[QUOTE=ewmayer;314450][b]Friday Humor:[/b]

[url=http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/13/world/nobel-peace-prize.html?ref=world]2012 Nobel Peace Prize Award to European Union[/url] - That's an even bigger joke than when the Norskies awarded the 2008 prize to then-candidate and "I have 0 background as a peace activist, but I will prove to be a pretty good neocon" Obama. Apparently this year's decision [url=http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/13/world/europe/some-norwegians-dismayed-over-nobel-prize-for-european-union.html?ref=world]even has some Norskies upset[/url].

(Hannan makes much the same "this could not have been funnier if it had been meant as joke" point today at his [url=http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/author/danielhannan/]blog on the [i]Telegraph[/i] website[/url]).[/QUOTE]Each of these still have a long way to go before they beat Henry Kissinger's prize. See Tom Lehrer for the definitive reaction to that one.

The current actuality of the EU may be a mess, but since the goal
of unified peace is a noble one, perhaps the Nobel "in advance of
being earned" is not such a bad idea.

Besides, they could use the money.

[QUOTE]Each of these still have a long way to go before they beat Henry Kissinger's prize.[/QUOTE][url]http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0326306/[/url]

[url=http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2012/10/imf-admits-it-prescribed-wrong-medicine.html]IMF Admits the Maths Underlying its Austerity Prescriptions Were Wildly Wrong[/url]

[QUOTE=ewmayer;314450]

[URL="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/13/world/nobel-peace-prize.html?ref=world"]2012 Nobel Peace Prize Award to European Union[/URL] - That's an even bigger joke than when the Norskies awarded the 2008 prize to then-candidate and "I have 0 background as a peace activist, but I will prove to be a pretty good neocon" Obama. Apparently this year's decision [URL="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/13/world/europe/some-norwegians-dismayed-over-nobel-prize-for-european-union.html?ref=world"]even has some Norskies upset[/URL].

(Hannan makes much the same "this could not have been funnier if it had been meant as joke" point today at his [URL="http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/author/danielhannan/"]blog on the [I]Telegraph[/I] website[/URL]).[/QUOTE]

All very well except that he was awarded the 2009 prize after he had been president for 9 months.

Hannan by the way is a bit of a loony. Doesn't let facts get in the way of a good ideologically driven rant. Which is not to say that he doesn't make sense once in a while. A bit like ZeroHedge.

[QUOTE=garo;314654]All very well except that he was awarded the 2009 prize after he had been president for 9 months.[/QUOTE]

I stand corrected - on the precise timing of the undeserved laurels, not their [url=en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nobel_Peace_Prize]undeservedness[/url]:
[quote]Since 1901, [the Nobel Peace Prize] has been awarded annually (with some exceptions) to those who have "done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses."[1][/quote]
The bit about Nobel being influenced by his close friend Bertha von Suttner is interesting - her portrait was one of the ones which adorned the old Austrian 1000 Schilling note.

And yeah, Kissinger is certainly in the short list of all-time most heinous awardees. But 2 wrongs don't make a right, especially in light of some of the names in the above page's Notable Omissions section. To his credit, Kissinger's co-awardee showed much more integrity than did either Kissinger or the Committee of Idiots which made that year's selection:
[quote]The awards given to Lê Ðức Thọ and Henry Kissinger prompted two dissenting Committee members to resign.[19] Thọ refused to accept the prize, on the grounds that peace had not actually been achieved in Vietnam.[/quote]

[QUOTE]But 2 wrongs don't make a right…[/QUOTE]Three lefts do.

:mike:

If you read through the austerity math just a bit, you will quickly see that Greece has been forced into a downward spiral with no end in sight. In other words, the more they tighten their belt, the less they can eat, therefore the less they can work which means they have to tighten their belt because there is not enough to eat....... Sound confusing?

What else is new? Oh, the Greek people seem to recognize what is being forced down their throats.

I would think a more viable fix would be to do away with the socialist "entitlements" that the Greek people are so fond of. But that is politically impossible.

DarJones

This is what I think of the award:

[url]http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cartoon/2012/oct/12/european-union-nobel-peace-prize-cartoon[/url]

[QUOTE=garo;314867]This is what I think of the award:

[url]http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cartoon/2012/oct/12/european-union-nobel-peace-prize-cartoon[/url][/QUOTE]
Nice - love the look on cartoon-Barroso's fat face. My favorite reader comments:

Best (despite the commenter's apparent axe-to-grind w.r.to Walesa, Gorbachev and Havel, who are not even in the same universe of prize-self-mockery as the likes of Kissinger):
[quote][i]Beckow
12 October 2012 9:00PM
[/i]
Nobel Peace Price is one of the weirdest rituals of the Western self-congratulating mushy liberals. It is not just the pathetic Kissinger. They actually had previous recipients, Perez and Arafat, who attempted to kill each other. Then we had the bizarre spectacle of Walesa, Gorbachev and Havel being celebrated in the West and intensely disliked at home - each had a popularity of 1-5% (check out the results when Gorbachev and Walesa run for President). And Obama - enough said.

So what is the Nobel Peace Price for? It is a soft tool to reward allies and try to influence more gullible public opinion. It has become a joke, I guess now all "Europeans" of the right kind can pat themselves on the back for not shooting at a neighbor for a generation or two. By that standard, why not just give it to Canada each year? Or just keep it in Norway.[/quote]

Funniest:
[quote][i]guardiansek
12 October 2012 9:03PM
[/i]
It could be worse--the Nobel committee could have given the EU the Nobel Prize for Economics :)[/quote]

I am at least somewhat sympathetic to the idea that the EU has acted as an effective damper of virulent nationalism, but I see 2 huge flaws with that argument:

1. We now see that whatever its high-flown premises, the actual modus operandi of the EU in achieving "peace through integration" was really "all will be well as long as the transnational credit card doesn't hit its limit". Now that the resulting fiscal imbalances have become unsustainably huge, nationalism is returning with a vengeance, and not just in Greece;

2. The premise that the only choices for Europe are (a) perpetual ruinous wars or (b) perpetual debt slavery (and that (b) is vastly preferable to (a)) is ludicrous.

[QUOTE=ewmayer;314892]2. The premise that the only choices for Europe are (a) perpetual ruinous wars or (b) perpetual debt slavery (and that (b) is vastly preferable to (a)) is ludicrous.[/QUOTE]

Agreed.

But Economics is called "the dismal science" for a reason.

Lots of inputs; lots of outputs...

But predictiveness very close to zero.