Glass Box for Wednesday PM
Eloise Twisk is in the driver's seat tonight - so maybe you'd like to tell her what you thought of the items chosen for this evenings PM. We have our post programme meeting at 6pm. Tell us what you think as well in your own glass box.
Thankyou,
Carolyn
Listen to PM
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Just realised the date today:
09/09/09
Is there a name for dates like these? I mean for dates with a pattern rather than dates which sound like reluctant Germans.
Not long ago we had 05:06 07/08/09.
In fact was the whole Millenium Bug farce all todao with the recognition of sequences of dates?
Personally I love it when my radio alarm shows 11:11, or 22:22. It makes me feel a glow inside.
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And there's always the German weather forecast - 03/03/03 ...
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Hello Eloise!
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Why is the glass box sitting on the Naughty Step?
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Hi T8-eh-T8
As someone who was working in IT in the City over the Millennium, I get pretty annoyed with the whole "Millennium Bug Farce" thing.
People had any idea of the man-hours that were put in to ensure that things didn't fail, they wouldn't be so glib. I laughed out loud when I first heard about the MB (in 1995 or so), thinking it an utter scam. But when I realised how widespread the assumption of two-digit dates was, I began to appreciate the potential impact of the bug and the level of due diligence needed to avoid unexpected failures.
From an insider's perspective I think the Millennium Bug episode should be regarded as a pretty reasonable success (if not only from a PC sales point of view as many legacy PCs were replaced to ensure Y2K compliance), however it is typical that people choose instead to take the negative view and regard it as a hoax.
Incidentally, one side-effect of the MB was probably a significant contribution to the tech-crash that occurred shortly after: Many PC and software upgrades were moved up before 2000, partly as part of the compliance programmes and partly because IT departments were able to get abnormally large budgets to resolve the MB. The result was that tech sales slumped immediately after Y2K, which combined with overpriced technology stocks to trigger the crash.
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The lad convicted of the football crime;
always had serious doubts over his conviction from day one. Many did, government didn't do proactive work to clear this citizen. However, this seems to be governmental policy on any kind of conviction they have no vested interest in. Even when they are given compelling evidence. Looks like it was only the terraces, players and public who got him released. Shame on you Jack. It looks like you only released him to boost ratings. Thats what I read anyway. I'd like to think I'm wrong.
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I consider the exercise that won back a British journalist at the cost of an imminent Afghan journalist and civilians a failure.
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'Emminent' even.
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Can someone explain why you would need pardening from something you didn't do!?
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Hello! packed programme tonight, especially as the economics discussion has just run over
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In the spirit of T8-eh_T8's original post, the next big Computer Date is 03:14:07 on 19th Jan 2038, and this one does seem quite significant, as many computer systems will run out of digits to store the date and so will wrap around to the 1st Jan 1970.
Not a very 'interesting' date though - often the case with computers.
BTW: I note that Wikipedia claims that Italy, China, Russia and South Korea took little or no corrective Y2K action and yet apparently suffered little impact. That is interesting: Certainly one area of Y2K that definitely does seem to have been overstated was the impact on the embedded systems contained in many day-to-day systems - many people assumed that devices written for limited memory would be very vulnerable. This clearly was not the case.
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It would seem to be past time for a different global economic paradigm; something beyond capitalism&socialism! Economic "scientists"& students: come up with it, for a Nobel Prize will lie in your future.
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Don't leave us Nils! My piggy bank and I would miss your dulcet tones terribly.
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6. funnyJoedunn
Whoever is the justice minister he/she has to be careful with convictions abroad. I assume his court hearing in Bulgaria complied with the European Human rights laws. He also has recourse to the European court if his rights were infinged in Bulgaria or UK. After all, EU law covers us where ever we are in Europe.
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Americans (even Senators) don't seem to know the difference between Socialism, Facism or any other "ism". Their MPs/Senators seem to want to inflame public opinion against President Obama no matter what he does.
