Grinnell Light

I painted a mysterious light on Grinnell Street yesterday.

I drew in the lines on a page primed with blue and orange.

With a big flat brush and gouache I started establishing the houses.

I painted out the truck and put in the trees.

I added the street pole and the porch.

Detail of the effect area.

The light and color were all in my head. 

It was really a sunny afternoon in Rhinecliff, New York.

Here's what I was looking at. I was using the forms I saw to paint an imaginary light.

Scroll back up to see the finish, or you can click through the sequence on my Facebook page.

Art Supplies

Winsor and Newton gouache
Moleskine watercolor notebook
Caran D'Ache watercolor pencils
Schmincke Watercolor Pocket Set,

Inane Step in Wrong Direction: Germany Plans to Lower Retirement Age for Some Workers From 65 to 63

With people living longer and longer, and with Germany forcing higher retirement ages on Greece and Spain, lowering the retirement age in Germany for any set of workers makes no sense whatsoever. Yet, that is exactly what's slated to happen.

Wrong Signal

The Financial Times reports Germany Attacked Over Plan to Cut Retirement Age.

Speaking to national paper Die Welt, Günther Oettinger, German EU commissioner, said that Germany’s plans to allow longer-serving employees to retire at the age of 63 sent the “wrong signal” at a time when countries like Greece, Spain and Portugal are struggling to introduce tough labour market reforms.

“We expect Greeks to work longer for less pay,” said Mr Oettinger. “They are now wondering that Germany is going in the other direction.”

Warning that the eurozone’s largest economy faces a skills shortage, the EU energy commissioner said that politicians should start to talk instead about a retirement age of 70 and help equip people with professional training for a longer working life.

Greece and Spain have agreed to raise their retirement age from 65 to 67, while Portugal recently pushed its retirement age up to 66.

Under draft laws set to come into effect in July, people who have worked at least 45 years since the age of 18 will be allowed to retire at 63 with a full state pension. The official age of retirement in Germany is in the process of being raised from 65 to 67.

Economists at Deutsche Bank estimate the total cost of the coalition’s pension reforms will total €230bn by 2030 and have warned that the burden of paying for people in retirement will fall on the country’s younger generation.

Demographically Speaking

From a demographic standpoint, with fewer and fewer workers supporting retirees whose lifespan  and medical costs continually rise,  the change is as puzzling as it is ludicrous.

Note: 

Some people reported the Greenwald interview Youtube link in a previous post "was taken down". I am  not sure why but I found a replacement: Greenwald Interview:

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com

Chinese Court Seizes Japanese Ship to Settle WWII Dispute

Tensions between China and Japan escalated once again, this time over a grudge dating back to WWII.

The Financial Times reports Japanese Ship Seized in WWII Claims Dispute.

A Chinese court has seized a Japanese cargo ship over legal claims related to the second world war as escalating tensions between the two countries spill into the realm of commerce.

Japan was quick to denounce the confiscation of the vessel, warning it could have a “chilling effect on all Japanese companies doing business in China”. It is the first time a Chinese court has ordered the seizure of Japanese assets in relation to second world war.

The incident underlines strained relations between China and Japan, who have recently sparred over a string of disputed islands that some analysts say is the most dangerous faultline in Asia. Extensive economic ties between the two countries have so far served to stabilise the relationship.

The Shanghai Maritime Court seized the Baosteel Emotion at a port near Shanghai at the weekend, it said on its website. The ship belongs to Japanese conglomerate Mitsui OSK Lines and had been ferrying Australian iron ore to China’s flagship steel mill Baosteel.

Japan has consistently argued that the peace treaties it signed after the war exempt it from having to pay compensation to individuals or companies in former enemy countries. But China and South Korea, which nurse the strongest resentment over Japan’s often brutal imperial expansion, counter that the agreements only cover government-to-government reparations, leaving private groups free to sue for damages.

