Michael Kevane

A good summary of current macroeconomic issues.  I suppose for every item on Cochrane’s list of “regulations to remove because they slow growth for no good reason” there is a list of “government projects to undertake that will improve productivity in 10 years.”  Surely there must be room for horse-trading in those lists, somewhere in the middle?  I am reminded of Janet Currie and co-author’s findings that removing toll plazas and replacing them with EZpass reduced carbon monoxide and particulate matter in the vicinity of the toll plazas, generating significant improvements in likely health and productivity of newborn infants in the vicinity, most of whom are poor.

Here is Cochrane:

Here, of course, Summers thinks multipliers — even multipliers for tax financed notice the Ricardian comment and wasted that’s in the models, the usefulness of the infrastructure has nothing to do with the multiplier is in the range of 4 to 5.To me, this is just magical thinking — that the key to long run prosperity is government spending, even if wasted.But these are old arguments, and I did not write to rehash old controversies. From my point of view, the speech is an eloquent statement of the problem, and the gulf between Summers and people who think like I do is much narrower than the gulf between macroeconomists and the policy establishment which is not even thinking about slow growth anymore. From my point of view, the focus on and evident emptiness of the “demand” solution — its reliance on magic — just emphasizes where the real hard problems are.

via The Grumpy Economist: Summers on Stagnation.

The beginning of the year was not just bad for the United States economy: It was, on paper at least, the worst quarter since the last recession ended five years ago.The Commerce Department revised its estimates of first-quarter gross domestic product Wednesday to show that the economy contracted at a 2.9 percent annual rate. A combination of shrinking business inventories, terrible winter weather and a surprise contraction in health care spending drove the first-quarter decline, which is the worst since the first quarter of 2009, when the economy shrank at a 5.4 percent rate.

via Economy in First Quarter Was Worse Than Everybody Thought – NYTimes.com.

Tomorrow night at the Blank Club in San Jose… I have to teach until 9:30pm… hope I don’t miss their set .. waah 😦

I liked this review (via Wussy: Attica! | Album Reviews | Pitchfork) of their new album, especially the Smother’s Brothers reference, which you can see on Youtube.  Of course knowing that the band members were toddlers (or not even born in Lisa Walker’s case!?) when The Who did the show adds a distinct post-modern irony

Walker pays homage to the Who in first track “Teenage Wasteland”, a pop song that rivals its namesake. She references “Baba O’Riley” and the band’s legendarily explosive Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour performance “When the kick of the drum went off like artillery fire”, but it’s less about classic-rock head nods and double entendres and more about capturing what it’s like to be a kid and finding a band you connect with on the deepest level imaginable. “Do you remember the moment you finally did something about it? When the kick of the drum lined up with the beat of your heart?” Walker asks at the top of the song. Then, at the end of the song—sounding as if she can’t contain the exhilaration—she describes the feeling in more detail: “For one short breath it sounds like the world is ending, exploding in space and beginning again so far away.” It’s the moment that turns suffering into transcendence because someone else feels the way you do, and that person felt compelled to translate it into music. I’d argue that’s what we’re looking for most of the time when we listen to music—that band or album or song or even a few notes that make us marvel and proclaim, like Walker does, “Your misery sounds so much like ours.” At Wussy’s best—and Attica! is pretty close to that—they’re capable of doing for us what Pete and Roger and Keith and John did for them.

It’s rather obvious, the lesson.  A so-so novel.  But too many Americans (how about we start with Dick Cheney) have not been able to absorb the one lesson of modesty and humility woven through the fabric of the novel.  Unbeknownst to Greene, and an infinite jest at that, the novel stands the test of time after 60 years in terms of its idea, if not in terms of its writing.

Skimmed through Holy Motor by Leon Carax (you can stream on Netflix).  Intelligent, beautifully acted.  When I was 25 I would have been very impressed.  Watching it at home, on a computer screen (Carax shudders), stopping to make Elliot two hot dogs… well, not the same impact.  And surrealism… once you see Bunuel, Cocteau and all the others… well it starts coming across as awfully pretentious…. Still a really interesting movie.

Later in evening I finally read in The New Yorker, of past March, Louise Erdrich’s “The Big Cat.”  I don’t feel bad about being baffled and bewildered because for the first time ever when I turned to Mookse there was… nothing.  Evidently the story stumped them too.  Sure, a lot of emotional depth is packed into a few pages.  But what is the story about?

Have you published 25 books? Been an editor at Forbes ASAP? Demonstrated expertise in both microprocessing and water conservation? Better yet, is your name Michael S. Malone? Good news: You’re eligible to apply to a quarterly adjunct-lecturer position in Santa Clara University’s department of English.If you think this sounds a little off, you’re not alone. The academic Twittersphere was buzzing today after an oddly-specific job advertisement began making the rounds online. It has now been deleted from the university’s Web site, but it lives on at HigherEdJobs.com.The listing details an adjunct gig that involves teaching between one and four courses, “spread over one to three quarters,” at a rate of $6,000 per course. “The primary responsibility,” it goes on to say, “will be to teach nonfiction writing to undergraduates and to help arrange internships for students in a variety of media.”

via University Seeks Hire With Exact Same Credentials as Mike Malone | Vitae.

