I stubbornly ignore the authentication sites because they are so left-leaning. This is ingenious Ron. I have a retired secret service friend who may already know, but there are some clever ways to deal with problems. God bless the Waddington employees. Jeanette's maiden name is Weddington.
Sam
________________________________________________________
This is fascinating.
Verification:
http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/m/monopoly-game.htm
http://www.snopes.com/military/monopoly.asp
(You’ll never look at the game, Monopoly, the same way again)
Starting in 1941, an increasing number of British Airmen found themselves as the involuntary guests of the Third Reich, and the Crown was casting about for ways and means to facilitate their escape...
Now obviously, one of the most helpful aids to that end is a useful and accurate map, one showing
not only where stuff was, but also showing the locations of 'safe houses' where a POW on-the-lamb could go for food and shelter.
Paper maps had some real drawbacks --they make a lot of noise when you open and fold them, they wear out rapidly, and if they get wet, they turn into mush.
Someone in MI-9 (similar to America's OSS but dedicated to assisting prisoners) got the idea of printing escape maps on silk. It's durable, can be scrunched-up into tiny wads, and unfolded as many times as needed, and makes no noise whatsoever.
At that time, there was only one manufacturer in Great Britain that had perfected the technology of printing on silk, and that was John Waddington, Ltd. When approached by the government, the firm was only too happy to do its bit for the war effort.
By pure coincidence, Waddington was also the U.K. Licensee for the popular American board game, Monopoly. As it happened, 'games and pastimes' was a category of item qualified for insertion into 'CARE packages', dispatched by the International Red Cross to prisoners of war.
Under the strictest of secrecy, in a securely guarded and inaccessible old workshop on the grounds of Waddington's, a group of sworn-to-secrecy employees began mass-producing escape maps, keyed to each region of Germany or Italy where Allied POW camps were regional system). When processed, these maps could be folded into such tiny dots that they would actually fit inside a Monopoly playing piece.
As long as they were at it, the clever workmen at Waddington's also managed to add:
1. A playing token, containing a small magnetic compass
2. A two-part metal file that could easily be screwed together
3. Useful amounts of genuine high-denomination German, Italian, and French currency, hidden within the piles of Monopoly money!
British and American air crews were advised, before taking off on their first mission, how to identify a 'rigged' Monopoly set -- by means of a tiny red dot, one cleverly rigged to look like an ordinary printing glitch, located in the corner of the Free Parking square.
Of the estimated 35,000 Allied POWS who successfully escaped, an estimated one-third were aided in their flight by the rigged Monopoly sets. Everyone who did so was sworn to secrecy indefinitely, since the British Government might want to use this highly successful ruse in still another, future war.
The story wasn't declassified until 2007, when the surviving craftsmen from Waddington's, as well as the firm itself, were finally honored in a public ceremony.
It's always nice when you can play that 'Get Out of Jail' Free' card!
I realize most of you are (probably) too young to have any personal connection to WWII (Dec. '41 to Aug. '45), but this is still interesting.
Monday, October 31, 2011
Israel's new airport security ... Thanks Ramey Hoskins!
Israel’s new ‘Cutting Edge’ Airport Security
TEL AVIV, Israel — The Israelis are developing an airport security device that eliminates the privacy concerns that come with full-body scanners. It's an armored booth you step into that will not X-ray you, but will detonate any explosive device you may have on your person.
Israel sees this as a win-win situation for everyone, with none of this crap about racial profiling. It will also eliminate the costs of long and expensive trials.
You're in the airport terminal and you hear a muffled explosion. Shortly thereafter, an announcement: “Attention to all standby passengers, El Al is proud to announce a seat available on flight 670 to London. Shalom!”
ISN’T THIS BRILLIANT. !!!
TEL AVIV, Israel — The Israelis are developing an airport security device that eliminates the privacy concerns that come with full-body scanners. It's an armored booth you step into that will not X-ray you, but will detonate any explosive device you may have on your person.
Israel sees this as a win-win situation for everyone, with none of this crap about racial profiling. It will also eliminate the costs of long and expensive trials.
You're in the airport terminal and you hear a muffled explosion. Shortly thereafter, an announcement: “Attention to all standby passengers, El Al is proud to announce a seat available on flight 670 to London. Shalom!”
ISN’T THIS BRILLIANT. !!!
Guess what this is ... thanks Clay Vice!
COKE MACHINE...RIGHT!..........WRONG.!!!!!!!!!!!
Guess What This Is?
Hint: The picture was taken in 1956.
Answer below...
It's a hard disk drive back in 1956... With 5 MB of storage.
In September 1956, IBM launched the 305 RAMAC,
The first 'SUPER' computer with a hard disk drive (HDD).
