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Pesmerga posted:http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jun/09/french-public-debt-audit-illegitimate-working-class-internationalim I get really quite mad when anyone with economic training even attempts to argue that sovereign debt matters in any way, shape or form beyond existing as a means to justify neoliberalism. Oh no I can't pay my debt this month, guess we'd all better crash the entire world economy or we could write more imaginary pretend numbers that will never exist. Froodulous posted:Ooh, please do a megapost on the global money market. People don't need sleep all that much anyway. imagine playing chinese whispers, but with billions of livelihoods at stake, so you have to keep going forever in case somethings changed.
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Jun 10, 2014 09:25
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Looks like some travellers (think this is the right term) have moved in on the field behind our work and I realised I don't know how I feel about it. There's a lot of people using words like 'gypos' and 'scum' and it's sort of rubbing me the wrong way.
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Jun 10, 2014 09:44
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the modern world does have real-life experience with sovereign debt default, y'know
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Jun 10, 2014 10:01
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LemonDrizzle posted:The objections in that article are dumb as hell. It's true that France's budgetary problems are due to undertaxation, but the tax cuts that created the problem were implemented by democratically elected governments and supported by the electorate. It's absurd to compare debts arising in this way to those incurred by dictatorships or totalitarian regimes. Likewise, the point about interest rates is daft - assuming he's referring to the yields on government debt, they're set by what investors are willing to accept, not by the governments themselves. It's a Guardian Comment is Free article. Take your mean old facts somewhere else.
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Jun 10, 2014 10:06
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ronya posted:the modern world does have real-life experience with sovereign debt default, y'know The only one even remotely relevant to modern political structures is Russia. Nobody gave a poo poo when the Peso died and went to hell and Argentina's recovery growth pretty much backs the argument. If you print your own money, it's essentially impossible to have debts called on you. The idea of anyone attempting to call in euro-based debts on Germany is laughable; they'd torpedo the world economy, get nothing on the debt, and it'd be an extremely obvious act of aggression. What happens when America don't pay their bills to other states? nobody is going to call them because everyone uses dollars. So I should have clarified my statements. Sovereign debt in a strong and commonly used currency you can print don't have meaning; the ramifications of forcing the issue are very severe to the creditor. Greece couldn't print the euro, and thus got ruined.
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Jun 10, 2014 10:23
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I am taking it that the allusion to borrowing "from households or [domestic] banks" was a distorted allusion to an idealization of how financial allocation used to be carried out at the height of the Thirty Glorious Years and dirigisme. It is certainly true that capital was highly allocated by fiat in France and domestic interest rates were generally depressed, up until the end of Bretton Woods and actually a little way beyond that (mid-1970s). However, that's not how we usually characterized it in the past. Instead we said that "I believe that households should be offered dramatically lower interest rates than foreign bankers, I believe that states should eventually default on their debts to households regardless, I believe that households should be baited into believing that their "war bonds" are their patriotic duty to the state even whilst we warn institutional investors to watch out for rates of return and default risk on the bonds targeted at the sheep" are highly reactionary ways to fund the activities of the state. Which, needless to say, are not in the interest of the radical left.
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Jun 10, 2014 10:27
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With regards to the trojan horse bollocks its worth reading the ofsted summaries available here http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-27765372 Also note that of the 5 new schools put into special measures (the other one listed was already in special measures primarily due to teaching concerns) 4 are academies, of which 3 are from the same park view chain. Of particular interest are "Saltley School and Specialist Science College" and "Oldknow Academy" whose ofsted gradings went from outstanding to inadequate and good to inadequate respectively. Its from these two that all the press headlines are drawn. Admittedly the findings are pretty damning.
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Jun 10, 2014 10:30
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Are there any valid arguments against random and unannounced Ofsted inspections? I used to work at a primary school and whenever they came in we'd end up with teachers dumping stuff in their car boots so the inspectors didn't see it. (not sure what they dumped).
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Jun 10, 2014 10:35
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Spangly A posted:The only one even remotely relevant to modern political structures is Russia. Nobody gave a poo poo when the Peso died and went to hell and Argentina's recovery growth pretty much backs the argument. You can deliberately borrow in foreign currency (to access its lower interest rate, say), which many smaller countries certainly do, and in that case you are screwed regardless. The Latin American debt crises featured quite a bit of this. The Southeast Asian crisis a decade later featured quite a bit of this too, albeit by state-backed companies borrowing in dollars rather than the state itself. You may be obliged to borrow generously in dollars if you are dependent on it to import oil. You are alluding to an elaborate theoretical framework that is partly a sub-school of post-Keynesianism for its economics and partly a school of Graeberian theories of debt for its political economy. I have disagreements with both - I can accept Lernerian functional finance but modern monetary theory is, in my assessment, quite wrong - but I am not actually sure how committed you are to the framework. So eh. It should be held in mind that the British CPI has been comfortably above 2% for much of the past four years.
