Need a Job? Become a Bank Robber

It seems alarming the number of bank robberies that have happened lately. As of Feb. 11th there had already been 30 bank robberies in Washington this year. That is .714 robberies per day. Last month, in a single day, three banks were robbed within four hours of each other.

The FBI claims that this spike in the number of bank robberies is not related to the economy, but you have to consider the old adage that desperate times call for desperate measures. In the Month of January 598,000 more jobs disappeared across the United States. The job losses and subsequent increase in unemployment has left many people desperately searching for a source of income. People still need to provide for themselves and their families. With limited options available for the unemployed, one “career path” has become increasingly popular, Bank Robbery.

The increase of people entering this “profession” is not alarming when the ease with which the bandits can make off with the money is considered. All that is required to rob a bank is a simple note saying that you have a gun. No weapon need to be shown. In fact the robber does not even need to have a weapon at all, just a harmless little note. Once the note is shown it is bank protocol to meet the robber’s demands, let them leave, and then contact the police if an alarm has not already been sent. This policy makes sense when the potential risk of a real gun is considered, but something just seems weird about giving a thief money that easily.

Today's Bank Robber

Sources: cnn.com, seattletimes.com

Master Chief making you feel bad about yourself?

I was catching up on a little light Penny Arcade reading the other day and came across this gem. Now for years it has been said that playing video games leads, primarily young men, to commit violent and illegal acts. This however has that beat by a Warcraft mile. Apparently after playing the part of an attractive character for as little as 15 minutes (though we all know we can't play for only 15 minutes at a time...) can have a negative effect on the players self-esteem regarding looks and physique.

Now while most of us will agree that Lara Croft was the finest arrangement that pixels have ever been in, even before Ms. Jolie's interpretation, I have never looked at Solid Snake and thought, "Man, I wish I were that ruggedly handsome". No, I've typically thought, "Holy shit! That dude just shot a rabid hamster at me! Where can I get THAT gun?!?".

Late nights on the couch playing Call of Duty with Tyler, Kevin, and the rest of the 23rd Street Crew we never commented on the players looks or build or our own for that matter except making jokes at one anothers expense. While I will give them the benefit of the doubt that we are simply a minute sample of gamers out there, I doubt that there is this following of pre-pubescents or even 40 year olds living in thier parents basement that have the obsession of an 18 year old girl looking through Cosmo. For the most part, we just aren't wired that way. But then again, I could be wrong. I mean that Prince of Persia guy is pretty ripped...

Israel: The Middle East Beast

Time to Bail:

Some things just never go out of style. High heels, for instance. In the Middle East and the majority of the international community at large, it's hate for Israel. One can expect this trend to increase as some estimates conclude that more than half of the 1200+ Palestinians killed in the current Gaza conflict have been civilians. Despite the fact that human lives are not items on a grocery list which can be easily counted without any proper context, any mindful individual with a functioning left side of the brain should conjure feelings of rage and sorrow from the vast amount of images portraying dead Palestinian civilians.
Israel's offensive has already cost itself and its moderate Arab allies dearly in terms of political capital, and imposed staggering losses on the civilian populace whose acceptance it will eventually need to capture. Unless the IDF can engineer a complete collapse of Hamas as a governing entity, which could remove a significant obstacle to future peace in the region and signal a reversal of the Iranian proxy, there is little more to be gained by continuing its campaign. Even if it were the unlikely case, would Mahmoud Abbas and the secularist Fatah party be expected to simply stroll back into the Gaza Strip courtesy of the IDF? Think again. Conversely, if the intent of the operation was simply to establish deterrence, it was surely achieved it in its beginning, and while I'm hesitant in applying deterrence theory to irrational Islamists, perhaps Hamas will think harder after indiscriminately launching rockets into populated Israeli areas as Hezbollah did. Israel should cease its operation and use its leverage to negotiate a more favorable cease-fire which (hopefully) diminishes Hamas' capacity to provoke wars.