The HDD weighed over a ton and stored a 'whopping' 5 MB of data.
Do you appreciate your 32 GB memory stick a little more now?
Guess What This Is?
Hint: The picture was taken in 1956.
Answer below...
It's a hard disk drive back in 1956... With 5 MB of storage.
In September 1956, IBM launched the 305 RAMAC,
The first 'SUPER' computer with a hard disk drive (HDD).
The HDD weighed over a ton and stored a 'whopping' 5 MB of data.
Do you appreciate your 32 GB memory stick a little more now?
Judge Judy tape removed by CBS
Judge Judy tape removed by CBS
this will piss you off..... somewhere in time elected officials put all of this in place. Those people need to get gone......
This is what our tax dollars go to pay for?
http://revolutionarypolitics.
The Judge was correct in saying she should send this clip to Congress.
Multiply these morons by many millions and you get the picture of those ACORN types that our Community Organizer supports and who supports him.
this will piss you off..... somewhere in time elected officials put all of this in place. Those people need to get gone......
OUR COUNTRY IS GOING BROKE ON COSTLY ENTITLEMENTS
CBS removed this video from YouTube, but another copy was found. Watch it quick before it's gone, and send to all.
You have to watch this video of Judge Judy before it's removed.
This is what our tax dollars go to pay for?
http://revolutionarypolitics.
The Judge was correct in saying she should send this clip to Congress.
Multiply these morons by many millions and you get the picture of those ACORN types that our Community Organizer supports and who supports him.
Where but in Alaska? Thanks Lyle Shover!
Where but in Alaska?
The photo was taken at the entrance to Katlian Bay at the end of the road in Sitka, Alaska ... The whale is coming up to scoop up a mouthful of herring......... (the small fish seen at the surface around the kayak). The kayaker is a local Sitka Dentist. He apparently didn't sustain any injuries from the terrifying experience. The whale was just around the corner from the ferry terminal, and all the kayaker could think at that moment in time was: "Paddle Man - really fast!"
The whale's mouth is fully open with the bottom half under the boat. If the whale had closed his mouth before he furiously paddled away - He might have been LUNCH!!! Look at the picture again - He is in the whale’s MOUTH!
The photo was taken at the entrance to Katlian Bay at the end of the road in Sitka, Alaska ... The whale is coming up to scoop up a mouthful of herring......... (the small fish seen at the surface around the kayak). The kayaker is a local Sitka Dentist. He apparently didn't sustain any injuries from the terrifying experience. The whale was just around the corner from the ferry terminal, and all the kayaker could think at that moment in time was: "Paddle Man - really fast!"
The whale's mouth is fully open with the bottom half under the boat. If the whale had closed his mouth before he furiously paddled away - He might have been LUNCH!!! Look at the picture again - He is in the whale’s MOUTH!
What happens in Heaven when we pray Thanks Jack H.!
WHAT HAPPENS IN HEAVEN WHEN WE PRAY?
This is one of the nicest e-mails I have seen :
I dreamt that I went to Heaven and an angel was showing me around. We walked side-by-side inside a large workroom filled with angels. My angel guide stopped in front of the first section and said, 'This is the Receiving Section. Here, all petitions to God said in prayer are received.
I looked around in this area, and it was terribly busy with so many angels sorting out petitions written on voluminous paper sheets and scraps from people all over the world.
Then we moved on down a long corridor until we reached the second section.
The angel then said to me, "This is the Packaging and Delivery Section. Here, the graces and blessings the people asked for are processed and delivered to the living persons who asked for them." I noticed again how busy it was there. There were many angels working hard at that station, since so many blessings had been requested and were being packaged for delivery to Earth.
Finally at the farthest end of the long corridor we stopped at the door of a very small station. To my great surprise, only one angel was seated there, idly doing nothing. "This is the Acknowledgment Section, my angel friend quietly admitted to me. He seemed embarrassed.
"How is it that there is no work going on here? I asked."
"So sad," the angel sighed. "After people receive the blessings that they asked for, very few send back acknowledgments."
"How does one acknowledge God's blessings? "I asked.
"Simple," the angel answered. Just say, "Thank you, Lord."
"What blessings should they acknowledge?" I asked.
"If you have food in the refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof overhead and a place to sleep you are richer than 75% of this world. If you have money in the bank, in your wallet, and spare change in a dish, you are among the top 8% of the world's wealthy, and if you get this on your own computer, you are part of the 1% in the world who has that opportunity."
"If you woke up this morning with more health than illness.. You are more blessed than the many who will not even survive this day."
"If you have never experienced the fear in battle, the loneliness of imprisonment, the agony of torture, or the pangs of starvation... You are ahead of 700 million people in the world."
