Coast To Coast Am - January 8 2014 - Mars Mission / Brain & Afterlife
Guests: Ken Johnston, Matthew Alper
In the first half, Ken Johnston, a former NASA Data and Photo Control Department manager, talked about his bid to go to Mars as a participant in the Mars One program (run by a not-for-profit foundation that believes it can send people to the Red Planet much cheaper than NASA). So far in the process, he has moved into Round 2-- a group of 1,058 people under consideration, selected out of an initial group of over 200,000 applicants. His next step is to submit to psychological and physiological tests, and then face-to-face interviews. In Round 3, the field will be narrowed down to 100-200 candidates, who'll then become employees of Mars One and begin their training-- an 8 year process (the mission is slated to depart in 2022).
In 2018, Mars One proposes to send a communication satellite to orbit above the chosen landing site, and then 4-5 unmanned launches carrying various equipment such as rovers, and habitats that the team will need once they've arrived. The plan, Johnston explained, will be to send 10 teams of 4 astronauts each (two males/two females) at two-year intervals, with the first team setting up the initial space, and inflatable greenhouses. While it's envisioned that this will be a one-way trip (Johnston's wife of 30 years supports his decision to participate), the teams will be able to remain in constant contact with Earth, and conduct scientific missions.
Friday, January 10, 2014
Thursday, January 9, 2014
How to Fix the Economic Recession: Financial Crisis Explained, Background - Paul Krugman (2009)
Governments have attempted to eliminate or mitigate financial crises by
regulating the financial sector. One major goal of regulation is
transparency: making institutions' financial situations publicly known
by requiring regular reporting under standardized accounting procedures.
Another goal of regulation is making sure institutions have sufficient
assets to meet their contractual obligations, through reserve
requirements, capital requirements, and other limits on leverage.
Some financial crises have been blamed on insufficient regulation, and have led to changes in regulation in order to avoid a repeat. For example, the former Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, has blamed the financial crisis of 2008 on 'regulatory failure to guard against excessive risk-taking in the financial system, especially in the US'.[26] Likewise, the New York Times singled out the deregulation of credit default swaps as a cause of the crisis.[27]
However, excessive regulation has also been cited as a possible cause of financial crises. In particular, the Basel II Accord has been criticized for requiring banks to increase their capital when risks rise, which might cause them to decrease lending precisely when capital is scarce, potentially aggravating a financial crisis.[28]
International regulatory convergence has been interpreted in terms of regulatory herding, deepening market herding (discussed above) and so increasing systemic risk.[29] From this perspective, maintaining diverse regulatory regimes would be a safeguard.
Fraud has played a role in the collapse of some financial institutions, when companies have attracted depositors with misleading claims about their investment strategies, or have embezzled the resulting income. Examples include Charles Ponzi's scam in early 20th century Boston, the collapse of the MMM investment fund in Russia in 1994, the scams that led to the Albanian Lottery Uprising of 1997, and the collapse of Madoff Investment Securities in 2008.
Many rogue traders that have caused large losses at financial institutions have been accused of acting fraudulently in order to hide their trades. Fraud in mortgage financing has also been cited as one possible cause of the 2008 subprime mortgage crisis; government officials stated on September 23, 2008 that the FBI was looking into possible fraud by mortgage financing companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, Lehman Brothers, and insurer American International Group.[30] Likewise it has been argued that many financial companies failed in the recent crisis because their managers failed to carry out their fiduciary duties.
Some financial crises have been blamed on insufficient regulation, and have led to changes in regulation in order to avoid a repeat. For example, the former Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, has blamed the financial crisis of 2008 on 'regulatory failure to guard against excessive risk-taking in the financial system, especially in the US'.[26] Likewise, the New York Times singled out the deregulation of credit default swaps as a cause of the crisis.[27]
However, excessive regulation has also been cited as a possible cause of financial crises. In particular, the Basel II Accord has been criticized for requiring banks to increase their capital when risks rise, which might cause them to decrease lending precisely when capital is scarce, potentially aggravating a financial crisis.[28]
International regulatory convergence has been interpreted in terms of regulatory herding, deepening market herding (discussed above) and so increasing systemic risk.[29] From this perspective, maintaining diverse regulatory regimes would be a safeguard.
Fraud has played a role in the collapse of some financial institutions, when companies have attracted depositors with misleading claims about their investment strategies, or have embezzled the resulting income. Examples include Charles Ponzi's scam in early 20th century Boston, the collapse of the MMM investment fund in Russia in 1994, the scams that led to the Albanian Lottery Uprising of 1997, and the collapse of Madoff Investment Securities in 2008.
Many rogue traders that have caused large losses at financial institutions have been accused of acting fraudulently in order to hide their trades. Fraud in mortgage financing has also been cited as one possible cause of the 2008 subprime mortgage crisis; government officials stated on September 23, 2008 that the FBI was looking into possible fraud by mortgage financing companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, Lehman Brothers, and insurer American International Group.[30] Likewise it has been argued that many financial companies failed in the recent crisis because their managers failed to carry out their fiduciary duties.
Geopolitical Financial and Military Analysis ~ TIM ALEXANDER / CHRIS HARRIS - Dr Deagle Show 2014/01/09
Dr Deagle Show 2014/01/09 - TIM ALEXANDER / CHRIS HARRIS
Tim Alexander - Geopolitical Financial and Military Analysis - Chris Harris - Update on Fukushima and next release of radiation ..
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
