"one day you return to the warmth of leaving home"

as some might know already, I am working on going back to the states. right now things are a bit complicated, but as soon as I know more you will be able to read it on this blog. so still, "rolling with the punches" seems to be an appropriate title for the future...

die wm berichterstattung...

ihr habt es ja bereits gemerkt, meine wm-blog hat sich aufgelöst. und das trotz des großen erfolges. :-) ab jetzt geht´s hier wieder mit anderen themen weiter!

congratulations ecuador!!!

wow, I was hoping for them to do a good job and ecuador did not disappoint me. two-nil against poland, due to maintaining their discipline against a team that seems to have troubles being a team. let´s wait and see what else group a is going to reveal. oh, and I think susy, gabbycita and javier are going to party now - greetings to you, guys!

tomorrow's matches:

group b/group c:
england - paraguay
trinidad/tobago - sweden
argentina - ivory coast

today:

group a:
germany - costa rica 4:2
poland - ecuador 0:2

ranking:
1. germany
2. ecuador


(pic: reuters)

Ecuador : Polen

Gastkommentar des anonymen Fussballexperten.

Und da ist es auch schon vorbei, die erste Partie der Fußballweltmeisterschaft, das Eröffnungsspiel, Deutschland gegen Costa Rica, 4:2, also sechs Tore, ein Feuerwerk, und das ungefähr ein halbes Jahr vor Ende der Semesterferien. Über diesen Zufall spricht aber niemand, nein, es lässt sich gut an, die WM für die Weltgastgeber und alles was zählt ist die Begeisterung, auch wenn Paulo Wanchope kein Ronaldinho ist – aber genau das herauszufinden wird den Deutschen nicht erspart bleiben.

Und jetzt spielt Ecuador, und wenn sie es gut machen, dann spielen sie nicht, nein, dann zelebrieren sie Fussball, ja ist ihnen das denn zuzutrauen, wer weiß das schon, und es wird die Welle der Begeisterung hineingetragen in die Tiefe des lateinamerikanischen Raums. Und nicht nur das, auch in die Höhe, in die Höhe von Quito, der Hauptstadt der Gelb-Blau-Roten, die mit Polen zwar einen schweren aber doch bezwingbaren Gegner in der Gruppe A vorfinden – von Deutschland wissen die Ecuadorianer ja, das letzteres leider nicht zutreffen kann.

Costa Rica machte den Anfang, jetzt Ecuador, morgen geht es ganz in den Süden nach Argentinien, auch Trinidad und Tobago und Paraguay werden sich die Ehre geben – dann fehlen noch Brasilien und Mexiko und mit den USA werden dann die Amerikas, alle die es gibt!, erste Duftmarken gesetzt haben, die weitere Ausblicke erlauben.

Vorerst möchte ich aber nicht weiter eure Zeit stehlen - schließlich spielt ja Polen und der Anstand müsste mir eigentlich solche Wortspiele verbieten. Einundzwanzig Uhr, Anpfiff.

let´s get it started!

"the celebrating faces of football", as the smileys in the world cup logo are called, finally can start to celebrate. and even though they are more looking like the celebrating faces of people who abuse alcohol, I can´t wait for the kick off. in 75 minutes from now everything is going to be good.

today´s matches: germany - costa rica and poland - ecuador. hooray for latin america, I hope we experience two surprises this evening.

"vivan siempre el trabajo y la paz" is the motto of the republic of costa rica - the first nation to constitutionally abolish its army, by the way.

alright then, costa rica: trabaja un poco and make the germans cry. wishful thinking? let's see.

question of the day

what are you thinking about when you take a look at the columbia company logo?
chairwoman gert boyle´s parents fled germany in 1937 and founded the company one year later. I don´t know why they came up with a logo like this.

studying abroad

if you are planning on studying abroad, like I did, the ISEP page might contain some useful information. plus, if you are planning on studying in austria, take a look at this.

summer break

well, I am a bit lazy these days, but no worries: new posts are coming soon!

silver creek falls

today tara, swedish sara, laure, everett and I went to the silver creek falls, one of the most beautiful places in oregon. ev and I went for a nice run and this maniac even dived into the ice cold water. more pictures right after the jump.