Disproportionate Use of Criticism:

A host of Israel's critics have even more self-reflection to do as the hypocrisy in their scathing rhetoric is appalling. For instance, Syria has been adamant in labeling the Israeli operation as "genocide," yet quick to forget about the 1982 Hama massacre in which they literally shelled the entire rebel town killing between 20,000-30,000 people. If the Arab world put half of the energy they spend in tearing down Israel (which only gives them very short-run support amongst their populace) into developing their own societies and combating the pervasive Jihadist ideology, the forces of peace would certainly solidify. Even Russia, a subtler faultfinder, has more than it’s share of blood on its hands. Yet naturally, one should be entitled to expect a legitimately westernized democracy to conduct itself better than such regimes. Nonetheless, hyperbolic accusations of genocide and war crimes not only do an obvious disservice in undermining the true meanings of the words, but also serve to discourage the Israelis from proactively engaging the global community with its problems. If the already peace-oriented majority of the Israeli public perceives that its sensitive geopolitical setting is being objectively analyzed, if even slightly empathized with, they will have a much higher propensity towards utilizing international institutions instead of feeling the conviction that they have no choice but to exclusively rely on the sword.


Collective Palestinian Accountability, Not Suffering:

Whereas the military might of the IDF is capable of debilitating Hamas' infrastructure and sapping their capacity to govern, in the end Hamas as a political ideology can only be defeated by the Palestinians themselves. A fundamental objective for the international community, especially the willing moderate Arab states, should be in encouraging Palestinian electoral accountability. They democratically elected a terrorist entity --"militancy" as the more squeamish and delusional may prefer-- which they need to hold responsible just as much as Israel. There needs to be the final climax of realization that by futilely spewing rockets at Israeli towns, Hamas is not the glorious iconic liberator of Palestinian oppression they have portrayed themselves as, and if anything have set back the ultimate goal of nationhood. Disenchanted with the destruction of Gaza, emotionally fervent Palestinians will, of course, have an irrational inclination to rally towards Hamas. This is why governments worldwide and international non-state actors should limit this effect by providing mass amounts of humanitarian with objectives analogous to the Marshall Plan.

$50 Billion Just Ain’t What It Used To Be

The African nation of Zimbabwe introduced a $50 billion note into circulation on Monday the 13th of January. According to CNN a holder of just one of these notes will have enough money to buy two whole loafs of bread. Personally I applaud the Zimbabwean central bank for addressing an issue that has been ignored for far too long, not enough super billionaires.

The country’s struggling (maybe to nice of a word) economy has an inflation rate estimated at 231 million percent. That figure is not a typo; Zimbabwe’s inflation is at 231,000,000%. To make matters worse most businesses are only accepting foreign currency. The most commonly used are the American dollar and South African rand.

Now if only the $1trillion note would hurry up and come out people could afford a full dinner.

Sources: CNN, AP

UPDATE: The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe has heard and granted Kswiss' wish!

LA Times Reporter Rides With Taliban

I don't know what is more interesting about this article in the LA Times: the fact that a western journalist (or at least an Afghan stringer working for a western paper) was able to meet with a Taliban tribe without losing their head, or the amazing exemplification this article is of the Taliban's ability to utilize and manipulate the media to their ends.

It is clear that the Taliban understands the power that articles like this one have in convincing people that the insurgency is thriving in Afghanistan, and that NATO and the US have a long way to go there. Convincing one country to withdraw 1000 soldiers is certainly easier than killing or wounding them.

The Taliban has been controlling how they are portrayed in the media using less subtle methods as well, i.e. beheading pro-western Pakistani journalists and threatening others with death.

Meanwhile they have been selling professional-quality DVDs of beheadings and bombings in the tribal regions of Afghanistan and Pakistan. The DVDs are used as recruitment tools (kind of like the commercial where the Marine fights the fire monster I guess [or this one where the cool Ukrainian army guy gets the babe]).

It's pretty interesting to see how well a religious movement that wants to roll back all the social progress of the last millennium is able to adapt so quickly to the modern media machine.

Somebody find Robert Maynard, We’ve got Pirates!

Until recently I had been under the wrong impression that the age of piracy had come to an end sometime long ago. Other than a few randomly occurring attacks by AK-47 wielding speed boat crews I thought piracy was all but gone. However, I was wrong. In the Indian Ocean of the coast of Africa pirates still sail attacking and capturing freighters and oil tankers.

On November 15th 2008 a pirate crew attacked and seized the Sirius Star, an oil tanker carrying a payload valued over $110million. This makes the Sirius Star the most valuable booty ever captured by pirates ever. The hijacking occurred in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Kenya. In addition to the Sirius Star there have been over 96 reported pirate attacks and 39 hijackings in the African corner of the Indian Ocean over the last year. Several boats still remain in Pirate custody awaiting ransoms.

