I love this kinda stuff. I love selling because I love the feeling that I can turn NO into YES; that I can turn words into money.
When you get good at anything, you gain a certain power over others. You get called first for a job interview, or the cabinets you build show up in the best kitchens or the people you work with come to you for help and guidance. Whatever. The better you are at what you do, the more power you have because of it. But power is a dangerous thing. You have to be wise and circumspect about how you use it because what happens when power is misused always turns out to be really really bad.
Here's one illustration (one of my all-time fave movies)
And here's a story from the real world.
Emotional manipulation works. That is why so many entities are using it against us at every turn. Pinkwashing, greenwashing, cause-related marketing, industry-funded front groups with deceptive names spewing extreme political claims, politicians making weird, baseless statements about proposed legislation -- they all get the desired results. Some legislators still try to use facts, reason and truth in public discourse, but there are now so many strident, paid corporate and political messaging efforts going on that stimulate people to react from their gut and not think, that reason, truth and facts are now weak public voices by comparison.
Apr 29, 2010
Apr 28, 2010
More On Arizona
Maybe that should be Moron Arizona. Too much of a cold shot?
Now that the backlash has a lot of people whipped up into a mild Anti-Arizona frenzy, the Op-Ed editors are jumping into it with an attitude of "what they did was dead wrong, but understandable". (Editorial Roundup)
Sorry, Arizona, but fuck you. Sorry, Minutemen, but fuck you. Sorry, "Conservative Values Voters", but fuck you. For 30 years, you guys have been voting for an agenda that drains government resources away from providing services like border security, and now you're all pissed off because your borders aren't secure? You've pissed and moaned for 30 years about Intrusive Government or Incompetent Government or whatever, and you've stayed home on election day or you've voted for these assholes; but now you're acting surprised about what actually happens as a result of getting what you said you wanted!?! I repeat: fuck you.
You wanted "common sense" and "straight talk" and "leaders who're just like me". You spent an awful long time listening to and nodding at and forwarding emails that spouted racist and eliminationist bullshit. Well now that bullshit has been made into law, and you're gonna cry about it? One more time: fuck you.
As usual, the really good reporting on the background and history of this crappy law is being done by the loonies on the left.
Now that the backlash has a lot of people whipped up into a mild Anti-Arizona frenzy, the Op-Ed editors are jumping into it with an attitude of "what they did was dead wrong, but understandable". (Editorial Roundup)
Sorry, Arizona, but fuck you. Sorry, Minutemen, but fuck you. Sorry, "Conservative Values Voters", but fuck you. For 30 years, you guys have been voting for an agenda that drains government resources away from providing services like border security, and now you're all pissed off because your borders aren't secure? You've pissed and moaned for 30 years about Intrusive Government or Incompetent Government or whatever, and you've stayed home on election day or you've voted for these assholes; but now you're acting surprised about what actually happens as a result of getting what you said you wanted!?! I repeat: fuck you.
You wanted "common sense" and "straight talk" and "leaders who're just like me". You spent an awful long time listening to and nodding at and forwarding emails that spouted racist and eliminationist bullshit. Well now that bullshit has been made into law, and you're gonna cry about it? One more time: fuck you.
As usual, the really good reporting on the background and history of this crappy law is being done by the loonies on the left.
Ten Years Of Hell
Posted today at Balloon Juice:
I’ll Tell You When Chinese Bubble Is About to Burst: Andy Xie
Check out these facts from economist Andy Xie:
1) Housing prices are up 50% in the past year in some parts of the country.
2) Housemaids are asking for time off so they can return to their village to buy an
apartment before it is too late.
3) Sales girl urges: Buy two! In a few years time prices will rise so much it will be
like getting the other apartment for free.
4) Banks offer unlimited credit for real estate purchases because the central bank is
flooding the market with stimulus money.
5) Local governments are addicted to the revenues from the property sales tax and will
do whatever it takes to keep the bubble going.
6) One local official caught owning 24 apartments. Wonder where he got the money?
7) Real estate mania has now spread beyond the cities to dusty rural towns.
8) Government works to free up as much land as possible for development.
9) In some markets land is so valuable it is worth more than the improvements.
10) Foreign money is flooding into China to participate in the bubble and the yuan
appreciation against the dollar that everybody says is sure to come.
1) Housing prices are up 50% in the past year in some parts of the country.
2) Housemaids are asking for time off so they can return to their village to buy an
apartment before it is too late.
3) Sales girl urges: Buy two! In a few years time prices will rise so much it will be
like getting the other apartment for free.
4) Banks offer unlimited credit for real estate purchases because the central bank is
flooding the market with stimulus money.
5) Local governments are addicted to the revenues from the property sales tax and will
do whatever it takes to keep the bubble going.
6) One local official caught owning 24 apartments. Wonder where he got the money?
