From today’s Herald-Leader, the global economy gets local.
Lexington-based Fasig-Tipton Co., North America's oldest thoroughbred auction company, announced Thursday it had reached an agreement to be acquired by Synergy Investments Ltd., a Dubai-based company headed by Abdulla Al Habbai, a close associate of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum.
I can already hear the panic; the whole horse industry is going to die. Life as we know it in the Bluegrass is coming to an end.
Here are my questions:
How many people does this really touch?
How many people deal with Fasig-Tipton or Synergy Investments or Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum?
What does this mean to the horse industry?
What does this mean in a wider sense of global economic issues?
How many of you have ever been on a horse farm?
Keep the panic down, it’s just the rich playing with their money and below is a little homework if you care to do some reading.
From DollarsandSense.org - The ABCs of the Global Economy
In the 1960s, U.S. corporations changed the way they went after profits in the international economy. Instead of producing goods in the U.S. to export, they moved more and more toward producing goods overseas to sell to consumers in those countries and at home. They had done some of this in the 1950s, but really sped up the process in the '60s.
Before the mid-1960s, free trade probably helped workers and consumers in the United States while disadvantaging workers in poorer countries. Exporters invested their profits at home in the United States, creating new jobs and boosting incomes. The AFL-CIO thought this was a good deal and backed free trade.
From the Federal Reserve Bank of New York - Financial Globalization and the U.S. Current Account Deficit
Despite heavy borrowing in recent years, the United States has financed its large current account deficits without experiencing an unusual buildup in foreign investors’ holdings of U.S. assets. A new analysis suggests that this somewhat surprising development is attributable largely to rapid financial globalization, with cross-border flows worldwide rising as fast as flows into the United States. However, it could be harder for the country to sustain large deficits on favorable terms if the current wave of globalization subsided or the rate at which U.S. investors buy foreign assets increased.
And a little bit about Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum and oil profits.
Friday, April 11, 2008
Who Gets Hurt
The sub-head of an Editorial from the Herald-Leader has me wondering if the editor actually looked at the editorial before writing the headline on Lexington’s proposed budget.
Ensure fees, taxes add up to good policy
The opinion piece included the following paragraphs.
Cuts include zeroing out the city contribution to the Day Treatment Center for at-risk teenagers. That comes after eliminating the Mayor's Training Center in the current year. In both cases, the mayor made the argument that those services could be provided elsewhere. The Day Treatment Center, the administration says, is better operated by the Fayette County Public Schools, but there's no agreement on that yet.
The proposed budget also zeroes out city contributions to legal aid, which defends poor people faced with criminal charges. That was planned after an agreement last year that Lexington's office would be folded into the state public defender system. But serious cuts at the state level are threatening the level of service in Lexington.
The cuts also include reductions in building inspection and code enforcement. Any guesses who suffers most when code enforcement can't do its job?
This is good policy?
This mayor appears to be taking care of his constituents. Any guesses who they aren’t?
Ensure fees, taxes add up to good policy
The opinion piece included the following paragraphs.
Cuts include zeroing out the city contribution to the Day Treatment Center for at-risk teenagers. That comes after eliminating the Mayor's Training Center in the current year. In both cases, the mayor made the argument that those services could be provided elsewhere. The Day Treatment Center, the administration says, is better operated by the Fayette County Public Schools, but there's no agreement on that yet.
The proposed budget also zeroes out city contributions to legal aid, which defends poor people faced with criminal charges. That was planned after an agreement last year that Lexington's office would be folded into the state public defender system. But serious cuts at the state level are threatening the level of service in Lexington.
The cuts also include reductions in building inspection and code enforcement. Any guesses who suffers most when code enforcement can't do its job?
This is good policy?
This mayor appears to be taking care of his constituents. Any guesses who they aren’t?
Revenge Not Justice
Chilling reading first thing in the morning, take a look at the Herald-Leader story on the death penalty.
