http://combatwords.blogspot.com/2010/11/combatwords-november-19-2010-future.html
Buy the Q1/Q2 2010 Report right now:
You can get it as an E-Book at Amazon as well http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004AYDHXY
Return to Toylit
Subscribe in a reader
Friday, November 19, 2010
CombatWords, November 19, 2010: The Future!
CombatWords, November 19, 2010: The Future!
http://combatwords.blogspot.com/2010/11/combatwords-november-19-2010-future.html
Buy the Q1/Q2 2010 Report right now:
You can get it as an E-Book at Amazon as well http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004AYDHXY
Return to Toylit
Subscribe in a reader
http://combatwords.blogspot.com/2010/11/combatwords-november-19-2010-future.html
Buy the Q1/Q2 2010 Report right now:
You can get it as an E-Book at Amazon as well http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004AYDHXY
Return to Toylit
Subscribe in a reader
Monadology [Today's News Poem, November 19, 2010]
Monadology [Today's News Poem, November 19, 2010]
Architect clockmaker synchronized order;
Simplified substance, instruction. The microbes
Changed—they adapted with time, but their essence
Could not evolve—it was singular, perfect:
Slave to the program of codons, encrypted
Everywhere symbol distributes instruction.
Even adaption to circumstance; whether
Letters declaring desire, or the phone call—
Setting the date—or the atoms seducing
Space where the lips will collide, the infection
Sending them both to the hospital—never
Call it complexity. Simplify purpose.
Share the same origin, share the same finish.
"The worm eventually makes the current hit 1,410 Hertz, or cycles per second — just enough, they reported, to send the centrifuges flying apart. In a spooky flourish, Mr. Albright said in the interview, the worm ends the attack with a command to restore the current to the perfect operating frequency for the centrifuges — which, by that time, would presumably be destroyed. "
—WILLIAM J. BROAD and DAVID E. SANGER, The New York Times, Published: November 18, 2010
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/19/world/middleeast/19stuxnet.html
Buy the Q1/Q2 2010 Report right now:
You can get it as an E-Book at Amazon as well http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004AYDHXY
Return to Toylit
Subscribe in a reader
Architect clockmaker synchronized order;
Simplified substance, instruction. The microbes
Changed—they adapted with time, but their essence
Could not evolve—it was singular, perfect:
Slave to the program of codons, encrypted
Everywhere symbol distributes instruction.
Even adaption to circumstance; whether
Letters declaring desire, or the phone call—
Setting the date—or the atoms seducing
Space where the lips will collide, the infection
Sending them both to the hospital—never
Call it complexity. Simplify purpose.
Share the same origin, share the same finish.
"The worm eventually makes the current hit 1,410 Hertz, or cycles per second — just enough, they reported, to send the centrifuges flying apart. In a spooky flourish, Mr. Albright said in the interview, the worm ends the attack with a command to restore the current to the perfect operating frequency for the centrifuges — which, by that time, would presumably be destroyed. "
—WILLIAM J. BROAD and DAVID E. SANGER, The New York Times, Published: November 18, 2010
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/19/world/middleeast/19stuxnet.html
Buy the Q1/Q2 2010 Report right now:
You can get it as an E-Book at Amazon as well http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004AYDHXY
Return to Toylit
Subscribe in a reader
Thursday, November 18, 2010
My Warhead [Today's News Poem, November 18, 2010]
My Warhead [Today's News Poem, November 18, 2010]
I've maimed the lawns, split the yard,
Chopped the carrot and basil—
I filled myself, spent my teeth,
Ground to satiate warhead.
Athena; born wise for war,
Blessed the appetite, crafted
The options: maimed, healed, then killed.
"Eat," she said, so we swallowed
The meat and craved more until
Our epiphany bled out.
"President Obama pushed Thursday for ratification of a nuclear-arms treaty with Moscow by year's end despite Republican opposition, calling the pact a "national security imperative" and warning that delaying it would weaken the United States. "
—Mary Beth Sheridan, Walter Pincus and William Branigin, Washington Post Staff Writers, Thursday, November 18, 2010; 12:24 PM
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/17/AR2010111701598.html
Buy the Q1/Q2 2010 Report right now:
You can get it as an E-Book at Amazon as well http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004AYDHXY
Return to Toylit
Subscribe in a reader
I've maimed the lawns, split the yard,
Chopped the carrot and basil—
I filled myself, spent my teeth,
Ground to satiate warhead.
Athena; born wise for war,
Blessed the appetite, crafted
The options: maimed, healed, then killed.
"Eat," she said, so we swallowed
The meat and craved more until
Our epiphany bled out.
"President Obama pushed Thursday for ratification of a nuclear-arms treaty with Moscow by year's end despite Republican opposition, calling the pact a "national security imperative" and warning that delaying it would weaken the United States. "
—Mary Beth Sheridan, Walter Pincus and William Branigin, Washington Post Staff Writers, Thursday, November 18, 2010; 12:24 PM
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/17/AR2010111701598.html
Buy the Q1/Q2 2010 Report right now:
You can get it as an E-Book at Amazon as well http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004AYDHXY
Return to Toylit
Subscribe in a reader
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
#Twitterfoundpoem is Officially Over
I hope you enjoyed reading them as much as I enjoyed writing them. I'll write them as a bonus poem once in a while, but they are no longer going to be a daily staple.
Don't worry, I'm still going to do the News Poem for the foreseeable future.
-KW
9:47pm PST: Let me know if you'd like to be a guest contributor for #twitterfoundpoem.
Buy the Q1/Q2 2010 Report right now:
You can get it as an E-Book at Amazon as well http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004AYDHXY
Return to Toylit
Subscribe in a reader
Don't worry, I'm still going to do the News Poem for the foreseeable future.
-KW
9:47pm PST: Let me know if you'd like to be a guest contributor for #twitterfoundpoem.
Buy the Q1/Q2 2010 Report right now:
You can get it as an E-Book at Amazon as well http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004AYDHXY
Return to Toylit
Subscribe in a reader
Nazi Architecture [Today's News Poem, November 17, 2010]
Nazi Architecture [Today's News Poem, November 17, 2010]
While swimming in soot, near erections of towers—
Or barrels that seem to be pointed to heaven
But aim at the ground, you might notice the pillars
Are cracking: designed for the failure that's coming.
For nature abhors the incompetence gathered,
And quakes with its rage. While indulgence is stunning,
While fumes are unpleasant, consumption is monarch
Or Fuhrer of desire—while carts sell the breakfasts
And stores sell prescriptions, and monitors promise
That war ends in victory; crabs in a bucket
Are stymied by architects, thwarted by surface
And claws, as the mutiny pinches escape routes;
Until they are steamed and are cracked and then eaten.
"The Food and Drug Administration sent warning letters to four manufacturers of alcoholic energy drinks on Wednesday, saying that it was unsafe to include caffeine in the beverages."