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Jun 10, 2014 10:36
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Fwiw I found the article pretty nonsensical, I just have a serious issue with the overblown bullshit about the impact of debt in politics. Deficit will kill you. Debts are largely fine. I'm pretty sure this is only happening because people can't lynch Obama and are just throwing stuff to see what sticks, mind. e; ronya posted:o import oil. Haha, and I'll freely admit I suspected you had very little knowledge! A rejection of post-Keynesianism is still alien to me, but as far as commitment I'm committed only to thoughts of the likes of Unger. What they might call a constant reimagining of the arrangements of exchange I'd more readily identify as true utilitarianism; Find what works, do it until you've got a good grasp as to why, and use this knowledge to repair everything when it starts to break. Repeat for infinity, provide for the populace. Spangly A fucked around with this message at 10:43 on Jun 10, 2014 |
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Jun 10, 2014 10:38
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Spangly A posted:Fwiw I found the article pretty nonsensical, I just have a serious issue with the overblown bullshit about the impact of debt in politics. Deficit will kill you. Debts are largely fine. oh this is much more mainstream and yes, the American situation is insensible. Nonetheless it is quite different from the UK fiscal situation, as inflation in the UK is slightly above-target. e: Spangly A posted:Haha, and I'll freely admit I suspected you had very little knowledge! A rejection of post-Keynesianism is still alien to me, but as far as commitment I'm committed only to thoughts of the likes of Unger. What they might call a constant reimagining of the arrangements of exchange I'd more readily identify as true utilitarianism; Find what works, do it until you've got a good grasp as to why, and use this knowledge to repair everything when it starts to break. Repeat for infinity, provide for the populace. not all post-Keynesians are chartalists, and not all chartalists are post-Keynesians. Some of the beliefs of hardcore post-Keynesians (e.g., satisficing non-profit-maximization, or for that matter non-gross-substitution) do clash with core beliefs of chartalists, who very much need a fluid capital market with efficient arbitrage for their core beliefs (or at least some other way of introducing a capital which is homogenous enough for the framework). But quite aside from all that - if you are committed to Unger than we are committed ideological enemies anyway, I think, because I am committed to the idea that Whip Inflation Now buttons do not work. ronya fucked around with this message at 10:56 on Jun 10, 2014 |
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Jun 10, 2014 10:45
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thehustler posted:Are there any valid arguments against random and unannounced Ofsted inspections? I used to work at a primary school and whenever they came in we'd end up with teachers dumping stuff in their car boots so the inspectors didn't see it. (not sure what they dumped). 
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Jun 10, 2014 11:01
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ronya posted:
His reforms and work being undone, Brazil promptly starts rioting. Unger 1 Lula 0. Whip it real good.
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Jun 10, 2014 11:31
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Lavender menace posted:With regards to the trojan horse bollocks its worth reading the ofsted summaries available here http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-27765372 Don't draw much inference from the fact the grading of the inspections went from outstanding to inadequate, in fact the only thing that should be inferred is showing how poo poo the current inspection regime is and how open to abuse and rigging it is. At least the right steps are being taken, for example getting rid of all the contracted in inspectors and all inspectors from next year will all be Ofsted employees. Also making all inspections be unannounced would solve the issue of normally poo poo teachers who can for the day of inspections create a days worth of quality lessons; lessons many of them have planned months in advance for when an Ofsted inspection happens. Gove has already shot down the idea of unannounced inspections once before, as he knows it will show the true terrible state of a lot of Schools and Colleges, but with this amount of pressure on him he hopefully wont be able to stop them.
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Jun 10, 2014 13:12
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Spangly A posted:His reforms and work being undone, Brazil promptly starts rioting. Unger 1 Lula 0. Whip it real good. exactly for you, this constitutes a good argument for WIN buttons -- of the effectiveness of national-will campaigns on inflation for me, this does not our philosophies of politics are so different that if we ever agree, it is by accident ronya fucked around with this message at 13:44 on Jun 10, 2014 |
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Jun 10, 2014 13:41
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Mr N posted:Looks like some travellers (think this is the right term) have moved in on the field behind our work and I realised I don't know how I feel about it. There's a lot of people using words like 'gypos' and 'scum' and it's sort of rubbing me the wrong way. Here's a hint, the people using those words are dickheads. What difference does it make to them or you if the travellers/roma/sinti etc. are parked up by your work?
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Jun 10, 2014 14:52
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I come from a traveller family and the word 'traveller' itself is used very rarely. Gypsy is pretty much how everyone refers to themselves. When most talk about 'travellers' it's usually in reference to the Irish travellers that have married into the family somewhere along the line. This probably doesn't apply to everyone as traveller culture is very disjointed and regionally specific, even within families.