"If you can attend a church without the fear of harassment, arrest, torture or death you are envied by, and more blessed than, three billion people in the world."
"If your parents are still alive and still married.... you are very rare."
"If you can hold your head up and smile, you are not the norm, you're unique to all those in doubt and despair......."
"Ok," I said. "What now? How can I start?"
The Angel said, "If you can read this message, you just received a double blessing in that someone was thinking of you as very special and you are more blessed than over two billion people in the world who cannot read at all."
Have a good day, count your blessings, and if you care to, pass this along to remind everyone else how blessed we all are..........
ATTN: Acknowledge Dept.
"Thank you Lord, for giving me the ability to share this message and for giving me so many wonderful people with whom to share it."
If you have read this far, and are thankful for all that you have been blessed with, how can you not send it on?
I thank God for everything, especially all my family and friends.
Just be yourself.
Everyone else is taken.
Jack P.
This is one of the nicest e-mails I have seen :
I dreamt that I went to Heaven and an angel was showing me around. We walked side-by-side inside a large workroom filled with angels. My angel guide stopped in front of the first section and said, 'This is the Receiving Section. Here, all petitions to God said in prayer are received.
I looked around in this area, and it was terribly busy with so many angels sorting out petitions written on voluminous paper sheets and scraps from people all over the world.
Then we moved on down a long corridor until we reached the second section.
The angel then said to me, "This is the Packaging and Delivery Section. Here, the graces and blessings the people asked for are processed and delivered to the living persons who asked for them." I noticed again how busy it was there. There were many angels working hard at that station, since so many blessings had been requested and were being packaged for delivery to Earth.
Finally at the farthest end of the long corridor we stopped at the door of a very small station. To my great surprise, only one angel was seated there, idly doing nothing. "This is the Acknowledgment Section, my angel friend quietly admitted to me. He seemed embarrassed.
"How is it that there is no work going on here? I asked."
"So sad," the angel sighed. "After people receive the blessings that they asked for, very few send back acknowledgments."
"How does one acknowledge God's blessings? "I asked.
"Simple," the angel answered. Just say, "Thank you, Lord."
"What blessings should they acknowledge?" I asked.
"If you have food in the refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof overhead and a place to sleep you are richer than 75% of this world. If you have money in the bank, in your wallet, and spare change in a dish, you are among the top 8% of the world's wealthy, and if you get this on your own computer, you are part of the 1% in the world who has that opportunity."
"If you woke up this morning with more health than illness.. You are more blessed than the many who will not even survive this day."
"If you have never experienced the fear in battle, the loneliness of imprisonment, the agony of torture, or the pangs of starvation... You are ahead of 700 million people in the world."
"If you can attend a church without the fear of harassment, arrest, torture or death you are envied by, and more blessed than, three billion people in the world."
"If your parents are still alive and still married.... you are very rare."
"If you can hold your head up and smile, you are not the norm, you're unique to all those in doubt and despair......."
"Ok," I said. "What now? How can I start?"
The Angel said, "If you can read this message, you just received a double blessing in that someone was thinking of you as very special and you are more blessed than over two billion people in the world who cannot read at all."
Have a good day, count your blessings, and if you care to, pass this along to remind everyone else how blessed we all are..........
ATTN: Acknowledge Dept.
"Thank you Lord, for giving me the ability to share this message and for giving me so many wonderful people with whom to share it."
If you have read this far, and are thankful for all that you have been blessed with, how can you not send it on?
I thank God for everything, especially all my family and friends.
Just be yourself.
Everyone else is taken.
Jack P.
Twas the night before elections,
And all thru' the town,
Tempers were flaring
Emotions ran up and down.
I, in my bathrobe
With a cat in my lap,
Had shut off the TV,
tired of political crap.
When all of a sudden,
There arose such a noise,
I peered out my window,
Saw Obama and his boys
They had come for my wallet,
They wanted my pay
To hand out to others
Who had not worked a day!
He snatched up my money,
And quick as a wink,
Jumped back on his bandwagon
As I gagged from the stink.
He then rallied his henchmen
Who were pulling his cart.
I could tell they were out
To tear my country apart!
On Fannie, on Freddie,
On Biden and Ayers!
On Acorn, on Pelosi'
He screamed at the pairs!
They took off for his cause,
And as they flew out of sight,
I heard him laugh at a nation
Who wouldn't stand up and fight!
So I leave you to think
On this one final note...
IF YOU DON'T WANT SOCIALISM
GET OUT AND VOTE !!!!
GOD BLESS AMERICA, OUR ONLY HOPE.....
WAVE OUR FLAG HIGH!!!
World power swings back to America ... Thanks Dr. Hovermale!