Still, for many years China discouraged any claims by its citizens against Japan, whether for forced labour, sexual slavery or asset seizures. Former premier Zhou Enlai explicitly rejected the prospect of any Chinese wartime claims, in return for assurances of Japanese development aid and investment. As a result, Chinese activists have had to pursue claims in Japanese courts.

“Overall China is dissatisfied with Japan, so a lot of matters have re-emerged,” said Shen Dingli, an expert in Northeast Asian geopolitics at Fudan University in Shanghai. “In the past they might have discouraged suits like this but now they don’t stand in the way.”

Last year, South Korean courts ruled against Japanese corporations in two landmark cases involving Koreans forced into labour for the Japanese war effort.

Trade wars, currency wars, and beggar-thy-neighbor tactics are hallmarks of deflationary times. When the global economy is good and jobs plentiful, age-old disputes like these seldom surface.

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com

Eugène Burnand's World War I Portraits

Ben Cassam

Between 1917 and 1920, Swiss artist Eugène Burnand (1850-1921) drew over a hundred portraits of the various allies in World War I.

Serraghi Cherrif

He drew them with Wolff pencils. The color was added with Hardtmuth hard pastels. Burnand's keen observation was shaped during his training at the École des Beaux-Arts with Jean-Léon Gérôme.

Jean Bellac

Many of his subjects posed for him while they were recuperating between deployments,.

Tirailleur Famory

Burnand was interested in the various ethnicities and facial types of the military men.

Mohamed Ben Binhouan

He drew them all with sympathy but also objectivity.

Lé Naplong

Most are shown with indirect light, and with an upshot angle, increasing the sense of dignity.

Lé Tiep

He often subordinated the edges around the neck and shoulders, and concentrated the attention on the eyes and mouth.

Private Roshan Dean

It's a genuine accomplishment in portraiture to capture the uniqueness of the individual's physiognomy but also their universal emotion.

Auxiliary Chan Mohamed

He got to know each of them first and developed a relationship of trust. Sometimes the sitting became more like a confessional.

Rev. Père Rouillon

He offered to pay them for sitting, but many of them refused to accept the money, as they felt honored to pose.

Serbian infantry private

Resources to learn more:
See the rest of Burnand's WWI portraits online 
Drawings on display Museum of the Legion of Honor (Légion d'honneur) in Paris.
The drawings were published in 1922 a book called Les alliés dans la guerre des nations.
Here's a modern book that includes the work from Les Alliés Dans La Guerre Des Nations.
Review by Gabriel Weisberg of a catalog of a 2004 exhibition of Burnand's work.
Eugène Burnand on Wikipedia

Japan Trade Deficit Largest in History; Imports Soar, Exports Barely Up In Spite of Collapsed Yen

Those who think a collapsing currency is a sure-fire way to increase exports need to rethink their beliefs.

Despite a falling Yen, Japan Posts Largest-Ever Trade Deficit.

The gap between the value of Japan’s exports and that of its imports grew by more than two-thirds in the 12 months through March, to Y13.7tn ($134bn), according to government data released on Monday. It was the third consecutive fiscal year of deficits, the longest streak since comparable records began in the 1970s.

Toyota, Hitachi and other large Japanese companies have enjoyed soaring profits as a result of the weaker yen, which has fallen by a fifth against other major currencies since November 2012.

But the improvement has come less from increased exports than from flattered exchange rates on overseas sales. Japanese export volumes have barely risen and the yen value of goods shipped to foreign markets has increased much more slowly than the value of imports.

Exports actually declined slightly by volume in January-March compared with the previous quarter, by 0.2 per cent on a seasonally adjusted basis, according to calculations by Credit Suisse, even as imports grew by 4.5 per cent.

A steady outflow of Japanese manufacturing jobs to lower-cost countries and declining competitiveness in some sectors, such as consumer electronics, has limited the power of a cheap yen to lift exports.

