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The Pope Can Make All of Us More Thankful Today, Says Shikha Dalmia…

…in the Washington Examiner today, by stopping his yammerings
against capitalism.

In a speech this week he went on yet another anti-capitalistic
rant, claiming that thePope “opinion” that “economic growth,
encouraged by the free market, will inevitably succeed in bringing
about greater justice and inclusiveness” has “never been confirmed
by the facts.”

This shows, notes Dalmia, that the Pope pays no attention to
Bono, which is a sign of good taste.

His judgement, however, is another matter. It seems the Pope
hasn’t put down his copy of Das Capital to actually look at the
world around him in quite a while. If he had, he’d not only notice
how it has raised living standards in countries where it has (sort
of) been tried (and these don’t include his native Argentina and
his new home, Italy). He’d also notice how these (semi)
capitalistic countries keep the Catholic Church and its charitable
mission going. She writes:

Capitalism puts more discretionary income in the pockets of
people to devote to charitable pursuits. It is hardly a coincidence
that America donates over $300 billion annually toward charitable
causes at home and abroad, the highest of any country on a per
capita basis.

The church itself is a big beneficiary of this capitalist
largesse, with its U.S. wing alone contributing 60 percent to its
overall global wealth. Some of this money comes from donations, but
a big chunk comes, actually, from directly partaking in capitalism:
The church is reportedly the largest landowner in Manhattan, the
financial center of the global capitalism system, whose income puts
undisclosed sums into its coffers.

So the new pope needs to be careful not to bite the hand that
feeds his institution and its work. Otherwise, neither he nor the
poor in whose name he is speaking will have much to be thankful
for.

Go
here for the whole thing.

Happy Thanksgiving.

from Hit & Run http://reason.com/blog/2013/11/28/the-pope-can-make-all-of-us-more-thankfu
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US Stocks & Gold Rise As Brits Pound USD On Thanksgiving

With the bulk of the US still sleeping on this day of giving thanks, it is perhaps ironic that the Brits have been pounding away at the USD driving GBPUSD to 2013 highs. S&P futures jerked higher on the European open and clung to those gains, extending yesterday's small green close to new record highs (+4.5 points). US Treasury futures sold off modestly then recovered back to unch as the USD slipped gently lower (even as JPY weakness continued). Gold and silver are up around 0.5% from yesterday's close.

 

The Brits are punding (pun intended) the USD…

 

But that won't stop US stocks from rising…

 

Treasuries round trip from earlier weakness…

 

but gold has been limping higher (with no ubiquitous smackdown yet) since the US closed…

 

Charts: Bloomberg


    



via Zero Hedge http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/zerohedge/feed/~3/rISHmV9BFzA/story01.htm Tyler Durden

US Stocks & Gold Rise As Brits Pound USD On Thanksgiving

With the bulk of the US still sleeping on this day of giving thanks, it is perhaps ironic that the Brits have been pounding away at the USD driving GBPUSD to 2013 highs. S&P futures jerked higher on the European open and clung to those gains, extending yesterday's small green close to new record highs (+4.5 points). US Treasury futures sold off modestly then recovered back to unch as the USD slipped gently lower (even as JPY weakness continued). Gold and silver are up around 0.5% from yesterday's close.

 

The Brits are punding (pun intended) the USD…

 

But that won't stop US stocks from rising…

 

Treasuries round trip from earlier weakness…

 

but gold has been limping higher (with no ubiquitous smackdown yet) since the US closed…

 

Charts: Bloomberg


    



via Zero Hedge http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/zerohedge/feed/~3/rISHmV9BFzA/story01.htm Tyler Durden

If You Were Out Shopping on Thanksgiving, You Wouldn’t Be Reading This Right Now

[OK, granted, you could be reading this on
a phone or something.]

Here’s the lede from
my latest column at Time.com, which went live just
yesterday:

If there’s one thing even more uniquely American than choking
down mouthfuls of turkey no one wants, green bean
casserole no one admits to preparing, and pumpkin pie that no one
remembers buying on Thanksgiving, it’s going shopping all the time.
For god’s sake, George W. Bush counseled a nation still
reeling from the 9/11 attacks that when the going gets
tough, the tough go shopping. “Take your families and enjoy
life the way we want it to be enjoyed,” he said. Forget
baseball—shopping is the national pastime.

