Forum

Pour poster un commentaire, vous devez vous identifier

Corruption psychologique et totalitarisme

Article lié : L’attaque par le langage

Ilker

  11/04/2008

En parlant de corruption pyschologique Hannah Arendt écrivait : “Le totalitarisme ne tend pas vers un règne despotique sur les hommes, mais vers un système dans lequel les hommes sont superflus. Le pouvoir total ne peut être achevé et préservé que dans un monde de réflexes conditionnés, de marionnettes ne présentant pas la moindre trace de spontanéité”.

Il y a un article intéressant sur le site du Monde diplomatique : “Sade et l’esprit du néolibéralisme”, qui traite de la question de la rationalisation des comportements humains sous l’ère libérale : http://www.monde-diplomatique.fr/2007/08/VASSORT/15004

Article lié : L’Iran tient-il dans ses mains impies les élections présidentielles US?

Mister Fish

  11/04/2008

Juste pour signaler une petite erreur sans conséquences, sauf musicales :

Mc Cain a chanté “Bomb, bomb Iran”, sur l’air des “Barbra Ann” (et non de “Surfin’USA”), toujours des Beach Boys.

Vous savez, cet air avec chorus, qui fait :

“Ba, ba, ba ; ba, Barbra Ann….” (toujours difficile à épeler…..).

En “McCain” - ien, ça fait “Bomb, Bomb, Bomb ; Bomb, Bomb Iran…”

Inculpabilité: A Guantanamo, on "soigne" les détenus ; les vétérans blessés voudraient y aller eux aussi.

Article lié :

DedefGM

  11/04/2008

Comprehensive Medical Care for Detained Enemy Combatants in Guantanamo

The Military Health System Blog Thursday, April 03, 2008 - SG Blog: Posted by: Vice Admiral Adam M. Robinson, Jr.  http://www.health.mil/MHSBlog/Article.aspx?ID=229

Today’s entry by Navy Surgeon General Vice Admiral Adam M. Robinson Jr. illustrates the high level of medical care given detainees in Guantanamo Bay Cuba. Dr. S Ward Casscells, MD
 
I just returned from a tremendously fruitful trip to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba to see how well Navy Medicine and Joint Task Force Guantanamo are providing compassionate and comprehensive care to the detainees.
 
The battlefield is clearly not just in Iraq and Afghanistan.  The battlefield is also in Guantanamo where our hardworking men and women in Navy Medicine, as well as our Guard Force, are doing a hero’s job every day in the face of danger.
 
The sailors and troopers may not wear helmets and body armor but they do wear face shields and stab vests while providing force health protection and operational medicine in support of the global war on terrorism.
 
In Guantanamo, the highest quality care is reserved not only for those who are active duty or war-wounded, but also for the approximately 275 detainees in Guantanamo Bay.
 
Joint Task Force (JTF) Guantanamo serves an integral role with several components.  In addition to the JTF, the Naval hospital provides patient- and family-centered care to the active duty, reservists and family members (over 900 TRICARE beneficiaries).
 
The uniqueness of Navy medicine is that the care we provide is not only comprehensive but consistent for every patient.  The care we provide for the warriors and families is exactly the same quality of care we provide for the enemy combatants.  It is the same standard; the same quality; and we are providing it every day, 24-hours-a-day.
 
Our staff of over 70 personnel who make up the joint medical group has been extremely busy.  Since 2002, Navy medicine has conducted over 5,000 block sick call visits, over 2,200 clinic appointments, over 6,500 dental procedures, over 5,000 vaccinations and over 330 surgeries. The medical care is superb and the detention hospital offers an extremely low caregiver to detainee ratio (1:166 for primary care, 1:131 for mental health, 1:175 for dental care, for a total detainee/medical staff ratio of 1:3). Additionally, specialty care (cardiology, gastroenterology, urology and dermatology) is offered on a recurring basis.
 