Overall Japanese exports increased 0.6 per cent by volume last fiscal year, Monday’s data showed, leading to a 10.8 per cent rise by value in light of the weaker yen. Imports rose 2.4 per cent by volume and 17.3 per cent by value.

Energy Imports

Japan has 50 nuclear reactors. Every one of them is offline. Abe wants to bring them back online, but the Financial Times reports "analysts think that at most 12-15 of the reactors will ultimately be restarted."

Abenomics

A falling Yen and rising energy imports, coupled with a slowdown in China and tax hikes in Japan suggest Abenomics is going to be a dismal failure unless the goal is to goose stock prices rather than goose the economy.

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com

Glen Greenwald Wins Pulitzer Prize for Exposing NSA Spy Scandal; His Reaction on Video; My Reaction: Greenwald and Snowden are Heroes

A big round of well deserved applause for Glen Greenwald is in order for willing a Pulitzer Prize for public service. Greenwald says the announcement was "really gratifying."

Please consider Glenn Greenwald Reacts To Pulitzer Prize

Glenn Greenwald told CNN's Brian Stelter on Sunday that receiving the Pulitzer Prize for public service was "really gratifying."

On Monday, Greenwald and other journalists at The Guardian and The Washington Post were awarded the Pulitzer for their reporting on the National Security Agency. The big question as the awards approached was whether the Pulitzer Prize committee would recognize their work, and they did just that.

On Sunday's "Reliable Sources," Greenwald told Stelter that he was having lunch with his phone on the table when the announcement came, and described his reaction.

"I think there was an expectation that the committee had to recognize the reporting in one way or another, and the question was going to be how," said Greenwald. "To learn that it was the public service award and that it was given to The Guardian and to The Washington Post for the work that we had done was really gratifying, because I think that is the ideal that we always tried to fulfill, which is doing the reporting in public service."

Congressman Peter King, like other critics of Greenwald, reacted to the news less kindly, calling the win a "disgrace." When asked about King's condemnation of the award, Greenwald said it was "an enormous badge of honor." He compared it to the reactions of those who called for prosecuting Daniel Ellsberg and The New York Times for releasing the Pentagon Papers.

Greenwald and Snowden are Heroes

Glen Greenwald and Edward Snowden are heroes. Those looking for cowardly disgrace can find it in the reactions of President Obama, Senator John McCain, Congressman Peter King, and numerous other legislators who have no idea what the constitution even says.



In the above video, Pulitzer Prize winner Glenn Greenwald joins Brian Stelter for an exclusive interview.

Congratulations to Greenwald, the Guardian, and the Washington Post.

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com

"Low Inflation has Positive Impact and Helps Spain's Competitiveness" Says Economy Minister

Luis de Guindos, Spain's Economy Minister, sings the praises of low inflation.

Via translation from El Economista, please consider Economy Minister Says Deflation Has "Positive Impact".

James Daniel, Spain's mission advisor to the IMF, said that inflation close to zero in the country increases the burden of debt and real interest rates and difficult to reduce unemployment.

Daniel's words contradict the perception Luis de Guindos, the Spanish Minister of Economy and Competitiveness, who also said today at a press conference that low inflation "is having a positive impact" and help the country's competitiveness.

Guindos noted noted that, far from being a threat, "the low level of inflation is allowing Spain win competitiveness."

However, he recognized that low inflation could become a "problem" if it lasts "long" and affects the process of deleveraging in the Spanish economy. The minister expects inflation to fluctuate in the coming months at around 0.5%.

Guindos had it correct until that last sentence. Low inflation, or deflation is never a problem. Rather the buildup of debt that cannot be serviced is the problem.

Since the buildup of debt is the problem, inflationary solutions that encourage people and businesses to expand debt cannot possibly be the solution.

Falling wages have had a positive effect on Spain's competitiveness, so much so that France is bitching about the invasion of Spanish builders undercutting French firms in price.

For discussion, please see Deflation Will Return: Europe First, Then US; Global Supply Arbitrage.

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com