Their Health Care system (or lack of it) is a nightmare. God help them sort it out.
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@shadowmac
I think the future belongs to cooperative & mutual societies - the 'middle way' between capitalism and full government socialism.
Unfortunately, most people espouse solutions that are either cool (i.e. radical) or suit their personal self-interest (i.e. capitalism), with the result that the best solution is often overlooked.
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2 grunbles: 1) I'm listening to PM & am so angry about the item as to what/who caused the credit crunch. One American professor said financial corruption & greed was among the reasons & the other suggested to see who they were we should look in the mirror. I am stunned that your female presenter let him get away with this outrageous & unjustified slur on all us HONEST citizens who now SUFFER because of the crooked swine (& incompetent politicians) who have brought our monetary syetem to its knees.
2) Why didn't she protest on behalf of your listeners? I'd say she's not up to the job & neither are other female presnters I often hear. Come back Eddy soon. PLEASE.
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Lady Sue (15)
I agree somewhat with your sentiments. I actually take it as an insult when these brazen mouthed bigots come out with these sweeping statements about the evils of our 'socialist' health service.
I have never ever seen our health as having any political colour. I have always been amazed that we are able to manage to keep running such an unselfish and equal system when virtually everything else in society worth aspiring to has a political colour attached. Give me NHS any day,even with its problems.
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Well done Eloise, well done Sequin. Seemed a lot to take in there this afternoon. Good though.
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In 1920 a man called Herbwert W Armstrong (he's on Google) was called to a meeting in Chicago with seven millionaire tractor-builders. They wanted him to arrange loans for farmers to buy their tractors. America was experiencing what, at the time, was called a "flash depression". Mr. Armstrong stood to make a fortune. But instead, he pointed out that farmers were better off paying 18 cents a bushel for horse feed. He declined their request.
"Human nature", could have caused him to agree. But human nature, as Mr. Armstrong well knew, is mentioned in the Bible: Jeremiah 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked; who can know it.
Imagine, if Hitler had stayed as an artist.
In 1945, Mr. Armstrong said two things: Germany would rise up from the ashes and take over Europe, and that America would crash financially.
(Journalists say: "Nobody warned us." Not true. The journalists don't want to listen to Christian ministers. Human nature you see.)
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Looternite (14)
Thanks for that - didn't really understand the intricacies. It sheds more light on the reasons why I guess people want to be brought back to Britain to do their sentence before going through all the appeals process. It looks like we (home secretary) as the host country, has the power to pardon, commute, etc, when prisoners arrive back. is this something like how it works? Although, he did go through an appeal that reduced his sentence. As I understand, he now has to back to Bulgaria to the conviction quashed! It all confusing to me.
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21. funnyJoedunn
As I understand it all european governments have to respect each others juristictions and sentances. I would like EU law to say that all EU citizens convicted in any country should automatically be sent to their country of origin to carry out their sentances.
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(17) TerenceW I disagree with your comments about Sequin. She does a first class job and has a delightful manner. Agree with fJd @ 19 - it was another good programme. Thanks to the team.
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TerranceW (17):
This line of thought has been running for the past year; should we blame the people who offered >100% mortgages or the people who took on >100% mortgages? Should we blame debt problems on the people who offer more and more credit, or the people who take on more and more credit?
The simple answer is both.
Yes, there's been a lot of shenannigans in the high-finance world as well, but even then the blame has to be shared between those who played the system and the regulators who let them. One case in point was the relaxing of the rules on who could handle hedge funds. When it was just a small coterie of sophisticated managers they were very safe packages of investments. When it was opened up to any fool with a spreadsheet model there was bound to be trouble.
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17, 24
Check the run up to the Japanese 'lost decade' and the run up to the current credit crunch.
In both cases what precipitated the crash and exaccerbated the subsequent credit crunch was a hiking of the interest rates practically doubling in both cases.
Don't tell me Greenspan didn't nkow about the Japanese case, when, to end 'excessive exuberance', he hiked the Fed rates.