—ABBY GOODNOUGH, The New York Times, Published: November 17, 2010
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/18/us/18drinks.html
"Would-be traveler John Tyner of Oceanside, California, wasn't too happy about the new "enhanced" pat-downs the agency rolled out nationally on November 1. The new guidelines let TSA officers feel passenger's genitals with their hands if they refuse to go through the high-tech body scanner."
—Jen Phillips, Mother Jones, Tue Nov. 16, 2010 1:24 PM PST
http://motherjones.com/mojo/2010/11/TSA-scan-complaints-grope-tyner
"After a brief delay, the first Dungeness crab cakes of the season should be on Bay Area dinner tables by Thursday."
—Kelly Zito, Chronicle Staff Writer, San Francisco Chronicle November 17, 2010 04:00 AM
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/11/17/MNER1GD43V.DTL
Buy the Q1/Q2 2010 Report right now:
You can get it as an E-Book at Amazon as well http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004AYDHXY
Return to Toylit
Subscribe in a reader
While swimming in soot, near erections of towers—
Or barrels that seem to be pointed to heaven
But aim at the ground, you might notice the pillars
Are cracking: designed for the failure that's coming.
For nature abhors the incompetence gathered,
And quakes with its rage. While indulgence is stunning,
While fumes are unpleasant, consumption is monarch
Or Fuhrer of desire—while carts sell the breakfasts
And stores sell prescriptions, and monitors promise
That war ends in victory; crabs in a bucket
Are stymied by architects, thwarted by surface
And claws, as the mutiny pinches escape routes;
Until they are steamed and are cracked and then eaten.
"The Food and Drug Administration sent warning letters to four manufacturers of alcoholic energy drinks on Wednesday, saying that it was unsafe to include caffeine in the beverages."
—ABBY GOODNOUGH, The New York Times, Published: November 17, 2010
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/18/us/18drinks.html
"Would-be traveler John Tyner of Oceanside, California, wasn't too happy about the new "enhanced" pat-downs the agency rolled out nationally on November 1. The new guidelines let TSA officers feel passenger's genitals with their hands if they refuse to go through the high-tech body scanner."
—Jen Phillips, Mother Jones, Tue Nov. 16, 2010 1:24 PM PST
http://motherjones.com/mojo/2010/11/TSA-scan-complaints-grope-tyner
"After a brief delay, the first Dungeness crab cakes of the season should be on Bay Area dinner tables by Thursday."
—Kelly Zito, Chronicle Staff Writer, San Francisco Chronicle November 17, 2010 04:00 AM
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/11/17/MNER1GD43V.DTL
Buy the Q1/Q2 2010 Report right now:
You can get it as an E-Book at Amazon as well http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004AYDHXY
Return to Toylit
Subscribe in a reader
Reviewing Heller McAlpin's Book Review of 'Exley' in The San Francisco Chronicle: November 17, 2010
re: Heller McAlpin's book review of Brock Clarke's Elxey in the Wednesday, November 17th 2010 edition: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/11/16/DD4O1FN91M.DTL
I hate this kind of book review. Plot summary does NOT equal a close reading. One would think this is a movie review, given its emphasis on the superficial. How is the symbolism? The prose? Is it funny, flat, or quirky?
What an incompetent review. Did you pay some professional paper writer to write it? Because that's what it looks like: undergraduate twaddle.
Example: If you are expecting the reader to know what 'metafictional pastiche' means, then such a reader will be interested in the WAYS it's a metafictional pastiche. By writing a review which vacillates between targeting an educated audience & a layperson, you fail to do both.
Also, you fall for the marketing ploy of this book & waste too much time glossing over Fred Exley... and then do a TERRIBLE job of summarizing him. Oh, and then the lit tropes, the lit tropes! 'Metafiction,' 'Murakami,' & an unforgivable non-sequitur in the 1st paragraph w/ "Fforde." Relevant HOW? You can't even engage the prose so you cite references.
You spend so much time defending Clarke's pedigree, one wonders if you are even CAPABLE of reading. I personally doubt you read the book. YOU are part of the poison that has destroyed mainstream 'high' literature and you treat craft as if it were a Google algorithm that measures quality by the number of times the content is cited--RATHER than the actual quality of the content.
And after reading reviews for this book all over the lit-mag network (blog is a dirty word), I STILL have yet to see a review that actually engages the text; rather than the social context of the author. So in that regard, this book review is a failure. If you were in my class, I'd flunk you. Dismiss this as jealousy, or a bad mood--you KNOW I'm correct.
-KW
ps: Chron, I challenge you to hire someone who actually knows how to read AND write. My crit of McAlpin's incompetent review is better written AND I did it in minutes.
Buy the Q1/Q2 2010 Report right now:
You can get it as an E-Book at Amazon as well http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004AYDHXY
Return to Toylit
Subscribe in a reader
I hate this kind of book review. Plot summary does NOT equal a close reading. One would think this is a movie review, given its emphasis on the superficial. How is the symbolism? The prose? Is it funny, flat, or quirky?
What an incompetent review. Did you pay some professional paper writer to write it? Because that's what it looks like: undergraduate twaddle.
Example: If you are expecting the reader to know what 'metafictional pastiche' means, then such a reader will be interested in the WAYS it's a metafictional pastiche. By writing a review which vacillates between targeting an educated audience & a layperson, you fail to do both.
Also, you fall for the marketing ploy of this book & waste too much time glossing over Fred Exley... and then do a TERRIBLE job of summarizing him. Oh, and then the lit tropes, the lit tropes! 'Metafiction,' 'Murakami,' & an unforgivable non-sequitur in the 1st paragraph w/ "Fforde." Relevant HOW? You can't even engage the prose so you cite references.
You spend so much time defending Clarke's pedigree, one wonders if you are even CAPABLE of reading. I personally doubt you read the book. YOU are part of the poison that has destroyed mainstream 'high' literature and you treat craft as if it were a Google algorithm that measures quality by the number of times the content is cited--RATHER than the actual quality of the content.
And after reading reviews for this book all over the lit-mag network (blog is a dirty word), I STILL have yet to see a review that actually engages the text; rather than the social context of the author. So in that regard, this book review is a failure. If you were in my class, I'd flunk you. Dismiss this as jealousy, or a bad mood--you KNOW I'm correct.
-KW
ps: Chron, I challenge you to hire someone who actually knows how to read AND write. My crit of McAlpin's incompetent review is better written AND I did it in minutes.
Buy the Q1/Q2 2010 Report right now:
You can get it as an E-Book at Amazon as well http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004AYDHXY
Return to Toylit
Subscribe in a reader
The Second Cumming [#twitterfoundpoem, November 17, 2010]
The Second Cumming [#twitterfoundpoem, November 17, 2010]
Tweets+Edits=#twitterfoundpoem
Turning and turning in the widening trick:
the hoe cannot hear the pimp.
trick ass Things fall apart; self indulgence cannot hold.
Mere prostitutes induced my whiskey grogginess,
my whiskey Semen, my whiskey screams; all loosed upon this world.