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stick a fork in me, I´m done.

I just turned in my last paper for the semster - probably not a milestone in my academic career, but what counts is that I have finished all my classes now. that´s a pretty nice feeling.

here´s a list of the classes I took this year:

pol 305 Modern Political Theory

pol 315 Capitalism and Democracy

pol 315 Politics of Citizenship and Immigration

pol 326w Globalization and Equity

span 132 Elementary Spanish II

span 231 Intermediate Spanish I


and as if that was not enough, I worked for Campus Safety. It gets even better, I got a free coffee from the bistro once because I was a campus tourguide for some german highschool kids.

if that´s not studiousness, what else is? haha...

7 days

so, at least for now my time in the states is almost over. needless to say, that sucks. or as some people here would say: "that sucks the bones of a dead man". you can totally put it that way. 7 more days and that´s it. as I am writing this I am listening to "the shins" and I know that this last week I am going to party a lot.

beautiful oregon

crater lake/oregon. this picture was taken by mike miller and can also be found on monty´s blog - a blog that´s worth reading, by the way.

von friedman zu friedman und warum teures öl kein grund zum jubeln ist.

ich kann mich auch täuschen, aber ich denke ich bin dieses jahr zeuge eines "großen umdenkens der us amerikaner", welches ansatzweise bereits früchte trägt. man braucht nicht lange zu suchen um in tageszeitungen berichte und analysen zum thema "global warming" und "sustainability" zu finden.
nun, es mangelt nicht an energieverschwendung, da hat man in europa diesbezüglich schon ein ziemlich realistisches us-bild.

allgemein ist man aber der ansicht, dass die hohen erdölpreise, die sich in letzter zeit so zwischen $40-60 (heute: fast $72) pro barrel bewegen und mittelfristig eher steigen als fallen werden, zu einem schrittweisen umdenken der us-bevölkerung führen. natürlich ist es für die leute hier kein argument, dass us-benzin (diesel ist übrigens nicht weit verbreitet) im vergleich zu anderen ländern immer noch billig ist - was zählt ist, dass einmal volltanken heute mehr kostet als vor einem jahr oder vor 10 jahren. das, gepaart mit der fehlenden aussicht auf niedrigere preise, lässt immer mehr menschen von benzinfressenden SUVs zu deutlich rentableren hybrid autos wechseln. so zählt toyotas prius bereits zu den beliebesten autos in den vereinigten staaten.

all das ist nicht wirklich neu (für nicht-us-amerikaner) oder überraschend. für viele umweltbewusste menschen sind die hohen rohölpreise ein willkommenes zeichen für die anstehende wende hin zu einem nachhaltigeren umgang mit umwelt und ressourcen. einiges spricht für diese auffassung - jedoch ist der wahre preis den wir für teures öl bezahlen weit höher als die zapfsäule an der tankstelle anzeigt.

foreign policy hat in seiner mai/juni 2006 ausgabe einen artikel von"New York Times" kolumnist thomas l. friedman veröffentlicht, der den zusammenhang zwischen steigenden erdölpreisen und sinkender demokratiemoral in erdöl exportierenden ländern aufzeigt. was friedman als "The First Law of Petropolitics" bezeichnet sieht folgendermaßen aus:
"The First Law of Petropolitics posits the following: The price of oil and the pace of freedom always move in opposite directions in oil-rich petrolist states. According to the First Law of Petropolitics, the higher the average global crude oil price rises, the more free speech, free press, free and fair elections, an independent judiciary, the rule of law, and independent political parties eroded."