The mortgage companies followed him and so the sub prime poor couldn't pay.
The interest rate hike, qua signal, resulted in everyone cutting their credit lines, just like that.
The crash and the crunch inevitably followed.
Greenspin says today (on Ceefax) that there will be another crisis.
You bet! Just as soon as next year's Tory government gets its knees under the tables and the right wing Republican financiers in America and here, pull the plugs on the credit lines all over again.
One way to stop it would be to retire ALL government debt by Quantitative Easing.
How could Cameron 'hurt' ordinary people by claiming government borrowing was too high?
QE on that scale would require absolute control of the banking sector here. Even the existing 125 billion does. For it will create 750 billion of extra spending power per annum in the economy unless we make the banks rein in.
In such an economy (ours next year) there really is no room for private sector exuberance.
We need all large financial holdings under firm government control.
Personally I do not see how the nationalisation of the banks that Mervyn King talks of, and the sequestering of large scale financial assets can be avoided next year.
Well, I can. The Tories will destroy, and I mean destroy, the welfare state instead.
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A couple of quick PSs.
Did you see that finally we are being told that food inflation is at +2.3 per cent in August
In August food prices rose 2.3% on the year, compared with a 3.8% rise in July - the fifth straight month that food price inflation has slipped. (Wall Street Journal, London).
But, but, but, the POOR spend a huge fraction of their income on food. They are getting poorer.
And I see that women footballer professionals get about 16 thousand a year.
Personally I'd double it and LEVEL DOWN every overpaid male player*** to that figure too.
**** Well, I meant footballers, here, but 'person' would do just as well
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Your so called experts, the second generation Galbraith and Rogoff forget that financial crashes are POLICY instruments.
As are bubbles. Its how the rich these days, realise their profits. Thefy takes palce at the point of capital pricing.
That would have continued (and has started again easily enough) were it not for the way the poor get better off and the way other captialisms begin to challenge the existing hegemony.
As soon as the poor seem sufficcnently strong to challenge the distribution bewtween wages and profits, the capitalists precipitate a crisis. Which they blame on excessive governemtn spending. You forget how NASTY these peopel are. Wasn't it Rogoff (elsewhere) who himself pointed out something we have known all along, that capitalist psychology thrives on the DIFFERENCE between the rich and the poor. That is what crises preserve. Both at home, the US sub prime poor, and abroad, in China.
At least, thats what they try to do. And will try again. That is what Greenspan is telling you. Stuff about 'We forget' and 'No one knew anyone else's position is pure (green)SPIN.
Greenspin forgot about Japan???? The credit crisis from 1990 is STILL going on there.
PS
If Galbraith can tell us the difference between Madoff and Ponzi and a standard speculative bubble, he should post his stuff on Wikipedia, which, rightly, doesn't agree with him.
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@26
A percentage of the gate seems the fairest solution for footballers (male or female. I'd rather watch female players than men but most male football fans would rather watch men play. Kinky, if you ask me.
As for financial bubbles, the recent casino banking crisis was unusual in that it was bank robbery by employees of the bank rather than banks stealing from their customers, which is the usual way bubbles work.
This would have been the best theft from capitalist ever, if politicians worldwide could not be bought and sold like cattle in the market place.
These crooks stole our money and gave it back to the capitalist bankers who bought them long before.
Back to square one.
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23,24,25 Please read what I said. "One American professor said financial corruption & greed was among the reasons & the other suggested to see who they were we should look in the mirror." The presenter can be as sweet as she can be but I made the point that she let that professorial twit get away with his outrageous statement.
I look in my mirror & see a taxpayer having to pay extra taxes because of banking greed & corruption, & added lack of political control on the banking system. I have NOTHING to exacerbate this financial crisis & should not be blamed & should have been defended & in addition will face reduced public services through no fault of my own. I make no other points.
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Excellent programme tonight, Sequin. Thank you.
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