Watch: Americas most unusual and interesting presidential candidate, Ron Paul

Ron Paul  probably is the most misrepresented, slandered and
foulmouthed politician of all, from both the left and the right.
The media do their best not to mention him at all or misrepresent him.
Yet in spite of all this, and probably also because of this, videos
showing him are finding an ever increasing audience.

Congressman Ron Paul was practically the only conservative
politician who was against the war in Iraq. And not just this, he
is known, and that makes him outstanding, he constantly reminds
people of the costs of the war.

The popularity of videos with Ron Paul comes as no surprise
because of what he has to say. And sometimes a video gives
a really great insight into American politics, like this one here,
Ron Paul in a presidential election debate in 2007.

It is probably his opposition to wars that earns him the respect
of rather decent, non dogmatic, left wingers like Bill Maher, who
declared him as his hero some time ago.
More recently Jon Stewart made fun of the media for keeping
a strange silence about Ron Paul, apart from obviously respecting him
for what he says about wars and others matters. Ron Paul is getting
the most contribution from active military personnel, by the way.

Another video shows Ron Paul on "candidates @ Google", a video
well worth watching because he fits perfectly into a more demanding
environment.

Economic crisis: the insanity of financial reporting and opinions

If people are getting fed up with the financial reporting and opinions,
their stomachs churning as a result of this perpetual crisis, sensationalism
and getting indeed deeper into problems then it is a logical reaction. As
a result, a storm is brewing over both investment bankers and financial
media.

One bothering aspect are the opinions, substituting proper reporting.
Rare and few are proper reports, real news. It is relentless barrage
of news trash and opinions which is followed by ideological debates and
politically biased dog fights. All in all the perfect recipe for people to get
really in economic and financial problems, to end up as fool.


What is already getting clear as the stock markets dive, remain low,
investment advisors are becoming obsolete because of the bad
experience people are making, seeing their investments lose value.
Banks are already starting to lay off investment and other stuff.

And it won't be long before the media have to lay off stuff, inlcuding
those of the financial sections. Because, as it turns out, the consumption
of news and opinions just cost time and money.

The Guardian ran an article some time ago in which newspapers from
2009 were compared to those of 1984, 25 years ago. The article
was pretty straight forward from the beginning:

How did readers know what to think in 1984? Once you get over the
minuscule, blurred pictures and the lack of colour, the first thing that strikes
you about the newspapers of that year is the paucity of opinionated columnists.
The finger-jabbing, red-faced anger of today's commentariat, the passionate,
omniscient certainty with which they declare opinions, scarcely existed 25
years ago. Incredibly, the Sunday Times – under that most opinionated of
editors, Andrew Neil – did not then have a single serious regular weekly
columnist,...
The article, So much news, but so little comment, does not deal with financial
and economic reporting and opinonizing. But the same could be written about
the financial "journalism".

Life is likely to continue to be full of surprises and experiences. What is
supposed to be final word and wisdom at a given moment is usually
rendered obsolete, if not turning as outright nonsense, soon after. Either
by what is going on in the financial markets or elsewhere.

The failure of the media in financial and economic matters is to some extent
well known. The failure of the financial  media is actually well known.
It should also not to be forgotten that the media, pundits and journalists,
never pay any damage for wrong and stupid investment advice for instance.
The could practically never be hold responsible for instance for their
often very patronizing advice which by coincidence turns out to be
disastrous time and again.


The media crisis is likely to take accelarate for many reasons.  Newspapers
and their self made decline is also known to be of interest for (that's just an
example) short sellers.
This is pointed out here just to have a really different perspective of that
business.

The financial history of Western Europe & Euro crisis

Without exaggeration there are few crime novels which can keep up, keep the
reader glued to pages than the financial history of Western Europe. A history
that has time and again been swept under the carpet, been forgotten in truly
Orwellian manner. And that is just one of the surprises when reading this book.

First published in the 80s, this books keeps what others promise.
Charles Kindleberger, the author, first provides a nice insight into how money and
banking evolved in this part of Europe from about 1400 onwards, including how
governement financing developed, listing such things as
Financial Revolution, The Power to Tax in England, Tax Farming,
Taxation, Borrowing, Selling Assets, ...Following this is then a chapter how
these government powers turned into a problem, causing poverty, economic
problems and financial crisis. Souvereigns, monarchs, were in financial trouble time
and again, occasionally defaulting on their debt.

