Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis |
- More Robots: Google's "Atlas" Robot Mimics "Karate Kid"; Flying Defibrillator "Ambulance Drone" Unveiled; Fed Has No Answer
- More Blowbacks: Russia to Build 8 New Nuclear Reactors in Iran; Putin Signs Another Gas Deal with China
- Obamacare Architect Explains "Stupidity of American Voter" Needed to Pass ACA
| Posted: 11 Nov 2014 02:59 PM PST Robotic technology continues at a rapidly expanding pace. Here's a look at two new technologies. Flying Defibrillator "Ambulance Drone" Tech Crunch reports Flying Defibrillator 'Ambulance Drone' Cuts Response Time Down to Couple of Minutes A Dutch engineer has created a flying defibrillator for emergency situations. The drone, called the Ambulance Drone, would be stationed at various points in the city. In an emergency, people on the scene can call it in and it arrives a few seconds later. The built-in defibrillator unit can be used by anyone and it allows doctors to monitor the situation after the shocks are administered.Ambulance Drone Video Google's "Atlas" Robot Mimics "Karate Kid" 9-to-5 Google reports Google-owned Boston Dynamics debuts new video of Atlas robot mimicking 'The Karate Kid'. Google-owned robotics lab Boston Dynanics has debuted new video of its 6'2″ Atlas robot, also known as "Ian." The hulking mass of metal, which weighs a whopping 330 lbs, has been programmed to recreate a key scene from the 1984 film The Karate Kid.Atlas Drone Video As 9-to-5 suggests, turn down your audio for this one. The video sound is more than a bit annoying. Amazing Technology Pace Robot technology advances at an amazing pace. It is easy to pooh-pooh this technology as unusable, but it will not be unusable for long. I believe it's safe to assume that drones, under command from a limited number of humans, will eventually be able to replace a big subset of firefighters. More On Robots October 29, 2014: Meet "OSHbot" Lowes New Store Helper; Goodbye Retail Associates, Hello Robots August 18, 2014: Rising Robots: Is it Obvious Robots Cost Human Jobs? Looking for Someone to Blame? June 23, 2104: Robot Truck Convoy Tests in Nevada; Driverless Trucks Before Cars, and Before the End of the Decade May 28, 2104: Google Unveils Self-Driving Car, No Steering Wheel, No Accelerator, No Brake Pedal; Self-Driving Taxi Has Arrived May 23, 2014: Amazon to Increase Robots from 1,400 to 10,000 by End of 2014; Day in the Life of a Robot October 9, 2013: High-Tech Robotic Wine: The Future of Winemaking is Robots October 6, 2013: Reader Question on Robots: What are People Supposed To Do For Their Livelihoods? October 4, 2013: Never Has Arrived; The Last MileApril 25, 2013: Robotic Outsourcing; Food Preparation Robots Invade China, Japan, US; Who is to Blame, and What Can be Done About It?February 24, 2013: Robots Don't Commit Suicide (and Other Robot Advantages) January 22, 2013: Meet "Baxter" the Robot Out to Get Your Minimum-Wage, No Benefits, Part-Time Job, Because He's Still Much Cheaper; Fed Cannot Win a Fight Against Robots August 20, 2012: Robots to Rule the World? Taking All Jobs? Replace Women? Fed Has No Answer Technology is extremely price-deflationary. Robots are cheaper and faster than human counterparts in an ever-increasing number of roles. Neither the Fed, nor governments have an answer.
In regards to point number three above, lower interest rates boost earnings which in turn boosts CEO salaries and raises the value of stock options. Those with no assets lose as real wages decline. Mike "Mish" Shedlock http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com |
| Posted: 11 Nov 2014 11:50 AM PST As the US (but not Germany) threatens more sanctions to "punish" Russia, I keep wondering who is punishing whom? Is Chancellor Merkel finally beginning to see the economic and geopolitical stupidity of sanctions? I ask because the Wall Street Journal reports Merkel: No New Economic Sanctions on Russia Planned. Meanwhile, Obama and Putin briefly met on Tuesday at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Beijing. On that note, the Washington Examiner reports Obama Talks Ukraine with Putin as White House Hints New Sanctions are Coming. Rocks in Head Sure to Rattle Russia has responded twice in two days in ways that will have the rocks in president Obama's and Senator John McCain's head rattling for sure. Russia to Build 8 New Nuclear Reactors in Iran The Financial Times reports Russia-Iran Nuclear Reactor Deal Raises Eyebrows. Russia has agreed to build eight new nuclear reactors in Iran in a deal raising eyebrows in Washington and Europe as fraught international talks to curb Tehran's atomic ambitions near their deadline.Make-or-Break Moment Iranian negotiators and counterparts from the P5+1 – the five permanent members of the UN Security Council and Germany – are set to meet next week in Vienna to begin the final bout of talks aimed at ending crippling international sanctions against the Islamic republic in exchange for permanent limits to its uranium enrichment activities.Oversight Not Wanted More independent oversight by the International Atomic Energy Agency should be precisely what everyone wants. Perhaps Merkel can pound some common sense into Obama's head, but don't count on that. Her judgement has not been all that brilliant lately, to say the least. Instead, I fully expect McCain will have a hyperventilation attack and Obama will go along with McCain. This is really not about oversight but rather about total control. The US wants to dictate what every country can or cannot do. It's that simple. Iran Sanctions