film at 11
Retiree Dies in Arizona
by coldwarrior ( 51 Comments › )Filed under Open thread at August 26th, 2018 - 10:35 am
Interesting Land Use Graphics
by coldwarrior ( 109 Comments › )Filed under Economy, Open thread at August 23rd, 2018 - 6:00 am
This article and land use graphics are well worth the read. Very interesting stuff.
Yinzers SCORE!
by coldwarrior ( 40 Comments › )Filed under Economy, Education, Health Care, Open thread at August 22nd, 2018 - 6:00 am
We Yinzers knew all of this already, but I might as well post it here:
Pittsburgh ranked second of all American cities , behind Honolulu, Hawaii, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit’s Global Livability Index report.
The report ranks cities around the globe based on stability, health care, culture and environment, education and infrastructure.
Pittsburgh was named the 32nd most livable city in the world out of 140. The unit is the research and analysis division of The Economist Group and the world leader in global business intelligence.
Vienna, Austria replaces Melbourne, Australia as the most livable city in this year’s report.
Pittsburgh came in second-best of all the U.S. cities, behind Honolulu, Hawaii. The report ranks cities around the globe based on stability, health care, culture and environment, education and infrastructure. The highest ranked American cities include: Washington D.C., Minneapolis, Boston and Chicago.
Central Banking (and Trade) Are War By Other Means
by coldwarrior ( 60 Comments › )Filed under Economy, Open thread at August 20th, 2018 - 8:35 am
It’s simple, America is the largest market in the world, to gain access to our markets you must dance to our tune and we get to lead.
Tariffs and fiscal and monetary policies can have diplomatic uses, too — and today, with the American economy booming, the Trump administration is finally swinging the big stick of tariffs and sanctions as a non-lethal substitute for diplomatic or even military action.
In Iran, the rial is down 40 percent in the wake of Trump’s canceling of Obama’s nuclear agreement in May. America has been hindering Iran’s ability to conduct financial transactions in dollars and gold, and has hit its automotive and commercial airline sectors hard. Still to come in November: more punishing sanctions on oil and banking. As a result of the cratering of the Iranian economy, the country’s huge cohort of restive young people has been launching widespread protests that may yet bring down the regime, and Trump’s actions could accelerate that.
In China, America’s foremost geopolitical challenger, Trump’s approach has been more stick than carrot lately, imposing tariffs and threatening a major trade war, unnerving the Chinese communist leadership, which is beginning to think he may just be crazy enough to do it. The Chinese yuan is down 9 percent against the dollar since April and its stock market is slumping. For all their defiant talk, however, the prospect of an economic war with the US is not something the Chinese leaders want right now, since they can’t afford to have access to the lucrative American market restricted. But both growth and consumer spending have slowed, and even ordinary Chinese are now publicly criticizing president-for-life Xi Jinping.
Meanwhile, in Turkey, where the tinpot dictator Recep Erdogan is trying to revive the lost glory of the Ottoman Empire, the country’s currency, the lira, has lost 45 percent of its value this year. This is a direct result of American-imposed tariffs and sanctions against the Islamic regime, in part over the continued imprisonment of American evangelical pastor Andrew Brunson, whom Turkey has accused of spying. In “retaliation,” Erdogan has announced a boycott of US electronics. Good luck with that.
