Quote of the Day/Week/Month/Year

[capricorn]

On Tuesday, Liberal science critic Marc Garneau said that believing in evolution is not a job requirement for the science minister.

“It is a personal matter. It is a matter of faith.… I don't think it prevents someone from being a good minister,”

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/sto...y/politics/home

[August1991]

Jeff Zucker, CEO of NBC answers questions of Ellen Pollock of Business Week:

“We’re going through tremendous changes. I’m sure BusinessWeek is constantly trying to decide how much to put online and how much to put in print. Newspapers didn’t ask themselves about the changes, neither did Detroit. We all wish we could put our heads down and wish it were 1987. But technology has changed the way people watch video. NBC primetime has had a difficult time the past three or four years. Sometimes, you see the world more clearly when you’re flat on your back. We’ve had the same model for 50 years. We have to question that, especially in this economy.”

Link

[capricorn]

Michael Ignatieff, speaking at the Liberal Quebec wing general council conference.

"You can be proud to be Quebecois and Canadian at the same time," he declared, "in the order you want."

http://www.thestar.com/News/Canada/article/606502

"Quebecers do not deserve to be in a permanent opposition in Ottawa. Their place is in power," Ignatieff said.

"I am so proud to be a Liberal; I am so proud to be Canadian. The time has come for Quebecers to get their place back in Ottawa," he later added.

http://montreal.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CT...ub=MontrealHome

[jbg]

A proof is a proof. What is a proof? It's a proof. And when a proof is proven it is a very good proof.

Jean Chretien, Septebmer 2003.

[August1991]

Zhou Xiaochuan, 61, Governor, People's Bank of China:

When a national currency is used in pricing primary commodities, trade settlements and is adopted as a reserve currency globally, efforts of the monetary authority issuing such a currency to address its economic imbalances by adjusting exchange rate would be made in vain, as its currency serves as a benchmark for many other currencies.

....

The desirable goal of reforming the international monetary system, therefore, is to create an international reserve currency that is disconnected from individual nations and is able to remain stable in the long run, thus removing the inherent deficiencies caused by using credit-based national currencies.

People's Bank of China Edited March 24, 2009 by August1991

[Riverwind]

Zhou Xiaochuan, 61, Governor, People's Bank of China

A strange comment from a country that seeks to manipulate the foreign exchange market in order to favour their exporters.

[August1991]

Jason Kenney, 40, Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism:

"My job is in part to ensure that we successfully integrate newcomers into Canadian society and that our particular Canadian model of pluralism remains a success. There's always a danger that political correctness can dissuade us from making clear distinctions between what constitutes legitimate political debate, and on the other hand, extremism and the promotion of hatred and violence. We cannot allow political correctness to cloud our ability to make those basic distinctions."

National Post

[jbg]

Jason Kenney, 40, Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism:National Post

Great quote. Thanks.

Back in the day, the first thing an immigrant to my country did was learn English, change their name to one not obvioulsy foreign, and do everything they could to fit in. Maybe changing a name is a bit extreme, but newcomers to a country should recognize that they're going to a new country, not bringing the old country's hatreds to the U.S. or Canada.

[August1991]

Alan Greenspan, ex-Chairman of the US Fed:

"I find it useful to think of the world economy’s equity capital in the context of the global consolidated balance sheet. All debt (public and private) and derivatives cancel out, leaving intellectual and physical assets at market value on the left-hand side of the balance sheet and the market value of equity on the right-hand side. Changes in equity values result in equal changes on both sides of the balance sheet. Debt and derivatives are best seen as a grossing up, reflecting the degree of intermediation or leverage.

"The consolidated global equity is also, by construction, the sum of the separate but additive equities of all individual corporations, other businesses, households and governments."

FT

[Pliny]

Alan Greenspan, ex-Chairman of the US Fed:FT

Do you understand that?

[jbg]

Do you understand that?

He makes some very telling points. The only trouble with his analysis is that though stocks are likely to partially recover, real estate may not be in as good a mood.

[August1991]

US President Barack Obama, 30 March 2009:

“If you buy a car from Chrysler or General Motors, you will be able to get your car serviced and repaired, just like always. Your warranty will be safe. In fact, it will be safer than it’s ever been, because starting today, the United States government will stand behind your warranty.”

NYT

Charles E. Wilson, CEO of GM, 1946-53:

"For years I thought that what was good for our country was good for General Motors, and vice versa."

(Given the way things are going, I wonder whether Obama's declaration is an improvement on GM's or Chrysler's guarantee.)

----

Do you understand that?

Greenspan's quote is really the only way to understand (long-run) macroeconomics. We have physical and intellectual wealth and then we have claims on that wealth (equity). Debt and contingency claims (derivatives) cancel out. This also explains why government debt largely doesn't matter. Edited March 30, 2009 by August1991

[Pliny]

Greenspan's quote is really the only way to understand (long-run) macroeconomics. We have physical and intellectual wealth and then we have claims on that wealth (equity). Debt and contingency claims (derivatives) cancel out. This also explains why government debt largely doesn't matter.