7) Real estate mania has now spread beyond the cities to dusty rural towns.
8) Government works to free up as much land as possible for development.
9) In some markets land is so valuable it is worth more than the improvements.
10) Foreign money is flooding into China to participate in the bubble and the yuan
appreciation against the dollar that everybody says is sure to come.
Apr 24, 2010
Quote Of The Day
"Anyone who stops learning is old; whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young." - Henry Ford
Bring The Stoopid
OKLAHOMA CITY, April 24 (UPI) — Oklahoma Gov. Brad Henry said he vetoed a bill that would require women to go through ultrasound examinations before abortions to avoid a court fight.
Henry Friday also vetoed a measure that would have banned wrongful birth lawsuits, The Oklahoman reported Saturday. Such suits are brought by parents of children born with Down’s syndrome and other congenital problems that were not diagnosed during pregnancy.
Henry, a Democrat, said the first bill was likely to involve the state in expensive litigation. He also described the bill as too sweeping because there are no exceptions for victims of rape or incest.
“State policymakers should never mandate that a citizen be forced to undergo any medical procedure against his or her will, especially when such a procedure could cause physical or mental trauma,” Henry said.
Henry Friday also vetoed a measure that would have banned wrongful birth lawsuits, The Oklahoman reported Saturday. Such suits are brought by parents of children born with Down’s syndrome and other congenital problems that were not diagnosed during pregnancy.
Henry, a Democrat, said the first bill was likely to involve the state in expensive litigation. He also described the bill as too sweeping because there are no exceptions for victims of rape or incest.
“State policymakers should never mandate that a citizen be forced to undergo any medical procedure against his or her will, especially when such a procedure could cause physical or mental trauma,” Henry said.
For the wingnuts who are in favor of these intrusive extra procedures: How do you square this with your steadfast opposition to Government-mandated Healthcare?
Bring The Stupid
We spent a whole year arguing and campaigning and angsting over Healthcare Insurance Reform, just to find out that there's already a brilliant and simple way to solve the problem?
As usual, a Republican has the answer for us. "Sue Lowden is running for Harry Reid's senate seat in Nevada, and she knows exactly what we need to do.
You go, girl.
Apr 23, 2010
Keep On Tryin'
One of Poco's best. And from a time when the artists could actually lay it all down in a few takes without having to go back and redub a thousand times.
Just A Quickie
Today, the governor of Arizona, Jan Brewer, signed into law a complete piece of crap ("Immigration Reform Bill") that requires cops to stop anybody they think might be in the US illegally. "I best be checkin' them papers there, Chico".
For me, the fact of it is bad enough, but part of the governor's remarks afterward were to the affect: "we've been waiting and waiting for someone in Washington to do something about illegal immigration; they weren't getting it done, so we had to do it ourselves".
So OK, just for a moment, let's ignore the fact that you've enacted a law that basically makes it illegal to be deeply tanned, and try to concentrate on the remarks. Am I to understand that this governor has NEVER criticized a political opponent for "wanting a government solution to all our problems"? ..."always looking to Washington for help"? This kind of politician is true a set of core beliefs only when it is necessary to collect dollars or votes.
These people have no soul and no honor.
For me, the fact of it is bad enough, but part of the governor's remarks afterward were to the affect: "we've been waiting and waiting for someone in Washington to do something about illegal immigration; they weren't getting it done, so we had to do it ourselves".
So OK, just for a moment, let's ignore the fact that you've enacted a law that basically makes it illegal to be deeply tanned, and try to concentrate on the remarks. Am I to understand that this governor has NEVER criticized a political opponent for "wanting a government solution to all our problems"? ..."always looking to Washington for help"? This kind of politician is true a set of core beliefs only when it is necessary to collect dollars or votes.
These people have no soul and no honor.
We Are So Fucked
We've legalized bribery; we've integrated bribery into the system. It doesn't look quite like what we've always assumed bribery looks like and so we don't call it bribery, but that's what it is. It's bribery.
We won't get anything of real value out of Washington, or any other legislature, until the enormous flow of cash is throttled back. And that will take our elected officials too long to accomplish. As soon as somebody stands up in the speakers' well and declares his intent to change this corrupt system, the monied interests will come down on him like The Lord's burnin' rain (courtesy of SCOTUS and the Citizens United decision). The dirty tricks and the slander and the negative ads will make him out to be the worst thing since Herpes, and the next election will see him replaced by somebody who is a little more pliant and open to the manipulations of our corporate masters.
Apr 22, 2010
Gotta Love This Guy
I wonder how long it'll take our "leaders" to shove him over the cliff and get back to suckin' Wall Street's dick.
Apr 16, 2010
Hands Up
I'm just gonna run this whole post from Balloon Juice. It pretty much says it all.
