of impoverished lands.” As The Times noted, “During a final trip as president in early 2008, Mr. Bush was warmly greeted by huge crowds of the sort he never saw at home anymore.” Related: The Virus That's More Likely to Kill You Than Ebola
Thursday 16 October 2014 / Hour 1, Block D: Kori Schake, Hoover, in re:
http://warontherocks.com/2014/10/the-perils-of-limiting-our-wars/#_
Hour Two
Thursday 16 October 2014 / Hour 2, Block A: Michael Vlahos, Naval War College, in re: http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/ebola-virus-outbreak/obama-authorizes-n...
Thursday 16 October 2014 / Hour 2, Block B: Michael Vlahos, Naval War College; in re: Ebola fears fuel school closings in Texas and Ohio A Dallas nurse’s flight on a commercial airline just before being diagnosed with Ebola led to a chain reaction of caution. She had a fever before boarding. Obama authorizes Guard call-up Texas hospital apologizes
Thursday 16 October 2014 / Hour 2, Block C: Jim McTague, Barron's Washington, in re: European Gridlock, Data Fuel Selloff Investors recoiled at Europe’s mix of deteriorating economic data and political gridlock, prompting a scramble out of the region’s bonds and stocks.
Thursday 16 October 2014 / Hour 2, Block D: Robert Zimmerman, behindtheblack.com, in re: Ice photographed in Mercury’s permanently shadowed craters? Moon magma Using Messenger, scientists think they have obtained optical images of the ice that is thought to exist in the permanently shadowed craters of Mercury.
Hour Three
Thursday 16 October 2014 / Hour 3, Block A: Katharine Cornell Gorka; in re: Cornell Iron Works: The History of an Enduring Family Business (1 of 2)
Thursday 16 October 2014 / Hour 3, Block B: Katharine Cornell Gorka; in re: Cornell Iron Works: The History of an Enduring Family Business (2 of 2)
Thursday 16 October 2014 / Hour 3, Block C: Max Holland, Newsweek, in re:
Thursday 16 October 2014 / Hour 3, Block D: Max Holland, Newsweek, in re:
Hour Four
Thursday 16 October 2014 / Hour 4, Block A: Richard A Epstein, Hoover Institution Defining Ideas, & Chicago Law, in re: We Need a Real Flat Tax (1 of 2)
Thursday 16 October 2014 / Hour 4, Block B: Richard A Epstein, Hoover Institution Defining Ideas, & Chicago Law, in re: We Need a Real Flat Tax (2 of 2)
Thursday 16 October 2014 / Hour 4, Block C: Tim Kane, Hoover, in re: Hoover recently launched Peregrine, a bi-monthly online journal about US immigration policy that provides background facts, surveys, and opinion essays by scholars from a variety of perspectives. This attached issue focuses on the consensus found in a survey of experts that offers a blueprint for legislation that appeals to policy makers and voters left, right, and center.
The expert survey focused on the noncontroversial idea of work visas. Almost everyone (86%) agrees that the US should reduce the bureaucratic thicket currently regulating temporary work visas. More on particulars to unthicken are in the full report. There was overwhelming consensus for eliminating the cap on non-agricultural H-2 visas (79%), for making the E-verify program mandatory so that only legal workers can be hired in the US (73%), unlimited visas for high-skill STEM workers (66%), and using visa pricing to allocate the visas (61%) fairly instead of the centrally planned and administered quotas in place today. Of the nine components in a better work visa program that we tested, one had 97 percent support. If Congress could do just one thing, this is it: portability, so that migrants can change employers and thus avoid exploitation. The other eight components had declining levels of support – 60, 51, 49, 40, 34, 20, 14 and lastly 6 percent. The funny thing is that some of the least popular ideas are the ones that were embedded in the Senate’s comprehensive plan for a temporary worker visa.
Thursday 16 October 2014 / Hour 4, Block D: Philip Terzian, Weekly Standard, in re: http://www.weeklystandard.com/articles/i-d-walk-mile_810868.html