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Jun 10, 2014 15:02
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Spuckuk posted:Here's a hint, the people using those words are dickheads. I think people think it leads to criminality, and so they get uppety about it.
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Jun 10, 2014 15:17
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baka kaba posted:And they worked! I don't know, is there any evidence as to how much impact any of these adverts had? My feeling is that for most people who voted against AV it was a mix of 'the old ways are best, change is bad' and 'gently caress Nick Clegg'. But I could be wrong.
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Jun 10, 2014 15:23
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Update after the presentation and viva: I loving smashed it. Apparently my presentation was fantastic - about half the people present came up to me afterwards asking me in depth questions about it which I thought was pretty amazing since I got through a lot of material in eight minutes. Then in the viva I got a pretty easy ride with my supervisor & second reader only asking me exactly what I would have done if I had actually had time to get the testing done and a little bit of elaboration on the process of getting the drat thing made. He then said both that if I was ok with it, he wanted my rig sectioned so it can be used a demonstration piece, and that it was a great bit of work that I should be mailing to companies and that I should seriously consider doing a masters.  If only I had the money for a Masters. 
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Jun 10, 2014 15:31
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Zero Gravitas posted:Update after the presentation and viva: I loving smashed it. Apparently my presentation was fantastic - about half the people present came up to me afterwards asking me in depth questions about it which I thought was pretty amazing since I got through a lot of material in eight minutes. Grats! I know what you mean about the masters - my project supervisor/personal tutor wanted me to do either a PhD or masters, but I just couldn't afford it either (plus there's the whole stereotype of getting stuck in academia, and I just wasn't good enough anyway).
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Jun 10, 2014 15:40
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Zero Gravitas posted:If only I had the money for a Masters. If your undergrad project rocked that hard then you should consider poking around the research councils for funding. Either way, congrats! 
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Jun 10, 2014 15:51
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Spuckuk posted:Here's a hint, the people using those words are dickheads. That was more or less my thought. I suppose their problem is that they've broken through a gate to get onto private land but it's a pretty ugly field by a dump so I can't see it being used by anyone else anytime soon. A few people are worrying about them getting in and nicking things which seems a bit silly. Is there actually any basis for these sorts of negative views or is it all just prejudice?
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Jun 10, 2014 15:55
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my impression is that if you adjust for income, travellers don't have a higher crime rate than settled people however, they do have much lower incomes, on average. And they can obviously circumvent the usual methods by which communities shield themselves from low-income ills (namely property prices and physical distance) in the short term I suggest same precautions you should sensibly take if you moved to a poor neighbourhood (only now the poor neighbourhood has moved to you): avoid putting valuables in your car, that sort of thing. These thefts don't cause crippling amounts of damage but still nobody's going to pay you for the inconvenience of replacing your car window. it may be private land; they may even own it. But if they don't, or if they don't have planning permission, your local authority may have trouble evicting them regardless, and the battle may be highly contentious and protracted. Of course it is not proportional to moan about your office being broken into and vandalized in an act of protest over eviction, but again nobody's going to compensate you for the hours of work lost, so likewise be appropriately cautious.
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Jun 10, 2014 16:41
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Mr N posted:That was more or less my thought. I suppose their problem is that they've broken through a gate to get onto private land but it's a pretty ugly field by a dump so I can't see it being used by anyone else anytime soon. Like anything it pretty much depends on the people involved. A year or two ago we had a huge brawl at a funeral for the matriarch of one of the large traveller families round my way, which involved some stabbing and all sorts. Apparently the cause was a called off wedding some years before. On the other hand, when I was growing up the travellers came by, quite a few of them, but the only trouble while they were there was a local councillor who fired a gun at midnight mass. There are some things that still hold true, like marrying off young and a not-so-keen attitude to education, especially for girls, but they're not going to loot your stuff just because they're travellers.
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Jun 10, 2014 17:20
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The Guardian apologism for backwards and exclusionary Islamist policies being pushed in majority Muslim Birmingham schools is rather cringeworthy. Spuckuk posted:Here's a hint, the people using those words are dickheads. It isn't great for business if you get a particularly light fingered lot.
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Jun 10, 2014 17:23
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BORISE WAT ERR LEGERND has just bought some water cannons despite not having approval from the Home Office. Calls for the next protests to be a summer swimwear bubblebath foam party are already beginning.
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Jun 10, 2014 17:30
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mfcrocker posted:If your undergrad project rocked that hard then you should consider poking around the research councils for funding. Frustratingly there's basically funding for masters (I'm in the humanities though so maybe there is more in the sciences). There's a lot more for PhD, but you usually need a masters to get onto those. Masters degrees effectively act as a paygate preventing the poor getting into academia unless they're absurdly good/lucky.