One also gets a clear idea how things worked out eventually. For instance the
Spanish quest for gold and silver in the newly discovered Americas. A rather
bloody bit of history for one. And were for good reasons doomed to failure.
Kindleberger: The Spanish were at war during most of the sixteenth  and first 
half of the seventeenth century until ... the end of the Thirty Year War in 1648. 
... They encouraged in warlike pursuits, and discouraged in the more humdrum 
pursuits of agricluture, commerce and industry by the rich treasure uncovered 
in the New World. The treasure was spent as fast, and frequently even faster, than 
it was acquired. ... Spain was forced at the end of the sixteenth century to debase
its money with copper bought in Europe.

Great is also the insight into war finance and the consequences: In the Middle Ages
bankers were brought to ruin less by collapsing commodity and security markets,
as in modern times, than by failure of kings to meet debts incurred to raise
mercenary armies and to subsidize allies.
Needless to say that Kindleberger tells of currency debasement, a fraud commited
by monarchs numerous times. Ot that 24 bankers were sent to the guillotine in the
French revolution as a consequence of their failure

The generous insight possible in this case on Google books can really be appreciated.
The reader, visitor, gets to know what the book is really about, what it is dealing with,
better then any review could provide.
It should be mentioned that the book is sold way cheaper on amazon.co.uk (UK) for
a price around £ 21 than on amozon.com (US) where it is really expensive.

Another reason why this book deserves praise is the calm manner in which it is
written. Kindelberger does not incite to incite to wailing, ranting, outrage, one
serious problem of our present times. The reader thus does not lose brain and
understanding of what happened, but can follow up for instance how kings,
governements, turned to all kinds of taxation when in problem, apart from
usually resorting to fraudulent measures and deceit. The book is great by
giving a proper insight and thus is of use for anyone who does not want any
such disasters. There is really nothing that would recommend big time
defaults.

Getting a job or starting a business in the financial crisis

Starting all over again with a new job or business is in some ways similar to the situation after WW II, when people all over Europe found themselves entirely impoverished, everything was in ruins and just everything seemed hopeless.The only apparent relief then was that the war was over, the dangers and the dying of the war was over. That basic security and liberty was not just a relief, it was essential for the new beginning. Drastic and hopeless as the current situation may seem at least there is peace, the world is not in such ruins as it was back in 1945 and when comparing the economic situation back then the present economic situation is, desperate as it might be perceived, still way better now, fortunately so.

The economic crisis sometimes entails considerable changes in the lifestyle, job prospects and may even include relocation. It is for instance quite amazing to learn that younger, well educated Greeks flee the cities, return to their ancestral homes and begin entirely new.
Once people have made the transition, relocated and begun with something complety new, something they wouldn't even have thought of some time ago, like bee keeping,  they find that their new situation and occupations are actually great and are quite happy with their new circumstances.. An article in worldcrunch.com tells of some interesting cases.

Meanwhile those who have made such decisions are unlikelz to regret them when one considers
how things are going in Greece. That's a situation when a really existential existence, having
enough to eat and roof over the head, instead of being subjected to the expenses of city life
without a job, is likely to be appreciated.

It is any case quite amazing what kind of economic misery people survive. For instance refugees
after WW II, who were just left with very few possesions, only what they could carry. And who
had the face the drastic reality that food was really scarce at that time. The war had taken its toll
on every bit of the economies.
The pictures tell an economic story for themselves. The first one are russian refugees, the second
German refugees after the War.
The pictures might be helpfull by considering crisis scenarios, help avoid
useless expenses that are later regretted as well missing out on chances.

Model law to fight white collar crimes became effective in Ireland

A law that is likely to become an inspiration for other countries,
designed to clear up white collar crimes became effective today
in Ireland.
It is a real legal beauty. It has all the qualities to end all kinds of
old boys networks, as well as all kinds of rewards for keeping
quiet, for refusing cooperation with the police and other bad
habits.
Here one of the newspaper article describing it.

