Monday, January 11, 2010
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Mortgage Modifications: Help or Hindrance?
Mortgage Modifications: Help or Hindrance?: "Is the mortgage modification program making things worse?� An article in the New York Times gives voice to fears that by encouraging homeowners to stay in homes that they cannot really afford, Obama's Making Home Affordable program is actually increasing..."
Europe’s WAR against ISLAM –Maclean’s Jan 18th issue.
Europe’s “war” against Islam harkens back to the crusades, and Christian Europe’s animosity towards Jews even further. Jews were persecuted and expelled at time when Islam was more tolerant and allowed Jews and Christians to practice their religion amongst the majority Islamic populations, as long as they paid their poll taxes or “Dhimmis tax ”. The Ottoman Empire was secure enough in their faith not to feel threatened by a few Sephardic Jews or a minority of Christians, with a few exceptions such as the persecution of Armenians by Turkey.
Following the breakup of the Ottoman Empire after WW l, this changed. The fairly homogeneous Arab and Persians lands were split into various artificial entities, lorded over by the British and French. This, among other, was the seeds of the present conflicts in the Middle East.
The European Islamic problem is a more recent development. The democratic/liberal west welcomed Islam to their shores –In Germany mainly Turks, needed for work in their post-war expanding economy. The Brits accepted Pakistani-Muslims from the former colony, and the French from their former North-African colonies. However, it has become apparent that integrating a foreign culture into the old and settled European society is more difficult than anticipated. This is not just the fault of the old country culture. Muslims religion and culture is so intertwined that it is hard for them to integrate with post-modern Europe. This is also, to a lesser degree, true in Canada and the US. There is more than a little truth in Kipling’s dictum that east and west shall never meet; especially when it comes to the convoluted area of culture and religion. This is no more evident than in second-generation immigrant youths who become suicide bombers and terrorists against their own country.
It is too late to put the genie back into the bottle, but at least we can put a cork in it for now, until we can find a way to “join the twain”. Otherwise, we might be looking forward to a repeat of the annihilation of Yugoslavia, but on an immense scale.
Following the breakup of the Ottoman Empire after WW l, this changed. The fairly homogeneous Arab and Persians lands were split into various artificial entities, lorded over by the British and French. This, among other, was the seeds of the present conflicts in the Middle East.
The European Islamic problem is a more recent development. The democratic/liberal west welcomed Islam to their shores –In Germany mainly Turks, needed for work in their post-war expanding economy. The Brits accepted Pakistani-Muslims from the former colony, and the French from their former North-African colonies. However, it has become apparent that integrating a foreign culture into the old and settled European society is more difficult than anticipated. This is not just the fault of the old country culture. Muslims religion and culture is so intertwined that it is hard for them to integrate with post-modern Europe. This is also, to a lesser degree, true in Canada and the US. There is more than a little truth in Kipling’s dictum that east and west shall never meet; especially when it comes to the convoluted area of culture and religion. This is no more evident than in second-generation immigrant youths who become suicide bombers and terrorists against their own country.
It is too late to put the genie back into the bottle, but at least we can put a cork in it for now, until we can find a way to “join the twain”. Otherwise, we might be looking forward to a repeat of the annihilation of Yugoslavia, but on an immense scale.
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Monday, January 4, 2010
“Bernanke says rules can curb speculation” –Star Business, Jan.4/10
It appears that Ben Bernanke has had an epiphanic conversion from a believer I the Greenspan doctrine and the Freedman gospel of unregulated markets, to a born again Keynesian. Talk about closing the barn door after all the cows have gone missing.
Using monetary policy to quell speculative excesses or “bubbles” in housing or any other part of the economy is like using a sledge hammer to kill a fly. Increasing interest rates to dampen the housing sector, will also affect the whole economy to the detriment of all.
A better approach would be to tax the housing sector, or the sector targeted. It can be easily eliminated when the sector cools, without hurting the whole economy. But of course, that would be a TAX, and any tax is anathema to the voting public and to the business elite in particular.
Using monetary policy to quell speculative excesses or “bubbles” in housing or any other part of the economy is like using a sledge hammer to kill a fly. Increasing interest rates to dampen the housing sector, will also affect the whole economy to the detriment of all.
A better approach would be to tax the housing sector, or the sector targeted. It can be easily eliminated when the sector cools, without hurting the whole economy. But of course, that would be a TAX, and any tax is anathema to the voting public and to the business elite in particular.
Sunday, January 3, 2010
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