He says, "Changes in equity values result in equal changes on both sides of the balance sheet." He doesn't say how equity values change but I assume it is through manipulation of the money and credit supply.

Smoke and mirrors. There will of course be a readjustment of value on the left side if equity values change. But equity values are only a measure of physical and intellectual (real) wealth. If one cup of water (the physical wealth) is by name (Equity) changed to two cups of water, the water has doubled in value but it is still the same amount of water. The apparency is that both sides have doubled but equity "value" has in fact been halved and only claimed to have doubled.

Government debt does matter.

[August1991]

Baitullah Mehsud, about 35, leader of the Pakistan Taliban:

“Soon we will launch an attack in Washington that will amaze everyone in the world ... The maximum they can do is martyr me. But we will exact our revenge on them from inside America.”

The Times

[jbg]

Baitullah Mehsud, about 35, leader of the Pakistan Taliban:The Times

These are peaceful, reasonable people we should be providing foreign aid to and negotiating with? They need to die.

[Pliny]

These are peaceful, reasonable people we should be providing foreign aid to and negotiating with? They need to die.

I'm not so cruel, Allah just needs to tell them they are on their own.

[jbg]

I'm not so cruel, Allah just needs to tell them they are on their own.

Same difference. They thrive on shakedowns weather as the predators on the Silk Road, the Barbary Pirates, the Arab oil embargo organizers or Al Quaeda. Threaten or undertake violence, get money to be quiet.

It would be better if they worked.

[August1991]

Michelle Obama, wife of the US president, speaking at a school in Islington, London, England:

"If you want to know the reason why I am standing here, it's because of education. I never cut class. I loved getting A's, I liked being smart. ... I thought being smart is cooler than anything in the world. For nothing in my life ever would have predicted that I would be standing here as the first African-American first lady. I was not raised with wealth or resources or any social standing to speak of. I was raised on the South Side of Chicago -- that's the real part of Chicago."

UPI

[Riverwind]

Michelle Obama, wife of the US president, speaking at a school in Islington, London, England

Although the sentiment is wonderful it is not clear to me how she can attribute her current position to anything other than the ancient tradition of marrying the right man.

[Pliny]

Although the sentiment is wonderful it is not clear to me how she can attribute her current position to anything other than the ancient tradition of marrying the right man.

She did have to remove herself from where she was and be in the right place at the right time.

[Riverwind]

She did have to remove herself from where she was and be in the right place at the right time.

So the message is: study hard so you can get into an ivy league school and increase your chances of marrying someone who will become the president of the US?

I don't mean to dismiss her accomplishments as an individual but it is quite ridiculous for her to point to her position as First Lady as an example of what can be accomplished with an education.

[jbg]

Although the sentiment is wonderful it is not clear to me how she can attribute her current position to anything other than the ancient tradition of marrying the right man.

Responding in part to your post as originally worded, I disagree. I think educated people with agendas in life tend to marry educated people with agendas in life. I see nothing wrong with a First Lady using her "bully pulpit" to inculcate worthwhile values. In fact, I see that about the best thing that can come from Obama's election is the message that race and racism aren't good excuses for slacking off.

[Pliny]

I don't mean to dismiss her accomplishments as an individual but it is quite ridiculous for her to point to her position as First Lady as an example of what can be accomplished with an education.

I see your point. Without an education she most probably would never be where she is. Education should not be primarily connected with the achievement of social status or position. They are simply incidental to an education. In other words her education was not directly responsible for her achievement of position, it is her marriage that wins her the title of "First Lady".

jb makes a good point as well. There is no doubt an education will improve one's life and value to society but it is wrong headed to seek education for the prime purpose of achieving social status. I think this is a concept of the previous generation who thought that without a university degree you were nobody and everybody had to go to college. The result was education purely for the sake of education and it became for quite a few people a useless waste of time and to those who wanted an education the system has become almost insulting.

Edited April 7, 2009 by Pliny

[August1991]

Eric Schmidt, 53, Chairman and CEO of Google, speaking at the Newspaper Association of America's (NAA) conference in San Diego:

"We at Google have a multimillion-dollar deal with the Associated Press not only to distribute their content but also to host it on our servers.... I was a little confused by all of the excitement in the news in the last 24 hours. I'm not sure what they were referring to. We have a very, very successful deal with AP and hope that will continue for many, many years....

"From our perspective, we look at this pretty thoroughly and there is always a tension around fair use. I would encourage everybody, think in terms of what your reader wants. These are ultimately consumer businesses and if you piss off enough of them, you will not have any more."

Washington Post Edited April 8, 2009 by August1991

[Wilber]

"Those that forget history are bound to repeat it."

"History doesn't repeat itself but it does rhyme". Mark Twain