Monday 31 October 2011
Interesting,just came in from an old friend.
Regards,
Ralph
Dr. H, I wish I understood all I know about "money and the world". This sounds good from the British "Telegraph".
Sam
__________________________________________________________
World power swings back to America
The American phoenix is slowly rising again. Within five years or so, the US will be well on its way to self-sufficiency in fuel and energy. Manufacturing will have closed the labour gap with China in a clutch of key industries. The current account might even be in surplus.
The making of computers, electrical equipment, machinery, autos and other goods may shift back to the US from China. Photo: AP By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, International Business Editor
5:53PM BST 23 Oct 2011
1782 Comments
Assumptions that the Great Republic must inevitably spiral into economic and strategic decline - so like the chatter of the late 1980s, when Japan was in vogue - will seem wildly off the mark by then.
Telegraph readers already know about the "shale gas revolution" that has turned America into the world’s number one producer of natural gas, ahead of Russia.
Less known is that the technology of hydraulic fracturing - breaking rocks with jets of water - will also bring a quantum leap in shale oil supply, mostly from the Bakken fields in North Dakota, Eagle Ford in Texas, and other reserves across the Mid-West.
"The US was the single largest contributor to global oil supply growth last year, with a net 395,000 barrels per day (b/d)," said Francisco Blanch from Bank of America, comparing the Dakota fields to a new North Sea.
Total US shale output is "set to expand dramatically" as fresh sources come on stream, possibly reaching 5.5m b/d by mid-decade. This is a tenfold rise since 2009.
Related Articles
S&P sees downgrade blitz in EMU recession
20 Oct 2011
Franco-German deadlock over ECB’s role in rescue fund
19 Oct 2011
Berlin experts fear euro break-up
17 Oct 2011
Europe's lost decade as $7 trillion loan crunch looms
16 Oct 2011
Lack of ECB firepower weakens Europe’s Grand Plan
16 Oct 2011
US expects strong growth
24 Oct 2011
The US already meets 72pc of its own oil needs, up from around 50pc a decade ago.
"The implications of this shift are very large for geopolitics, energy security, historical military alliances and economic activity. As US reliance on the Middle East continues to drop, Europe is turning more dependent and will likely become more exposed to rent-seeking behaviour from oligopolistic players," said Mr Blanch.
Meanwhile, the China-US seesaw is about to swing the other way. Offshoring is out, 're-inshoring' is the new fashion.
"Made in America, Again" - a report this month by Boston Consulting Group - said Chinese wage inflation running at 16pc a year for a decade has closed much of the cost gap. China is no longer the "default location" for cheap plants supplying the US.
A "tipping point" is near in computers, electrical equipment, machinery, autos and motor parts, plastics and rubber, fabricated metals, and even furniture.
"A surprising amount of work that rushed to China over the past decade could soon start to come back," said BCG's Harold Sirkin.
The gap in "productivity-adjusted wages" will narrow from 22pc of US levels in 2005 to 43pc (61pc for the US South) by 2015. Add in shipping costs, reliability woes, technology piracy, and the advantage shifts back to the US.
The list of "repatriates" is growing. Farouk Systems is bringing back assembly of hair dryers to Texas after counterfeiting problems; ET Water Systems has switched its irrigation products to California; Master Lock is returning to Milwaukee, and NCR is bringing back its ATM output to Georgia. NatLabs is coming home to Florida.
Boston Consulting expects up to 800,000 manufacturing jobs to return to the US by mid-decade, with a multiplier effect creating 3.2m in total. This would take some sting out of the Long Slump.
As Cleveland Fed chief Sandra Pianalto said last week, US manufacturing is "very competitive" at the current dollar exchange rate. Whether intended or not, the Fed's zero rates and $2.3 trillion printing blitz have brought matters to an abrupt head for China.
Fed actions confronted Beijing with a Morton's Fork of ugly choices: revalue the yuan, or hang onto the mercantilist dollar peg and import a US monetary policy that is far too loose for a red-hot economy at the top of the cycle. Either choice erodes China's wage advantage. The Communist Party chose inflation.
Foreign exchange effects are subtle. They take a long to time play out as old plant slowly runs down, and fresh investment goes elsewhere. Yet you can see the damage to Europe from an over-strong euro in foreign direct investment (FDI) data.
Flows into the EU collapsed by 63p from 2007 to 2010 (UNCTAD data), and fell by 77pc in Italy. Flows into the US rose by 5pc.
Volkswagen is investing $4bn in America, led by its Chattanooga Passat plant. Korea's Samsung has begun a $20bn US investment blitz. Meanwhile, Intel, GM, and Caterpillar and other US firms are opting to stay at home rather than invest abroad.