It is unprecedented in modern warfare that during an ongoing conflict we outright release and transfer enemy combatants to their home countries.  Since 2002, JTF-Guantanamo has either released or transferred over 500 detainees. Our medical care has also shifted from episodic—treating the battlefield injuries (issued prosthetic devices to eight detainees)—to longitudinal—providing preventive health screening and maintenance, similar to what is provided to many Americans of the same age group. Everyone over 50 is offered a colonoscopy to detect colon cancer (20 colonoscopies have been performed). Diabetes, high cholesterol, heart disease and blood pressure issues are often addressed, and so is behavioral health.
 
Navy medicine provides mental health evaluations for detainees with a core psychological health team comprised of one psychologist, one psychiatrist, five behavioral nurses and 14 psychiatric technicians.  In addition, the joint medical group has its own indigenous team of interpreters who communicate detainee needs and wishes to the providers.
 
The care that Navy medicine provides at Guantanamo is absolutely the most comprehensive and complex in the world.  I commend all the men and women from the detainee camps to the Naval hospital for providing a multi-disciplinary, patient and family centered care with deep commitment, compassion and concern.
 
These hardworking sailors, officers and troopers have tremendously inspired me—not just Navy medicine, but also the Navy guards as well as the Joint Task Force of Army, Marine Corps, Air Force (active duty, reservists and National Guard), civilians and contractors. They are doing a hero’s job every day in a highly dangerous and arduous environment—conducting safe and humane custody and care for detained enemy combatants.  They operate under the watchful gaze of the nation and the world!
 
Honor Bound!

Posted at 2008-04-03 15:02:31 in Visits & Trips| Permalink | Comments

The Bush Boom Was a Complete Bust Daily Kos

Article lié :

DedefGM

  11/04/2008

The Bush Boom Was a Complete Bust
by bonddad Daily Kos
Sun Apr 06, 2008 at 07:13:48 AM PDT http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/4/6/101348/9564/491/490730
Either we’re in a recession or we’re about to start one.  Either way, the latest expansion is over.  While there may be some question about when it happened (the expansion, that is) the reality is it was the least impressive expansion since WWII.  Below I will explain why.

Voir sur le site pour les graphiques.

bonddad’s diary :: ::

Before I move forward, let me address specifically any readers who still think the last expansion was “the Greatest Story Never Told.”  I am going to use facts to demonstrate why the latest expansion was terrible.  If you don’t like the facts please feel free to present you own facts.  In fact, please do so.  But please only use facts from reliable sources.  Reliable sources would be the government agencies that collect and present this data.  To sit at this table, you must bring data (properly adjusted for inflation) that is from sources used by all economists not from sources whose credibility is non-existant.

That being said (and I can’t believe I even have to address this issue).

Let’s start with the consumer side of the equation.  First , job growth during this expansion is the weakest of any recovery since WWII.  (This information comes from the National Bureau of Economic Research and the Bureau of Labor Statistics)

As a result, real median household income (income adjusted for inflation) is now lower than it was at the beginning of this expansion (this is the first time this has happened in 40 years) (This information comes from the Census Bureau).

So—where did the money for consumer spending come from?  Part of it came from savings.  Here is a chart from the St. Louis Federal Reserve of US national savings.  Notice this number has been decreasing for the last 25 years and is currently hovering around 0%.

Debt is the real source of funds for this expansion (this information comes from the Federal Reserve’s Flow of Funds report and the Bureau of Economic Analysis).

As a result of this increased debt load, a larger portion of consumer’s income (which has been stagnant for this expansion) is going to debt payments:

So looking at the consumer we see the following picture emerge.

1.) Job growth was the weakest of any post WWII recovery.

2.) Real median income actually dropped for the duration of this expansion.

3.) To sustain consumption, consumers went on a mammoth debt acquisition binge, so that now

4.) Debt payments are as high as they have ever been on a percentage of disposable income basis.

So after 7 years of economic expansion we have lower incomes and more debt. 

However, the consumer isn’t the only person who ran up a ton of debt.

The Bush White House has again run up the national credit card.  Here is a list of total debt outstanding at the end of the government’s fiscal year:

09/30/2007   $9,007,653,372,262.48
09/30/2006 $8,506,973,899,215.23
09/30/2005 $7,932,709,661,723.50
09/30/2004 $7,379,052,696,330.32
09/30/2003 $6,783,231,062,743.62
09/30/2002 $6,228,235,965,597.16
09/30/2001 $5,807,463,412,200.06
09/30/2000 $5,674,178,209,886.86

The current debt outstanding is $9,437,425,175,221.31

Notice that since 2002 the Federal Government has issue over $500 billion of net new debt per year.  And yet, we have continually been told the budget deficit is getting better.  Let’s ask a fundamental question: if you continually spent less than you made, would you have to borrow money?

