TexasTowelie
TexasTowelie's JournalComparing Apples to Oranges: The Baltic States and Greece
By Jeffrey Sommers. Sommers is an associate professor at the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee and visiting faculty at the Stockholm School of Economics in Riga. His book with Charles Woolfson, The Contradictions of Austerity: The Socio-economic Costs of the Neoliberal Baltic Model is available from Routledge.It has become increasingly fashionable to compare the results of Greece and the Baltic States’ response to the financial crisis of 2008, most recently last month with the Financial Times’ column with John Dizard. This, however, is a classic textbook case of comparing apples to oranges. Greece’s crisis was chiefly a public debt crisis enabled by membership in the eurozone and the cheap loans extended to the state this enabled that amounted to 107.4 percent of GDP in 2007 in the run up to the crisis. By contrast, the Baltic states had paltry public debt to GDP ratios of only 4.4, 10.7, 18 percent respectively in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania in 2007, before the financial shock. Their crisis was a private sector one as banking capital ran for the door after creating a property bubble that burst.
Greece and the Baltic states did share one common feature. Tax evasion has been the national sport in their respective countries. For the Baltics states (especially Latvia) and their offshore banks, this is big business which their economies depend on. The Syriza government in Greece is attempting to tackle this pernicious problem, albeit with unknowable results at present.
Additionally, there was a wide gap in wages between Greece and the Baltic states following the crisis. For example, in 2009 Latvia’s per capita purchasing power (PPP) was $14,307 (in 2013 adjusted dollars). By contrast that year in Greece it was $29,512. Thus, given the ultra-low wages paid in the Baltics, there was much incentive for investors to take advantage of wage arbitrage opportunities. The real wage gaps were larger still, given that Baltic inequality is more extreme than in Greece. Now that wages have increased in the Baltic states to levels close to Greece’s, economic growth is flatlining as the wage arbitrage between them and Greece is no longer significant.
Oil prices rebounded quickly after the 2008 shock and by 2009 CIS offshore cash was racing into the Baltics from the east. More still came in as problems emerged in Cyprus’ offshore banking industry in 2012 and 2013. Now that oil prices have declined offshore financial flows to the Baltics have declined and with that (and the EU sanctions against Russia) their economic growth has dramatically slowed. So the jury is still out on the longer-term economic consequences of the kind of brutal austerity that Greece and the Baltics share in common.
Read more: http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2015/04/jeffrey-sommers-comparing-apples-oranges-baltic-states-greece.html
Texas marijuana bills receive raves and rants during committee hearing
On a night when 22 bills were discussed in committee, marijuana by far was the most popular subject.
Over 60 people registered to testify on the four marijuana related bills which would decrease penalties for possession, and several of those same people testified on other drug penalty bills as well. It was standing room only for the Criminal Jurisprudence Committee in the Texas House of Representatives.
The hearing lasted over six hours, and discussion began on the cannabis bills about four hours in following discussion on bills which would itemize court costs, make flying drones less than 400 feet over industrial areas considered trespassing, changes to court procedures, victim remediation programs, requiring police to get a warrant in order to obtain cell phone data, and many bills concerning drugs, most of which would decrease the penalties for possession of small amounts.
Representative Harold Dutton was a fixture in the committee, coming forth to testify on many bills. At one point he cracked a joke about being ready to get to the “joint committee” as the room laughed, and was more serious later on as he cited the need for Texas to stop imprisoning so many people, saying “the more prison cells we have, the more people we’ll find to put in them.”
Read more: http://txcann.com/2015/04/09/texas-marijuana-bills-receive-raves-and-rants-during-committee-hearing/
[font color=green]My impression is that the committee is blowing smoke.[/font] 
Pat Robertson Opposes Gay Marriage Because No One 'Conceived A Child Through Anal Intercourse'
Pat Robertson has jumped off the deep end once again, and once again he's railing against anal intercourse.
