February 14, 2015 Buried on the back pages of the business sections of leading newspapers is a high stakes poker game that will soon migrate to the front page – an attempt by the newly-elected Greek government to renegotiate the terms of its recent bail out. Greece is a member of the European Union; a collection of European countries that banded together recently, scraped their national currencies, and formed a common currency called the Euro. The problem with such an arrangement was that member countries could borrow money from the European Union in the form of bonds. The value of these bonds varies to some extent with the perceived probability they will maintain interest payments and whether to full value will be remunerated on their due date. In the summer of 2010 several countries, Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Greece and Spain, had difficulty maintaining the interest payments on their respective bonds. This led to a financial crisis and credit crunch that culminated in a grand agreement whereby the European Central Bank, European Union and IMF (International Monetary Fund) promised to back their bonds as long as these countries agreed to austerity … [Read more...]
Anti-Semitism Rears Its Ugly Head
February 3, 2015 Both the United States and Europe are witnessing a marked increase in anti-Semitism. Outright killings of Jews, including children and pregnant women, have occurred in France and Belgium. Jewish stores have been looted and in some European cities, orthodox Jews are afraid to wear yarmulkes. Major politicians in Europe make blatantly anti-Semitic remarks with political impunity. In the United States, some college campuses are overtly hostile to Jewish students. Swastikas have appeared on Jewish fraternity houses. At the liberal bastion of Berkeley, a man waving an ISIS flag was either ignored or given the thumbs up sign. When the same man waved the Israeli flag, he suffered multiple incidents of verbal abuse. Apologists will note that Israel’s policies towards the Palestinians justify such hostility. This is simply nonsense. It is unheard of for anyone to attack Russians at random because of Putin’s policies in the Ukraine, or to blame those of Chinese descent for the oppression of Tibet. Why is it reasonable to attack Jewish children walking to school because of policy disagreements with Israel? Israel existed intermittently during Biblical times, its … [Read more...]
Eric Garner – Death for Selling Illegal Cigarettes
December 7, 2014 My recent column expressing sympathy for Michael Brown’s family and questioning the action of the police in Ferguson had a rare accomplishment. It irritated the entire political spectrum – liberal, moderate and conservative. Many readers pointed out that Brown’s crime was not jaywalking (as I stated) but stealing cigars and resisting arrest. My contention – which I still hold – is that Brown’s jaywalking was what originally began the confrontation and that this should not have escalated into an event where a young unarmed man dies. Another similar event happened in Staten Island. Here a physically imposing black male, Eric Garner, was selling cigarettes illegally. When the cops confronted him, he became belligerent and hostile. When the cops attempted to arrest him, he resisted arrest – another crime. Thus, the cops were forced to subdue him and unfortunately, during this process, he died. Garner’s situation is quite similar to Brown’s. Both men’s initial crimes were related to tobacco products. Both men were physically intimidating black males. Both men broke the law. Both men were confronted by the police. Both men became belligerent. Both men resisted … [Read more...]