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Imagine two ways of framing a financial trading choice. The first way is in the pseudo scientific language of finance. “An optimal trading strategy will be to go short on Greek and Spanish government bonds to exploit a high likelihood of sell off and debt restructuring which will keep portfolio returns well above inflation going forward.” Or consider the same thing expressed this way: “If we sell off Greek and Spanish government bonds it will push Greek pensioners into poverty, cause deep harm to the social fabric, lead to destabilising political unrest and threaten the stability of the world financial system.” The first way of framing the choice is treating the financial strategy as a way of dealing with a machine; the language has nothing to do with people. The second way of framing it is moral: starting with the effects on people.
By Delusional Economics, who is horrified at the state of economic commentary in Australia and is determined to cleanse the daily flow of vested interests propaganda to produce a balanced counterpoint. Cross posted from http://www.macrobusiness.com.au/2012/05/europes-problems-multiply/">MacroBusiness.
Marion Cotillard with director Jacques Audiard and costar Matthias Schoenaerts on the red carpet. (Getty Images)
CANNES, FRANCE, MAY 19— Love is in the air here at Cannes, and so is at least one Oscar prospect. Academy Award winner Marion Cotillard is first out of the gate this year with a riveting performance as a double amputee in Jacques Audiard’s tough, achingly beautiful drama Rust and Bone. Crippled by a freak killer whale accident in the south of France (yeah, I just wrote that), Orca trainer Cotillard mends a shattered life by finding mutual redemption in the arms of a stoic single father and amateur kickboxer (played with muscular intensity by human bicep Matthias Schoenaerts). On paper—and in lesser hands—this Riviera romance would seem preposterous. But Mr. Audiard, an alchemist of character studies, conjures up his world with expert flair, and creates a stunning, deeply felt portrait of passion and compassion between a woman aching to connect and a man hiding behind his brute strength. And the broken but gingerly resolute Ms. Cotillard is commanding in a legless role considerably sexier than Gary Sinise’s bitter Vietnam vet from Forrest Gump, aided by breathtakingly seamless digital technology that makes Lieutenant Dan look like the victim of a bad eraser attack.
But the festival’s most naked performance, emotionally and physically, goes thus far to Margarethe Tiesel, the brave star of Ulrich Seidl’s Paradise: Love. Playing a zaftig Austrian sex tourist who goes to Kenya and finds herself overwhelmed by eager ebony action, Tiesel lets that sunburned, middle-aged cellulite all hang out while surrounded by lean African gigolos groping both her flesh and her pocketbook. An obvious critique of European colonialism that quickly becomes a fascinating study of mutual exploitation and self-destructive loneliness, Paradise: Love will haunt you like a bad wet dream. (And—due to a massive amount of unsexy sexual situations that just barely stop short of hardcore—U.S. audiences should cross their fingers that an adventurous distributor will pick it up).
While not quite as graphic, Cristian Mungiu’s Beyond the Hills delivers an equally charged portrait of a lovelorn women (Cristina Flutur) victimized by a religious and civic order that literally crucifies her for raging against the machine. Her only hope is to convince her childhood friend and onetime lesbian lover (Cosmina Stratan) to give up her monastic vows so they can be together again, and somehow escape the suffocating layers of institutional control that have defined their entire lives. Winner of the Palme d’Or five years ago for his communist-era abortion drama 4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days, the Romanian auteur paints an ambitious portrait of systemic repression and distrust that implicates orphanages, foster homes, police stations, hospitals, and churches. This is Cannes as its best: ambitious themes writ large in experiences that are all too human.
From Brent Betterly's Facebook profile
Three men who allegedly planned attacks on President Obama's Chicago headquarters and the mayor's residence have been arrested by Chicago police. Reuters reports anti-N.A.T.O. and Occupy Chicago-associated protesters Brian Church, Jared Chase and Brent Betterly were charged Friday with "conspiracy to commit terrorism, providing material support for terrorism, and possession of an explosive incendiary device." In a report published Saturday afternoon the Associated Press said prosecutors allege the men also planned attacks on police vehicles and substations.
Mr. Church, age 20, and Mr. Chase and Mr. Betterly--both 24--were picked up during a raid Wednesday on the South Side of Chicago. Authorities say they were planning to use Molotov cocktails during the N.A.T.O. summit, which begins Sunday.
Brent Betterly, originally from Florida, arrived in Chicago on April 27, according to a post he made on the Facebook timeline for a page dedicated to Occupy the Chicago N.A.T.O. Summit. "just arrived in chicago last night," wrote Mr. Betterly on April 28, "the people in occupy chicago have been awesome! thanks for the hospitality! this is going to be a great summit!"
Jared Chase is from Keene, New Hampshire. On May 2 Mr. Chase posted a news article about a peaceful protest of a Bank of America branch in downtown Chicago, commenting, "Thats me again lol."
Nothing on either man's Facebook indicates overt support of violent, Black Bloc-style protests.
In a statement quoted by Reuters, Occupy Chicago member Natalie Wahlberg ridiculed the charges against the men, stating that they "are utterly ridiculous." The Chicago Police Department, said Ms. Wahlberg, "doesn't know the difference between home beer-making supplies and Molotov cocktails."
More than 12 protesters have been arrested since the anti-N.A.T.O. actions began, but mostly for minor charges such as trespassing.
Mr. Betterly, Mr. Chase and Mr. Church will have bond hearings Saturday.