You can never Turn a Trick to a Treat
though you can turn a housewife into a hoe;
but it takes Real Conviction
and the center cannot hold your balls as She can.
Buy the Q1/Q2 2010 Report right now: You can get it as an E-Book at Amazon as well http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004AYDHXY
Return to Toylit
Subscribe in a reader
Tweets+Edits=#twitterfoundpoem
Turning and turning in the widening trick:
the hoe cannot hear the pimp.
trick ass Things fall apart; self indulgence cannot hold.
Mere prostitutes induced my whiskey grogginess,
my whiskey Semen, my whiskey screams; all loosed upon this world.
You can never Turn a Trick to a Treat
though you can turn a housewife into a hoe;
but it takes Real Conviction
and the center cannot hold your balls as She can.
Buy the Q1/Q2 2010 Report right now:
Return to Toylit
Subscribe in a reader
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Plastic Cyborg [Today's News Poem, November 16, 2010]
Plastic Cyborg [Today's News Poem, November 16, 2010]
Pamela, plastic—a cyborg I've heard.
Silicone titties, that lactate the grease
Pumped from the planet: a mother of earth.
Human they say, though I find that absurd:
Poisoning flesh, she has botoxed the crease
Aging has cracked on her obsolete mirth.
"The artificial kidney is still at least five years away from being tested in a human patient. Researchers have built a large model of the kidney - so big that it filled a hospital room - and used it on human patients to show that the theories behind it will work. And parts of the small kidney have been successfully tested in animals."
—Erin Allday, Chronicle Staff Writer, Tuesday, November 16, 2010
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/11/16/MNKF1GBCRJ.DTL
Buy the Q1/Q2 2010 Report right now: You can get it as an E-Book at Amazon as well http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004AYDHXY Return to Toylit Subscribe in a reader
Pamela, plastic—a cyborg I've heard.
Silicone titties, that lactate the grease
Pumped from the planet: a mother of earth.
Human they say, though I find that absurd:
Poisoning flesh, she has botoxed the crease
Aging has cracked on her obsolete mirth.
"The artificial kidney is still at least five years away from being tested in a human patient. Researchers have built a large model of the kidney - so big that it filled a hospital room - and used it on human patients to show that the theories behind it will work. And parts of the small kidney have been successfully tested in animals."
—Erin Allday, Chronicle Staff Writer, Tuesday, November 16, 2010
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/11/16/MNKF1GBCRJ.DTL
Buy the Q1/Q2 2010 Report right now:
Subscribe in a reader
You Can't Make A Breakfast Burrito Without Breaking Some Eggs [#twitterfoundpoem, November 16, 2010]
You Can't Make A Breakfast Burrito Without Breaking Some Eggs [#twitterfoundpoem, November 16, 2010]
Tweets+Edits=#twitterfoundpoem
lastnight a stalker pulled up on me in mcD's drive thr...
i be like Didn't I contact Interpol
this past summer about that? Wot is ur problem?
How can people stand driving like real shit?
I drive this dam bus like its a drag race car
swerving and shit... instead of feeling sad
& depressed, I don't. I just open&close LOL.
my stalker is the police, rain and my
guilty conscience now disturbing ur innocence.
I took the kids to the mcD's drive thr...
we are always close to crashing on the next level
but that's okay, I hit dat shit like a parkd car
and anyhow you can't make a breakfast burrito
without breaking some eggs.
Buy the Q1/Q2 2010 Report right now: You can get it as an E-Book at Amazon as well http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004AYDHXY Return to Toylit Subscribe in a reader
Tweets+Edits=#twitterfoundpoem
lastnight a stalker pulled up on me in mcD's drive thr...
i be like Didn't I contact Interpol
this past summer about that? Wot is ur problem?
How can people stand driving like real shit?
I drive this dam bus like its a drag race car
swerving and shit... instead of feeling sad
& depressed, I don't. I just open&close LOL.
my stalker is the police, rain and my
guilty conscience now disturbing ur innocence.
I took the kids to the mcD's drive thr...
we are always close to crashing on the next level
but that's okay, I hit dat shit like a parkd car
and anyhow you can't make a breakfast burrito
without breaking some eggs.
Buy the Q1/Q2 2010 Report right now:
Subscribe in a reader
Monday, November 15, 2010
Cradle of Wonders [Today's News Poem, November 15, 2010]
Cradle of Wonders [Today's News Poem, November 15, 2010]
Sleep through the ashes of mother and father.
Cradle your skull on a pillow of tinder.
Grip your giraffe as the world sets its wonder
Blazing—amazing how scenes seem to vanish.
Faces adored you, now flames are admiring
Ignorance. Torches can send you to dreaming,
Sending you mobiles of smoke as you wonder
How did a world so pronounced with surprises
Conjure a mist in your bedroom. Such splendor!
"A fire at a high-rise building in Shanghai killed at least 42 people and injured more than 90 on Monday, China's state media said."
—CNN Wire Staff, November 15, 2010 12:25 p.m. EST
http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/11/15/china.building.fire/
Buy the Q1/Q2 2010 Report right now: You can get it as an E-Book at Amazon as well http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004AYDHXY Return to Toylit Subscribe in a reader
Sleep through the ashes of mother and father.
Cradle your skull on a pillow of tinder.
Grip your giraffe as the world sets its wonder
Blazing—amazing how scenes seem to vanish.
Faces adored you, now flames are admiring
Ignorance. Torches can send you to dreaming,
Sending you mobiles of smoke as you wonder
How did a world so pronounced with surprises
Conjure a mist in your bedroom. Such splendor!
"A fire at a high-rise building in Shanghai killed at least 42 people and injured more than 90 on Monday, China's state media said."
—CNN Wire Staff, November 15, 2010 12:25 p.m. EST
http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/11/15/china.building.fire/
Buy the Q1/Q2 2010 Report right now:
Subscribe in a reader
Rain a Lullaby [#twitterfoundpoem, November 15, 2010]
Rain a Lullaby [#twitterfoundpoem, November 15, 2010]
Tweets+Edits=#twitterfoundpoem
a napping infant.. Yeah, a great combo
of repetitive rhythm and soft sounds.
The truths turned out to be rain for a sweet lullaby!!
Its over. hum yourself a lullaby.
rain a sweet lullaby for me.
Buy the Q1/Q2 2010 Report right now: You can get it as an E-Book at Amazon as well http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004AYDHXY Return to Toylit Subscribe in a reader
Tweets+Edits=#twitterfoundpoem
a napping infant.. Yeah, a great combo
of repetitive rhythm and soft sounds.
The truths turned out to be rain for a sweet lullaby!!
Its over. hum yourself a lullaby.
rain a sweet lullaby for me.
Buy the Q1/Q2 2010 Report right now:
Subscribe in a reader
Sunday, November 14, 2010
Nazi Butterfly Effect [Today's News Poem, November 14, 2010]
Nazi Butterfly Effect [Today's News Poem, November 14, 2010]
In the long run that marathon mattered
So little, that only the name of the
Race has survived; with that city of thought
With its temples, philosophy—extinct.
