Russian Political-Economic Protest

The political adage, "It's the Economy, Stupid," may also be true in Russia. Did this protest take the government by surprise? Did the government decide to allow it for some reason? Or does this help provide an explanation for coming policy changes?

The BBC reports on this Vladivostok uprising late last month. Hit the headlines to link you to the stories. The BBC has film of the protest.

Thousands protest in Russian east

"Several thousand people have held a rally in Russia's Far East, demanding the government resign over the country's growing economic problems.

"The protesters in Vladivostok blamed Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's cabinet for mismanaging the economy and suppressing political dissent.

"The rally - which passed off peacefully - was the first in a series of protests expected in Russia on Saturday...

"Such protests were unthinkable just a few months ago as the economy boomed with record high oil prices and as the Kremlin tightened its grip over almost all aspects of society, the BBC's Richard Galpin in Moscow says...

"The anti-government demonstration in Vladivostok was called by the Communist Party...

"In a separate demonstration in Vladivostock, thousands of supporters of the ruling United Russia held a rally in support of the government."

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Russian stability threatened by anger over economy

"The financial crisis is threatening to destabilise Russia amid unprecedented calls for the resignation of Vladimir Putin and his government...

"According to opinion polls, Mr Putin remains popular, enjoying an approval rating of 83 per cent. Even now, with the economy under strain, there is no sign of a challenger, who could usurp his place in the heart of most Russians...

"Seeking to show his affection among the people remained undimmed, Mr Putin's ruling party is forcing factory workers in to holding public rallies of loyalty this week that will proclaim the prime minister's wisdom and munificence..."

EU ecomonic debate

While we have focused on the Euro debate through a British economic lens, the New York Times article on the problems of the euro offers a good chance to look at another aspect of the EU to discuss, debate, and analyze.

Once a Boon, Euro Now Burdens Some Nations

"The adoption of the euro just a decade ago was meant to pull Europe together economically and politically, ending the sometimes furious battles over who could devalue their currency the fastest and beggar their neighbor.

"For the Continent, the currency signaled the potential to one day rival the United States. For its poorer countries, winning admission to the euro zone was a point of pride, showing that they had tamed their budget deficits and set their financial houses in order.

"Now, in the middle of the worst economic downturn since the euro’s birth, a new view is emerging — especially as the creditworthiness of Greece, Spain and Portugal, one after the other, has been downgraded. The view is that the balm of euro membership allowed these countries to gloss over serious economic problems that have now roared to the fore...

"While sharing a currency with some of the mightiest economies in the world helped Europe’s poorer nations share in the wealth, a boon during boom times, in hard times the rules of membership are keeping them from doing what countries normally do to ride out economic storms, including enormous spending.

"So Germany, France and the Scandinavian countries are mounting billion-dollar stimulus plans and erecting fences to protect their banks. But the peripheral economies are being left to twist in the market winds.

"With the need for stimulus to deal with the severe downturn, these countries find themselves caught in an awful policy bind: credit is available, but only at punitive rates; and further borrowing not only breaks with European Commission dictates but raises broader questions about their solvency.

"Bond and currency speculators have demonstrated that they intend to punish countries with dubious economic prospects, just as they have punished banks...

"Few experts expect Greece or the other Mediterranean countries to run out of money or leave the euro. But the widening gap between the interest rate that Greece and larger economies like Germany have to pay to borrow reveals the first cracks in what so far has been a fairly solid fortress Europe..."

The Pint: A battle EU importers couldn't win

A blurb from last year, re-run to teach about the European Union and its struggles when its bureaucratic rules, backed up by legislation from the European Parliament, challenge national sovereignty, sparks fly. What's a sovereign nation to do?

In this, the latest example involving the EU and its members, the EU bureaucrats, using their wide range of discretion, seem to have backed down. The defenders of pints, miles, and pounds (as weight, not money) are not entirely satisfied. By the way, those of us not in the UK (or the Republic o Ireland) might not understand that the pint is the most important of these traditional measures.

EU gives up on 'metric Britain'

The European Union is set to confirm it has abandoned what became one of its most unpopular policies among many British people."

It is proposing to allow the UK to continue using pounds, miles and pints as units of measurement indefinitely..."Under the plans which have now been scrapped, even displaying the price of fruit and vegetables in pounds and ounces would have become grounds for a criminal prosecution."The decision to back down was made by Industry Commissioner Guenter Verheugen... 'I want to bring to an end a bitter, bitter battle that has lasted for decades and which in my view is completely pointless. We're bringing this battle to an end.'..."John Gardner, director of the pro-imperial British Weights and Measures Association, said: 'If a trader tries to conduct his business in just imperial measurements that will be illegal.'"