As the US has become more reliant on debt financing it has also become more reliant on foreign governments for its financing.  Here is a chart from the St. Louis Federal Reserve of the total US debt held for foreign investors:

In short, growth at the national level is dependent on the issuance of debt.  And we are now reliant on foreigners for an increasing percentage of our growth.  A former Federal Reserve Chairman (Paul Volcker) explains why this is a bad development:

More recently, we’ve become more dependent on foreign central banks, particularly in China and Japan and elsewhere in East Asia.

It’s all quite comfortable for us. We fill our shops and our garages with goods from abroad, and the competition has been a powerful restraint on our internal prices. It’s surely helped keep interest rates exceptionally low despite our vanishing savings and rapid growth.

And it’s comfortable for our trading partners and for those supplying the capital. Some, such as China, depend heavily on our expanding domestic markets. And for the most part, the central banks of the emerging world have been willing to hold more and more dollars, which are, after all, the closest thing the world has to a truly international currency.

The difficulty is that this seemingly comfortable pattern can’t go on indefinitely. I don’t know of any country that has managed to consume and invest 6 percent more than it produces for long. The United States is absorbing about 80 percent of the net flow of international capital. And at some point, both central banks and private institutions will have their fill of dollars.

Finally, the US trade deficit has exploded.  Here is a chart of from the St. Louis Federal Reserve:

The St. Louis Reserve published a report in late 2006 that showed how important oil was to this figure.  This indicates how important energy independence would really help with the trade deficit.

So let’s sum up.

1.) The weakest job growth since WWII led to a declining median family income.

2.) In order to keep spending the US consumer continued to save less and borrow more.

3.) At the national level, the US government has issued over $500 billion dollars of net new debt per year since 2002.  This has led to an increased reliance on foreign investors to finance our way of life.

4.) The trade deficit has continued to expand, although oil is responsible for a fair amount of that increase.

5.) In short, the US continues to consume more than it produces. 

At some point, we will have to pay the bill.

This is the end result of the “Bush boom” or “the greatest story never told.” 

If the story was so great, we wouldn’t need people to remind us of how good it is.

Tags: economy, Recommended (all tags) :: Previous Tag Versions

259 comments

The Fading American Economy By Paul Craig Roberts April 9, 2008

Article lié :

DedefGM

  11/04/2008

The Fading American Economy
Government is the Largest Employer By PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS Apri1 9, 2008 http://www.counterpunch.org/roberts04092008.html

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the US economy lost 98,000 private sector jobs in March, half of which were in manufacturing. Today 13,643,000 Americans are employed in manufacturing, of which 9,849,000 are production workers.

Government employs 22,387,000 Americans, 8,744,000 more than manufacturing. Even the category leisure and hospitality employs 13,682,000 Americans, slightly more than manufacturing. There are as many waitresses and bartenders as production workers.

Wholesale and retail trade employ 21,467,000 Americans. Professional and business services employ 18,036,000 Americans of which 8,368,000 are in administrative and waste services. Education and health services employ 18,699,000 Americans.

Financial activities employ 8,228,000 Americans. The information sector employs 3,010,000. Transportation and warehousing employ 4,532,000. Construction employs 7,338,000, and natural resources, mining and logging employ 751,000. Other services such as repair, laundry, and membership associations employ 5,516,000 Americans.

This is the portrait of the US economy according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. It is an economy in which government is the largest employer. Manufacturing employment comprises just under 10% of total employment and about 12% of private sector employment. Everything else is services, and not particularly high level services.

Is this a portrait of a super economy?

To help answer the question, consider that US imports in 2007 were 17% of US GDP, according to the National Income and Product Account tables provided by the Bureau of Economic Affairs. In contrast, the BEA industry tables show that in 2006 (2007 data not yet available) US manufacturing comprised only 11.7% of US GDP.