The Nazis defeated the Red Army,
Taught us with chalkboards they inscribed with the
White phalanges from the dead: in the long
Run death will be there, catching our glories
Tucking us, instructing the pupils. Or
If not, then metrics in megatons will.
"A secret history of the United States government’s Nazi-hunting operation concludes that American intelligence officials created a “safe haven” in the United States for Nazis and their collaborators after World War II, and it details decades of clashes, often hidden, with other nations over war criminals here and abroad. Perhaps the report’s most damning disclosures come in assessing the Central Intelligence Agency’s involvement with Nazi émigrés."
—ERIC LICHTBLAU, The New York Times, Published: November 13, 2010
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/14/us/14nazis.html
Buy the Q1/Q2 2010 Report right now: You can get it as an E-Book at Amazon as well http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004AYDHXY Return to Toylit Subscribe in a reader
In the long run that marathon mattered
So little, that only the name of the
Race has survived; with that city of thought
With its temples, philosophy—extinct.
The Nazis defeated the Red Army,
Taught us with chalkboards they inscribed with the
White phalanges from the dead: in the long
Run death will be there, catching our glories
Tucking us, instructing the pupils. Or
If not, then metrics in megatons will.
"A secret history of the United States government’s Nazi-hunting operation concludes that American intelligence officials created a “safe haven” in the United States for Nazis and their collaborators after World War II, and it details decades of clashes, often hidden, with other nations over war criminals here and abroad. Perhaps the report’s most damning disclosures come in assessing the Central Intelligence Agency’s involvement with Nazi émigrés."
—ERIC LICHTBLAU, The New York Times, Published: November 13, 2010
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/14/us/14nazis.html
Buy the Q1/Q2 2010 Report right now:
Subscribe in a reader
My Manta Ray's Not All Right [#twitterfoundpoem, November 14, 2010]
My Manta Ray's Not All Right [#twitterfoundpoem, November 14, 2010]
Tweets+Edits=#twitterfoundpoem
Pretty sure I saw a dead shark
by a bunch of dead surfers
preyed upon by a Pretty weird school in general.
a weird school of the Manta Ray.
The Reality of the World we live in today is that
death is certain and the Manta Ray goes blub blub blub
on my morning walk.
a weird school in general.
therefore, thou shalt not grieve for what is unavoidable.
Buy the Q1/Q2 2010 Report right now: You can get it as an E-Book at Amazon as well http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004AYDHXY Return to Toylit Subscribe in a reader
Tweets+Edits=#twitterfoundpoem
Pretty sure I saw a dead shark
by a bunch of dead surfers
preyed upon by a Pretty weird school in general.
a weird school of the Manta Ray.
The Reality of the World we live in today is that
death is certain and the Manta Ray goes blub blub blub
on my morning walk.
a weird school in general.
therefore, thou shalt not grieve for what is unavoidable.
Buy the Q1/Q2 2010 Report right now:
Subscribe in a reader
Saturday, November 13, 2010
Mendel's Strain [Today's News Poem, November 13, 2010]
Mendel's Strain [Today's News Poem, November 13, 2010]
A German pea was a credit to master
Races; grooming the soil for the interest.
Its tendrils have strangled the grasses, seedlings:
Fascist, an army of plunder, punishing
What should starve and recycle itself to mulch.
When pumpkins invade and their giant, spiny
Leaves take possession of sun, all pray if they
Can imagine an architect for this war
Of season and pleasure sometimes, though fading.
Light is a sliver; scarcity's permanent
And we kill to live, for the hour will fade.
"Mr. Sarrazin says his book can be boiled down to a few main ideas. To begin, ethnic Germans are having too few children, while Muslim immigrants are having too many... Second, Mr. Sarrazin believes that intelligence is inherited, not nurtured..."
—MICHAEL SLACKMAN, The New York Times, Published: November 12, 2010
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/13/world/europe/13sarrazin.html
Buy the Q1/Q2 2010 Report right now:
You can get it as an E-Book at Amazon as well http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004AYDHXY
Return to ToylitSubscribe in a reader
A German pea was a credit to master
Races; grooming the soil for the interest.
Its tendrils have strangled the grasses, seedlings:
Fascist, an army of plunder, punishing
What should starve and recycle itself to mulch.
When pumpkins invade and their giant, spiny
Leaves take possession of sun, all pray if they
Can imagine an architect for this war
Of season and pleasure sometimes, though fading.
Light is a sliver; scarcity's permanent
And we kill to live, for the hour will fade.
"Mr. Sarrazin says his book can be boiled down to a few main ideas. To begin, ethnic Germans are having too few children, while Muslim immigrants are having too many... Second, Mr. Sarrazin believes that intelligence is inherited, not nurtured..."
—MICHAEL SLACKMAN, The New York Times, Published: November 12, 2010
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/13/world/europe/13sarrazin.html
Buy the Q1/Q2 2010 Report right now:
You can get it as an E-Book at Amazon as well http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004AYDHXY
Return to Toylit
Subscribe in a reader
Bearing North With Bare Arms [#twitterfoundpoem, November 13, 2010]
Bearing North With Bare Arms [#twitterfoundpoem, November 13, 2010]
Tweets+Edits=#twitterfoundpoem
the Lord of the Ringtones
where the bearing is pain
and North. goin back to basics.
goin North to Limit
the Size of the Arms that i Bear.
the bears at the Pole will Limit
my basics. try my Arms
on for exploding taste!
i arm the bears on for Size
and Limit my right to my Arms!
Buy the Q1/Q2 2010 Report right now: Return to Toylit Subscribe in a reader
Tweets+Edits=#twitterfoundpoem
the Lord of the Ringtones
where the bearing is pain
and North. goin back to basics.
goin North to Limit
the Size of the Arms that i Bear.
the bears at the Pole will Limit
my basics. try my Arms
on for exploding taste!
i arm the bears on for Size
and Limit my right to my Arms!
Buy the Q1/Q2 2010 Report right now:
Subscribe in a reader
Friday, November 12, 2010
Counterpoint Epiphany [Today's News Poem, November 12, 2010]
Counterpoint Epiphany [Today's News Poem, November 12, 2010]
I open my eyes, and by seeing, am seen;
Leverage circuitry, witness the outbreaks
Of rekindled relationships: cholera.
The names of diseases appear on my screen
Lacking a meaning beyond definition.
I am watched as I voyeur the monitor
Considering menace. Computers are dry,
Likewise myself: we both share dispositions.
We are pulling the themes from polyphonies
Of history, memory. Everything old,
New, in-between is an echo, a counter
To the trend and all lead to epiphanies.