HT: Bill Sundstrom who first pointed me in their direction…

The film is set in 1938 I think.  And of course this being the Internet, you can see the clip on Youtube.

I will be presenting at this IFLA Satellite meeting in Paris in August 2014.  Please consider registering for the meeting/workshop/mini-conference!

sponsored by the IFLA Libraries for Children and Young Adults Section & School Libraries Section

More information to register is here.

Bibliothèque nationale de France (the National Library of France), Paris, France
23 August 2014 (9 AM 6 PM)

Young people between 15 and 20 years old around the world live in very different geographic, social, economic, every-day life conditions. Some attend secondary school or university, some work, some both study and work and some do not study nor work. Changing, fickle, they are at an age that is key for self-construction, and they often receive little support from adults.Cultural institutions in every country struggle to attract these teenagers and young adults. They are an important target for cultural workers trying to interest them in reading. How can we give or restore a place for reading in their lives? How can 15-20 year olds that do not read be led to reading? What roles can be played by physical and digital libraries, by schools and cultural institutions, by associations and work places? This conference intends to study these questions and to produce recommendations useful to practitioners.The expected audience is likely to include public and school librarians, teachers, cultural workers, students and scholars as well other professionals working with teenagers and young adults.

via IFLA 2014.

Went with some of my colleagues in the Economics Department.  They have been doing Half Dome, but this year did not get the lottery, so they chose Cloud’s Rest.  I was happy to be along, even if I sort of brought up the year (which helped when Alex’s GPS device fell out of his pocket and I came along 5 min later and found it on the trail… hmmm…. but what if it hadn’t been his!?)  Some pictures.  Trule spectacular ascent at the end on the arête.   Wow was I scared, heart pounding, inner voice saying, “don’t look around, just look down.”

Horrible to contemplate the actions of the girls in Wisconsin, but popular culture has always had a kidnapping bogeyman.

He managed to get the other main opposition group, the MPP, to participate, apparently. That is huge.  If the two groups can work together on a common platform, and not divide the opposition vote, and not get co-opted into alliance of convenience with Blaise, then there might indeed be peaceful alternance… Burkina does not, unfortunately, have a good history with opposition alliances.   Here also is a good sign of U.S. soft power at work.  As a major partner in Burkina Faso, being fairly clear that leaders should give up power, and at the same time being clear that the U.S. is a friend of the country and will continue that relationship, offers a nice level playing field, and lets opposition be bolder than it might be (they know a credible referee (not like those FIFA referees) is watching closely).

Déjà, Zéphirin Diabré dit vouloir « rassurer tous les pays frères, les partenaires et les amis du Burkina, que contrairement à une propagande savamment distillée ici et là, un changement démocratique au Burkina Faso n’entrainera ni chaos, ni recul, ni instabilité et encore moins une guerre civile ». « Notre peuple est mature, et ses leaders politiques ont le sens de la patrie », a ajouté Zéphirin Diabré, félicitant « chaleureusement » au passage, « le Secrétaire d’Etat américain John Kerry, et à travers lui le Président Barack Obama, pour leur position très ferme sur le respect de la limitation des mandats présidentiels ».

Downside risk appears to be shifting towards Blaise as opposition gains momentum… the murder Salifou Nébié is fueling conspiracy theory rumors that revive memories of Norbert Zongo’s brutal killing in 1998.  If a peaceful demonstration is disrupted by gendarmes and people get killed, Blaise will see months of urban protests on his watch… he’ll have to compromise, and at this point he only has peaceful alternance to offer.

via « Notre détermination est totale », dixit Zéphirin Diabré – leFaso.net, l’actualité au Burkina Faso.

Apparently very little information circulating about who might have murdered him… so lots of “read between the lines” type communications in the press.

Les premières constatations de l’enquête révèlent que la victime porte une blessure béante à la nuque et une autre aussi sur l’avant-bras droit et au flanc gauche. Il a aussi été découvert à quelques mètres de son cadavre son bracelet en argent blanc et sa paire de lunette dont une des lentilles est sortie de son cadre. De même, l’une des montures de ses lunettes était tordue. Les yeux ont visiblement été crevés parce que du sang en coulait. Tous ces éléments achèvent de convaincre que la victime a été volontairement tuée par des inconnus avant d’être abandonnée sur la bretelle de Saponé.

via Mort du juge Salifou NEBIE : Les magistrats s’inquiètent de l’inertie de la Justice – leFaso.net, l’actualité au Burkina Faso.