If US imports actually exceed total US manufacturing output by 5% of GDP, it does not seem possible that the US can close its massive trade deficit. Even if every item manufactured in the US was exported, the US would still have a large trade deficit.

The NIPA and industry tables from which the percentages come are not calculated identically, and I do not know to what extent differences might exaggerate the differences between the percentages. However, it seems unlikely that mere calculation differences would account for US imports exceeding US manufacturing output.

If the US cannot close its trade deficit, it is unlikely that the US dollar can remain the world reserve currency. If the dollar were to lose the reserve currency role, the US government would not be able to finance its annual red ink budget by borrowing from foreigners, as the US saving rate is about zero, and the US would not be able to pay its import bill in its own currency. The rest of the world continues to hold depreciating US currency, because the dollar is the world reserve currency. The dollar is certainly not a good investment having declined dramatically against other traded currencies.

From March 2007 to March 2008 the US economy created 1.5 million new jobs (in services). Legal and illegal immigration and work visas for foreigners exceed US job creation.

During the current school year, 3.3 million high school students are expected to graduate. If we assume that half will go on to college, that leaves 1.6 million entering the work force. College enrollment in 2007 totaled 18 million. If we assume 20% graduate, that makes another 3.6 million job seekers for a total of 5.2 million. Clearly, immigration, work visas, and high school and college graduates exceed the 1.5 million jobs created by the economy. Unless retirements opened up enough jobs for graduates, the unemployment rate has to rise.

The US unemployment rate is creeping up, and according to John Williams, the official unemployment rate greatly understates the real rate of unemployment. Williams has followed the changes that government has made to the official indices over the years in order to spin a more politically palatable picture. Williams uses the original methodology prior to the decades of spin. The original way of measuring unemployment indicates the current rate of unemployment in the US to be 13%, much higher than the 5.1% official number.

Williams also calculates the CPI according to the same way it was officially calculated prior to the recent decades of spin. Williams estimates the current CPI at 12%, three times higher than the official 4% figure.

Williams reports that upward growth biases built into GDP modeling since the early 1980s “have rendered this important series nearly worthless as an indicator of economic activity.” Williams estimates that US GDP growth has been in negative territory during almost all of the 21st century. The notion that the US is just now entering a recession is nonsense if we have in fact been in recession for most of the 21st century.

America’s post-World War II economic dominance was based on the destruction of other economies by war and socialism. It is a different world now, and Americans have given little thought to the economic challenges of the 21st century.

Paul Craig Roberts was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury in the Reagan administration. He was Associate Editor of the Wall Street Journal editorial page and Contributing Editor of National Review. He is coauthor of The Tyranny of Good Intentions.He can be reached at:

Supporter les conséquences d' un coup de folie fatal

Article lié : L’Iran tient-il dans ses mains impies les élections présidentielles US?

René M

  11/04/2008

Bravo, tout à fait d’accord Stéphane !

Leur grand coup de folie du 11 Septembre et leurs efforts pour faire durer le mythe,(désinformation, dénigrement des contestataires) font que ses effets catastrophiques perdurent, tant que dure le mensonge. Que dure le silence complice tout autour. Tant que l’imposture n’est pas démasquée.

Ils en paient le prix et nous avec occidentaux en général
Ce jour là c’est la Démocratie qui à été piratée de l’intérieur
Effectivement totalement contre-productif. Continuons donc si c’est cela que nous voulons !

Post-Scriptum (à l’intention de Monsieur Grasset)
Coup de folie de ce jour là, issu d’une longue, longue dérive
La longue “Route vers le 11/9” , vous voyez, j’ai lu Peter Dale Scott ! 

"Bush the kid" for ever ... mais bientôt tous "résistants"...

Article lié :

Francis

  10/04/2008

Le dessinateur et chroniqueur Jeff Danziger estime que Bush est désormais devenu un personnage pratiquement inexistant, qui parle dans le vide et auquel plus personne ne s’intéresse. Il s’en prend aussi à la presse, qui l’a trop longtemps et trop servilement soutenu.
...
Nous sommes parvenus à un stade où le président des Etats-Unis, l’homme présumé le plus puissant de la planète, n’a plus qu’une existence immatérielle.