"Medical workers in Haiti on Friday called the upward trend in deaths and illnesses in the cholera outbreak "alarming" as the earthquake-devastated nation's already strained health system overflowed with the sick. "
— Moni Basu, CNN, November 12, 2010 3:34 p.m. EST
http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/11/12/haiti.cholera/
Buy the Q1/Q2 2010 Report right now: Return to Toylit Subscribe in a reader
I open my eyes, and by seeing, am seen;
Leverage circuitry, witness the outbreaks
Of rekindled relationships: cholera.
The names of diseases appear on my screen
Lacking a meaning beyond definition.
I am watched as I voyeur the monitor
Considering menace. Computers are dry,
Likewise myself: we both share dispositions.
We are pulling the themes from polyphonies
Of history, memory. Everything old,
New, in-between is an echo, a counter
To the trend and all lead to epiphanies.
"Medical workers in Haiti on Friday called the upward trend in deaths and illnesses in the cholera outbreak "alarming" as the earthquake-devastated nation's already strained health system overflowed with the sick. "
— Moni Basu, CNN, November 12, 2010 3:34 p.m. EST
http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/11/12/haiti.cholera/
Buy the Q1/Q2 2010 Report right now:
Subscribe in a reader
Manic Affirmations [#twitterfoundpoem, November 12, 2010]
Manic Affirmations [#twitterfoundpoem, November 12, 2010]
Tweets+Edits=#twitterfoundpoem
It's so hard surviving now.
so hard to dare to do yesterday, today, tomorrow,
the things you never had, have, will have-
whatever. TO THE EXTREME critics:
I HOPE EBULLIENCE MEANS E-BULLYING
TO THE EXTREME!
I HOPE today is a secret!
I HOPE enthusiasm MEANS
enjoying yourselves today,
and EBULLIENCE MEANS jumping off a cliff
tomorrow!
Buy the Q1/Q2 2010 Report right now: Return to Toylit Subscribe in a reader
Tweets+Edits=#twitterfoundpoem
It's so hard surviving now.
so hard to dare to do yesterday, today, tomorrow,
the things you never had, have, will have-
whatever. TO THE EXTREME critics:
I HOPE EBULLIENCE MEANS E-BULLYING
TO THE EXTREME!
I HOPE today is a secret!
I HOPE enthusiasm MEANS
enjoying yourselves today,
and EBULLIENCE MEANS jumping off a cliff
tomorrow!
Buy the Q1/Q2 2010 Report right now:
Subscribe in a reader
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Lament of a Scythian King [Bonus Poem from the Archives]
Lament of a Scythian King [Bonus Poem from the Archives]
Why must they find my body and booty?
Why excavate, only to desecrate?
Though we sacrificed a beauty
To ensure my burial gate, looters sate
Their wicked curiosity in my tomb.
They: indifferent to my sacred room.
When I lived we cared about the way we'd die--
Though we never fathomed our own extinction.
Where are my Scythian heirs to deny
Those thieves who rob my royal distinction?
Are sacred moments easily forgotten
By the ungrateful fry that we've begotten?
Is sacredness tied to living worship?
If so, then descendants know: my fate is yours.
You should forget the burial and skip
Straight to the lab and formaldehyde stores.
My venal seed ensconced by technology;
Knowing death only by archeology.
Science mines for meaning it cannot make.
They scratch the earth, the sea, the dead: to scope
Each thing, they break it. This is their mistake:
They kill off gods, but still they look for hope.
We ancestors wait in the firmament
For our sons to ascend toward punishment.
--
Circa 2004 or so.
Buy the Q1/Q2 2010 Report right now: Return to Toylit Subscribe in a reader
Why must they find my body and booty?
Why excavate, only to desecrate?
Though we sacrificed a beauty
To ensure my burial gate, looters sate
Their wicked curiosity in my tomb.
They: indifferent to my sacred room.
When I lived we cared about the way we'd die--
Though we never fathomed our own extinction.
Where are my Scythian heirs to deny
Those thieves who rob my royal distinction?
Are sacred moments easily forgotten
By the ungrateful fry that we've begotten?
Is sacredness tied to living worship?
If so, then descendants know: my fate is yours.
You should forget the burial and skip
Straight to the lab and formaldehyde stores.
My venal seed ensconced by technology;
Knowing death only by archeology.
Science mines for meaning it cannot make.
They scratch the earth, the sea, the dead: to scope
Each thing, they break it. This is their mistake:
They kill off gods, but still they look for hope.
We ancestors wait in the firmament
For our sons to ascend toward punishment.
--
Circa 2004 or so.
Buy the Q1/Q2 2010 Report right now:
Subscribe in a reader
Someone Clicked Yesterday, So Have a Bonus Poem Today
Express enough interest in my sponsors & I'll put up an epic poem that Ploughshares & Poetry both rejected.
Buy the Q1/Q2 2010 Report right now: Return to Toylit Subscribe in a reader
Buy the Q1/Q2 2010 Report right now:
Subscribe in a reader
Collision With Nothing [Today's News Poem, November 11, 2010]
Collision With Nothing [Today's News Poem, November 11, 2010]
We have gone too far. We've collided,
With nothing. Off of the precipice
Into wind—which has sailed all of us
To ultimate breezes. We ascend
Noisily, joining our engagement
With the sound of our self-love in sky.
We can't take our contingency with:
Therefore we will ride the thermal air
And we will praise our effortless flight.
"An ebook which is supposed to be a guide for paedophiles has gotten Amazon into a censorship row. The booktitled The Pedophile’s Guide to Love and Pleasure by Phillip R. Greaves is available on Amazon for Kindle for $4.75. It claims to be a guide of insight and conduct for engaging in paedophilia. Some customers, who are not seeing Amazon's bigger picture, are trying to arrange a book banning campaign. They want to start a boycott of Amazon until it does what they say."
—Nick Farrell, fudzilla, Thursday, 11 November 2010 10:39
http://www.fudzilla.com/home/item/20829-amazon-in-censorship-row
Special thanks to Dirk Johnson for sharing this metrical tradecraft secret w/ me. You should read the guy: http://dirk-johnson.com/wpblog/
Buy the Q1/Q2 2010 Report right now: Return to Toylit Subscribe in a reader
We have gone too far. We've collided,
With nothing. Off of the precipice
Into wind—which has sailed all of us
To ultimate breezes. We ascend
Noisily, joining our engagement
With the sound of our self-love in sky.
We can't take our contingency with:
Therefore we will ride the thermal air
And we will praise our effortless flight.
"An ebook which is supposed to be a guide for paedophiles has gotten Amazon into a censorship row. The booktitled The Pedophile’s Guide to Love and Pleasure by Phillip R. Greaves is available on Amazon for Kindle for $4.75. It claims to be a guide of insight and conduct for engaging in paedophilia. Some customers, who are not seeing Amazon's bigger picture, are trying to arrange a book banning campaign. They want to start a boycott of Amazon until it does what they say."