Change the conversation, change the world
A view wrote in to Pat Robertson's "700 Club" to ask the octogenarian televangelist how same-sex couples can "claim they are Christians" and "continue to live this lifestyle?" The anonymous viewer didn't explain what "lifestyle" he was referring to, but perhaps it is the one where gay people wake up, go to work, come home, kiss their spouse, make dinner, walk the dog, pay their bills, catch up on the news, and go to bed?
Robertson, whose net worth is estimated to be in the hundreds of millions of dollars if not over $1 billion, responded that LGBT people claim to be Christians because “the gays wants to control everything.”
Why?
“This is part of the left-wing agenda,” Robertson commented to his co-host, Terry Meeuwsen, “to do away with Christian values and to substitute for Christian values the progressive concepts of morality.”
Read more: http://www.thenewcivilrightsmovement.com/davidbadash/pat_robertson_opposes_gay_marriage_because_no_one_conceived_a_child_through_anal_intercourse
Monster gator has a new home
When Gary Saurage, owner of Gator Country in Beaumont, got the call that an alligator had been spotted at a pond in Groves, he had no idea how large the animal would be.
"Most of the gators we capture around this time of year are around six or seven feet long," Saurage said Wednesday. "This guy right here is just over 11 feet and around 400 pounds."
It took four people, Saurage included, to catch the alligator Monday.
Once they had the animal contained, they loaded him into a tractor trailer to transport him around the pond to Saurage's work truck, where he could be safely brought back to Gator Country.
Read more: http://www.beaumontenterprise.com/news/article/Monster-gator-has-a-new-home-6188985.php
[font color=green]Guess who isn't going skinny-dipping?[/font]
Collin County DA asks Texas Rangers to investigate AG Paxton
AUSTIN – Collin County District Attorney Greg Willis on Thursday asked the Texas Rangers to look into Attorney General Ken Paxton's admitted violations of state securities law, a day after a local grand jury appeared ready to start its own investigation.
On Monday, Austin-based watchdog group Texans for Public Justice, which filed the original criminal complaint against Paxton in Travis County, re-filed its complaint with Willis and asked him to recuse himself, citing the district attorney's long-time friendship and business relationship with Paxton.
Then on Wednesday, a local grand jury in Collin County requested the investigative file from Travis County to conduct its own probe.
Willis' office did not return repeated requests for comment Wednesday, but put out a statement just after 4 p.m. Thursday that it has asked the Texas Rangers to step in.
Read more: http://www.chron.com/news/politics/texas/article/Willis-DA-asks-Texas-Rangers-to-investigate-AG-6190072.php
Group Accuses Richmond Teacher of Spewing Anti-Muslim Hate in Class
The Houston office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations is asking Lamar CISD officials to discipline a teacher accused of passed out "virulently anti-Muslim materials" to students in class.
CAIR claims a teacher at Foster High School in Richmond cribbed material from an anti-Muslim website (it's not clear what website) to distribute to students. While CAIR hasn't named the teacher, the group has provided examples of what was supposedly handed out in class:
"Islam is more of an ideology than a religion. It is also an ideology of war. . ."
"{Islam forces} its ideology on cultures and ultimately on the world through propaganda, subversion, and even physical force when it is deemed necessary, one area of the world at a time."
"You will either give into their demands recognizing Islam's 'noble' rule, you will become a Muslim yourself, or you will die."
"[Muslims believe] All governments - except Islam - should be overthrown."
". . .everyone will be brought under the yoke of Islam, willingly or unwillingly."
". . .even though generally Islamic followers will say that they 'believe' in Jesus and respect Him and the Bible, in fact, neither is really true."
CAIR-Houston Executive Director Mustafaa Carroll urged the district to take the matter seriously, saying, "Only a strong response to this attempt at student indoctrination will send a message that our schools must never be incubators of hate."