... La situation est devenue si épouvantable qu’on ne plaisante même plus au sujet de George Bush.

... Si, aujourd’hui, la presse américaine commence à revenir sur le passé, ce n’est pas parce qu’elle regrette son attitude, mais pour se délecter d’une bonne histoire. Il y a un certain cannibalisme chez les journalistes politiques. Comme en politique, certaines carrières se font aux dépens des autres. Les rivalités sont d’autant plus fortes que le nombre et l’intérêt des emplois dans le journalisme déclinent. Le camp de Bush et de la guerre sent le vent tourner et commence, comme on dit, à prendre ses distances….

http://www.courrierinternational.com/article.asp?obj_id=84339

Article lié : Victoire par l’Afghanistan

Stephane

  10/04/2008

Il suffit de lire “Synthetic terrorism” de Webster Tarpley pour voir que la Russie ne demandait deja qu’une chose, le jour du 11 septembre 2001 ou Bush appelle Poutine pour lui dire qu’ils arrivaient en Asie Centrale: accueillir les occidentaux en Afghanistan.

Je suis etonne de n’avoir jamais vu un dessin humoristique representant Poutine avec un grand sourire, sur une epave de tank Russe en Afghanistan, brandissant une banderolle affichant “Welcome”, aux troupes occidentales.

Psycho-economie et une page qui ne saurait etre tournee

Article lié : L’Iran tient-il dans ses mains impies les élections présidentielles US?

Stephane

  10/04/2008

Je vois bien les dirigeants iraniens en train de sourire devant l’avancee de la crise economique aux etats-unis et dans le monde occidental en general.

Cet affaiblissement des puissances occidentales ne peut que beneficier a l’une des plus ancienne diplomatie de l’histoire.

Il ne faut donc, pour les iraniens, surtout pas provoquer de perturbation qui pourrait arreter ce pourrisement de situation psycho-economique.

Les iraniens ne se souhaitent pas une victoire strategique qui obligerait les occidentaux a admettre la defaite et leur permettrait de tourner la page. A Teheran, on ne doit pas permettre a cette page d’etre tournee.

La crise psycho-economique dans laquelle sont empetree les puissances occidentales sont le meilleur gage de securite de l’Iran.

Ceci vaut aussi pour toutes les autres nations non occidentales.

Le mal-etre dont souffre l’occident, qui est pour beaucoup le resultat d’une operation psychologique reussie un beau jour de septembre 2001, ne doit pas etre resorbe.

Le source meme de ce mal, la faiblesse de la psychologie face au mythe du 11 septembre, ne doit pas etre evoquee.

A t’on vu la Russie ou l’Iran denoncer ce mythe..?

Il leur profite trop.

Correction

Article lié : L’attaque par le langage

dedefensa.org

  10/04/2008

Correction faite, avec nos excuses. Merci.

European Parliament Scared By Fragmenting Overstreched Union

Article lié :

Stassen

  10/04/2008

MEP report seeks to put brake on further EU enlargement
09.04.2008 - 17:38 CET | By Honor Mahony

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The European Parliament is preparing a report that argues in favour of significantly slowing down the process of further enlargement of the EU, warning that hurried expansion will lead to a fragmented Union.

Prepared for the foreign affairs committee by German centre-right MEP Elmar Brok, the draft report says: “Further enlargement without adequate consolidation could lead to a Union of multiple configurations, with core countries moving towards closer integration and others lying at its margins.”

The draft, which is due to be voted on in committee in May and by the wider plenary the following month, suggests that aspiring EU members should be offered a wider choice of political relations with the EU.

At the moment, the EU offers only full membership or a neighbourhood policy - a neighbourly agreement without much political bite.

Enlargement strategy should “be flanked by a more diversified range of external contractual frameworks.” Countries could then graduate to more integrated agreements if they fulfilled certain conditions.

The report welcomes France’s plans for a Union for the Mediterranean, seeing it as a way of binding southern countries to the EU and offers eastern neighbours – which have a “clear” European perspective – a sort of half-way house between full membership and the current neighbourhood policy.

This could take the form of a “European Commonwealth.”

