This morning's key headlines from
GenerationalDynamics.com
- Israeli Arabs and ultra-Orthodox Jews react in fury to new draft law
- Computerized trading results in 'Mini Flash Crash' on Wall Street
- Investors shed a tear as Fed fails to announce new quantitative easing
- New report warns of deteriorating security for the Philippines
- After a shouting match, Greece's leaders agree to austerity measures
- Greece's far right Golden Dawn distributes food for Greeks only
Israeli Arabs and ultra-Orthodox Jews react in fury to new draft law
Wednesday was the expiration date of Israel's "Tal Law," exempting
Israeli Arabs and ultra-Orthodox Jews from compulsory military
service, after the Supreme Court struck the law down as
unconstitutional. Defense Minister Ehud Barak ordered the army to
prepare a plan to draft tens of thousands of ultra-Orthodox Jews into
the military, starting in a month. The situation has caused a bitter
split in prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government coalition, and
one ultra-Orthodox leader has said that drafting his people would
unleash a "civil war." Similarly thousands of Israel's Arab citizens
could be drafted, and they're refusing as well. According to one
activist, "When the moment comes and we are asked to perform civil
service, we will resist. Israel wants us to do service to the state,
but first of all this state has to treat us as equal citizens."
AP and CS Monitor
Computerized trading results in 'Mini Flash Crash' on Wall Street
Back in the 1970s, when I was programming IBM mainframes, I learned
the saying, "To err is human; to really f--k things up takes a
computer." And that's what keeps happening on Wall Street as trading
becomes increasingly dominated by computer algorithms or "high
frequency trading" (HFT). Any software engineer knows that there's no
such thing as software without bugs, something to think about if you
have an implanted heart device. May 6, 2010, was the date of what has
become known as the "Flash Crash," when a bug in a computer program
caused stock prices to fall 10% within a few seconds, and then recover
a few minutes later. Then there was the recent botched handling of Facebook's IPO by Nasdaq, which has also been blamed on computers.
On Wednesday, certain stocks, including Goodyear Tire & Rubber, China
Cord Blood and CoreLogic, saw violent swings in the first hour of
trading, and some were actually halted for moving more than 10% within
a five-minute period. This time, the blame is being assigned to
software bugs in the trading algorithms of Knight Capital Group who,
ironically, has been claiming that they lost $30-35 million because of
the botched Facebook IPO. Forbes
Investors shed a tear as Fed fails to announce new quantitative easing
Bankers and investors had been hoping that the Federal Reserve would
announce a new quantitative easing program on Wednesday, providing new
liquidity to flow into their accounts and their 7-digit bonus
packages. But they were disappointed on Wednesday when the Fed failed
to announce any such program. Theoretically, quantitative easing is
supposed to boost the economy, but numerous bouts of fiscal and
monetary policy that has poured money into the economy have failed to
help the economy, because of generational reasons. People are
refusing to borrow money and spend it because they've been badly
burned in the last ten years, and this is resulting in a deflationary
spiral that can't be stopped by quantitative easing. That's the
reason that the Fed doesn't want to try QE right now -- because
they've learned that it simply doesn't work. QE doesn't benefit any
of us poor slobs, but it does help enrich investors and banksters,
which is why they're pressuring the Fed for more of it. USA Today
New report warns of deteriorating security for the Philippines
A new research report says that the Philippines faces a "significant
security challenge" because of its deteriorating relationship with
China. According to the report:
The report's general conclusion is that tensions with
China caused by territorial disputes in the South China Sea will
lead to some long-overdue investment in the Armed Forces of the
Philippines (AFP), Manila is increasing its own defence budget,
while allies such as the US and Japan can be expected to provide
excess defence articles either freely or cheaply.
However, BMI regards Manila's deteriorating relationship with
Beijing as a significant security challenge. Investment in the AFP
will take years to come through, and the Philippines cannot be
completely confident that its Mutual Defence Treaty with the US
would protect it in the event of a conflict with China. For the
Philippines, much will depend on ASEAN's ability to broker a deal
with China in the form of a new code of conduct governing
behaviour in the South China Sea.
The last sentence reflects a great deal of denial and wishful
thinking. China has repeatedly made it clear that it expects to annex
the entire South China Sea region and will use its vast military
power to punish anyone who tries to stop them. The only "code of
conduct" that China will agree to is one where everyone harmoniously
does whatever China demands. Business Monitor International
After a shouting match, Greece's leaders agree to austerity measures
Leaders of the three parties in Greece's governing coalition agreed to
a package of spending cuts totaling 11.5 billion euros, to comply with
demands by European officials and the IMF for further bailout loans.
The agreement came when the two parties that had been demanding a
go-slow approach to further austerity measures backed down, in the
face of threat by the IMF to terminate all bailout measures. Greece
has agreed to austerity measures in the past in exchange for bailout
money, but once the bailout money was provided, the austerity measures
were not implemented. Kathimerini
Greece's far right Golden Dawn distributes food for Greeks only
Members of Greece's far right Golden Dawn party handed out free food
to hundreds of people in Athens' Syntagma Square on Wednesday, but
only to people showing ID cards proving that they're Greek citizens.
The Golden Dawn party has demanded the expulsion of all immigrants
from Greece, and has been accused of being "neo-Nazi." Kathimerini
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