—Nick Farrell, fudzilla, Thursday, 11 November 2010 10:39
http://www.fudzilla.com/home/item/20829-amazon-in-censorship-row
Special thanks to Dirk Johnson for sharing this metrical tradecraft secret w/ me. You should read the guy: http://dirk-johnson.com/wpblog/
Buy the Q1/Q2 2010 Report right now:
Subscribe in a reader
Sink Yo Pants! [#twitterfoundpoem, November 11, 2010]
Sink Yo Pants! [#twitterfoundpoem, November 11, 2010]
Tweets+Edits=#twitterfoundpoem
Sinking to an all time low.
the sycophants are thee scariest thing
in thee fukkin world.
How to Keep from Sinking in a Sunk World?
blind yourself and sink even lower.
sink your pants so low u gotta bend over
to get fukkin fucked up in da butt
by all da sycophants that sink
Yo yo yo pants so low...
as low as Yo yo yo standards.
Buy the Q1/Q2 2010 Report right now: Return to Toylit Subscribe in a reader
Tweets+Edits=#twitterfoundpoem
Sinking to an all time low.
the sycophants are thee scariest thing
in thee fukkin world.
How to Keep from Sinking in a Sunk World?
blind yourself and sink even lower.
sink your pants so low u gotta bend over
to get fukkin fucked up in da butt
by all da sycophants that sink
Yo yo yo pants so low...
as low as Yo yo yo standards.
Buy the Q1/Q2 2010 Report right now:
Subscribe in a reader
Stop poisoning the readership [Repost]
Stop poisoning the readership http://toylit.blogspot.com/2010/03/stop-poisoning-readership.html
I know it's hard to give up an ambition you didn't really make any sacrifices for--but please consider that every time you write a bad poem and throw a hissy-fit when the reader doesn't like it, you are DISCOURAGING him/her from reading verse. Bad prose writers are constantly mocked to their faces in ways bad poets are rarely mocked. Why? Bad poets freak out. They say 'you don't understand poetry.' Many of my readers e-mail me to say "well, I don't like poetry in general, but I like _your_ poetry," and I respond, "if you like language, then you're poetry's natural constituency."
Bad poets compensate for their terrible attempts at poesis by blaming the reader for the poet's failings. If you put your poetry out there, you expose it to criticism. Offering verse is offering a transaction: 'in exchange for reading this poem, I promise you'll get something from it.' Most poets though have no interest in the reader. They want the reader to come to them, rather than the other way around. It's vile, isn't it? The hypocrisy of that position? So if you found Toylit because I made what you might consider to be an 'unkind' remark regarding your poetry, consider that I am doing so for the sake of serious poets everywhere. Most supposed poets are really lifestyle tourists, who want to expropriate the identity of 'poet' without actually doing anything to earn it.
This is the difference between a lifestyle tourist and an actual poet: the poet's verse is merely the artifact of the performance art that is the poet's life. The lifestyle tourist goes and paints a smiley face on his penis and goes to Burning Man. The real poet mutilates his or her mind to maximize poesis. If you are going to trivialize my vocation then I am certainly going to mock your sad efforts at writing verse.
Why be one of a hundred million wannabe poets, when you could master tie dye, crochet, or really any other craft that has less competition and less at stake? You supposed 'language' poets are the worst too (not you Billy Collins): you study the means of communication, but communicate nothing of value. A poet with nothing to say is like a brand without a product.
Buy the Q1/Q2 2010 Report right now: Return to Toylit Subscribe in a reader
I know it's hard to give up an ambition you didn't really make any sacrifices for--but please consider that every time you write a bad poem and throw a hissy-fit when the reader doesn't like it, you are DISCOURAGING him/her from reading verse. Bad prose writers are constantly mocked to their faces in ways bad poets are rarely mocked. Why? Bad poets freak out. They say 'you don't understand poetry.' Many of my readers e-mail me to say "well, I don't like poetry in general, but I like _your_ poetry," and I respond, "if you like language, then you're poetry's natural constituency."
Bad poets compensate for their terrible attempts at poesis by blaming the reader for the poet's failings. If you put your poetry out there, you expose it to criticism. Offering verse is offering a transaction: 'in exchange for reading this poem, I promise you'll get something from it.' Most poets though have no interest in the reader. They want the reader to come to them, rather than the other way around. It's vile, isn't it? The hypocrisy of that position? So if you found Toylit because I made what you might consider to be an 'unkind' remark regarding your poetry, consider that I am doing so for the sake of serious poets everywhere. Most supposed poets are really lifestyle tourists, who want to expropriate the identity of 'poet' without actually doing anything to earn it.
This is the difference between a lifestyle tourist and an actual poet: the poet's verse is merely the artifact of the performance art that is the poet's life. The lifestyle tourist goes and paints a smiley face on his penis and goes to Burning Man. The real poet mutilates his or her mind to maximize poesis. If you are going to trivialize my vocation then I am certainly going to mock your sad efforts at writing verse.
Why be one of a hundred million wannabe poets, when you could master tie dye, crochet, or really any other craft that has less competition and less at stake? You supposed 'language' poets are the worst too (not you Billy Collins): you study the means of communication, but communicate nothing of value. A poet with nothing to say is like a brand without a product.
Buy the Q1/Q2 2010 Report right now:
Subscribe in a reader
The Tear Streaked Army Is Here!
You might see an odd clustering of negs on Toylit. They couldn't send me their tears, so they're sending me the next best thing. I know! When did I get three new girlfriends? In my new book, How to Alienate People for Fun and No Profit I share all the secrets of antagonizing the dolts of this world.
If you want to join in on the fun, go hit the page of Poemblaze (Matt Quinn) http://poemblaze.wordpress.com and laugh at his terrible poetry. Put your critiques/responses up here too--the guy's got an itchy censorship finger (or maybe masturbation has gotten it strong & impatient). Toylit is already a top Google result for 'Matt Quinn' and 'poemblaze1,' but really, that's not good enough. Let's add 'poemblaze' to the mix. I think his oneshotpoetry pals think they're helping him by hitting this site. Bad form. They're afraid of their own negative critique. Too bad they don't know that I LOVE fighting against an unjust cause. Bad poetry MUST be destroyed. This guy Quinn, is not only a shitty poet, but plays the Uriah Heep as an insincere sycophant. Here's an example from his twitter feed:
"@AnnaLefler I appreciate your thinking about me."
"@Cecilyk Blog about what you feel the urge to blog about, what satisfies you. If it's true to your heart, write it, if not, no need."
And my favorite...
"@KimberlyKinrade You're welcome. What I appreciate most is being able to talk about something without anger." http://twitter.com/poemblaze1/status/2831315015565312
Wants to be a paragon & an aww shucks nice guy. For contrast, let's not forget this thread:
re: http://poemblaze.wordpress.com/2010/11/09/why-i-write
"Self-indulgent. Why the linebreaks? I think this would be unremarkable prose & I think you know it too, which is why you broke the lines--to add 'gravitas' to the comp.
