OWS


This is fascinating

At the very same time that we have more information than ever available at our fingertips whenever we need it, much of the most importing data that is needed to keep a modern economy running has been totally obfuscated by the "geniuses" that created hedge funds, derivatives and other financial instruments that led to the 2008 financial meltdown.

Conservatives that like to promote the idea of free markets are often the biggest promoters of these sorts of schemes that do little more than contribute to the concentration of wealth. Free markets are great in principle, but they can only function properly if there are a sufficiently large number of actors on both the supply and demand sides of the equation so that no one can exert undue influence on the price. All actors also need unfettered access to the economic facts that affect their transactions so that they can make proper judgements about the price should be.

It's well past time to start breaking up oversized players in the markets and tearing down the walls that hide economic data so we can restore transparency.

#ows

Reshared post from +Tim O’Reilly

Must-read perspective on what's wrong with our economy: Hernando de Soto's Business Week piece, "The Destruction of Economic Facts." http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/11_19/b4227060634112.htm

Here are some snippets, the core of the argument:

"During the second half of the 19th century, the world's biggest economies endured a series of brutal recessions. At the time, most forms of reliable economic knowledge were organized within feudal, patrimonial, and tribal relationships. If you wanted to know who owned land or owed a debt, it was a fact recorded locally—and most likely shielded from outsiders. At the same time, the world was expanding. Travel between cities and countries became more common and global trade increased. The result was a huge rift between the old, fragmented social order and the needs of a rising, globalizing market economy.

"To prevent the breakdown of industrial and commercial progress, hundreds of creative reformers concluded that the world needed a shared set of facts. Knowledge had to be gathered, organized, standardized, recorded, continually updated, and easily accessible—so that all players in the world's widening markets could, in the words of France's free-banking champion Charles Coquelin, "pick up the thousands of filaments that businesses are creating between themselves."

"The result was the invention of the first massive "public memory systems" to record and classify—in rule-bound, certified, and publicly accessible registries, titles, balance sheets, and statements of account—all the relevant knowledge available, whether intangible (stocks, commercial paper, deeds, ledgers, contracts, patents, companies, and promissory notes), or tangible (land, buildings, boats, machines, etc.). Knowing who owned and owed, and fixing that information in public records, made it possible for investors to infer value, take risks, and track results. The final product was a revolutionary form of knowledge: "economic facts."

"Over the past 20 years, Americans and Europeans have quietly gone about destroying these facts. The very systems that could have provided markets and governments with the means to understand the global financial crisis—and to prevent another one—are being eroded. Governments have allowed shadow markets to develop and reach a size beyond comprehension. Mortgages have been granted and recorded with such inattention that homeowners and banks often don't know and can't prove who owns their homes. In a few short decades the West undercut 150 years of legal reforms that made the global economy possible.

"The results are hardly surprising. In the U.S., trust has broken down between banks and subprime mortgage holders; between foreclosing agents and courts; between banks and their investors—even between banks and other banks.


"We are now staring at a legal and political challenge. A legal challenge because American and European governments allowed economic activity to cross the line from the rule-bound system of property rights, where facts can be established, into an anarchic legal space, where arbitrary interests can trump facts and paper swirls out of control. The rule of law is much more than a dull body of norms: It is a huge, thriving information and management system that filters and processes local data until it is transformed into facts organized in a way that allows us to infer if they hang together and make sense."

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The Destruction of Economic Facts – BusinessWeek
Renowned Peruvian economist Hernando de Soto argues that the financial crisis wasn't just about finance—it was about a staggering lack of knowledge.

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As you sit down to gorge yourself on turkey and more today, don't forget those… 2

As you sit down to gorge yourself on turkey and more today, don't forget those that don't have as much stuff.

With nearly a third of Americans living near or below the poverty line now, many struggle to get by from day to day. As an automotive journalist, many of the media drives I went on wound their way through rural areas like this.

#ows #poverty #thanksgiving

In album american homes (63 photos)

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A very thoughtful post on how the response to #OWS police brutality could very rapidly…

A very thoughtful post on how the response to #OWS police brutality could very rapidly escalate out of control.

Reshared post from +Baratunde Thurston

I've watched this video several times and thought about it even more. There's a lot to say including some interesting thoughts in this Atlantic piece

Why I Feel Bad for the Pepper-Spraying Policeman, Lt. John Pike – Alexis Madrigal – National – The Atlantic http://bit.ly/rxCpEc

But I want to focus on another thought I've had but only voiced briefly in a standup show last night.