It is believed that most of the pirate crews hail from the failed state of Somalia where pirate crews can harbor without fear of government interaction. In Somalia it is easy for pirates to attract crews. Given a choice between making their fortune on the high seas or fighting for survival in war torn Somalia many people are eagerly joining the pirates.

In an effort to stop the attacks on unarmed commercial vessels Navies from around the world are sending ships to help. Warships from the United States, Russia, Denmark, Italy, China, India, and others now patrol the area. However, these naval vessels can only do so much. Unless they manage to intercept a pirate boats before a hijacking the good guys cannot attack for fear of killing crews taken hostage by the pirates. An Indian warship recently destroyed a fishing trawler thought to be a mothership for the pirate fleet only to find that they killed up to 14 Thai hostages. This military action against the pirates now threatens to create an international issue between the Indian and Thai governments.

Rather than playing a reactionary game, preemptive naval action should be taken against these pirates. Nationally owned warships are technologically superior and should have better trained crews. A destroyer or cruiser should be able to make short work of a Somalian pirate’s ship. What are a few AK-47’s and RPG’s going to do against a Steel hulled US Cruiser with it’s 5-Inch/54-caliber (Mk 45) lightweight gun?

As to the possibility of accidentally killing the hostage crews held by pirates it is a calculated risk that must be taken. Governments need to realize that allowing pirates to continue to roam freely without fear of naval interaction cannot continue. By attacking the pirates before they raid cargo ships civilian casualties can be minimized and a clear message can be sent that piracy will not be tolerated. International Navies should be hunting down the pirates and showing that they cannot terrorize the shipping lanes anymore.


Sources: Seattle Times, The Economist

4 Of The Most Economically Literate Politicians

You don't have to agree with their politics or broader worldview, but these political figures have demonstrated they possess, for the most part, a thorough understanding of fundamental economics which drive several of their policies:


Robert Bennett (R) – Standing at nearly 6’6’’, the lumbering Bob Bennett may seem hard to misplace amongst his congressional chums in the Senate Banking Committee; however, he has been a key maverick (yes eat your heart out, John!) behind the scenes of various economic issues. During the 1994 Mexican Peso crisis, Bennett helped prevent economic disaster by working furtively off the radar to secure American capital for the collapsing Mexican economy. With a 91% CATO rating, Bennett has tirelessly stood up for free-market principles throughout his political career.

CATO: 91%
US COC: 100%
NTU: 73%
Votes With Party: 88%
Hot or Not: Not


Michael Bloomberg (I) – Twice consecutively (and likely soon to be third) elected Mayor of New York City and billionaire, Michael Bloomberg turned a staggering $6 billion NYC deficit into a $3 billion surplus through enacting innovative tax reform and cutting the ineffective spending of various state agencies. The Harvard educated businessman exclaimed during a speech to the UK Conservative Party:

“Being a fiscal conservative is not about slashing programs that help the poor, or improve health care, or ensure a social safety net. It's about insisting that state services are provided efficiently, get to only the people that need them, and achieve the desired results.”

His penchant for inventive pragmatism can be further reflected in his membership into the ‘Pigou Club’ – an increasingly popular group of elite economists and public policy experts which advocate a carbon tax to curb greenhouse emissions, promote economic growth, and ensure national security. Bloomberg’s style of governance is indicative of a politician which emphasizes methodology over ideology, which resonates well with the dismal science of economics.

Hot or Not: Hot!

Maria Cantwell (D) - Now serving her second term as Washington State's second female Senator, Cantwell epitomizes a potential new generation of Democrats which look to abandon traditional methods of representing the working class through the (often counterproductive) protectionist approach, instead looking to empower them through human capital enhancing policies and exploiting the advantages a globalized economy has to offer the lower-middle class of Washington State. She did this by voting against repealing tax subsidies to US companies which operate offshore and voicing her support for CAFTA, earning her resentment amongst many of her Democratic counterparts. Despite having voted with her party 95% of the time (a somewhat misleading statistic), she was the sole vote against a 2007 measure that would allow US companies to seek anti-dumping duties on goods from any country that maintains a "fundamentally misaligned" exchange rate after being formally cited by the United States.

