Stirling Newberry, who writes for truthout and other online pubs, believes that you need to balance the trade deficit (a result of the cost of foreign oil) with the sale of American assets, not just American goods.
But to avoid passing control of US companies to overseas investors, you have to keep rich Americans happy: “bring(ing) investment in (to the US) means that one must also cut taxes on the wealthy, so that companies remain under the control of Americans, rather than being bought up by foreigners, particularly those from nations that do not have internal economies. This creates a budget deficit.”
Prediction
Clark/Edwards
In case you were wondering
In last Friday’s New York Times, Paul Krugman, professor of Economics and International Affairs at Princeton, started a series of columns on “The Medical Money Pit”.
Two excerpts:
Gardener’s Diary
Did some clean-up of Peter’s front yard yesterday, a little pruning, a little weeding, planted some pretty violas in a nice little container garden they got last year, didn’t have to do much, since most of the annuals came back.
Mulched the front where the new connection to town water went in, watered everything, especially the bushes and the new lawn, which is coming in thanks to faithful tending by the gentleman of the house.
Pulled out or cut back some cat briar in the rock garden. The garden is starting off its fourth year with a fair number of healthy-looking perennials, proving my hypothesis that it takes 3-5 years (unless you’re a millionaire) to establish even a modest garden. We think Emme’s Pot of Gold reseeded, and that pleases her very much. The lungwort has already started to bloom.
Doesn’t sound like a lot, but I was there over 2 hours. I must say, the yard has never looked better, mostly due to the excellent work by the person we hired to do the major cleanup of leaves and other detritus from the winter.
What a great weekend to be outside!
And considering what we started with when we bought the house, I am pretty happy with the progress we’ve made on improving its curbside appeal.
Sundries
There are people who think that yard work is a bore. Boggles the mind, doesn’t it?
Thanks to the perpetually barking mutt next door, I am growing to really hate golden retrievers: Huskies rule.
Peter and I discovered this week that we have a lot more equity in #11 than some of our friends, who have lived here a lot longer.
Makes me feel a little better about waiting “too long” to buy property on Cape Cod, where the average sale price of property last month was $369,662.00. That is, the average sale price of property under a million.
Operation FALCON
Operation FALCON netted 10,340 fugitives and cleared more than 13,800 felony warrants.
Good.
But lest one get carried away with admiration, note that the U.S. Marshalls service used to conduct sweeps like this, back in the mid 80’s and 90’s. Why did they stop? Budget cuts.
Backward Somersault
Slime-mold Beetles Named for Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld
A couple of entomologists named three new species of slime-mold beetles “out of admiration” for the Bushites “principles” and not, so they claim, “because they look like the beetles”.
Continue reading Slime-mold Beetles Named for Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld
Money
It’s tax week, also the week the mortgage is due; I’m doing up customer invoices, and a couple days ago negotiated a new contract starting next Monday.
This morning, I balanced my biz and personal checking accounts through my bank’s online service. Yesterday, flush (pun intended) with our recent successes around town water installation and yard clean-up, Peter and I talked about the next round of modest home improvements at 11 Edgewater.
In other words: money time.
Gardener’s Diary
Hollytoned Peter’s big tree and the shrubs today, also put down SuperPhosphate around the rhodies, azaleas and the peony.
Let’s hope I haven’t killed them with kindness.
The nasty wind and cold are doing a job on my poor pansies. I’m going to leave them next to the house until things improve….