Given that, I’m genuinely
amazed at the pushback against plans by Walmart, Target,
and other major retailers to open their doors on a day that
everyone has off but no one has anything to do. Being disgusted by
the willingness of stores to open for business on, what, the
10th or 20th most solemn day of the year isn’t just
incomprehensible, it’s positively anti-American.

As Calvin Coolidge put it famously to a bunch of
newspaper editors back in 1925, “The chief business of the
American people is business.” Just as you can’t have Thanksgiving
without a meal that fully no one actually enjoys (and a guest list
that always seems only slightly less arbitrary, resentful, and
ill-mannered than the manimals in The Island of Dr.
Moreau), you can’t have a functioning free-market economy
without massive amounts of shopping. Every day is “Buy Nothing Day”
in North Korea and look where that’s got them.


Please check out the whole thing.

Please note that this column in no way is a call for mandatory
shopping or opening of stores on this or any other holiday. But it
is an argument for unfettering markets even on this hallowed day
(wait, is this Gettysburg sesquicentennial?).

from Hit & Run http://reason.com/blog/2013/11/28/if-you-were-out-shopping-on-thanksgiving
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If You Were Out Shopping on Thanksgiving, You Wouldn't Be Reading This Right Now

[OK, granted, you could be reading this on
a phone or something.]

Here’s the lede from
my latest column at Time.com, which went live just
yesterday:

If there’s one thing even more uniquely American than choking
down mouthfuls of turkey no one wants, green bean
casserole no one admits to preparing, and pumpkin pie that no one
remembers buying on Thanksgiving, it’s going shopping all the time.
For god’s sake, George W. Bush counseled a nation still
reeling from the 9/11 attacks that when the going gets
tough, the tough go shopping. “Take your families and enjoy
life the way we want it to be enjoyed,” he said. Forget
baseball—shopping is the national pastime.

Given that, I’m genuinely
amazed at the pushback against plans by Walmart, Target,
and other major retailers to open their doors on a day that
everyone has off but no one has anything to do. Being disgusted by
the willingness of stores to open for business on, what, the
10th or 20th most solemn day of the year isn’t just
incomprehensible, it’s positively anti-American.

As Calvin Coolidge put it famously to a bunch of
newspaper editors back in 1925, “The chief business of the
American people is business.” Just as you can’t have Thanksgiving
without a meal that fully no one actually enjoys (and a guest list
that always seems only slightly less arbitrary, resentful, and
ill-mannered than the manimals in The Island of Dr.
Moreau), you can’t have a functioning free-market economy
without massive amounts of shopping. Every day is “Buy Nothing Day”
in North Korea and look where that’s got them.


Please check out the whole thing.

Please note that this column in no way is a call for mandatory
shopping or opening of stores on this or any other holiday. But it
is an argument for unfettering markets even on this hallowed day
(wait, is this Gettysburg sesquicentennial?).

from Hit & Run http://reason.com/blog/2013/11/28/if-you-were-out-shopping-on-thanksgiving
via IFTTT

Bill Gross: “Give Thanks To The Fed, But Not Your Wallet”

Some holiday cheer from the one person who surely has the most reasons (over a trillion) to be thankful to Ben Bernanke for.


    



via Zero Hedge http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/zerohedge/feed/~3/GhMLEOeJ8vs/story01.htm Tyler Durden

Bill Gross: "Give Thanks To The Fed, But Not Your Wallet"

Some holiday cheer from the one person who surely has the most reasons (over a trillion) to be thankful to Ben Bernanke for.


    



via Zero Hedge http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/zerohedge/feed/~3/GhMLEOeJ8vs/story01.htm Tyler Durden

"I Work At McDonalds, But I Can't Afford To Eat There"

For Shawndraka Mack, a 100% pay rise from her current $7.60 “would do just fine.” While some employees turn to blood plasma donation, and most are on food stamps (and other benefits), the mother of two teenagers (on Medicaid) told Bloomberg Businessweek, “I love what I do, but I don’t want to work for nothing.” Between the 40 hours a week she works and the benefits, Mack explains, “I work at McDonald’s and I can’t afford to eat there. It’s crazy.” Of course, McDonalds has ‘tips’ for surviving on their state-subsidized wages but once again, despite Harry Reid’s extrapolated charts, the reality of raising the minimum wage is lost on most who never stop to think of where the ‘money’ comes from; and besides employees have little to no leverage as we explained here.

