‘Invictus’

Film, Hollywood, Race, Racism, South-Africa, Sport

I had to search the dictionary for the grandiose title of Clint Eastwood’s new film, “Invictus.” If so inclined, you can read up about it too, although all you need to know, in this context, is that the “short poem by the British poet William Ernest Henley is the source of a number of familiar clichés and quotations.” “Invictus” is Latin for “unconquered.”

For the sake of its viewers, I do hope that “Invictus” is not, as The Independent promised, an “over-reverent biopic, but … instead a surprisingly entertaining sports movie which for the most part follows the conventions of the genre.”

Here’s what you need to know about the sainted Mandela and the game of Rugby, excerpted from my near-complete book, Into the Cannibal’s Pot: Lessons For America From Post Apartheid South Africa:

“Of late, local and international establishment press has showered Mr. Mandela with more praise for serving as the mighty Springboks’ mascot.

The Springboks are the South African national rugby team, and the reigning world champions. But has Mandela ever raised his authoritative voice against the ANC’s plans to force this traditionally Afrikaner game to become racially representative? Not on your life. … Has Mandela piped up about the ANC’s unremitting attacks on Afrikaans as the language of instruction in Afrikaner schools and universities? Again, no.” (©2009 by ilana mercer)

'Putting Americans Back To Work'

Business, IMMIGRATION, Labor, Media

In October, I blogged Pat Buchanan’s timely call for a moratorium on immigration. Peter Brimelow of VDARE.COM has timed his demand for such a logical move with the clueless Obama’s Job Summit. In an article for WorlNetDaily.com titled “Putting Americans Back To Work,” Peter exhorts:

“Incredibly, despite the recession, about 125,000 legal immigrants and “temporary” workers a month – as many as 1.5 million a year – are still entering the U.S.

And, with some 15 million Americans unemployed, there are still an estimated 8 million illegal aliens holding jobs here.

Indeed, the Obama Administration has repeatedly promised that it will try to amnesty these illegals next year. This would end any hope that they might eventually leave the American job market. In fact, because there’s usually a fair degree of back-and-forth across the border in the illegal-alien population, the administration’s repeated promises of amnesty are probably discouraging departures.

Democrats and Republicans have been bickering about whether the Obama administration’s stimulus package really created the claimed 650,000 jobs.

But during the same period, twice that number of legal immigrants and “temporary” workers entered the U.S. – easily swamping even the most optimistic estimate of jobs created. …

It’s literally a holy cause with them, and they react very nastily if you question it. You even sometimes find economists making easily refuted claims that immigration does not impact U.S. employment and incomes – in other words, that the laws of supply and demand have been repealed, uniquely, in the area of immigration.

In contrast, contrary to stereotype, critics of immigration policy are generally rational. What’s not rational about supply and demand?

But why don’t MSM journalists at least ask policymakers about the option of an immigration moratorium as a way of reducing unemployment?

There’s the usual liberal media bias, needless to say.

But my own theory (which will probably sound weird to anyone who hasn’t spent the years I have in establishment financial journalism!) is that it goes beyond bias. Journalists don’t ask about an immigration moratorium because nobody else has asked about it. The idea would just never occur to them on their own.

Call it intellectual inertia – if you want to be kind.”

[SNIP]

Peter is indeed too kind. I’ve tied this mindless ennui to the “Age of the Idiot.”

‘Putting Americans Back To Work’

Business, Economy, IMMIGRATION, Labor, Media

In October, I blogged Pat Buchanan’s timely call for a moratorium on immigration. Peter Brimelow of VDARE.COM has timed his demand for such a logical move with the clueless Obama’s Job Summit. In an article for WorlNetDaily.com titled “Putting Americans Back To Work,” Peter exhorts:

“Incredibly, despite the recession, about 125,000 legal immigrants and “temporary” workers a month – as many as 1.5 million a year – are still entering the U.S.

And, with some 15 million Americans unemployed, there are still an estimated 8 million illegal aliens holding jobs here.

Indeed, the Obama Administration has repeatedly promised that it will try to amnesty these illegals next year. This would end any hope that they might eventually leave the American job market. In fact, because there’s usually a fair degree of back-and-forth across the border in the illegal-alien population, the administration’s repeated promises of amnesty are probably discouraging departures.

Democrats and Republicans have been bickering about whether the Obama administration’s stimulus package really created the claimed 650,000 jobs.

But during the same period, twice that number of legal immigrants and “temporary” workers entered the U.S. – easily swamping even the most optimistic estimate of jobs created. …

It’s literally a holy cause with them, and they react very nastily if you question it. You even sometimes find economists making easily refuted claims that immigration does not impact U.S. employment and incomes – in other words, that the laws of supply and demand have been repealed, uniquely, in the area of immigration.

In contrast, contrary to stereotype, critics of immigration policy are generally rational. What’s not rational about supply and demand?

But why don’t MSM journalists at least ask policymakers about the option of an immigration moratorium as a way of reducing unemployment?

There’s the usual liberal media bias, needless to say.

But my own theory (which will probably sound weird to anyone who hasn’t spent the years I have in establishment financial journalism!) is that it goes beyond bias. Journalists don’t ask about an immigration moratorium because nobody else has asked about it. The idea would just never occur to them on their own.

Call it intellectual inertia – if you want to be kind.”

[SNIP]

Peter is indeed too kind. I’ve tied this mindless ennui to the “Age of the Idiot.”

Boobs Inadvertently Affirm Austrian Business Cycle

Business, Debt, Economy, Federal Reserve Bank, Inflation

The lower-rung boobs informing the higher-ups—the economy’s monetary central planners—require empirical studies to confirm what the Austrian School of Economics, headed by Ludwig von Mises, had deduced through reason (i.e., via praxeology) almost a century ago.

Bloomberg.com:

“[L]ow interest rates spur banks to take on too much risk, according to a study by the Bank for International Settlements. …

The study showed several ways in which low borrowing costs over an extended period can cause banks to take on more risk. It found that if market interest rates are kept below the benchmark rate for 10 straight quarters, the probability of an average bank defaulting increased by 3.3 percent. …

Central banks may have previously ignored the effect that low interest rates have on risk-taking because of a lack of empirical evidence that such a link existed, Gambacorta said.

The risk of banks defaulting jumped by more in economies where interest rates remained low for an extended period before the recent financial crisis, the report by the Basel, Switzerland-based organization said.”

The bankrolling by Barack of bad loans, on our backs, continues Give bankruptcy judges more power. It is suggested that gov. purchase more of the bad loans at a discount from the banks.”