Via Memeorandum, this interview with FDIC Chairman Sheila Bair, which had this snippet:
If this had been law prior to 2008, would we have seen the bailouts that took place? Would we have seen capital injections into banks?BAIR: No. You could not do an AIG, Bear Stearns, or any of that. Those were all one-off things, capital or asset guarantee transactions. This bill would only allow system-wide liquidity support which could not be targeted at an individual firm. You can’t do capital investments at all, period. It’s only liquidity support. No more capital investments. That’s banned under all circumstances.You can do systemwide liquidity support. But you can’t do anything on an individual basis. They would have to be generally available.Do you see any way left for the government to bail out a financial institution?BAIR: No, and that’s the whole idea. It was too easy for institutions to come and ask for help. They aren’t going to do that. This gives us a response: “Fine, we will take all these essential services and put them in a bridge bank. We will keep them running while your shareholders and debtors take all your losses. And oh, by the way, we are getting rid of your board and you, too.”The whole idea is to get market discipline back.That’s what ending “too big to fail means.” It means debtors and shareholders understanding their money is at risk and especially the debtholders starting to look at the balance sheet of these big institutions and asking their own hard questions instead of relying on government support.
When Mitch McConnell took to the cameras spewing his Frank Luntz talking points, this is what pissed me off the most (once you get past the instant “CAN’T YOU MOTHERFUCKERS EVER TELL THE TRUTH ABOUT ANYTHING!”)- what he was doing was trying to kill a bill that would end the bailouts. And if he succeeded, he would be doing the banksters bidding.
They don’t want what Bair just described. They like things just the way it is right now- they can put a gun to the head of the economy and tell us “If I go down, I’m taking everyone of you with me.” They like how things went down the last time- Goldman got every penny off their bets with AIG, all paid for by you and me. Then they went around and lavished huge bonuses on themselves when they weren’t busy writing whiny op-eds about how unfair it is everyone hates them.
With this bill, if the legislators and regulators have it right, these scumbags screw up again, they get wiped out. Shareholders get destroyed, and the board is replaced.
Wall Street and the bankstas don’t want that- which is why they flew Cornyn and McConnell to NY, told them they would bankroll the Republicans if only they killed this bill, and McConnell went right to the Senate podium and lied his ass off. Not only was he lying, but he was doing everything he could to make sure there would be bailouts forever. Understand what he was doing.
It’s just that simple. McConnell was selling the country and the American taxpayer down the river for a chance at flooding the airwaves with campaign ads funded by Wall Street, made possible by the right wing Supreme Court.
Apr 15, 2010
Apr 14, 2010
The Young Turks
Not usually this straightforward; and not quite the perfect articulation, but damn - we're gettin' closer.
What's Wrong With The South?
We've had more than our share of cringe-worthy moments of late; especially here in Virginia where we get to stand in slack-jawed stupefaction every few weeks watching our Governor and our Atty General make themselves (and the rest of us) look like complete dicks.
They started out by issuing an executive order telling the whole state bureaucracy that they don't have to worry all that much about discrimination against gays and lesbians.
Next up: Ken Cuccinelli decides to sue the Obama Administration to prevent implementation of Healthcare Reform. And to top it off, his office then says it only costs us the $350 filing fee. I called his office 6 times and can't get anybody to answer any questions or call me back.
Then Governor Bob issues a proclamation designating April as Dumbass Redneck Month.
Most recently, any ex-felon in Virginia who wants to get back his right to vote has to write a letter to the government in Richmond explaining why he deserves the same rights as everybody else, now that he's paid his debt to society. Can you say, "literacy test"? I knew you could.
I get a weird feeling that there's something about the culture down here that makes this kind of Fantasy-Land-Alternate-Reality thing more probable. It's certainly not particular to The South, but maybe Southerners are a little more susceptible to the temptation to revise the parts of their history that don't fit well with the basic human need for self-esteem.
A few examples:
Slavery was and still is often referred to as "our peculiar institution".
Secession and armed rebellion (aka Treason) becomes "defense of our homeland against an invasion from the north".
Rob't E Lee - a slave owner fervently in favor of beating slaves to keep them in line - is later said to be an abolitionist.
I think it also has something to do with wanting to let yourself off the hook. If the truth about who you are and where you came from always seems to point up the fact that you're just the latest in a long line of assholes, you have to be looking for a little relief. If somebody comes along and spins out a version that helps you feel a little less shitty about it all, then you're probably not going to be overly concerned that he's just makin' shit up.
It still makes me a little nuts, but I think I can understand it. And that gives me a slightly better chance to counter it.
Read this from Ta-Nehisi Coates.
They started out by issuing an executive order telling the whole state bureaucracy that they don't have to worry all that much about discrimination against gays and lesbians.