was führt zu dieser entwicklung? staaten wie venezuela, azerbaijan, ägypten und russland profitieren immens von hohen erdölpreisen, da nahezu alle staatsausgaben mittels einahmen aus dem erdölverkauf gedeckt werden. solche staaten können es sich leisten, ihrer bevölkerung kaum steuern aufzuerlegen. und nicht nur das, wie hugo chávez in venezuela zeigt: mit massiven, auf kurzfristigen erfolg ausgelegten wohlfahrtsprogrammen wird die bevölkerung milde gestimmt. man nimmt ihr sozusagen den wind aus den segeln um politischen widerstand gar nicht erst aufkeimen zu lassen.

friedman schreibt: "A massive influx of oil wealth can diminish social pressures for occupational specialization, urbanization, and the securing of higher levels of education - trends that normally accompany broad economic development and that also produce a public that is more articulate, better able to organize, bargain, and communicate, and endowed with economic power centers of its own."

so ermöglichen hohe ölpreise ungestrafte ausfälle wie jene ahmadinejads, welcher den holocaust als "mythos" bezeichnet oder, nicht ganz so krass, chávez´, der tony blair ein unhöfliches "go right to hell" ausrichten lässt. was haben diese staaten zu befürchten? vorerst einmal nichts - mit gefüllten staatskassen und einer unterdrückten bevölkerung auf die die regierung nicht angewiesen ist muss man sich nicht um korrekte umgangsformen scheren. was hat die westliche welt zu befürchten? einiges: "When you have enough countries with enough negative impacts, you start to poison global politics."

und das ist das dilemma: höhere energiepreise sind offenbar von nöten um menschen in westlichen industrienationen zum umdenken richtung nachhaltigem umgang mit der umwelt zu bewegen. würde treibstoff nicht teurer, könnten wir bald auf schlauchboote umsteigen - reisserisch ausgedrückt. zur gleichen zeit führen höhere ölpreise aber in einer vielzahl von staaten zur unterdrückung der bevölkerung und zu außenpolitischer "diplomatie" die nicht gerade auf ein künftiges stabiles staatenzusammensein hoffen lässt.

wir müssen auf alternative energien umsteigen um der abhängigkeit von öl endlich ein ende zu bereiten. sinkt die nachfrage nach öl, wird sich auch das verhalten der jetzt übermütigen erdöl exporteure ändern. friedman nennt ein beispiel: "With all due respect to Ronald Reagan, I do not believe he brought down the Soviet Union. There were obviously many factors, but the collapse in global oil prices around the late 1980s and early 1990s surely played a key role."

es muss uns also gelingen den preis für öl zu drücken - und zwar nicht durch die erhöhung der fördermenge (was ohnehin nicht mehr lange möglich ist, der oil-peak [mehr als die hälfte allen vorhandenen erdöls wurde gefördert] wurde vor kurzem erreicht) sondern durch den umstieg auf andere energiequellen. demokratischer fortschritt in einer vielzahl von staaten wäre die folge. der hervorragende nebeneffekt: eine deutliche reduzierung der co2 emissionen. nur, zumindest letzteres wissen wir seit mehr als 30 jahren und es hat nichts genützt - aber was bleibt uns anderes über als ein neuer anlauf?


(foto: windkraftanlage in dänemark, von wikipedia)

nice quote

"I find television very educating. Every time somebody turns on the set, I go into the other room and read a book." - Groucho Marx (1890-1977)

stick to the rules...

...if you plan on studying in the US, be prepared to receive e-mails like this one.

"Dear Rudy,
It has come to my attention from RA ---- ---- that you were at a gathering of more than 20 people in UAP 401 on April 22, 2006. The Standards of Conduct that were violated were:

a. Any gathering in an individual student room where alcohol is present may not exceed a safe and manageable occupancy for that room. The University defines "safe and manageable occupancy" as no more than three (3) times the residential occupancy for that room (page 30, /Selected Policies Manual/).