The authorities in all these #OWS crackdowns are assuming a steadily passive reaction from the protestors. Despite the constitutional right to peaceably assemble, governments and post 9/11 militarized police (LRAD!?) are responding with violence against their own people.

The thing about violent uprisings is that you rarely see a steady escalation. These Occupy Wall Street gatherings have been extremely civil and peaceful by and large. And I don't think you're gonna see some slowly increasing amount of violence on the part of the protestors. That's not how revolutions generally pop off. I'm pretty sure that, in general, something just snaps. A student gets shot. A man sets himself on fire. A cop punches an old lady. Then BAM: full scale violent conflict.

So there's that.

But I want to come back to the other risk in the presumption of passivity. There's a frighteningly relaxed attitude to this "Peace Officer" in the video below and among many authorities. It's a condescending attitude based in the idea that these "kids" won't do anything about it. I could be reading too much into the situation, but I think authorities have bought into the narrative that this is a generation raised on iPods and Facebook and MTV reality shows and when push come to shove, they won't fight back.

I would just humbly remind folks that all those factors are true about this generation, but the response may not be. You see, this generation was also raised on collaborative multiplayer combat sims: World of Warcraft, Modern Warfare, 007, Resident Evil, etc. We've literally spent hours building teams and fragging people and aliens and zombies and not batting an eye. Millions of Americans have clocked hundreds or thousands of hours in war simulations. We have all gotten pretty comfortable with coordinated violence.

While it's not "real" war or "real" violence, our brains think differently. We get an adrenaline rush. Our heart rates increase. We sweat. The perception is quite similar, and I just think it's worth some extra thought on the part of the authorities.

I am absolutely not advocating violence, but I can't help but think that you might want to be careful provoking people who have been subconsciously trained on war games.

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Retired Philadelphia police captain Ray Lewis demonstrated this week that not all… 1

Retired Philadelphia police captain Ray Lewis demonstrated this week that not all cops corrupt hooligans. Too bad there aren't more cops like Lewis still on duty.

#OWS #occupy

Reshared post from +Beau Kahler

Emotionally intense images of retired Philadelphia police captain Ray Lewis – who has joined the #OccupyWallStreet protests – being arrested by the NYPD.

Captain Lewis has been outspoken against the NYPD’s wrongful use of violence against peaceful protesters.

From what I have seen, Ray Lewis’ conduct defines honor, bravery, and dignity.

There is a media blackout on images of his participation in the protest, and on his arrest:

I couldn't find the photographers name to mention. This is quite an emotional set of photos, I am proud of this man for standing up for what he believes in such a pressing time in our countries history. Bravo!

When will the government realize that this situation is not going away, stop hiding from the truth, let's be honest.

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NYC Michael Bloomberg and the New York police department should be the ones that… 2

NYC Michael Bloomberg and the New York police department should be the ones that are thrown in jail after the disgraceful raid on the Occupy Wall Street protest this week.

Who exactly are the police supposed to be serving and protecting anyway? After recent actions they have become the corporate thugs and mercenaries of the 1%. The people have every right to gather peacefully and protest and as long as there is no violence, the police should just back off and let it happen. Just because the Fox talking heads and investment bankers and politicos don't like what people are saying, it doesn't give them the right to interfere.

They also have no business seizing and destroying personal property and materials like the People's Library that had been set up in Zuccotti Park. It's time for the police to look at where they fit into society. They are part of the 99% and they should be protecting us from Koch brothers and their ilk, not the other way around.

#OWS #occupy

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ALA Condemns Seizure of Occupy Wall Street People's Library

Libraries, Schools Join In – School Library JournalArticles
Log In to your Account Free Newsletter Subscription. School Library Journal. Home; Print Issue. Latest Issue; Archive; Subscribe. Reviews. Preschool to Grade 4; Grades 5 and Up; Graphic Novels; Adult …

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Occupy Wall Street explained by Calvin and Hobbes #OWS

Occupy Wall Street explained by Calvin and Hobbes #OWS

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Decades Old Calvin and Hobbes Strip Succinctly Explains Occupy Wall Street Movement
You could probably learn everything there is in life from Calvin and Hobbes. [via reddit] Related: The Multiple Flavors of The Sly Oyster

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