Europe has only itself to blame for the current “hollowing out” of its industrial base. It craved its own reserve currency, without understanding how costly this “exorbitant burden” might prove to be.
China and the rising reserve powers have rotated a large chunk of their $10 trillion stash into EMU bonds to reduce their dollar weighting. The result is a euro too strong for half of EMU.
The European Central Bank has since made matters worse (for Italy, Spain, Portugal, and France) by keeping rates above those of the US, UK, and Japan. That has been a deliberate policy choice. It let real M1 deposits in Italy contract at a 7pc annual rate over the summer. May it live with the consequences.
The trade-weighted dollar has been sliding for a decade, falling 37pc since 2001. This roughly replicates the post-Plaza slide in the late 1980s, which was followed - with a lag - by 3pc of GDP shrinkage in the current account deficit. The US had a surplus by 1991.
Charles Dumas and Diana Choyleva from Lombard Street Research argue that this may happen again in their new book "The American Phoenix".
The switch in advantage to the US is relative. It does not imply a healthy US recovery. The global depression will grind on as much of the Western world tightens fiscal policy and slowly purges debt, and as China deflates its credit bubble.
Yet America retains a pack of trump cards, and not just in sixteen of the world’s top twenty universities.
It is almost the only economic power with a fertility rate above 2.0 - and therefore the ability to outgrow debt - in sharp contrast to the demographic decay awaiting Japan, China, Korea, Germany, Italy, and Russia.
Europe's EMU soap opera has shown why it matters that America is a genuine nation, forged by shared language and the ancestral chords of memory over two centuries, with institutions that ultimately work and a real central bank able to back-stop the system.
The 21st Century may be American after all, just like the last.
Interesting,just came in from an old friend.
Regards,
Ralph
Dr. H, I wish I understood all I know about "money and the world". This sounds good from the British "Telegraph".
Sam
__________________________________________________________
World power swings back to America
The American phoenix is slowly rising again. Within five years or so, the US will be well on its way to self-sufficiency in fuel and energy. Manufacturing will have closed the labour gap with China in a clutch of key industries. The current account might even be in surplus.
The making of computers, electrical equipment, machinery, autos and other goods may shift back to the US from China. Photo: AP By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, International Business Editor
5:53PM BST 23 Oct 2011
1782 Comments
Assumptions that the Great Republic must inevitably spiral into economic and strategic decline - so like the chatter of the late 1980s, when Japan was in vogue - will seem wildly off the mark by then.
Telegraph readers already know about the "shale gas revolution" that has turned America into the world’s number one producer of natural gas, ahead of Russia.
Less known is that the technology of hydraulic fracturing - breaking rocks with jets of water - will also bring a quantum leap in shale oil supply, mostly from the Bakken fields in North Dakota, Eagle Ford in Texas, and other reserves across the Mid-West.
"The US was the single largest contributor to global oil supply growth last year, with a net 395,000 barrels per day (b/d)," said Francisco Blanch from Bank of America, comparing the Dakota fields to a new North Sea.
Total US shale output is "set to expand dramatically" as fresh sources come on stream, possibly reaching 5.5m b/d by mid-decade. This is a tenfold rise since 2009.
Related Articles
S&P sees downgrade blitz in EMU recession
20 Oct 2011
Franco-German deadlock over ECB’s role in rescue fund
19 Oct 2011
Berlin experts fear euro break-up
17 Oct 2011
Europe's lost decade as $7 trillion loan crunch looms
16 Oct 2011
Lack of ECB firepower weakens Europe’s Grand Plan
16 Oct 2011
US expects strong growth
24 Oct 2011
The US already meets 72pc of its own oil needs, up from around 50pc a decade ago.
"The implications of this shift are very large for geopolitics, energy security, historical military alliances and economic activity. As US reliance on the Middle East continues to drop, Europe is turning more dependent and will likely become more exposed to rent-seeking behaviour from oligopolistic players," said Mr Blanch.
Meanwhile, the China-US seesaw is about to swing the other way. Offshoring is out, 're-inshoring' is the new fashion.
"Made in America, Again" - a report this month by Boston Consulting Group - said Chinese wage inflation running at 16pc a year for a decade has closed much of the cost gap. China is no longer the "default location" for cheap plants supplying the US.
A "tipping point" is near in computers, electrical equipment, machinery, autos and motor parts, plastics and rubber, fabricated metals, and even furniture.
"A surprising amount of work that rushed to China over the past decade could soon start to come back," said BCG's Harold Sirkin.
The gap in "productivity-adjusted wages" will narrow from 22pc of US levels in 2005 to 43pc (61pc for the US South) by 2015. Add in shipping costs, reliability woes, technology piracy, and the advantage shifts back to the US.