The story deals with a step-by-step look at how Kentucky lethally injects Death Row inmates is now public after the U.S. Supreme Court ordered the partial release of the state's execution protocols.
If you are a “the bastard’s need to die” type, don’t read the rest of this post, you won’t like it.
I’m against the state killing people, here’s why:
One, judges and juries make mistakes. The system, even with all the appeals is not perfect. Innocent people are sometimes convicted and once you kill someone you can’t get do over.
Two, the act of murder by government is simply revenge. There is never closure for the families and loved ones by the act of killing someone. I came to this opinion after a long talk with a person that had witnessed multiple executions as part of their job. The act is just revenge not justice.
Three, the argument that it is cheaper to kill someone than keep them in prison is false.
The death penalty is much more expensive than its closest alternative--life imprisonment with no parole. Capital trials are longer and more expensive at every step than other murder trials. Pre-trial motions, expert witness investigations, jury selection, and the necessity for two trials--one on guilt and one on sentencing--make capital cases extremely costly, even before the appeals process begins. Guilty pleas are almost unheard of when the punishment is death. In addition, many of these trials result in a life sentence rather than the death penalty, so the state pays the cost of life imprisonment on top of the expensive trial.
The high price of the death penalty is often most keenly felt in those counties responsible for both the prosecution and defense of capital defendants. A single trial can mean near bankruptcy, tax increases, and the laying off of vital personnel. Trials costing a small county $100,000 from unbudgeted funds are common and some officials have even gone to jail in resisting payment…..
For the states which employ the death penalty, this luxury comes at a high price. In Texas, a death penalty case costs taxpayers an average of $2.3 million, about three times the cost of imprisoning someone in a single cell at the highest security level for 40 years. [3] In Florida, each execution is costing the state $3.2 million. [4] In financially strapped California, one report estimated that the state could save $90 million each year by abolishing capital punishment. [5] The New York Department of Correctional Services estimated that implementing the death penalty would cost the state about $118 million annually.[6]
The story deals with a step-by-step look at how Kentucky lethally injects Death Row inmates is now public after the U.S. Supreme Court ordered the partial release of the state's execution protocols.
If you are a “the bastard’s need to die” type, don’t read the rest of this post, you won’t like it.
I’m against the state killing people, here’s why:
One, judges and juries make mistakes. The system, even with all the appeals is not perfect. Innocent people are sometimes convicted and once you kill someone you can’t get do over.
Two, the act of murder by government is simply revenge. There is never closure for the families and loved ones by the act of killing someone. I came to this opinion after a long talk with a person that had witnessed multiple executions as part of their job. The act is just revenge not justice.
Three, the argument that it is cheaper to kill someone than keep them in prison is false.
The death penalty is much more expensive than its closest alternative--life imprisonment with no parole. Capital trials are longer and more expensive at every step than other murder trials. Pre-trial motions, expert witness investigations, jury selection, and the necessity for two trials--one on guilt and one on sentencing--make capital cases extremely costly, even before the appeals process begins. Guilty pleas are almost unheard of when the punishment is death. In addition, many of these trials result in a life sentence rather than the death penalty, so the state pays the cost of life imprisonment on top of the expensive trial.
The high price of the death penalty is often most keenly felt in those counties responsible for both the prosecution and defense of capital defendants. A single trial can mean near bankruptcy, tax increases, and the laying off of vital personnel. Trials costing a small county $100,000 from unbudgeted funds are common and some officials have even gone to jail in resisting payment…..
For the states which employ the death penalty, this luxury comes at a high price. In Texas, a death penalty case costs taxpayers an average of $2.3 million, about three times the cost of imprisoning someone in a single cell at the highest security level for 40 years. [3] In Florida, each execution is costing the state $3.2 million. [4] In financially strapped California, one report estimated that the state could save $90 million each year by abolishing capital punishment. [5] The New York Department of Correctional Services estimated that implementing the death penalty would cost the state about $118 million annually.[6]
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