18. Disorderly conduct (including disorderliness resulting from intoxication), unreasonable noise or behavior which results in material inconvenience, annoyance or alarm (page 15, /Selected Policies Manual/)

Since your interaction was cooperative and your involvement was minor, there is no need for a formal administrative hearing. This letter serves as your formal warning.

Rudy, I would like to remind you that need to be aware our policies in the Selected Policies Manual. Feel free to contact me at or 503.370.6721 if you have questions or concerns.
Sincerely,
----

--
---- ----
Eastside Area Coordinator
Willamette University
900 State Street
Salem, OR 97301
(503) 370- ---- "


yeah, whatever. hmm...of course, I take the warning seriously, so this is my reply:

"hi ----,

thanks for your e-mail. it is true, I was at the gathering and there was alcohol involved as well. I just want you to know that this gathering was somehow "relaxed" which means: people were listening to music, some (including me) were sipping beer. this was NOT a drinking competition or anything like that. I am older than 21 but I was aware that there were minors in the room. at that moment I did not think that I was doing anything wrong. I know about the rules though and I am not going to violate them again.

have a nice weekend!

rudy "

plus: freedom is my anti-gov. thank you.

(may 3rd, 2006: I decided to censor the names. not because someone told me to but because I think it´s polite.)

dealing with friedman (2) - thoughts on the welfare state

To Friedman the redistribution of income through the state is not desirable. It widens the gap between the poor and the rich – and that is the opposite of the original intention of the welfare state. Incompatible with ones freedom to pursuit happiness individually, a positive attitude towards governmental influence in favour of the hapless is to Friedman like believing in “dictatorship, benevolent and maybe majoritarian, but dictatorship none the less.”

Welfare measures such as public housing, minimum wage laws, farm price supports and social security have counter-productive effects. Friedman’s main concern is that the original needs for implementing those measures cannot be satisfied – but once the government takes control over the issue the borders blur and state intervention increases. One example is the need for restrictions on import once you start guaranteeing high prices for farm products and high wages for farmers. The vicious cycle then goes on with individuals being left with fewer choices, fewer companies, higher chances of monopolization and the like. It is simply that “one cannot be both an egalitarian, in this sense, and a liberal.”

Gerald Allen Cohen, author of “Karl Marx's Theory of History: A Defense (1978, 2000)“ must get in rage every time he is confronted with Friedman. The existing inequalities he is commenting on have not much to do with Friedman’s version of a nation state that is built on the principles of equal opportunities and rights. Devoted to egalitarian political principles Cohen objects the “misuse” of the “concept of freedom” by libertarians and liberals. He is accusing them of having “highly anarchic imaginations” if they are advocating, and Cohen quotes Flew, “wholehearted political and economic liberalism, opposed to any social and legal constraints on individual freedom”. But this is not Friedman. “My freedom to move my fist must be limited by the proximity of your chin” can be read in his book. Friedman thinks that in order to reduce poverty a program much more effective than government welfare, a program that aims directly at poor people (not old, unemployed… etc), should be implemented, a program based on a negative income tax. Therefore households with higher income would have to pay more taxes, low income households would receive payments, financed by those taxes. People would receive cash, Friedman thinks that’s most effective to save personal freedom. So, there IS awareness for the problem and possible solutions are presented. Cohen’s assumption that liberalism automatically means to create a sphere where all individuals are literally free to do what they want is wrong. Friedman knows that and concentrates on finding the thin lines between acceptable interference by the state and abuse of power. And when Cohen points out that “a capitalist society with no welfare structure would endanger the very lives of those who…are unemployed”, Friedman would argue that the free individual is free to give money to the poor – and in a realm of existing civil liberties everybody is free to convince other people that they should do so. So, liberalism is not automatically opposed to a caring society even though this is a somehow naïve expectation. It would be perfectly possible to give shelter and food to all homeless people in the United States if the wealthy would share some of their funds. It does not happen. Do you need to abolish existing welfare measures to find that out?