I know you think I'm being mean here, so let me use examples:
1) You use the language of lovers, but utterly ignore exploring the concept. It undercuts the poem's intention, because here you go, saying you have a deep connection to words, but then go on to act superficially. Your speech act is defied by the way you scribe it.
2) How do books with nothing in them a) transmit words, b) get called books at all, instead of sheafs of paper?
You can do way better than this. What would the books say if they saw you holding yourself to such a low standard?"
The guy is so terrified of a negative review, he moderates his comments section. I had to circumvent his efforts at censorship by reposting the critique here: http://oneshotpoetry.blogspot.com/2010/11/one-shot-wednesday-poetry-week-19.html
"The books had words in them and then poured them into the sleeper's ear. That is why they are blank in the morning. You are mentally ill. Get help. You have a lot of knowledge, but paranoid thinking and need to be the authority are keeping you from what you could be. I suspect you are off meds or that you have never sought help though I am sure others have suggested it." Matt Quinn, mattq1966@gmail.com
Remember kids, this is the same guy who says things like: "@KimberlyKinrade You're welcome. What I appreciate most is being able to talk about something without anger."
Buy the Q1/Q2 2010 Report right now: Return to Toylit Subscribe in a reader
If you want to join in on the fun, go hit the page of Poemblaze (Matt Quinn) http://poemblaze.wordpress.com and laugh at his terrible poetry. Put your critiques/responses up here too--the guy's got an itchy censorship finger (or maybe masturbation has gotten it strong & impatient). Toylit is already a top Google result for 'Matt Quinn' and 'poemblaze1,' but really, that's not good enough. Let's add 'poemblaze' to the mix. I think his oneshotpoetry pals think they're helping him by hitting this site. Bad form. They're afraid of their own negative critique. Too bad they don't know that I LOVE fighting against an unjust cause. Bad poetry MUST be destroyed. This guy Quinn, is not only a shitty poet, but plays the Uriah Heep as an insincere sycophant. Here's an example from his twitter feed:
"@AnnaLefler I appreciate your thinking about me."
"@Cecilyk Blog about what you feel the urge to blog about, what satisfies you. If it's true to your heart, write it, if not, no need."
And my favorite...
"@KimberlyKinrade You're welcome. What I appreciate most is being able to talk about something without anger." http://twitter.com/poemblaze1/status/2831315015565312
Wants to be a paragon & an aww shucks nice guy. For contrast, let's not forget this thread:
re: http://poemblaze.wordpress.com/2010/11/09/why-i-write
"Self-indulgent. Why the linebreaks? I think this would be unremarkable prose & I think you know it too, which is why you broke the lines--to add 'gravitas' to the comp.
I know you think I'm being mean here, so let me use examples:
1) You use the language of lovers, but utterly ignore exploring the concept. It undercuts the poem's intention, because here you go, saying you have a deep connection to words, but then go on to act superficially. Your speech act is defied by the way you scribe it.
2) How do books with nothing in them a) transmit words, b) get called books at all, instead of sheafs of paper?
You can do way better than this. What would the books say if they saw you holding yourself to such a low standard?"
The guy is so terrified of a negative review, he moderates his comments section. I had to circumvent his efforts at censorship by reposting the critique here: http://oneshotpoetry.blogspot.com/2010/11/one-shot-wednesday-poetry-week-19.html
"The books had words in them and then poured them into the sleeper's ear. That is why they are blank in the morning. You are mentally ill. Get help. You have a lot of knowledge, but paranoid thinking and need to be the authority are keeping you from what you could be. I suspect you are off meds or that you have never sought help though I am sure others have suggested it." Matt Quinn, mattq1966@gmail.com
Remember kids, this is the same guy who says things like: "@KimberlyKinrade You're welcome. What I appreciate most is being able to talk about something without anger."
Buy the Q1/Q2 2010 Report right now:
Subscribe in a reader
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
G20 Discovers What I Figured Out Four Years Ago
Fuck yes, I LOVE being correct 4 years in advance. I'm listening to The News Hour and hearing all this panic over a dollar devaluation. I think it's almost time to write a follow up article, but here's the original--timely as ever.
Re: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/10/business/global/10global.html
China: Bow to Uncle Sam!
By Khakjaan Wessington
November 17, 2006
http://exile.ru/articles/detail.php?ARTICLE_ID=8380
"SAN FRANCISCO - China is on the brink of a financial meltdown. Ok, call me a crackhead. Feel better? Now let's talk facts. According to the World Bank, China's profits on capital invested is climbing, not dropping, as an overheating economy might suggest. Whether one is counting on official figures or reverse engineered figures, China's total investment rate is still somewhere between 37%-45%; significantly higher than the 21% average investment rate internationally. When combined with a 5 year Incremental-Capital-Output-Ratio (ICOR) around 4.5% (the % of GDP needed to boost GDP growth by 1%), this seems to paint the picture of a China on the rise: until one looks at US productivity figures.
Graphing durable productivity growth in the US economy over the last four years reveals the US has averaged a huge 6.09% durable productivity growth per year. This has resulted in drops in Unit Labor Cost (labor cost per unit of GDP) significantly during that period: 1.11% per year on average, even as GDP has grown during this period. In fact, durable productivity growth has exceeded GDP growth since the 2000-2001 slowdown: productivity in durable manufacturing is rising so fast, it's making US labor costs even more competitive than they already are. What this means is that the advantage that low labor cost economies have over the US is rapidly shrinking in America's favor.
Now, let's complicate the picture: China is the world's second biggest holder of US Treasury securities, and 70% of its trillion foreign reserves is in US dollars. The popular economic argument is that this huge debt balance is dangerous for the US, because a trade deficit siphons wealth out of the debtor's economy and into the creditor's economy. Eventually, the value of dollar-denominated assets should drop, because US wealth should be getting depleted. This premise is flawed.
A trade deficit can be good if the economy with the deficit is creating more wealth than the cost of imports. The University of Michigan and Florida International University study of US entrepreneurial activity showed it hit an all time high in 2005 with 23 million starting, or managing a business under four years old, and The Economist recently claimed that the US has twice as many entrepreneurs as the EU. This suggests that the US is using the imports of cars and computers (components that make up the US trade deficit) to build businesses.
In economic terms, the value of the goods imported exceeds their cost. The result? Hyper-productivity growth across durable producers and a growth in efficient, small manufacturers. The trade deficit is irrelevant if the imported goods are worth more than they cost. A laptop made in China is more valuable in the US because of the business climate here. Likewise a truck, or most anything else. Who ever heard of the Chinese protecting intellectual property rights? If every jackass with a bank account, connections, or factory is ripping off small business ideas, the value innovator isn't going to get paid for his work and isn't going to add his best use to the economy. Combine this with guangxi networks and party officials demanding bribes, it's no surprise that China's labor costs are rising. There's less incentive to add value if there's a good chance it's going to get stolen - hence low worker productivity growth. This works so long as there are cheap labor inputs, but as labor gets scarcer, wages climb. These factors eat away at China's long term productivity growth and are examples of the way a manufacture's value increases once it crosses the border.