Watch: The hero reporter in the Murdoch scandal (video), Nick Davies

(Updates below!) He is known for his patience and tenacity. He
was reporting about such media scandal since years. And he also
was the one who eventually found about the latest scandal, the
Milly Dowler thing that blew it. Ever since then there is
big coverage of all those media scandals on TV and other
media, a novum in media history. Usually scandals within the
media received only special, limited attention, got reported
only on a small scale.

Here is the video with Nick Davies, the Guardian reporter:

Nick Davies also wrote the Book: Flat Earth News
The comments at amazon, below, give a good idea.
(Update: Nick Davies is writing a new book, due in 2012.)

Update: Certainly Nick Davies keeps on reporting. The latest
revelation, just as disgusting as the Milly Dowler case, it the
Sarah Payne phone hacking scandal.

Murdoch's News Corp and taxes. Another "shocking" scandal? Updates

 Murdoch corporation is known for avoiding paying taxes,
operating via a host of tax havens, moving profits and losses
between countries. It is long time practice of Murdoch to do
so. Paul Farhi, a Washington Post writer, gave a nice insight
into these practices in 1997, when News Corp was still
registered in Australia.

In 1999 a BBC report looked at Murdoch how much he
paid taxes in Britain:
"According to The Economist, Mr Murdoch has saved at least 
GB Pounds 350m in tax ..."
"How he has done it remains a mystery - and News Corporation is
certainly loath to give away any financial secrets.
But it appears that Mr Murdoch's tax accountants have surpassed
themselves - making full use of tax loopholes to protect profits in
offshore havens." The article came to the conclusion:
One thing is for sure - the company's accountants and lawyers
deserve a bonus.

In 2005 an article in the Observer briefly noted that Murdoch 
had floated his his family's £3.8 billion personal investment
company in Bermuda - saving himself £522 million in taxes.
Bermuda was chosen because the media tycoon, who chairs
News Corporation, wanted to avoid the taxman after his firm
changed domicile from Australia to the United States recently.

These are just three articles that give a some insight into
the not paying tax tradition of Murdoch's company. So far,
there were obviously no closer looks of tax inspectors
at this practice.

Also well known is meantime the cosy relationship with
whomever. In Britain it included politicians, John Yates,
the assistant commissioner of the (London) Metropolitan
Police, who now regrets having blocked investigations in
2009, or a judge in the UK who threw out a case proposed
by the local police to go to trial, involving a corrupt police
officer, about  the illegally obtained information of politicians.
They were all wining and dining with Murdoch, courting him,
and they were afraid of him. And not just in Britain.
Politicians of all parties were also courting and afraid of
Murdoch in Australia.

In the hindsight of all this it is not impossible that a closer
look by tax inspectors in a number countries could turn up
one or the other thing, if not a bit more, concerning tax
matters.

Update: The Daily Mail, a rival tabloid, is taking up the issue
of this as well, raising principle awareness to News Corps
practice of avoiding to pay tax as much as possible.

Update: The US is taking an interest in News Corps books
according to a Reuters article in which it asks whether the
US could do an Al Capone.

Stupid film reviews and how they are produced

Ever been curious or maybe even annoyed by this barrage
of film reviews in which just about every new film is praised
as totally exciting, you-must-see-this or that. Thing is, it is
fake excitment. An AOL content slave tells it how he was
producing such reviews until he broke down, was a wreck.

AOL Hell: And AOL Content Slave speaks out

This is giving some explanation why big book chain stores
are going bust, they are usually trying to sell stuff, DVDs and
CDs included, that is not all too popular, just being pushed on
them by sales people of bigger firms. Until some bigger bank-
ruptcy makes an end to all that.

The end of newspapers as we knew them

... we journalists can never stop looking back... back to the
days of printed copies selling in their millions on a daily basis...
back to an era of seemingly unlimited advertising. ...

Roy Greenslade wrote a marvelous piece about the
steady decline of newspapers in the UK, a decline that
only becomes apparent when looking at the numbers,
the decline of circulation.

In 1966, the Daily Mirror sold 5.1m copies a day, the
Daily Express 4m and the Daily Telegraph 1.4m. Last month,
those titles had circulations of 1.2m, 631,000 and 635,000
respectively.

Those were the days, my friends, ... 