Will Break Soon Should the US scuttle the "make-or-break talks", look for Russia and China to work out more deals to buy Iranian oil. South Africa, which only went along with sanctions under pressure from Obama, may also throw in the towel. Other countries will follow. One way or another, I expect the sanctions on Iran to break down soon. Obama has two unpalatable choices at this point. Option 1: Should the November 24 talks die without agreement, the Obama-inspired sanctions will end in total complete failure, obvious to the entire world. Option 2: Obama agrees to lift the sanctions, with McCain and the war hawks howling bloody murder. No Winning Play for Obama Putin's Iran nuclear reactor deal was announced purposely at this time to make Obama look like a fool. And it worked. There is no real winning play for Obama at this point. That's something one ought to consider when imposing inane sanctions. Should sanity prevail and the US lift the sanctions, one needs to stop and ask the questions "What did we get, and was it worth the effort?" Perhaps the threat of option 1 will save the day, culminating in an Obama "we did it speech" that in reality will be much ado about nothing, and with McCain bellowing like a sick moose for weeks. That is the very best Obama can get out of this mess now. Putin Signs Another Gas Deal with China The Financial Times takes the cake for the most ridiculous headline of the month with Putin Snubs Europe with Siberian Gas Deal that Bolsters China Ties. "Putin Snubs Europe?!" What the H should Europe expect when it bows to the inane wishes of Obama and imposes ridiculous sanctions on Russia. Also note that in response to Ukraine, the EU blocked Russia's pipeline proposals to bring more gas to Europe. What's Putin supposed to do? Kiss Obama's ass? Mike "Mish" Shedlock http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com |
| Obamacare Architect Explains "Stupidity of American Voter" Needed to Pass ACA Posted: 11 Nov 2014 12:29 AM PST The truth on Obamacare is finally out: The bill was purposely written to trick the CBO (congressional Budget Office) into believing the bill was not a tax. Moreover, the bill also depended on the "Stupidity of the American Voter". Many of us knew that long ago. But those are the words of Jonathan Gruber, a numbers wizard at M.I.T., who was courted by the Obama administration, and paid $400,000 for his efforts to see that the bill made its way through Congressional obstacles. The following short video explains the setup. Academic Case Back in 2012, regarding Gruber's role in getting the bill passed, the New York Times wrote Academic Built Case for Mandate in Health Care Law. Interestingly, Gruber was also the architect for Romneycare when Mitt Romney was Massachusetts governor. Romney was proud of Romneycare until president Obama endorsed virtually the same idea as Obamacare. Romney then ran against his own creation. Lovely. I picked up the video above from Reason.Com Watch Obamacare Architect Jonathan Gruber Explain Why "Lack of Transparency" Was Key to Passing the Health Care Law. Complete Quote Gruber: "This bill was written in a tortured way to make sure CBO did not score the mandate as taxes. If CBO [Congressional Budget Office] scored the mandate as taxes, the bill dies. Okay, so it's written to do that. In terms of risk rated subsidies, if you had a law which said that healthy people are going to pay in – you made explicit healthy people pay in and sick people get money, it would not have passed… Lack of transparency is a huge political advantage. And basically, call it the stupidity of the American voter or whatever, but basically that was really really critical for the thing to pass....Look, I wish Mark was right that we could make it all transparent, but I'd rather have this law than not."Reason says (and I wholeheartedly agree) ... Gruber thinks it's acceptable to deceive people if he believes that's the only way to achieve his policy preference. That's not exactly surprising, given that he failed to disclose payments from the administration to consult on Obamacare even while providing the media with supposedly independent assessments of the law.Tax Credit Legal Challenge Jumping to the above 2012 video link we find Gruber arguing out of both sides of his mouth in regards to tax credits. Each side taking the opposite side of the other. Gruber: "What's important to remember politically about this is if you're a state and you don't set up an exchange, that means your citizens don't get their tax credits—but your citizens still pay the taxes that support this bill. So you're essentially saying [to] your citizens you're going to pay all the taxes to help all the other states in the country. I hope that that's a blatant enough political reality that states will get their act together and realize there are billions of dollars at stake here in setting up these exchanges. But, you know, once again the politics can get ugly around this."Here's the video, which according to YouTube's date stamp was uploaded by Noblis on January 20, 2012. The relevant passage starts around minute 31. And so here we are, stuck in a system designed by Gruber and implemented first by Mitt Romney, then by President Obama. To get Obamacare through Congress was a chore. It depended on the "Stupidity of the American Voter", says Gruber in those exact words. Whom do we "thank" most? Gruber, Romney, Obama, or the stupid American public? Mike "Mish" Shedlock http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com |
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