Lamar officials haven't yet responded to our questions, but the district provided KPRC a statement that doesn't exactly inspire confidence: "We're disappointed to learn one teacher made independent changes to a lesson plan, resulting in information being given that didn't follow subject matter, or a state and local curriculum plans. Arbitrary curriculum decisions, which are clearly outside our guidelines, won't be tolerated."
Read more: http://blogs.houstonpress.com/news/2015/04/group_accuses_richmond_teacher_of_spewing_anti-muslim_hate_in_class.php
New Bill Would Target Bullet Train Land Acquisition
Republicans leery of granting more eminent domain authority acted to fast-track to nowhere a proposed high-speed rail line between Houston and Dallas.
The Tribune's Aman Batheja reported that five Republicans on the Senate Transportation Committee passed out a bill Wednesday by state Sen. Lois Kolkhorst, (Regressive-Brenham), that would deny developers of a high-speed rail line the use of the eminent domain tool. Two Houston Democrats and two Dallas-area Republicans voted against the bill.
Kolkhorst explained the impetus for the bill was skepticism the project would ever come to fruition. “I just don’t see it, and I’m not sure I want Texas to be the guinea pig on this,” she said. As such, she did not want to put landowners along a proposed route in a position to lose their property.
Republican supporters of Kolkhorst's legislation said they were uncomfortable with giving eminent domain authority to a for-profit company. The developers of the rail line have made their reliance on private funding a selling point of the venture.
Read more: http://www.texastribune.org/2015/04/09/brief/
Experts: Perry Camp Put Russian Ship in Web Video
A warship, believed to be Russian, that originally appeared in Rick Perry's video on the U.S. military.
WASHINGTON – Rick Perry's political operatives have swapped out two seconds in a video touting the former Texas governor's military history. Experts told The Texas Tribune they believed the warship featured in the original footage was Russian, not American.
The current video, produced by Perry's political action committee, RickPAC, shows a battleship with an American flag at the mast. But as recently as 24 hours ago, the video — released to coincide with Perry's Monday speech at the Citadel in South Carolina — showed a ship that military experts said was more likely a Russian warship. Perry is widely believed to be making a second run for the White House.
“I’m 99 percent sure it’s a Russian ship,” Steven Pifer, a Brookings Institution expert in Russian arms control, wrote in an email. “It looks to me like the Moskva (Russian for Moscow, formerly named Slava), a guided missile cruiser that is the flagship of the Russian Black Sea Fleet."
Perry spokesman Travis Considine did not confirm that the ship was Russian, but said in an email, “As soon as our team noticed the error we fixed it."
Read more: http://www.texastribune.org/2015/04/09/perry-appears-show-russian-ship-web-video/
[font color=green]So Rand Paul uses German Shutterstock and Rick Perry uses a Russian ship--it makes one wonder which side these Teabillies support.[/font]
State suspends Williamson County Judge Tim Wright; court now overseen by visiting judge
The State Commission on Judicial Conduct has suspended Williamson County Court-At-Law Judge Tim Wright from his job without pay, according to an order from the commission.
The commission suspended Wright effective immediately at 5 p.m. Wednesday as a result of the indictment against him, the order says.
“One or more of the charges constitutes a felony offense,” the order says.
Wright was indicted Tuesday on nine federal charges. The allegations against him include selling firearms on three occasions in February to someone he knew or had reasonable cause to believe was a convicted felon, according to a statement from the U.S. attorney’s office.
Read more: http://www.statesman.com/news/news/crime-law/state-commission-suspends-judge-tim-wright/nkqZ5/?ecmp=statesman_social_facebook_2014_sfp
ETA: So they replaced the judge charged with a felony with a former judge who resigned in disgrace after sexual harassment charges. WTF is wrong with the judges in Williamson County?
Related threads:
Williamson County judge facing gun charges cleared for release
http://www.democraticunderground.com/107824373
Williamson County judge Timothy Wright indicted on various firearm related charges, false statements
http://www.democraticunderground.com/107824333
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Gender: MaleHometown: South Texas. most of my life I lived in Austin and Dallas
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