The list of "repatriates" is growing. Farouk Systems is bringing back assembly of hair dryers to Texas after counterfeiting problems; ET Water Systems has switched its irrigation products to California; Master Lock is returning to Milwaukee, and NCR is bringing back its ATM output to Georgia. NatLabs is coming home to Florida.
Boston Consulting expects up to 800,000 manufacturing jobs to return to the US by mid-decade, with a multiplier effect creating 3.2m in total. This would take some sting out of the Long Slump.
As Cleveland Fed chief Sandra Pianalto said last week, US manufacturing is "very competitive" at the current dollar exchange rate. Whether intended or not, the Fed's zero rates and $2.3 trillion printing blitz have brought matters to an abrupt head for China.
Fed actions confronted Beijing with a Morton's Fork of ugly choices: revalue the yuan, or hang onto the mercantilist dollar peg and import a US monetary policy that is far too loose for a red-hot economy at the top of the cycle. Either choice erodes China's wage advantage. The Communist Party chose inflation.
Foreign exchange effects are subtle. They take a long to time play out as old plant slowly runs down, and fresh investment goes elsewhere. Yet you can see the damage to Europe from an over-strong euro in foreign direct investment (FDI) data.
Flows into the EU collapsed by 63p from 2007 to 2010 (UNCTAD data), and fell by 77pc in Italy. Flows into the US rose by 5pc.
Volkswagen is investing $4bn in America, led by its Chattanooga Passat plant. Korea's Samsung has begun a $20bn US investment blitz. Meanwhile, Intel, GM, and Caterpillar and other US firms are opting to stay at home rather than invest abroad.
Europe has only itself to blame for the current “hollowing out” of its industrial base. It craved its own reserve currency, without understanding how costly this “exorbitant burden” might prove to be.
China and the rising reserve powers have rotated a large chunk of their $10 trillion stash into EMU bonds to reduce their dollar weighting. The result is a euro too strong for half of EMU.
The European Central Bank has since made matters worse (for Italy, Spain, Portugal, and France) by keeping rates above those of the US, UK, and Japan. That has been a deliberate policy choice. It let real M1 deposits in Italy contract at a 7pc annual rate over the summer. May it live with the consequences.
The trade-weighted dollar has been sliding for a decade, falling 37pc since 2001. This roughly replicates the post-Plaza slide in the late 1980s, which was followed - with a lag - by 3pc of GDP shrinkage in the current account deficit. The US had a surplus by 1991.
Charles Dumas and Diana Choyleva from Lombard Street Research argue that this may happen again in their new book "The American Phoenix".
The switch in advantage to the US is relative. It does not imply a healthy US recovery. The global depression will grind on as much of the Western world tightens fiscal policy and slowly purges debt, and as China deflates its credit bubble.
Yet America retains a pack of trump cards, and not just in sixteen of the world’s top twenty universities.
It is almost the only economic power with a fertility rate above 2.0 - and therefore the ability to outgrow debt - in sharp contrast to the demographic decay awaiting Japan, China, Korea, Germany, Italy, and Russia.
Europe's EMU soap opera has shown why it matters that America is a genuine nation, forged by shared language and the ancestral chords of memory over two centuries, with institutions that ultimately work and a real central bank able to back-stop the system.
The 21st Century may be American after all, just like the last.
Dan Hovermale's comments in Columbus Dispatch
Dr. Hovermale,
I don't like the political debates because they tear at each other. Perhaps in the long run, it will help in the election run. The debates have helped Cain and I also like Herman Cain, but there must be the absolute surest candidate to get this would-be dictator, o, out of office. I believe o is scared that he will be ousted and then found out for the real damage he has done to America. o should become the 'man without a country' unless Kenya or another country accepts him. Governor Huckabee said in his recent program that we should not take personal shots at o's background, but I personally resent that such an ill-conceived orator creation has been voted into our highest office.
Thanks for the article! Barbara surely added to your son's intelligence.
Sam
_________________________________________________________
The administration of Gov. John Kasich is...
By Joe Vardon
The Columbus Dispatch Sunday October 30, 2011 10:16 AM
Comments: 0 ShareThis
Herman Cain topped the most-recent Quinnipiac University poll of Ohio GOP respondents.
Long before Herman Cain’s surprising meteoric rise to the top of Republican presidential polls nationally and in Ohio, Cain had the endorsement of another budding conservative politician.
Joe the Plumber.
“I’ve known Herman for about three years now,” Samuel “Joe” Wurzelbacher told The Dispatch in a phone interview. “I met him at an event after I had gained notoriety, and he gave me advice. He didn’t try to use me. I know the character of the man ... and he’s running for the right reasons.”
