The Angry Bear

Going Too Far Unfortunately, it was going to happen, and we who support the movement need to call out those instances where it goes too far.  I am talking about the justified Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement, mostly characterized by widespread peaceful protests even in small rural towns that never see such things, and with a solid majority of the American people currently supporting both the BLM and its main demands.  As it is, one should probably not...

———————————————————————–||———————–         The Past                                                                  Now             The Future What Will History Say by Ken Melvin When the new US History books come out in 2040, what will they have to say about 2020? What will they say about:  Globalization?  The Trump Presidency?  Global Warming?  The 2020 Pandemic?  China’s Rise?  America’s Decline?  Capitalism and Free markets?  Mitch McConnell? to run...

What Was Behind Barr’s Friday Night Massacre? . . . Ignorance A comment in my wanderings: Barr could not fire Berman who is a court appointed US Attorney. His foolish attempt to do so only makes him look even worse than what he was perceived to be. On Friday night, Barr claimed Berman had resigned. Sitting in the wings to replace Berman, a golfing buddy of Trump’s who is the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Jay Clayton would be the...

by Joseph Joyce The Challenges to the Dollar The dollar’s position as the premier global currency has long seemed secure. The dollar accounts for about 60% of the foreign exchange reserves of central banks and similar proportions of international debt and loans. But recent developments raise the possibility of a transition to a stratified world economy in which the use of other currencies for regional trade and finance becomes more common. Such a...

Is The Possible V-Shaped Recovery Flattening As The Second Quarter Comes To An End? Probably,  although it is unclear whether or not we are having a V-shaped recovery (see most recent post here). However, whatever it is, it looks like the revived spread of the coronavirus is probably slowing it somewhat.  New cases are up by 15% nationally from a low point several weeks ago, and there are reports of businesses of various sorts of closing, if not whole...

George Floyd and the Costs of Racial Capitalism, LAWCHA, Ken Estey, June 10, 2020 Some History A little bit about LAWCHA. The “Labor and Working Class History Association” is an organization of scholars, teachers, students, labor educators, and activists who seek to promote public and scholarly awareness of labor and working-class history through research, writing, and organizing. It grew out of the conversations among labor historians over the course of...

From The Guardian: In 2010, the UN declared clean water to be a human right. Yet a decade later, millions of Americans lack basic indoor plumbing, more than 100 million are exposed to toxic chemicals in their drinking water, and water bills have risen by an average of 80% across 12 US cities, in a cascading crisis of water affordability. The Guardian is tackling the subject of the US water crisis with a landmark series, in partnership with Consumer...

Coronavirus dashboard for June 22: a pandemic newly focused on the young appears to be changing the dynamics Confirmed US coronavirus infections: 2,280,969 Confirmed US coronavirus deaths: 119,977 The 7 day average of new infections in the US has risen 30% from its low of 20,357 on June 9 to 26,546 yesterday: On a per capita basis, US infections are now roughly 4x those in Europe: Curiously, the 7 day average of deaths has continued to decline, to 605...

On Choosing a Belief System by Ken Melvin Belief Systems, these prisms through which we view the world, have been around from our earliest days. Not so long ago, the Ancient Greeks separated the concept of what we might call belief into two concepts: pistis and doxa with pistis referring to trust and confidence (notably akin the regard accorded science) and doxa referring to opinion and acceptance (more akin the regard accorded cultural norms). In quest...