Update: the phone hacking of Milly Dowler, a 13 year old girl
slain in 2002 could eventually be the trigger for some serious
media criticism of the general public who is now learning of a
really disgusting case of the practices of media misfits. The further
decline of newspaper circulation, particularly the tabloids, is
pretty sure the result of this.

Murdoch's British newspapers are all loss makers since years.
The phone hacking scandals with all the libel damage cases
related will lead to a considerable further deterioriation of the
financial situation of those newspapers.

Update: The News of The World is closing.

Kudos for Melissa Harrison who organized the Twitter campaign
that target advertisers, a real highlight in that affair:
Why I set about hitting the News of The World where it hurts

Nick Davies (here in a video), the Guardian reporter who is a
long time critic of media and who was crucial in uncovering and
reporting that scandal wrote the book "Flat earth news", a books
of course soon talked down as silly, not really interesting, is
nevertheless a book of interest. It reads even better after
the closure of NoWT.

Bye bye media: the conflict Google, the net and old media brilliantly nailed by song parody

As the Murdoch scandals are continuing, providing serious fuel for the media
crisis, this song parody nails it once again with "the year the media died".

The magic and power of the internet versus that of the old media. A beautifully
crafted essay could hardly match the insight given in that song parordy, the way
newspapers are vanishing, the problems of TV advertisers and wasted
ad expenses, changing consumer habits or the many more chances and choices
people have with the net. And it is fun on top of that.

The song parody can be followed up by having a look at the
newspaper crisis in the US, Murdoch's loss making newspapers
in the UK (Murdoch is ranting about Google, the net, since
years),  most hated TV ads in the US and other aspects of
the media business. These are just a few examples.

Update: as the Murdoch / News Corp scandal unfolds here
a very interesting article in Al Jazeera. It tells of Murdoch's
ambitions of expansion in the Middle East, a totally irrational
strategy. It's no wonder when things go wrong for him and
his corporation in the end.
Murdoch's ambition in the Middle East

Great laugh: Texas hoax that caught the media

"Europe woke up to a tremendous disappointment on Wednesday.
Despite the lurid promises of the 11 o'clock news, authorities in Texas
had failed to unearth 30 dismembered bodies from a property in rural
Liberty County. Not even 15 bodies. Not even one stinking cadaver,
with or without extremities – much less the poor mutilated children TV
viewers were all prepared to be horrified/titillated to learn all about."

Bob Garfield knows how to enjoy such a  media failure:
Texas hoax had the media digging their own grave

And it's not just a great article, the comments by readers are
hilarious.

Bad financial advice: the great failure of media

When the mistakes of investors are the subject of articles the hype of the media in
the recent past is usually not the subject, something they were just never into.
For instance that pretty popular video on You Tube is, for the media, just not worth
mentioning even though it is one the best examples of what the media and financial
experts were up to.
Some of the characters who had the big say then could by now easily apply for a role
in a financial thriller, even a James Bond movie.

Another example of such voluntary censorship  is the farewell letter
of Andrew Lahde, a hedge fund manager, who identified the problems
correctly soon enough and began short selling. He quit his job in 2008
with a funny farewell letter in which he made it clear what he thought of
those who provided the opportunities.

Or, take a  look at the role newspapers played, in the US and Europe,
their complicity and sins in the financial crisis, here a nice summary by
Danny Schechter.  about American newspapers. (The newspapers in
the US are meantime in their sixth year of decline.)

Pretty much the same criticism could be written about European media.
These are just examples.


As a final example of how the media manage to become almost
eternal problems the way the Irish media turned round can be seen
as prime example. A couple of years ago the Irish media were great
in hyping up anything. And then, when  things turned sour, the bubbles
they helped to create burst, they turned to the old fashioned "bad news
are good news", real body snatchers who are making a show of the problems
and are now something like cheerleaders for wailing, whining, ranting,
problem loving, while badly informing, thus assisting people to get ever
deeper into problems.

Irish banks burning junior bond holders

In a move long overdue three Irish banks have announced
plans to burn junior bond holders, settling those debts
at 10% or 20% of the original value of those bonds.

It is a move that can really be welcomed for many reasons.
One of them being that those bigger fools who would never
even think of what they were doing and who part and parcel
of that mass madness learn it the hard way. Indulging in mass
madness, going along with popular delusions was never any
good and that's the least of punishments those in the financial
markets deserve to get.