(Future AU Senator??) Julian Assange
Head Wikileaker and house arrestee Julian Assange has been pondering a run for the Australian Senate. Before you even quirk an eyebrow at the prospect of a "Senator Assange," note that a recent survey by Australian Labor Party pollsters indicates Mr. Assange could garner nearly 25% of the vote. Agence France-Presse reports members of "the left-wing Greens party were most likely to be pro-Assange, with 39 percent saying they would vote for him."
In a sampling of 1,000 potential voters, nearly equal percentages of Labor and conservative supporters also indicated they might vote for Mr. Assange, who is currently on bail in England after being charged with "sexual molestation" in Sweden.
Mr. Assange is essentially under house arrest while he waits to see if he'll be extradited but that hasn't stopped him from launching a TV show in addition to exploring a future in politics. His World Tomorrow airs on RT and has featured guests such as Hassan Nasrallah, the Secretary General of Hebollah and Ecuador's president, Rafael Correa.
Agence France-Presse also reports that Wikileaks, as an organization, is prepared to field a candidate against Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard in 2013.
Elon Musk (Getty Images)
SpaceX, the brainchild of designer and C.E.O. Elon Musk, suffered a setback early Saturday after its Dragon cargo ship, destined for the International Space Station (I.S.S.), made it all the way to "lift-off" then failed to actually lift off. The BBC reports the ship's computers indicated the Falcon rocket set to boost the Dragon into orbit indicated a problem with "chamber pressure in one of the nine Merlin engines."
Mr. Musk's firm has a contract worth a billion dollars with N.A.S.A. to ferry supplies to the space station. SpaceX is but one firm hoping to fill the void left by N.A.S.A.'s retirement of the space shuttle program. If the Dragon lifts off successfully within the next few days it will mark the first time a private company has serviced the I.S.S.
Mr. Musk, a South African inventor who co-founded PayPal, tweeted about the failure:
Launch aborted: slightly high combustion chamber pressure on engine 5. Will adjust limits for countdown in a few days. — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 19, 2012
Launch aborted: slightly high combustion chamber pressure on engine 5. Will adjust limits for countdown in a few days.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 19, 2012
The next launch window is Tuesday.
The Associated Press posted a slightly depressing video of the aborted launch on Youtube Saturday morning.
Makers of the other Steve Jobs flick–you know, the one starring Ashton Kutcher–must be feeling pressure to ratchet up the publicity since Aaron Sorkin has been attached to Sony’s big-screen version of the Walter Isaacson biography.
On Friday Five Star Feature Films issued a press release announcing that when principal photography begins in June on jOBS, early scenes will be filmed “in the actual Los Altos home where Jobs grew up and in the historic garage where he and Steve Wozniak founded Apple.” Read More
Earlier this evening National Review blogger Katrina Trinko published a story accusing Democratic Massachusetts Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren of plagiarizing a passage in the book she co-wrote with her daughter, All Your Worth: The Ultimate Money Lifetime Plan. One hour and five minutes later, Ms. Trinko published a correction apologizing for the story.
“I took down my earlier post on Elizabeth Warren plagiarizing from the book Getting On the Money Track,” Ms. Trinko said. “I apologize for the error.” Read More
Today, political types were focused on the Facebook I.P.O, the French and diarrhea. Here’s our roundup of the day’s best Tweets from the campaign trail. Read More
Parking ring rage: the rumors are true! (streetinfo.org)
Park Slope residents are fed up, and this time it's not about those ice cream pushers in the park.
The Brooklyn Paper, in an act of investigative derring-do, has confirmed what residents have long suspected—a secret parking spot-saving scheme run by the doormen of pricey buildings on Prospect Park West.
The parking ring, long alleged by enraged local residents, is the real deal, the paper reports. Doormen hog parking spaces on street sweeping days, intentionally leaving unparkable half-spaces in front of and in back of cars, then shift the cars around for returning residents.
“I just use my car to hold a spot for them,” Vick Narain, a doorman at 44 Prospect Park West, told The Brooklyn Paper. “The minute there’s a space, it will be gone within five minutes; someone’s always looking for parking around here.”
Sneaky!
Mr. Narain also confessed to saving spots by standing in the road when alternate-side parking rules are enforced.
Other doormen denied involvement in the nefarious spot-saving parking ring, although they admitted to moving residents' cars on occasion.
Naturally, residents who must go it alone on the mean streets of Park Slope, without the aid of a doorman, are outraged by such tactics. Street sweeping makes parking miserable enough without unfair advantages.
“Sometimes you spend 30 or 45 minutes driving around looking for a spot,” resident Carolyn Byrd told The Paper. “It gets really contentious.”
Police say that such tactics are not illegal, but some residents have decided to take justice into their own hands, issuing homemade parking "citations" to space-wasting cars.
In true Park Slope form, the citations are two pages long.
kvelsey@observer.com
At the party he co-hosted at the Jitrois pop-up store in Soho, Peter Brant II was saying how much he liked his leather pants. “I just think their elastic leather is really fantastic,” said the fast-talking elder son of the Brant Publications magnate and art collector Peter M. Brant and the supermodel Stephanie Seymour. “It looks great on everybody! As you can see,” he said, gesturing to his black-and-silver Jitrois leather pants. The pants cost $2875. “That’s the main attraction.”
“I sometimes wear women’s pants, because I have very very tiny legs,” said Harry Brant. The younger Brant brother declared his Jitrois pants “so comfortable. The nylon looks like leather, but it feels like you’re wearing sweat pants.” Read More