Kip Austin Hinton

"TransCanada numbers count each job on a yearly basis. If the pipeline employs 10,000 people working for two years, that's 20,000 jobs by the company's count. The estimates also include jobs in Canada, where about a third of the $7 billion pipeline would be constructed... Even according to TransCanada, the amount of permanent jobs created would be only in the hundreds." The pipeline plan would have very little impact on the unemployment rate in the states it passes through. The pipeline plan would have no measurable effect on the supply or cost of petroleum in the U.S. Finally, the petroleum will not belong to any of us. It will belong to TransCanada, who will obviously sell it to the highest bidder (for many barrels, experts say that will be China). The greatest problem is the process of gathering and processing oil from oilsands. This is not like the stereotype of a gusher, with oil bursting from the ground. They have to dig down with gigantic machinery, hauling out...

I have taught many Chinese students who are honest, hard-working, and creative (unlike profs in this story, I did not reduce the number of presentations to "help" them). I also taught a few who plagiarized in class, and probably plagiarized their UCLA admissions essays. Supply and demand at work: ... Zinch China was contacted by the provost of a large American university who wanted to recruit 250 Chinese students, stat. When asked why, the provost replied that his institution faced a yawning budget deficit. To fill it, he told Mr. Melcher, the university needed additional students who could pay their own way... The company concluded that 90 percent of Chinese applicants submit false recommendations, 70 percent have other people write their personal essays, 50 percent have forged high-school transcripts... "If a student isn't placed, we've got screaming, yelling parents in the lobby," says Kathryn Ohehir, who works in [Aoji Education Group], in ...

Thursday, Nov 3, 2011 America’s corporate tax obscenity A new report about companies' finances won't just enrage you -- it'll make you run to the nearest protest By Andrew Leonard (Credit: Reuters/Jose Luis Magaua) In 2010, Verizon reported an annual profit of nearly $12 billion. The statutory federal corporate income tax rate is 35 percent, so theoretically, Verizon should have owed the IRS around $4.2 billlion. Instead, according to figures compiled by the Center for Tax Justice, the company actually boasted a negative tax liability of $703 million. Verizon ended up making even more money after it calculated its taxes. Verizon is hardly alone, and isn’t even close to being the worst offender. Perhaps most famously, General Electric raked in $10.5 billion in pr...

to slow computer speculation, decrease volatility, and raise revenue. support the transaction tax! "The Benefits of a Financial Transactions Tax" http://www.cepr.net/documents/publications/financial-transactions-tax-2008-12.pdf "Taxation generally leads to economic distortions, with the possible exception of cases where the activity being taxed is itself harmful, such as smoking or drinking alcohol. While there are undoubtedly distortions associated with financial transactions taxes (it will have some impact on the cost of capital), much of the economic activity that will be lost as a result of the tax has the character of gambling. It will have very little effect on the effectiveness of capital markets. "In this sense, a financial transactions tax can actually increase the efficiency of financial markets. If the sector can just as effectively fill its function as an intermediary while employing fewer workers and requiring less capital, then the tax will have increa...

I am in favor of equal rights for agricultural workers. This means equal protections and a minimum wage equal to other jobs. I voted for Jerry Brown because he supported farmworkers' rights in the past, and promised to do so again, in the spirit of Cesar Chavez. I was then very disappointed tonight to read ( http://blogs.sacbee.com/capitolalertlatest/2011/06/emotions-run-high-as-jerry-bro.html ) that Brown has followed the footsteps of Schwarzenegger, not Chavez. Brown vetoed the bill that would allow agricultural workers to protect themselves by organizing. This bill would improve the California Agricultural Labor Relations Act ; it would not destroy it. CALRA's framework is viable no matter how votes are counted. But beyond that, it is disheartening that Brown has become so cynical. He used his personal relationship with Chavez to win votes during the campaign, but vetoed Chavez's legacy the first chance he got. Brown does not step foot onto these farms. Brown has not li...

this is about my translation of the Manu Chao song "Me Llaman Calle." [ video below ] i'm reasonably close to a literal translation, with changes to fit the rhythm and number of syllables per line. "baldosa" is like ladrilla (a brick to build a house) except flat like a tile. based on context, i translate it as "cobblestones." Chao also uses "maquinita," literally "little machine," but this implies a small device in english (a machine that does something, but does not move itself - such as a laminating machine, a blood-glucose meter, or an ATM) - so i use "little engine" instead, to imply movement. the one line i'm not happy with is the translation of "no me rebajo"; if i wasn't worried about rhythm, i would translate it as "it doesn't dig ruts into me." the tricky part is that this word, rut, is almost never used as a present-tense transitive verb in english. we generally use it as a noun (...

Why Aren't We Calling Loughner a Terrorist? huffingtonpost.com I can't help but wonder why folks are so afraid to call the mass shooting in Tuscon, Arizona an act of terrorism. The fear of the "T" word seems almost palpable in describing the gruesome events that took place this past Saturday... my responses to the article: - yes, there is a race component within how this word is used. but the politics are more powerful: some of the same Mujahideen who reagan called "freedom fighters" in 1983 became "terrorists" in 2001. - if shown to be politically motivated, i think a lot of americans will accept that Loughner is a terrorist. especially since it involves assassination. - Sirhan Sirhan is regularly described as a terrorist - is it because he is palestinian, or because he assassinated a political figure? i think both. - the man who flew a plane into the austin IRS building was described (in media) as deranged AND as a terrorist. same for Ted K...