Wurzelbacher, the average Joe who gained attention by engaging then-candidate Barack Obama over economics during the 2008 election on the Democrat’s visit to the Toledo area, knows something about trying to squeeze staying power out of 15 minutes of fame. He’s running next year for the U.S. House in the new district formed by combining those of Democrats Marcy Kaptur and Dennis Kucinich up north.
Cain’s task is much larger and must be accomplished on a much-grander scale, but the basic sentiment is the same. He is indeed the flavor of the month in this topsy-turvy GOP presidential primary, but can the former president and CEO of Godfather’s Pizza, who has never held political office, become a legitimate contender for the supreme office in the land?
The Cain campaign did not return a message seeking comment. But to illustrate the challenge
ahead, consider what happened last week.
Already generating national buzz with his rise to the top of more than one major poll, his 9-9-9 tax plan and his campaign commercial featuring his cigarette-smoking chief of staff, Cain was the top vote-getter in Quinnipiac University’s poll of Ohio voters, picking up support from 28 percent of GOP respondents.
But the Ohio Democratic Party ignored Cain and spent the week picking on the second-place candidate in Ohio, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. The party went so far as to send out a news release stating, in part, that Romney would attend last night’s Ohio-State-Wisconsin football game in Columbus but would refuse to pick a team to cheer for, a play on Romney’s refusal to endorse Issue 2 and Issue 3 during a visit to a suburban Cincinnati GOP call center on Tuesday.
“Herman Cain is a fringe candidate who won’t win the nomination,” said Chris Redfern, chairman of the state Democratic Party. “We wish he would win, but the nominee is going to be Mitt Romney or (Texas Gov.) Rick Perry.”
Cain polled at 7 percent in Ohio in Quinnipiac’s poll last month and had been languishing nationally behind Romney, Perry and others while some prominent Republicans — including Ohio Gov. John Kasich — were urging New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie to run, in part because of dissatisfaction with the GOP field.
In addition to surging to the lead in Ohio in October, Cain also took first place in recent national polls by CBS/ New York Times, NBC/ Wall Street Journal and Fox News.
Yet when asked by The Dispatch about Cain’s polling success in Ohio and his viability as a candidate, Ohio Republican Chairman Kevin DeWine would say only, “Herman Cain needs to show voters that earned media and poll numbers can translate to effective fundraising and then, ultimately, a strong organization.”
“Mitt Romney and Rick Perry have already proven that they can accomplish this among a handful of nominating states,” DeWine added in an email. He also said that the Quinnipiac Poll “lends credibility to the argument that the race for the Republican nomination remains fluid.”
That’s not exactly a ringing endorsement for the current GOP front-runner to take on President Obama next year. But for Cain to have climbed as high as he has in polls, somebody has to be supporting Cain out there, even if prominent Republicans aren’t buying Cain’s folksy style, track record, or chances next year.
For some of the campaign supporters reached by The Dispatch, the more they hear Cain speak during the numerous Republican debates or on TV, the more they like him.
Vince Tornero, a 23-year-old student at Ohio State University, said he switched his support from U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann of
Minnesota to Cain in late August.
“I feel like I can completely relate with Mr. Cain,” Tornero said in an email. “His speaking style is legitimate, and it does not seem like he is ‘holding back’ or being disingenuous.”
Daniel Hovermale, a
44-year-old commercial helicopter pilot from Circleville, Ohio, said Cain is the “anti-Obama” and has “a message that resonates with the electorate.”
And Mary Gehrmann, 72, living in Danville, Calif., said in an email that she believes Cain has staying power.
“The reason is the people,” Gehrmann said. “Never underestimate the power of the people. We are tired of what has happened to this country. I know there are many, especially the media, that are shaking their heads and still wondering ... how ... he is still so high in the polls. They just don’t get it yet.”
Wurzelbacher, for what it’s worth, echoed Gehrmann’s thoughts about Cain’s staying power.
And what was the advice Cain gave Wurzelbacher, anyway?
“He told me to always be yourself; don’t let anybody change you.”
jvardon@dispatch.com
I don't like the political debates because they tear at each other. Perhaps in the long run, it will help in the election run. The debates have helped Cain and I also like Herman Cain, but there must be the absolute surest candidate to get this would-be dictator, o, out of office. I believe o is scared that he will be ousted and then found out for the real damage he has done to America. o should become the 'man without a country' unless Kenya or another country accepts him. Governor Huckabee said in his recent program that we should not take personal shots at o's background, but I personally resent that such an ill-conceived orator creation has been voted into our highest office.
Thanks for the article! Barbara surely added to your son's intelligence.
Sam
_________________________________________________________
The administration of Gov. John Kasich is...
