Articles about going to war, the Rundown, sovereign debt bubble, how the high cost of university is scaring away students, the 200th anniversary celebrations are starting, why Pakistan hates India, Peter Singer on animal welfare, and Tiger’s money woes takes him back to Japan.

LBJ and the Vietnam decision. Thanks to Ken of Tokyo/Hong Kong.

PBS – LBJ’s Path to War
I was 30 years old, a White House Assistant, working on politics and domestic policy. I watched and listened as LBJ made his fateful decisions about Vietnam. He had been thrust into office by the murder of President John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963-- 46 years ago this weekend. And within hours of taking the oath of office was told that the situation in South Vietnam was far worse than he knew.

The financial market review. Thanks to Russell of Victoria.

Pdf below -- Government Debt Woes: The Rundown 15 July 2011

Lots and lots of government debt, but is it really AAA?

Financial Times – The AAA Bubble
This, we think, could well be the most important chart in the world right now.

 

Related. (ed’s note – scroll down about halfway).

Prudent Bear -- The Sovereign Debt Crisis Learning Curve
During the second-half of his reign, Alan Greenspan became fond of trumpeting the U.S. economy’s newfound resiliency. 

America’s other debt ceiling.

Financial Times -- Debt fears drive US youth away from college
The eldest of Pamela Fettes’ three sons only recently celebrated his 15th birthday, but she is already worrying about the cost of their college education.

 

This useful study of the factors that impact Canadians receiving post-secondary education makes this important point, that tuition has a statistically significant impact on children of lower income families attend post-secondary education, that lower income families tend to headed by people that did not attend post-secondary education, and that people that did not attend post-secondary education tend to have lower incomes. It also makes the point that on a real basis since 1977 tuition has doubled and tripled depending on the institution (Appendix Table A2 pg 40)

Pdf below -- The Determinants of University Education in Canada

The war of 1812 that settled the British presence in North America making Canada possible has a big anniversary coming up, can you guess?

Globe and Mail – The Military is a Central Actor in Canada’s Story
It is entirely appropriate that the Canadian military play an important role in Canadian citizenship ceremonies and in all other manner of public celebrations in Canada from the welcome of foreign leaders, to major national sports celebrations, and even to provincial and civic ceremonious occasions.

Related. (ed's note -- for the historians amongst us).

Pdf below -- The War of 1812 Still a Forgotten Conflict

This neighbourly hate still simmers.

Wall Street Journal – Why My Father Hated India
Ten days before he was assassinated in January, my father, Salman Taseer, sent out a tweet about an Indian rocket that had come down over the Bay of Bengal: "Why does India make fools of themselves messing in space technology? Stick 2 bollywood my advice."

Quote worth quoting.

“To understand the Pakistani obsession with India, to get a sense of its special edge—its hysteria—it is necessary to understand the rejection of India, its culture and past, that lies at the heart of the idea of Pakistan. This is not merely an academic question. Pakistan's animus toward India is the cause of both its unwillingness to fight Islamic extremism and its active complicity in undermining the aims of its ostensible ally, the United States.”

How you treat animals tells you a lot about a lot of things. (ed’s note – as in ‘cause no suffering’).

 

Project Syndicate – Moral Progress and Animal Welfare
Mahatma Gandhi acutely observed that “the greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.”

Back to Japan.

CNN – Is Tiger Woods Running Out of Money?
When news broke a few weeks ago that Tiger Woods had signed an endorsement deal to hawk a heat rub in Japan, it was hard not to think of Lost in Translation, or of the Entourage episode when Vincent Chase goes to China to do an energy drink commercial because he's out of money.

 

Suntory Time

Cartoon Broke US