When governments lie: the history of propaganda and spin. Book review

The lies of governments have a long history. They are going back
to ancient times when propaganda and spin were invented, came
into fashion. The old Greeks for instance had a rather full blown and
very effective propaganda, followed by the Roman Empire.

What is possibly surprising when looking closer at that bit of
history, is that those ancient liers are not to be underestimated.
The spin masters of those long perished regimes would have
no problems becoming spin masters again in modern times
and with all the modern means available.

Philip M. Taylor wrote a very interesting, easy to read and very
knowledgable history of it all. Published in 2003, this book
deserves all kudos and recommendations.

A very generous insight is made possible via Google books.
A good bit of the first part of the book can be read here. And
that is probably the best way for the reader to get to know it.

Western Romance and a sense of humor

The Spaghetti Western Orchestra is one of those bands
that should not missed. They keep you glued to the
screen. Enjoy The Good The Bad The ugly:

Not piracy but the lack of intelligent movies is the problem

John Carr wrote a remarkable article about the obvious failure of Hollywood
producers who all too often make rather stupid decisions and have not to
bright strategies.

Carr poinst not only at the decline of twenty percent at the box office recently
but goes further:

"If Hollywood continues down its path of churning out tired remakes and franchise
entries, they will inevitably sacrifice huge swaths of the movie-going public, and
eventually start losing their core teenage/young adult base. (Put bluntly, the fact
is: crap all dressed up is still crap.)

It's odd. Just when a movie like The King's Speech proves to Hollywood that
boomers will go to the movies in droves when an intelligent, high-quality feature is
offered, they turn around and go back to pushing all their 3-D product for kids."

The practically permanently declining TV programmes, the films offered on TV,
are the other obvious evidence of the lack of good movies. John Carr thus asks
with good reasons: Are Movie Theaters an Endangered Species? 

The crisis in the film industry began in 2009, not just in LA, but other countries as
well. (A search with "movie industry crisis" on the net turn up quite a lot.) This
crisis came parallel with the financial crisis, interestingly enough. One of the big
mistakes that led to it was the idea to make a lot of money with stupid movies, a
concept that did not work out.

Occasionally a report in the financial pages mentions an investment
fund or other investment vehicle that invested in movies is performing
badly, if not being bust altogether, that these funds had financed
Hollywood flops.
The idea a couple of years ago was to finance some, mildly stated,
silly movie and make lots of money out of that. The same idiocies as
elsewhere in the financial sectors were also committed with non
market worthy movies. And, when looking closer, it is often those
who sit on such non market worthy movies who blame whoever
and whatever, are close to blackmail the general public for some
money to compensate them for the mistakes and follies.

NoW scandal ringing in end of tabloid era?

The hacking scandal of NoW could well accelerate the decline of readership and thus
circulation. Newspapers are losing readers anyhow, gradually and continually.
Coming into real disrepute now with that scandal is likely to decrease their value for
advertisers because once a newspaper, a radio or TV channel is not taken serious
anymore so are the ads appearing there. All of it is regarded ever more as ludicrous,
silly, even by the most narrow minded readers.

The newspapers of News International are in any case not profitable. Murdoch is
subsidizing them out of the other News Corps operations. A further decline of
revenue of the newspapers is thus becoming a serious dead weight in News Corp's
balance sheets. This subsidy to loss making newspapers is any case a serious
issue with investors in News Corp shares.

That scandal might eventually have some funny aspects. A great part of tabloid
buyers are rather old, with not too much education and living in rather humble
circumstances. It is not usual that those eldery folks buy two, three or even four
tabloids every day, spending between twenty or thirty Euros a week on such
papers, a lot for somebody getting just a small pension.

Those readers are the ones who  believe every word written in those newspapers.
If something is in the papers then it must be true. The nonsense in those papers
can't be crass enough to shake their belief, their faith or superstitions. Now that
this scandal is even on TV even they cannot escape information and news about
the media, their newspapers. It is something like the scandals of priests.

The involvement and connection of politicians with the tabloids is likely to be
another point that works against Murdoch's papers. Once people realize they can
punish politicians by saving on the outlay for newspapers an additional few percent
of readers and revenue are gone. Other motives might come in. When a newspaper
is falling into disgrace the motives, reasons for disliking and getting rid of it are
usually varied, very nuanced, there are lots of them.