But for Cohen, all of Friedman’s arguments rest on an unjust foundation anyway. Contradictive to natural rights, the allowance of “private ownership of means of existence” through the market is out of the question.

Both see the present system in urgent need of reform but the solutions they present point in completely different ways. Once again, it is the “primacy of the free market” versus the “abolition of private property”.

friends

for people who are not on facebook, here are some of my favourite pics - right after the jump.
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come on! you can´t study ALL the time...

...every now and then you HAVE to forget about your politics books and dress up as trash cans.

lee miles, reed renfrow and måns ramberg - the world is their playground.

dealing with friedman (1)

What do libertarians (or liberals in a Friedman kind of sense) have to say about social objections related to capitalism, such as racial discrimination or poverty? Milton Friedman deeply believes that a true free market would be able to cope with those objections – for they have their roots in state interference.

Seeing human beings as economic units without characteristics such as color of skin or religion, Friedman argues for the rules of the market to let inequalities disappear. State intervention in form of “pro-integration” or “right-to-work” programs implemented by orders from above do actually harm to minorities – and not just to them but to the whole population. The undermining of the main concern of the free market – the “freedom of individuals to enter into voluntary contracts with one another” (Friedman) – is in large parts not acceptable for Friedman. His normative approach is comprehensible, maybe even essential for his purposes. Friedman plots a perfect capitalist system created by people who understand and appreciate this system. He assumes vital participation, everyone seeing himself as an “economic rational choice actor”. So it is understandable that he assumes that the poor lower class family in a bad neighbourhood has access to (or is willing to access) the information needed in order to understand why privatized schools are better than nationalized ones and how they have to act to share in the advantages. Once people would share Friedman´s views, the “invisible hand” could take care of social and cultural issues as well.

Adam Przeworski cites Stiglitz saying: “Adam Smith´s invisible hand may be more like the Emperor´s new clothes: invisible because it is not there.”

And Przeworski also points out that the neo-liberal promotion of the free market is nothing but “a mixture of evidence, argument from first principles, self-interest, and wishful thinking”. Partly because a “complete set of markets is unfeasible” and “information is inevitably imperfect.” Again, Friedman´s perception reflects a normative rather then a descriptive point of view of the free market. Friedman would not disagree that the present system is far from being “perfect” but he calls for the state to beat a hasty retreat.

For Przeworski it is by no means clear that the reduction of state influence automatically leads to a situation that is more desirable. Even though he admits that there are problems of institutional design he would rather rearrange them than to shut them down. Adapted to the role of government in education it would mean that governmental institutions should not be released from coordinating funds just because the liberal point of view does not guarantee improvement. So if Friedman says that the liberalization of the education sector would elevate school standards because more competition leads to more choices and furthermore to a more just allocation of opportunities, Przeworski could jump in and say: Wait, there is evidence that the drawback of the state leads to unemployment, to a decline in the real income and to more people living below the poverty line. Besides that we know that “complete information” is not available so it is more likely to get a system where people, who today depend on governmental subsidy to be able to attend university, would be in no position to join any university. Furthermore it would not do any good to the reduction of social problems such as discrimination.

It is a struggle between two big schools of thought and both have their virtues. And even though neo-liberalism has its roots, among others, in Friedman, there is still a lot of potential when it comes to the implementation of his ideas.

Milton Friedman: "Capitalism and Freedom". The University of Chicago Press. 2002. (first published 1962).

Adam Przeworski: "The Neoliberal Fallacy" in Diamond and Plattner's "Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy Revisited". The John Hopkins University Press. 1993.

alphabeat...wer beatet mehr?

if you have time...check it out: alphabeat. a radioshow I am doing with a bunch of friends from salzburg and vienna. it´s in german so you can actually improve your language skills. that´s pretty awesome, right?