What about the risk of China dumping its dollar assets for other assets? If China does this, it will increase supply of dollar assets and also reduce the demand for dollar assets (since it is a major importer of dollars). A devaluation in the dollar would result in a devaluation of the rest of the dollar reserves China has and put a major dent in its total reserves. It would also make Chinese exports to the US more expensive, and imports from the US cheaper. Dollar inflation would increase and that would hurt everything in the US economy: or would it?
A rapid drop in the Dollar versus the Yuan would result in almost immediate, and major import substitution by US producers. Until inflation is tamped out, it will continue to drop the cost of US manufactures compared to foreign manufacturers. It would be a deathblow to European industries, which would need to respond with even more protectionism. Airbus is already on the ropes - a 20% drop in the dollar would see almost every plane order in the world for the next five years going to Boeing. Multiply this across every industry where the EU is barely competitive with the rest of the world and you can see that a disaster is brewing, not for the US, but for Europe. China would lose its target market for exports and its domestic consumption won't be able to make up for the difference.
China's current investment rate is predicated upon the presumption that for the near future, China will remain one of the world's most competitive manufacturers. With profits where they are right now, it's easy to say that China hasn't over-invested. Still, the trends are telling. Competition with slave economies has unlocked productivity growth in the US economy previously unseen. So long as US durable productivity growth is greater than its GDP growth, the US will continue to get more competitive vs. low-cost producers. Therefore, financing US debt, rather than being a sign of long-term Chinese strength, is a sign of its long term weakness. China's locked itself into a strategy it can't escape. At this rate, the US is going to eradicate the competitive advantage of low labor cost producers in a decade or two. But if China tries to stop subsidizing US trade, it hurts Chinese manufacturers and benefits US manufacturers.
It's just another example of how things aren't always what they appear to be in the international financial game. A strategy can be good in the short term, but lock you into a problem you can't escape. Sorry, China!"
Buy the Q1/Q2 2010 Report right now: Return to Toylit Subscribe in a reader
Re: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/10/business/global/10global.html
China: Bow to Uncle Sam!
By Khakjaan Wessington
November 17, 2006
http://exile.ru/articles/detail.php?ARTICLE_ID=8380
"SAN FRANCISCO - China is on the brink of a financial meltdown. Ok, call me a crackhead. Feel better? Now let's talk facts. According to the World Bank, China's profits on capital invested is climbing, not dropping, as an overheating economy might suggest. Whether one is counting on official figures or reverse engineered figures, China's total investment rate is still somewhere between 37%-45%; significantly higher than the 21% average investment rate internationally. When combined with a 5 year Incremental-Capital-Output-Ratio (ICOR) around 4.5% (the % of GDP needed to boost GDP growth by 1%), this seems to paint the picture of a China on the rise: until one looks at US productivity figures.
Graphing durable productivity growth in the US economy over the last four years reveals the US has averaged a huge 6.09% durable productivity growth per year. This has resulted in drops in Unit Labor Cost (labor cost per unit of GDP) significantly during that period: 1.11% per year on average, even as GDP has grown during this period. In fact, durable productivity growth has exceeded GDP growth since the 2000-2001 slowdown: productivity in durable manufacturing is rising so fast, it's making US labor costs even more competitive than they already are. What this means is that the advantage that low labor cost economies have over the US is rapidly shrinking in America's favor.
Now, let's complicate the picture: China is the world's second biggest holder of US Treasury securities, and 70% of its trillion foreign reserves is in US dollars. The popular economic argument is that this huge debt balance is dangerous for the US, because a trade deficit siphons wealth out of the debtor's economy and into the creditor's economy. Eventually, the value of dollar-denominated assets should drop, because US wealth should be getting depleted. This premise is flawed.
A trade deficit can be good if the economy with the deficit is creating more wealth than the cost of imports. The University of Michigan and Florida International University study of US entrepreneurial activity showed it hit an all time high in 2005 with 23 million starting, or managing a business under four years old, and The Economist recently claimed that the US has twice as many entrepreneurs as the EU. This suggests that the US is using the imports of cars and computers (components that make up the US trade deficit) to build businesses.
In economic terms, the value of the goods imported exceeds their cost. The result? Hyper-productivity growth across durable producers and a growth in efficient, small manufacturers. The trade deficit is irrelevant if the imported goods are worth more than they cost. A laptop made in China is more valuable in the US because of the business climate here. Likewise a truck, or most anything else. Who ever heard of the Chinese protecting intellectual property rights? If every jackass with a bank account, connections, or factory is ripping off small business ideas, the value innovator isn't going to get paid for his work and isn't going to add his best use to the economy. Combine this with guangxi networks and party officials demanding bribes, it's no surprise that China's labor costs are rising. There's less incentive to add value if there's a good chance it's going to get stolen - hence low worker productivity growth. This works so long as there are cheap labor inputs, but as labor gets scarcer, wages climb. These factors eat away at China's long term productivity growth and are examples of the way a manufacture's value increases once it crosses the border.
What about the risk of China dumping its dollar assets for other assets? If China does this, it will increase supply of dollar assets and also reduce the demand for dollar assets (since it is a major importer of dollars). A devaluation in the dollar would result in a devaluation of the rest of the dollar reserves China has and put a major dent in its total reserves. It would also make Chinese exports to the US more expensive, and imports from the US cheaper. Dollar inflation would increase and that would hurt everything in the US economy: or would it?
A rapid drop in the Dollar versus the Yuan would result in almost immediate, and major import substitution by US producers. Until inflation is tamped out, it will continue to drop the cost of US manufactures compared to foreign manufacturers. It would be a deathblow to European industries, which would need to respond with even more protectionism. Airbus is already on the ropes - a 20% drop in the dollar would see almost every plane order in the world for the next five years going to Boeing. Multiply this across every industry where the EU is barely competitive with the rest of the world and you can see that a disaster is brewing, not for the US, but for Europe. China would lose its target market for exports and its domestic consumption won't be able to make up for the difference.
China's current investment rate is predicated upon the presumption that for the near future, China will remain one of the world's most competitive manufacturers. With profits where they are right now, it's easy to say that China hasn't over-invested. Still, the trends are telling. Competition with slave economies has unlocked productivity growth in the US economy previously unseen. So long as US durable productivity growth is greater than its GDP growth, the US will continue to get more competitive vs. low-cost producers. Therefore, financing US debt, rather than being a sign of long-term Chinese strength, is a sign of its long term weakness. China's locked itself into a strategy it can't escape. At this rate, the US is going to eradicate the competitive advantage of low labor cost producers in a decade or two. But if China tries to stop subsidizing US trade, it hurts Chinese manufacturers and benefits US manufacturers.
It's just another example of how things aren't always what they appear to be in the international financial game. A strategy can be good in the short term, but lock you into a problem you can't escape. Sorry, China!"
Buy the Q1/Q2 2010 Report right now:
Subscribe in a reader
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)