Then there is Hugh Grant, the actor, who recorded what an ex - reporter had to
say, was eager to tell about News of the World. That story, published in the
Statesman, made it round the world. It gave online suddenly a juicy and funny
inside look at such newspapers.

It is going to be interesting to see what happens. This is what has happened in the
United States: a look at the number of layoffs in the newspaper industry.
Here in Ireland the prospects for the media, including those belonging to NI, are
not looking good for many reasons, the economic crisis being one of them.

So, what books can be recommended in the event of a media crisis, to be
prepared for the worst?
There is the satirical crime novel written by John Denton, a veteran NYT
reporter: Black And White And Dead All Over. It gives, among others, an
insight into how narrow minded media people can be. And it has all the
essentials of satirical crime novel. Here is the introduction.

And ever since this scandal includes politics and politicians and as the
last decade was one of rather extreme amounts of spin, the history of
propaganda by Philip M. Taylor might be of interest. Taylor writes really
well, he is very knowledgable and has a sense of humor.
A nice insight into the book is possible via Google books, most of the first
part can read here.

There is a God. Tabloid ceases publication

For a long time it was all too often assumed that anything stupid in the publishing
or media industry would be the key to financial success. Strangely enough this
assumption was repeated again and again even though the actual data of the media industry point the other way since quite a while. Usually it is half witted left wingers who spread nonsense out of their own, see profits where losses are made, see success where a decline of audience can be found out very easily.

And so one folly goes hand in hand with another folly until the famous gang of brutal facts makes an end to the superstitions and nonsense altogether. Ironically it was April 1 that the news of the cessation to trading and publication of the Daily Sport in the UK was announced.


The comment sections in newspapers are quite often more like Dante's Inferno, the place for the eternal hopeless. Not so in this case. It's is good to read rather different comments once in a while, having a good laugh for a change.

That closure could ring in the end of the tabloid era, considering the effects
and the fallout of the NoW scandal. It doesn't take much for tabloid to lose
 the effectiveness for advertising altogether once they are coming into real
disrepute.

The economic circumstances are likely to speed up the media crisis here in Ireland,
something that is really overdue in order to sort out matters, clear obstacles out
of the way merely to minimise damages in the first place, to make an end to that
kind of nearly eternal fooling and drooling along while getting ever deeper in
problems.

Media frenzies and the lunacy of media

Feeding frenzies of the media about an affair, a disaster or other topic are lasting a maximum of two weeks. Then the topic is dead, news about such a frenzied topic are all of a sudden getting less, disappears from the headlines altogether. And this is what predictably will also happen in the current case of the Japanese disaster. After two weeks at the latest far fewer reports and articles appear to that, some then more casual, on the odd occasion more factual and informative before the topic is dropped altogether. The media will then look out for some other topic they deem worthy of hyping up. And frustrate their remaining audience ever more.

People who prefer to miss out on such frenzies, keep their distance, will again
discover that they haven't missed anything. The value of actual information is
pretty low, often the media have no problems distorting facts intentionally for
whatever stupid reason. That's one the reasons why keeping news consumption
low does not lead to a lack of information or knowledge.

A really good article was just recently published in the Huffington Post about
disaster journalism, giving an insight into the usual modus operandi, how such a
topic is played out.

Contrary to the assumption that such bad news frenzies are selling news, help to
push up readership and audience, the media are losing consumers. One of the
reasons why there are fewer gossip articles, not to mention frenzies about
celebrities like they were the daily usual a couple of years ago is that most media have lost out big time. Most of all in the USA.

A look at number of layoffs at American newspapers tells a story of its own. In
2008 they had 15 992+ layoffs, in 2009 it was 14 783+  jobs and in 2010 the
number was 2 828+ jobs. That's quite remarkable, something the media never
report much about. Their suicide strategies and rather idiotic assumptions about
mankind, what people accept and want, would all become too apparent and the
myths that anything silly, nonsensical and sensational would get a further dent.

In Europe the media "crisis" was less drastic so far, but they are also losing readers and audience. British newspapers for instance are gradually losing readers, and this means the Irish readership included in some of those numbers. The national Sunday papers as well the national dailies are losing readers.