CATO: 62%
US COC: 39%
NTU: 15%
Votes With Party: 95%
Hot or Not: Not

Judd Gregg (R) – A ranking member in the Senate Budget Committee, Judd Gregg has been a fiscal watchdog for reining in federal spending which doesn’t have the bang for its buck and overburdens future generations, earning him the nickname ‘Judd Dredd’ (okay not really, but wouldn’t that be pretty sweet?). Committed to his fiscal conservatism, Senator Gregg has not been reluctant to vote against his own party, most notably on prescription drug legislation and energy subsidies to ethanol. Yes, Gregg understands that there’s no point in complaining about stale bread on a shit sandwich of national debt.

CATO: 92%
US COC: 78%
NTU: 80%
Votes With Party: 83%
Hot or Not: Hot!

http://www.ontheissues.org/
http://www.opencongress.org/

Other honorable mentions include:

Kent Conrad
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Susan Collins
Chuck Hagel

Mustache Parade

Eric Holder is looking to be the first mustachioed AG since 1945 when Francis Beverly Biddle held the post (and yes I scoured the archives for that fact). However, the appointment may not come as easily as many expected if Senate Republicans have their way.

Today, the LA Times reported that at least eight GOP senators are threatening to delay Holder’s nomination hearings until after the January 20^th inauguration, potentially throwing a wrench in what many thought would be an easy process. The sticking point for Republicans is the role Holder may have played in the 11^th hour Clinton pardon of the fugitive financier Marc Rich, as well as a number of other controversial commutations made in the latter days of the Clinton White House.

The Republicans say they are worried that Holder could kowtow to the wishes of the President at the expense of justice. Meanwhile, Democrats are accusing the Republicans of playing the party line and needlessly delaying the confirmation of an important cabinet official. Unfortunately, the editors of Mustache Aficionado could not be reached for comment at the time of this posting.

In other mustache news, Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe has accused Britain of starting a cholera outbreak that has killed over 700 and infected thousands more in the country. I would like to give Mr. Mugabe the benefit of the doubt here, after all his policies single handedly made every citizen in his country a millionaire.

Seriously though, with a glorious specimen of minimalist mustache design like that how could you even think of sharing power with your democratically elected rival?

Guantanamo Bay: Still Better Than My Highschool

I’m a bit (a lot) hesitant on the whole ‘lack of due process and habeas corpus thing,’ however, these photos below from The Big Picture really struck me. It also reports that most detainees are provided with advanced educational opportunities, up to 12 daily hours of recreational opportunities, and a library with over 7,500 books. The most requested book title is the Harry Potter series.

The Potential $150 Million Waste

The University of Washington and its football team are looking to make substantial improvements to Husky Stadium. The improvements to the stadium will cost an estimated $300 million. The Husky football club, Tyee, will by working to fundraise half of the $300 million. Meanwhile, the University of Washington will be seeking the remaining $150 million in tax money this coming budget cycle. The University is proposing that the money come from continuation the tourist taxes on hotels, rental cars, etc. that exist to pay for both Safeco and Qwest Fields.

The request comes shortly after an Olympia announcement regarding a potential $5.1 billion budget deficit in the state. The University and Husky football supporters claim that the renovation will work to increase revenue brought in by the football team by providing a better experience for fans while also creating jobs in an economically slow time. Their claim is that the stadium renovation will be far more valuable then the $150 million that is costs the state.

The University football team does bring in the most revenue of all the school different programs. Almost 80% of the revenue from the sports department comes from the football program. However, the benefits of a new stadium are more easily argued when the team using the stadium is not one of the worst division one football programs in the country. A better and less expensive way for the University to increase revenue from its football program would be to field a half way competent team. Losing teams do not bring fans to game and teams that do not even keep games close bring even less. Some may argue that a better stadium would bring better recruits, but better coaching and smart recruiting have much more of an effect then a stadium.

As to the creation of jobs, renovating Husky Stadium would do just that. However, building more mass transit, investing in green energy plants, and many other possible civil projects would also create jobs. These projects also have the added benefit of helping everyone in the community rather then a small niche of Husky football supporters. Additionally, jobs created by Husky stadium will only last as long as the construction of the stadium, while smart investment into the right civil projects can create much longer lasting employment opportunities.

The state should find better more universally beneficial ways to spend our tax dollars. Spending $150 million on the renovation of a football stadium during an economic downturn is not the best use of or states tax dollars.

Sources: Seattle Times