Despite the proposal for a stronger political relationship with the EU, the report’s emphasis on its own ability to absorb new member states represents a blow to countries such as Ukraine and Georgia which have been strongly lobbying Brussels for hints that they can eventually join the club.

Turkey, as a candidate EU member, is also not happy with the report, and is lobbying to have it altered. In an apparent veiled reference to Turkey – which is large and poor - the report says that each new member state could have an “impact” on Union policies and the budget and “affect the nature of the Union itself.”

According to a European Parliament official, the enlargement-wary report has received broad cross-party backing by MEPs from several pre-2004 member states in the committee.

However, MEPs from newer member states who favour Ukraine’s EU membership do not like its tone.

At a recent hearing in the European parliament on the issue, Andres Kasekamp, director of the Estonian foreign policy unit, said: “The history of previous enlargements proves that widening versus deepening is a false dilemma.”

“Enlargement has always been a catalyst for strengthening the functions and institutions of the Union,” he noted adding that the EU, while no longer a “cosy club”, is “functioning adequately.”

At the moment, two countries have candidate status to join the EU - Croatia and Turkey, while Albania, Serbia, Montenegro, Macedonia, Kosovo, and Bosnia and Herzegovina have all been promised EU membership in the long run.

The EU expanded by 10 member states in 2004 and took on Bulgaria and Romania in 2007.

Speaking about the relative success of previous enlargements, the report says: “This is no guarantee that such accelerated pace can be sustained further.”

————————————————————————————————————————

© EUobserver.com 2008
Printed from EUobserver.com 10.04.2008

The information may be used for personal and non-commercial use only.

This article and related links can be found at: http://euobserver.com/9/25949

faute d'orthographe

Article lié : L’attaque par le langage

isabelle cauzard

  10/04/2008

Juste pour l’administrateur:
Une petite faute d’orthographe dans cet excellent article:
La question…
Paragraphe 1, ligne 8: ... situation mais poursuivent son(t) éxecution…

http://royalartillerie.blogspot.com/

Article lié : Le général Petraeus, le nihilisme de sa stratégie et le nihilisme des opinions des candidats à la présidence

Catoneo

  09/04/2008

Rebond de votre excellent article sur Royal-Artillerie sous le titre “De la médiocratie en Amérique”;
Serviteur.

Et la proposition d'Obama ∫

Article lié : Le général Petraeus, le nihilisme de sa stratégie et le nihilisme des opinions des candidats à la présidence

egdltp

  09/04/2008

Vous ne semblez pas connaitre la proposition d’Obama telle que rapportée par Le Monde, http://www.lemonde.fr/elections-americaines/article/2008/04/09/barack-obama-propose-d-associer-teheran-a-un-reglement-en-irak_1032513_829254.html#ens_id=829615.
Un simple oubli, ou vous avez une analyse contradictoire de ces faits, ou parce qu’il ne cadre pas avec votre vision de la situation, vous préférez la passer sous silence ?

(très) long terme

Article lié : L’OTAN entre baby-sitting et infantilisme

Philippe Le Baleur

  08/04/2008

Il y a dans ces séries de décisions en apparence stupides, quelque chose de supra-humain, comme un plan à très long terme dont la trame ne serait perceptible que par des personnages immortels.
Nous pauvres êtres humains avons tendance à limiter notre action à ce dont nous pouvons voir les résultats dans les limites d’une vie.
Mais là, mis en présence d’actions aussi incohérentes, nous avons le choix entre penser qu’elles sont vraiment stupides, ou bien qu’elles sont de petites pièces de jigsaw puzzle, font partie d’un ensemble que nous avons peine à imaginer parce qu’il s’inscrit dans la durée.
A défaut de personnage immortel, genre dieu ou démon, nous pouvons aussi imaginer une puissante société secrète dont les membres se renouvelleraient de génération en génération, avec des buts à très long terme.
Cette hypothèse peut sembler farfelue, mais en tout état de cause elle l’est moins que de croire aussi bête l’élite des politiciens de la planète. Ces gens ne sont pas idiots: ils obéissent aveuglément à des ordres dont ils ne comprennent que partiellement des enjeux.