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Jun 10, 2014 17:35
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ukle posted:Don't draw much inference from the fact the grading of the inspections went from outstanding to inadequate, in fact the only thing that should be inferred is showing how poo poo the current inspection regime is and how open to abuse and rigging it is. This was my point, I imagine Ofsted is going to get a public bollocking in a PAC, much like ofqual before them. It seems to me also that oversight of academies is a loving joke with the DoE making the rules up on the fly and enforcement at Gove's whim.
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Jun 10, 2014 17:36
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Eric Hill died.
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Jun 10, 2014 17:45
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ThomasPaine posted:Frustratingly there's basically funding for masters (I'm in the humanities though so maybe there is more in the sciences). There's a lot more for PhD, but you usually need a masters to get onto those. Masters degrees effectively act as a paygate preventing the poor getting into academia unless they're absurdly good/lucky. Seaside Loafer fucked around with this message at 17:51 on Jun 10, 2014 |
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Jun 10, 2014 17:47
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ThomasPaine posted:Frustratingly there's basically funding for masters (I'm in the humanities though so maybe there is more in the sciences). There's a lot more for PhD, but you usually need a masters to get onto those. Masters degrees effectively act as a paygate preventing the poor getting into academia unless they're absurdly good/lucky.
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Jun 10, 2014 17:49
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ThomasPaine posted:Frustratingly there's basically funding for masters (I'm in the humanities though so maybe there is more in the sciences). There's a lot more for PhD, but you usually need a masters to get onto those. Masters degrees effectively act as a paygate preventing the poor getting into academia unless they're absurdly good/lucky. Not sure about others but the ESRC are offering a lot more 1+3 funding options nowadays.
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Jun 10, 2014 18:02
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Seaside Loafer posted:Will the SLC not loan you for them then? e: The masters I mean. Given my experiences with the SLC up to now, I highly loving doubt it - unless theres a separate fund available for postgraduate programs. And even then, I'm so soured on the SLC that I really dont want to deal with them right now. It has to be said this whole masters recommendation thing is something I never imagined in my wildest dreams so now that the guy has said it, I'm really confused by what I'd need to do to get onto one. In any event, if I started one in september, I'm timetabled to become a dad in november so I need the free time available then.
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Jun 10, 2014 18:05
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^^^ Congrats!!! The early years are tough as im sure you will heard about, sleepness nights and all that, the real magic happens when you start teaching them things, i taught my daughter how to count to 10 and the names of colours  She is now 13 and bloody good fun to hang out with Reminder btw that the deadline for next years application is the 27th. Seaside Loafer fucked around with this message at 18:24 on Jun 10, 2014 |
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Jun 10, 2014 18:16
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Seaside Loafer posted:Will the SLC not loan you for them then? e: The masters I mean.
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Jun 10, 2014 18:18
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You can get a career development loan for doing an MA. The Co-Op and (I think) Barclays both do them. I'm just about to finish an MA and it's completely wiped me out financially; I'd like to think I could do a PhD but there's no way I could ever afford that.
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Jun 10, 2014 18:19
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ThomasPaine posted:Frustratingly there's basically funding for masters (I'm in the humanities though so maybe there is more in the sciences). There's a lot more for PhD, but you usually need a masters to get onto those. Masters degrees effectively act as a paygate preventing the poor getting into academia unless they're absurdly good/lucky. Yeah there, at least, used to be some limited availability for paid masters in science. It's starting to be the model that science has longer PhDs and skips the master's degree entirely though so I'm not sure if it's still true.
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Jun 10, 2014 18:34
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Answers Me posted:You can get a career development loan for doing an MA. The Co-Op and (I think) Barclays both do them. I would be very wary of career development loans unless you are very confident that the degree will enhance your future earning potential enough to justify the expense. Also, "affordability" shouldn't be a consideration if you're thinking about doing a PhD because you should only ever think about doing a PhD if you can make someone else (typically, one of the research councils) pay for it and give you a stipend while you're doing it.
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Jun 10, 2014 18:46
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thehustler posted:Are there any valid arguments against random and unannounced Ofsted inspections? I used to work at a primary school and whenever they came in we'd end up with teachers dumping stuff in their car boots so the inspectors didn't see it. (not sure what they dumped). Consistency. By giving everyone the same prep time, and the same things to prep you are comparing like-with-like when you compare one school's Outstanding to another school's Inadequate, rather than one school's Outstanding and another school's off-day. You also need to be able to show lesson plans and other documentation in the format that Ofsted want them (they have thousands of schools to check after all). Random inspections achieve nothing more than a planned one would. At the end of the day, if a school fails with a weeks notice, they're incompetent. If a school gets an Outstanding, they know what they're doing. I would liken it to driving on your test. It's not how you might normally drive, but you're still a competent driver if you pass, and a bad one if you fail.
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Jun 10, 2014 18:49
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