Tuesday Open Thread
Ah football….. it’s back. And this year, K.C. Keeler will not bring in a transfer QB to lead the Hens, and is going to trust his own recruiting for once. Shocking.
Now, to the riots in London. They were sparked in Tottenham, a more downtrodden and poor section of London with underlying racial tensions, when police shot a kid. But the riots now, in their fourth day, really have nothing to do with that. You get the feeling that it is just a primal rage scream against the establishment, an establishment that kicked off the Austerity Era last year with the social services and education cutting budget of Prime Minister David Cameron, all the while the nation spent millions for a Royal Wedding.
Can riots happen here? Sure, they have before in 1992 and 1968. But those riots were more racially than economically based.
And the market seems to be rebounding today, with the DOW up 213 points much of the day. The NASDAQ is also up 84 points, and the S&P 500 is up 30 points.
Yesterday, the market seemed to be trapped in a circular loop with the Asian markets PANICKING, causing the NYSE to PANIC, causing Asian markets to PANIC, and so on….
FYI, the London riots were not sparked by the police shooting of a kid. The man that was killed was a 29 year old father of 4 named Mark Duggan. And I’m not sure that the riots in England aren’t racial, rather than economic.
DD, your comment begs the question…. should we really be rooting our financial system in a place where irrational people who never seem to know what is going to happen 5 minutes into the future can bring down the world economy because panicked mob mentality sets in?
The obvious answer is Hell No. But that is the world in which we live.
Actually, the Royal Family footed much of the bill for William’s & Kate’s wedding. They even pay taxes now, too.
Now don’t go defend the Queen, MJ. (P.S., yeah, you’re probably right about them footing the bill, but my point remains).
DD – I have to defend them. My partner is related to them and I want to keep peace at home (and the chance for that nice estate in Scotland). 🙂
Related how? Like how President Obama is related to Queen Elizabeth, i.e. like being tenth counsins; or like how I am related to my first cousins?
MJ wrote,“Actually, the Royal Family footed much of the bill for William’s & Kate’s wedding”
You mean they paid it from the salaries they earn as state-sponosored parasites?
4th cousin I believe. He’s also a direct descendant of Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine and the original kings of Scotland.
A1 – The Royal Family actually has personal wealth not attributed to what they get each year from Parliament. And even that list has been trimmed back a lot in recent years.
We have not yet reached the tipping point where mass protests and/or violence are a true possibility in the US.
That said, the democratization of media recording and distribution technology (video cameras, cell phone camera, Youtube, etc.) has pushed the American public toward a much clearer understanding of the police violence and terrorism that has traditionally been hidden from view. Not that there is more of it today (probably there is less), but more of it is being revealed to a larger audience. And sunshine is always the best disinfectant.
When will US citizens begin to protest or riot? Just as soon as their cable TV stops working, their internet is cut off (or sufficiently filtered), or the cost of food/gas/utilities forces some actual and tangible lifestyle changes.
When Wal-Mart is empty, it will be time for our leaders to panic.
The lies leading to the deliberate exposure of 10’s of thousands of Japanese families to poisonous levels of radiation:
The Horrible Leaders of the World
You mean the money that they earned by squeezing blood from peasants? I guess it is okay, then.
Give it up, A1.
Wisconsin recall elections? Hopefully there will be some analysis after the results are in.
The riots in England are about a bunch of deadbeats looking for free televisions and a playstation3.
If the opening day of the Prem is postponed I’m going to be pissed.