Daily Digest 12/4 - CM And James Turk Talk About Europe, How Economics Got Hijacked, Learning Too Late Gas Drilling Perils

• Chris Martenson and James Turk talk about Europe and the global economy
• Raise Taxes on Rich to Reward True Job Creators: Nick Hanauer
• Merkel Seeks Swift Action on What May Be Long Job to Save the Euro
• Black Friday Gun Sales Break Records
• How Economics Got Hijacked
• Syrians Say They Are Feeling the Grip of Sanctions
• Learning Too Late of the Perils in Gas Well Leases
• After Lean Acorn Crop in Northeast, Even People May Feel the Effects

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Economy

Chris Martenson and James Turk talk about Europe and the global economy (adam)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=BsMj59hyJOQ

James Turk mentions that today, commercial banks as well as central banks are leveraged at unsustainable levels. While both agree that it makes sense to get back to less risky traditional banking and a sound money system, Martenson raises the question of how it will be possible to bring the leverage down to prudent levels again and how to get rid of the huge amount of complex derivatives. That said, Martenson argues that the gold standard has been proven to be a working monetary system with automatic leveling functions. As a result of the coming structural changes to our monetary system, both men recommend owning tangible assets. They point out, that those who act first have a great advantage.

Raise Taxes on Rich to Reward True Job Creators: Nick Hanauer (jdargis)

I’m a very rich person. As an entrepreneur and venture capitalist, I’ve started or helped get off the ground dozens of companies in industries including manufacturing, retail, medical services, the Internet and software. I founded the Internet media company aQuantive Inc., which was acquired by Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) in 2007 for $6.4 billion. I was also the first non-family investor in Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN)

Even so, I’ve never been a “job creator.” I can start a business based on a great idea, and initially hire dozens or hundreds of people. But if no one can afford to buy what I have to sell, my business will soon fail and all those jobs will evaporate.

Merkel Seeks Swift Action on What May Be Long Job to Save the Euro (jdargis)

While Mrs. Merkel called for quick changes, “if possible by the end of the year,” historically there has been nothing speedy about the remedy she proposed: fixing the “mistakes of construction” in the euro zone by altering the treaties that govern the European Union. It took years to negotiate and ratify the last major change, the Lisbon Treaty, after the failure of the previous effort to write a European constitution.

Black Friday Gun Sales Break Records (June C.)

Grigg says more than half of the calls that come into the store are for the gun department. They even had to put in extra phone lines to do background checks. Managers from both Griggs and Wholesale Sport say the presidential elections have a big effect on sales. Sales went up four years ago when Obama was elected into office and they say with the new elections around the corner, many fear the President will work on changing gun control laws during his second term in office.

How Economics Got Hijacked (pinecarr)

I advocate that the larger story here isn’t derivatives or the Financial Crisis of “2008,” but instead how economics has been secretly hijacked.

When I began researching for the book I’m writing I had a premise: “Corporatocracy” had replaced capitalism. That is true, but I realized the more important underlying fundamental was how corporatocracy came about. Corporatocracy grew out of souless corporations being given human status even though their sole purpose was creating wealth for the shareholders. Corporations themselves became uncaring individuals—many of them run by uncaring individuals.

Syrians Say They Are Feeling the Grip of Sanctions (jdargis)

“This is not the solution” to end the crisis in Syria, said the woman, pulling her fashionable black wool coat tighter against the sudden winter chill hitting this superficially calm but beleaguered capital. “This is a way to make us starve to punish the president.”

Energy

Learning Too Late of the Perils in Gas Well Leases (jdargis)

In Pennsylvania, Colorado and West Virginia, some landowners have had to spend hundreds of dollars a month to buy bottled water or maintain large tanks, known as water buffaloes, for drinking water in their front yards. They said they learned only after the fact that the leases did not require gas companies to pay for replacement drinking water if their wells were contaminated, and despite state regulations, not all costs were covered.

Environment

After Lean Acorn Crop in Northeast, Even People May Feel the Effects (jdargis)

Coming on the heels of an acorn glut, the dearth this year will probably have a cascade of effects on the forest ecosystem, culling the populations of squirrels, field mice and ground-nesting birds. And because the now-overgrown field mouse population will crash, legions of ticks — some infected with Lyme disease — will be aggressively pursuing new hosts, like humans.

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