Next up: Ken Cuccinelli decides to sue the Obama Administration to prevent implementation of Healthcare Reform. And to top it off, his office then says it only costs us the $350 filing fee. I called his office 6 times and can't get anybody to answer any questions or call me back.
Then Governor Bob issues a proclamation designating April as Dumbass Redneck Month.
Most recently, any ex-felon in Virginia who wants to get back his right to vote has to write a letter to the government in Richmond explaining why he deserves the same rights as everybody else, now that he's paid his debt to society. Can you say, "literacy test"? I knew you could.
I get a weird feeling that there's something about the culture down here that makes this kind of Fantasy-Land-Alternate-Reality thing more probable. It's certainly not particular to The South, but maybe Southerners are a little more susceptible to the temptation to revise the parts of their history that don't fit well with the basic human need for self-esteem.
A few examples:
Slavery was and still is often referred to as "our peculiar institution".
Secession and armed rebellion (aka Treason) becomes "defense of our homeland against an invasion from the north".
Rob't E Lee - a slave owner fervently in favor of beating slaves to keep them in line - is later said to be an abolitionist.
I think it also has something to do with wanting to let yourself off the hook. If the truth about who you are and where you came from always seems to point up the fact that you're just the latest in a long line of assholes, you have to be looking for a little relief. If somebody comes along and spins out a version that helps you feel a little less shitty about it all, then you're probably not going to be overly concerned that he's just makin' shit up.
It still makes me a little nuts, but I think I can understand it. And that gives me a slightly better chance to counter it.
Read this from Ta-Nehisi Coates.
Apr 13, 2010
Ten Years Of Hell
These posts are usually about bad news or warning signs, but this one looks like a win - at least they've managed to forestall a real meltdown in Greece for a year or so. Unfortunately they haven't fixed the problems of the debt itself - problems that could still bring it all crashing down - problems that the banks are helping to create.
The biggest threat to our economic wellbeing is our inability to deal with all the debt we're piling up. We can't just push "The Reckoning" farther down the road. We can't keep borrowing, thinking it'll get better if we just wait for inflation to catch up with us; or that the economy will "grow us out of trouble". We can't go on thinking we never have to worry about paying any of it back.
So Greece is settled down a bit, and now everybody seems to be worried about Portugal, but the real problem may be right here at home.
We dodged a bullet (for now anyway) by pouring massive amounts of dollars into the banks. We haven't fixed anything yet, but we're still standing - so far.
I've been mostly worried that the next shoe to drop will be Commercial Real Estate - one estimate is that by next year, half of all commercial real estate loans will be underwater. We'll see; and it'll be a big fuckin' problem if it comes to pass, but it's nothing compared with everything bad that can happen if there are many more stories like this one in Birmingham AL.
In 1996, the average monthly sewer bill for a family of four in Birmingham was only $14.71 — but that was before the county decided to build an elaborate new sewer system with the help of out-of-state financial wizards with names like Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers, Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan Chase. The result was a monstrous pile of borrowed money that the county used to build, in essence, the world's grandest toilet — "the Taj Mahal of sewer-treatment plants" is how one county worker put it. What happened here in Jefferson County would turn out to be the perfect metaphor for the peculiar alchemy of modern oligarchical capitalism: A mob of corrupt local officials and morally absent financiers got together to build a giant device that converted human shit into billions of dollars of profit for Wall Street
The biggest threat to our economic wellbeing is our inability to deal with all the debt we're piling up. We can't just push "The Reckoning" farther down the road. We can't keep borrowing, thinking it'll get better if we just wait for inflation to catch up with us; or that the economy will "grow us out of trouble". We can't go on thinking we never have to worry about paying any of it back.
So Greece is settled down a bit, and now everybody seems to be worried about Portugal, but the real problem may be right here at home.
We dodged a bullet (for now anyway) by pouring massive amounts of dollars into the banks. We haven't fixed anything yet, but we're still standing - so far.
I've been mostly worried that the next shoe to drop will be Commercial Real Estate - one estimate is that by next year, half of all commercial real estate loans will be underwater. We'll see; and it'll be a big fuckin' problem if it comes to pass, but it's nothing compared with everything bad that can happen if there are many more stories like this one in Birmingham AL.
In 1996, the average monthly sewer bill for a family of four in Birmingham was only $14.71 — but that was before the county decided to build an elaborate new sewer system with the help of out-of-state financial wizards with names like Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers, Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan Chase. The result was a monstrous pile of borrowed money that the county used to build, in essence, the world's grandest toilet — "the Taj Mahal of sewer-treatment plants" is how one county worker put it. What happened here in Jefferson County would turn out to be the perfect metaphor for the peculiar alchemy of modern oligarchical capitalism: A mob of corrupt local officials and morally absent financiers got together to build a giant device that converted human shit into billions of dollars of profit for Wall Street
As usual, I hope I'm wrong, but I fear I'm not.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)