The UK Metric Association said the statement does not mean that traders can go back to weighing and pricing in imperial measures, and it will be 'business as usual'..."

Ken Wedding on his blog, Teaching Comparative Govenment and Politics, http://compgovpol.blogspot.com goes back on some Minnesota history when metric rationalists seemed to have been gained the upper hand and even in the US people saw km/hr speed limit signs, learned that a dime (part of a metric system) weighed about a gram, and that a meter was about a yard long.

In 1977, the NCAA sanctioned a Division III metric football game between Carleton and St. Olaf Colleges here in Northfield, Minnesota. But the enthusiasm for imposing metric (even in Europe)uniformity may be waning.

Yet another victim on nationalistic pride. The Brits and Irish will raise a pint to that.

National Snow Day

Remember our analysis of federalism in time of crisis? Well, what of a unitary government stopped cold -- by four inches of snow.

The CBC (part of the British commonwealth) coverage pokes fun here of the worst snowstorm in 18 years in that shut London down on Monday.

"There are no buses running in the entire city, while 10 out of the 11 Underground lines are shut down.

"London Mayor Boris Johnson said the buses were pulled from service because the vehicles would become a "lethal weapon" if they skidded.

The city's ambulance services have said they will only respond in life-threatening cases."

The Cold War is over, but reading this report, Vladimir Putin would probably claim victory over the blocked-in Brits.

"We're not in Russia here," said Guy Pitt, a Transport for London spokesman. "We don't have an infrastructure built for constant snow."

Mayor Johnson said many of the city's authorities simply didn't have enough snow plows to deal with the downfall. In the borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, the local authority said it had no plows and only two machines to salt roads.

Johnson, who commutes by bicycle, said even he'd suffered a wobble on the glassy stretches of roads around the capital.

Lawmakers who sit on London's assembly said they have called transport officials to a meeting at the capital's City Hall next week to explain whether more could have been done to prevent disruption.

David Frost, director general of the British Chambers of Commerce, said few people raised in the freezing British winters of the 1960s and 1970s could understand the failure to prepare, despite days of warning that heavy snow was likely.

"It was hardly a surprise when we pulled back the curtains yesterday morning," Frost told The Associated Press. "But, I think that there is a complacency because we're told that we'll have steadily rising temperatures as a result of climate change."

"Those in authority need to be more open to the fact that we'll still get heavy snow falls, too," he said.

Many Londoners noted that bus services had continued through World War II and paused only for about an hour during the city's 2005 terrorist attack, when four suicide bombers killed 52 commuters on the transit network.

The news of a day off wasn't being greeted entirely with gloom, she said, as children who would otherwise be in school flocked to the parks to play in the snow.

"They haven't really had that opportunity," Duarte said. "In general, there's quite a good feeling."

(From the CBC & AP)

Money Ball

Looking out at a world economic collapse, we have questions.

Question: What is the difference between fiscal and monetary policy?

Answer: Fiscal = budgetary choices of taxing and spending

Monetary = federal reserve decisions on interest rates and monetary supply.

The massive stimulus bill backed by President Barack Obama and congressional Democrats is fiscal policy. The Senate version of the bill, which topped out at nearly $900 billion, is headed to the floor for debate. The House bill totaled about $819 billion and earned no Republican votes, even though it easily passed the Democratic-controlled House. At some point lawmakers will need to compromise on the competing versions.

New monetary policy may also eventually be included if the government buys up the "toxic assets" that have clogged bank balance sheets, locking up the institutions' money and preventing them from issuing new loans.

www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gFAnWqnVfr3sy_ENl-7xIPRZ0s6gD963NB4G0

Question: What do the Stimulus Plans look like World Wide?

Answer: This is a great interactive site that allows you to click on a nation and see what they have to done so far to try and save their economy.

Question: Will this plan, which got through the House with zero Republican votes pass? Obama wants it signed by President's Day.

Answer: Unsure. GOP Senate leaders vowed to defeat (filibuster) the bill if it's not stripped of unnecessary spending and focused more on housing issues and tax cut. Obama said he is confident the final version of the bill will have wide, even bi-partisan support.

www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gdDrWnoMueqVFI-Uo1ClxVZur22AD96363080

The CBS 2 School Guys have their take, projecting that the President with his Championship Bully Pulpit, will be able to Quarterback, as Chief Legislator, to victory.

VIDEO: Super Monday

Question: While our government is getting more transparent, by placing the proposed legislation on-line, the House American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 is 647-pages! Could anyone read all of it? That includes members of the House of Represenatives.