 

Via Bloomberg Businessweek,

Mack, who is 40, has been working in the fast food business for 18 years. For the past six, she’s been at a McDonald’s in South Carolina, working 40 hours a week and making $7.60 an hour. “I love what I do, but I don’t want to work for nothing. I want to work for something,” she says.

 

…

 

Her fiancé is on disability, and the $600 he receives every month goes toward insurance for her 1990 Honda Accord, the phone bill, and some spending money for the kids. Her salary covers gas for her commute, electricity, and everything else the family needs. The kids are on Medicaid.

 

The family gets $345 a month in food stamps. Mack says she goes to the grocery store once a month, and whatever she buys has to last until the next trip. She brings her lunch to work every day. “I work at McDonald’s and I can’t afford to eat there. It’s crazy.”

 

…

 

A few weeks ago, Mack joined the effort to raise fast-food workers’ wages to at least $15 an hour. “That would do me just fine,” she says. “I expect to stay at McDonald’s. I just want to get paid more for what I know and what I do. I want to make sure my kids have a better life than I do.”

The harsh reality bottom line is if she wants to be able to afford McDonalds or anything else, she should motivate herself to be something more than a minimum wage food service worker.


    



via Zero Hedge http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/zerohedge/feed/~3/QJ1QUk8io_w/story01.htm Tyler Durden

“I Work At McDonalds, But I Can’t Afford To Eat There”

For Shawndraka Mack, a 100% pay rise from her current $7.60 “would do just fine.” While some employees turn to blood plasma donation, and most are on food stamps (and other benefits), the mother of two teenagers (on Medicaid) told Bloomberg Businessweek, “I love what I do, but I don’t want to work for nothing.” Between the 40 hours a week she works and the benefits, Mack explains, “I work at McDonald’s and I can’t afford to eat there. It’s crazy.” Of course, McDonalds has ‘tips’ for surviving on their state-subsidized wages but once again, despite Harry Reid’s extrapolated charts, the reality of raising the minimum wage is lost on most who never stop to think of where the ‘money’ comes from; and besides employees have little to no leverage as we explained here.

 

Via Bloomberg Businessweek,

Mack, who is 40, has been working in the fast food business for 18 years. For the past six, she’s been at a McDonald’s in South Carolina, working 40 hours a week and making $7.60 an hour. “I love what I do, but I don’t want to work for nothing. I want to work for something,” she says.

 

…

 

Her fiancé is on disability, and the $600 he receives every month goes toward insurance for her 1990 Honda Accord, the phone bill, and some spending money for the kids. Her salary covers gas for her commute, electricity, and everything else the family needs. The kids are on Medicaid.

 

The family gets $345 a month in food stamps. Mack says she goes to the grocery store once a month, and whatever she buys has to last until the next trip. She brings her lunch to work every day. “I work at McDonald’s and I can’t afford to eat there. It’s crazy.”

 

…

 

A few weeks ago, Mack joined the effort to raise fast-food workers’ wages to at least $15 an hour. “That would do me just fine,” she says. “I expect to stay at McDonald’s. I just want to get paid more for what I know and what I do. I want to make sure my kids have a better life than I do.”

The harsh reality bottom line is if she wants to be able to afford McDonalds or anything else, she should motivate herself to be something more than a minimum wage food service worker.


    



via Zero Hedge http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/zerohedge/feed/~3/QJ1QUk8io_w/story01.htm Tyler Durden

Ramez Naam on the Futility of Digital Censorship

Ramez Naam shares an excerpt from his novel,
Nexus, which takes a fictional look at governments’
desperate efforts to restrict the flow of information on the
Internet. The story dramatizes the futility of government attempts
to stop the spread of a new drug once the knowledge of how to make
it gets on the Internet. The drug in question allows human beings
to link their minds together.

View this article.

from Hit & Run http://reason.com/blog/2013/11/28/ramez-naam-on-the-futility-of-digital-ce
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