By Joe Vardon
The Columbus Dispatch Sunday October 30, 2011 10:16 AM
Comments: 0 ShareThis
Herman Cain topped the most-recent Quinnipiac University poll of Ohio GOP respondents.
Long before Herman Cain’s surprising meteoric rise to the top of Republican presidential polls nationally and in Ohio, Cain had the endorsement of another budding conservative politician.
Joe the Plumber.
“I’ve known Herman for about three years now,” Samuel “Joe” Wurzelbacher told The Dispatch in a phone interview. “I met him at an event after I had gained notoriety, and he gave me advice. He didn’t try to use me. I know the character of the man ... and he’s running for the right reasons.”
Wurzelbacher, the average Joe who gained attention by engaging then-candidate Barack Obama over economics during the 2008 election on the Democrat’s visit to the Toledo area, knows something about trying to squeeze staying power out of 15 minutes of fame. He’s running next year for the U.S. House in the new district formed by combining those of Democrats Marcy Kaptur and Dennis Kucinich up north.
Cain’s task is much larger and must be accomplished on a much-grander scale, but the basic sentiment is the same. He is indeed the flavor of the month in this topsy-turvy GOP presidential primary, but can the former president and CEO of Godfather’s Pizza, who has never held political office, become a legitimate contender for the supreme office in the land?
The Cain campaign did not return a message seeking comment. But to illustrate the challenge
ahead, consider what happened last week.
Already generating national buzz with his rise to the top of more than one major poll, his 9-9-9 tax plan and his campaign commercial featuring his cigarette-smoking chief of staff, Cain was the top vote-getter in Quinnipiac University’s poll of Ohio voters, picking up support from 28 percent of GOP respondents.
But the Ohio Democratic Party ignored Cain and spent the week picking on the second-place candidate in Ohio, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. The party went so far as to send out a news release stating, in part, that Romney would attend last night’s Ohio-State-Wisconsin football game in Columbus but would refuse to pick a team to cheer for, a play on Romney’s refusal to endorse Issue 2 and Issue 3 during a visit to a suburban Cincinnati GOP call center on Tuesday.
“Herman Cain is a fringe candidate who won’t win the nomination,” said Chris Redfern, chairman of the state Democratic Party. “We wish he would win, but the nominee is going to be Mitt Romney or (Texas Gov.) Rick Perry.”
Cain polled at 7 percent in Ohio in Quinnipiac’s poll last month and had been languishing nationally behind Romney, Perry and others while some prominent Republicans — including Ohio Gov. John Kasich — were urging New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie to run, in part because of dissatisfaction with the GOP field.
In addition to surging to the lead in Ohio in October, Cain also took first place in recent national polls by CBS/ New York Times, NBC/ Wall Street Journal and Fox News.
Yet when asked by The Dispatch about Cain’s polling success in Ohio and his viability as a candidate, Ohio Republican Chairman Kevin DeWine would say only, “Herman Cain needs to show voters that earned media and poll numbers can translate to effective fundraising and then, ultimately, a strong organization.”
“Mitt Romney and Rick Perry have already proven that they can accomplish this among a handful of nominating states,” DeWine added in an email. He also said that the Quinnipiac Poll “lends credibility to the argument that the race for the Republican nomination remains fluid.”
That’s not exactly a ringing endorsement for the current GOP front-runner to take on President Obama next year. But for Cain to have climbed as high as he has in polls, somebody has to be supporting Cain out there, even if prominent Republicans aren’t buying Cain’s folksy style, track record, or chances next year.
For some of the campaign supporters reached by The Dispatch, the more they hear Cain speak during the numerous Republican debates or on TV, the more they like him.
Vince Tornero, a 23-year-old student at Ohio State University, said he switched his support from U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann of
Minnesota to Cain in late August.
“I feel like I can completely relate with Mr. Cain,” Tornero said in an email. “His speaking style is legitimate, and it does not seem like he is ‘holding back’ or being disingenuous.”
Daniel Hovermale, a
44-year-old commercial helicopter pilot from Circleville, Ohio, said Cain is the “anti-Obama” and has “a message that resonates with the electorate.”
And Mary Gehrmann, 72, living in Danville, Calif., said in an email that she believes Cain has staying power.
“The reason is the people,” Gehrmann said. “Never underestimate the power of the people. We are tired of what has happened to this country. I know there are many, especially the media, that are shaking their heads and still wondering ... how ... he is still so high in the polls. They just don’t get it yet.”
Wurzelbacher, for what it’s worth, echoed Gehrmann’s thoughts about Cain’s staying power.
And what was the advice Cain gave Wurzelbacher, anyway?
“He told me to always be yourself; don’t let anybody change you.”
jvardon@dispatch.com
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