Answer: Probably, and hopefully. Seriously!? Surely not all the members got through all of this stuff, nor could we:

The Plain English Campaign would have a field day with such gobbledygook language. The Plain English Campaign has been fighting for crystal-clear communication since 1979. Be suspicious, they say, of those who cannot speak and act cogently.

Here is an example of a recently posted airline policy that earned a Golden Bull award from the Plain English Campaign:

“To the extent that any provision contained or referred to herein is contrary to anything contained in the Convention where applicable and in any applicable laws, government regulations, orders or requirements that cannot be waived by agreement of the parties, such provision shall not apply. The invalidity of any provision shall not affect the validity of any other provision.”

Now compare it to a paragraph found inside H.R. 1, the bill whose purpose is to restore our confidence in government:

“Of the amount appropriated to carry out this section, and not reserved under paragraph (1), each State shall be allocated an amount in proportion to the amount received by all local educational agencies in the State under part A of title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 for fiscal year 2008 relative to the total amount received by all local educational agencies in every State under such part for such fiscal year.”

Question: Is there any other way? I thought Obama was bringing change. The revealing Official Title of the House Bill actually reads as follows:

“Making supplemental appropriations for job preservation and creation, infrastructure investment, energy efficiency and science, assistance to the unemployed, and State and local fiscal stabilization, for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2009, and for other purposes.”

Larry Summers, one of Obama’s star economic players, called for a stimulus package that was timely, targeted and temporary. The title reveals a lot more. It reads like a Democratic Party wish list. The title is scattered, sluggish and settled.

Answer: Maybe. But not easily. Though it seems like this idea is simple and to the point:

A proposed requirement that any bill be read in its entirety on the House floor before representatives are asked to vote on it. A group DownsizeDC.org that claims close to 25,000 members is calling for the "Read the Bills Act." "Most Congressmen are lawyers, and many others are businessmen. They know what “fiduciary responsibility” is. For Members of Congress, fiduciary responsibility means reading each word of every bill before they vote."

Question: Will this work? What do (or would) Keynes, Friedman, and You, say?

Answer: Read these blurbs and be prepared to defend your economic positions:

John Maynard Keynes. Regardless of what other economists say, Keynes' brand of interventionist fiscal and monetary policy have trumped times like these since the Great Depression. The influential writings of Keynes, the British liberal who died back in 1946, still hold court in both Democrat and Republican circles in America and have been foundation of the British Welfare State. Central to his economic theory was the importance of deficit spending. The government is to play an important role in "priming the pump" of the national economy. Laissez - faire is out, active intervention is in. This is now economic dogma here in America. Not quite that far out in the UK.

Milton Friedman. Friedman’s view was that inflation, at the time a serious problem in many countries, was caused by governments pumping too much money into the economy.

At the same time Friedman was convinced that private individuals and companies should be given as much freedom as possible to carry out economic activities. Friedman became the most outspoken economist of his time, promoting small governments, low taxes, free markets and privatisation.

He attacked even the dominant theory of the time, developed by the British liberal thinker John Maynard Keynes among others, who espoused capitalism with a softer, more human face.Friedman promoted capitalism in its basic and less human forms, centring on a fundamental belief in the working of markets and privatisation: market fundamentalism.

In 1976 Friedman was awarded the Nobel Prize for Economics, which gave him the status to impress not only generals like Pinochet, but others including British prime minister Margaret Thatcher (1979-90) and US president Ronald Reagan (1981-89).

One-Minute Timeout: We Are the Champions

I found the above video on the Warrior's Back-to-Back State Champion Women's Soccer Team Website. Last summer U.S. Rep. Judy Biggert gives her one-minute shout out to the Tribe. While we make fun of these "One-minute resolutions" legislatures use them to make constituents feel happy and proud. I did when I saw it.

www.c-spanarchives.org/congress/?q=node/77531&id=8586164

And even more Warrior Pride was seen when I read and watched about the 30 Warrior athletes that helped put on the first Family Fitness Night at Fry Elementary School. Politics were involved in the debate over where Fry graduates would eventually go to high school. But this is an example of governing by the people. These Warriors jumped right on President Obama's call to national service. I couldn't be more proud to be a Warrior!

http://web.mac.com/bergstromjulie13/WVSOCCER/FRY.html

"Gotta Run, Rod"

We posted in December (12/9) the question of whether Illinois was the most corrupt state in the union. After yesterday's historic day, where the Land of Lincoln officially ran Rod Blagojevich out of the Captiol office he seemingly was never at, it's time to compare the former Gov's situation -- not to Ghandi or Mandella -- but to Nigeria.

