Smart Links 08 February 2012

Paul Summerville • February 8, 2012

Tags: Canada, Europe, Greece, Iran, Israel, Margaret Thatcher, Yes

Commentary on the bold move by ECB President Mario Draghi to stem the crisis, booting out Greece, Meryl’s Maggie, the coming war with Iran, and Prime Minister Harper’s lousy stewardship of the economy.

By offering banks ultra cheap three year loans and flooding the banking system with liquidity the ECB prevented a Lehman scale credit crisis, for now.

Financial Times -- Eurozone crisis: A deft way to buy time
ECB chief Mario Draghi has helped hold off a credit crunch but deep economic and political problems remain.

Related.

New York Review of Books -- For Europe: ‘The Firepower Is There’: An Interview
This interview with Klaus Regling, the head of the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF), took place on December 17, 2011, and was broadcast on Al Jazeera.

How do you say goodbye in Greek?

Globe and Mail -- Euro leaders begin to talk openly of jettisoning Greece
There's still no deal in Athens, but there is something of note: Some euro zone officials are now talking openly about Greece leaving the 17-member monetary union.

Meryl Streep’s magnificent portrayal of Margaret Thatcher opens up old wounds.

New York Review of Books -- Daddy’s Girl
In the spring of 2001, at the Conservative Party Conference in Plymouth, Margaret Thatcher made a joke.

Countdown to war. Thanks to Michael of Montreal.

ynet.com -- War with Iran is coming
Israel will bomb Iran’s nuke sites earlier than predicted, with Western and Arab support.

Related.

Telegraph -- If we bomb Iran, Tehran will go nuclear.
What should Israel and the West do about Iran?

Related.

Daily Beast -- Israel and Iran on the Eve of Destruction in a New Six-Day War
There are plenty of arguments against an Israeli attack on Iran. And all of them are bad.

The ‘mainstream’ media is starting to reflect on the damage that the Conservatives have done to the economy.

Globe and Mail -- The myth of Tory economic performance
The extent to which the Conservatives’ propaganda machine will go was illustrated last week by the news, courtesy of The Canadian Press, of the staging of a Potemkin-village-style citizenship reaffirmation ceremony.

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Twin Virtues: Inequality of Outcomes & Equality of Opportunity©

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Ultimately, the most successful societies find the balance between the twin virtues of inequality of outcomes and equality of opportunity.

The new politics must marry the twin virtues of unequal outcomes and equality of opportunity.

When too few get too much everybody ends up with less.

Can it be that striving for equality of opportunity however imperfect the process not only benefits the individual but also creates benefits for the society as a whole that are unintended but wonderful?

Economics must be a 'moral enterprise' as much as politics claims to be. Economic outcomes need to be framed in terms of right and wrong not just efficiency if only because these often align in surprising ways.

My vision of Canada is that any Canadian child from a family of limited circumstance can expect to have a chance at lifetime of unlimited opportunities.

Tax policy should be founded on the principle of generating steady tax revenues sufficient to maximise environmentally sustainable economic growth in order to fund fair government.

Public policy should be designed to decrease inequality before the law and increase equality of opportunity.

Capitalism is not the problem; the problem is what we do with capitalism.

Content is always more difficult to argue than conspiracy.

Let the state regulate and the market operate (most things).

Welfare strategies are best designed as a hand up not as a hand out.

Political debate should not be fact free fighting.

Explanation lasts longer than eloquence.

Always favour empowerment over dependency.

The most enduring public figures are embraced for the causes they fought for and not the concept of themselves they hoped others would remember them by.

Find your voice and don't be the echo of somebody else.