A Nigerian living in the US maintains a blog he calls, Grandiose Parlor.

In a recent post, the blogger does some comparative politics by examining the cases of Illinois governor Rod Blagojevic and some Nigerian governors charged with similar levels of corruption.

The comparison is not favorable to the Nigerian governors or the Nigerian regime.

Musing on Illinois governor Blagojevic and his Nigerian counterparts

"A comparison between Blagojevic and Nigerian governors: while the two are corrupt — well, maybe not in equal measures, the political system in the state of Illinois is able to self-correct, promptly...

"[T]he Nigerian Guardian newspaper captures the Rod Blagojevic matter...

"'First, Mr Blagojevic and his admirers did not plead an immunity... Secondly, Mr Blagojevic was not blindly supported by his own political party... Third, the law enforcement agencies were not corralled out of intrepid investigation...

"'In contrast, Nigeria is unfortunately in the abyss of institutional and leadership collapse. The typical Nigerian state governor today, more or less Mr Blagojevic’s counterpart, is virtually unavailable to account to any institution or person...'"

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Next, CBS 2 School has this comparison of Illinois politics to the Wizard of Oz. You US History scholars might remember the Oz allegory comparison to the Populist movement.

Before he became Governor of Illinois, Pat Quinn stated that Illinois politics was beginning to resemble the Wizard of Oz. With the departure of Wicked from Chicago and Rod Blagojevich from the governor’s office, there seems no better time to delve into the similarities between Illinois and Oz.

Wicked Vich of the West
We’ll start off with the easiest comparison of Blagojevich and the Wicked Witch of the West. The Illinois Senate has now melted Blago with 59 cups of water in his conviction and ouster from the governor’s office.

While he’s known for his poetry, Blago’s last ditch public appeals bore more resemblance to Gregory Maguire’s Wicked in which we learn about the complexities of the evil witch. In Wicked, Elphaba must battle rival witches, a culture of corruption and constantly being misunderstood. Add some FBI wiretaps, and you’ve got a musical starring Blago.

Dorothy
We haven’t seen him wear any ruby red shoes lately, but new Governor Pat Quinn still makes a wonderful Dorothy.

For three decades, Quinn has been a political outsider championing the causes of reform and the marginalized. He now enters the world of insiders where all of the characters have a little more color.

His yellow brick road will take him to Springfield, but watch out. Flying monkeys, tax hikes and plenty of other obstacles will be lurking and attempting to side track his bid to win in 2010.

Cowardly Lion
Like the Cowardly Lion, the General Assembly finally gathered enough courage for confrontation at the end. But even Blago was confused by this newfound bravado.

Several of the impeachment articles related to actions Blago took in his first term when plenty of Democrats in the General Assembly supported these efforts and then supported his re-election. They then managed to find the courage to impeach him for these and other offenses.

Toto
We’ve managed to impeach a governor with hardly a mention about Illinois Republicans, and that’s where Toto comes in.

As the minority party, Illinois Republicans are expected to play the role of watchdog. But with their own recent ethics scandals and political woes, the Illinois GOP seems to have as much bite as cute little Toto.

Scarecrow
That’s where you come in.

You, the voters of Illinois, have managed to elect three recent governors who have ended up in prison. You also re-elected this most recent governor despite full knowledge that he was the subject of serious FBI investigations.

You have a terrible of track record of voting with no brain, and until you get some smarts we’re probably destined for more of the same.

Others?
We’ve left plenty of roles uncast. Feel free to comment on who you think would be the best fit to play the Munchkins, the monkeys and of course the Wizard.
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Check out the Chicago Sun-Times site, "Blagobusted.com" for full coverage of the removal by impeachment of Blagojevich. By the way the tollway signs with Blago's name prominently plastered above the open road tolling lanes started coming down on Day One of the Pat Quinn administration. They cost about a half-a-million to put up and will cost about that much to remove or cover.

www.suntimes.com/news/metro/blagojevich/index.html

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The Transparency International CPI measures the perceived levels of public-sector corruption in a given country and is a composite index, drawing on different expert and business surveys. The 2008 CPI scores 180 countries (the same number as the 2007 CPI) on a scale from zero (highly corrupt) to ten (highly clean).



Here's where are comparative countries rank (the higher the number the less corrupt
between 10 highly clean and 0 highly corrupt) :

16. UK -- 7.7

18. USA -- 7.3

72. Mexico -- 3.6

72. China -- 3.6

121. Nigeria -- 2.7

141. Iran -- 2.3

147. Russia -- 2.1



The full index can be found here:


click to see the CPI table and Sources