The Genius Of Balloon Juice

The whole post and nuthin' but the post From DougJ:

There’s a new study on how high-profile academic financial economists are paid to do the bidding of our Galtian overlords:

In this study, we showed that the great majority of two groups of prominent academic financial economists did not disclose their private financial affiliation even when writing pieces on financial reform. This presents a potential conflict of interest. If this pattern prevailed among academic financial economists more broadly this, in our view, would represent an even greater social problem. Academic economists serve as experts in the media, molding public opinion. They are also important players in government policy. If those that are creating the culture around financial regulation as well as influencing policy at the government level for financial reform also have a significant, if hidden, conflict of interest, our public is not likely to be well-served.

Felix Salmon makes the obvious point...with a telling anecdote:

It seems obvious that when you’re regularly making significantly more than the median national annual personal income from giving a single speech, you’re prone to being captured by the people paying you all that money. And the secrecy makes things much worse. I once mentioned in passing on my blog a consultancy gig which I happened to know about and didn’t think was particularly secret. The consultant in question phoned me up extremely distraught, fearful that the employer, a hedge fund, would read my post and react to it with a whole parade of nasty possible actions. There’s no good reason for such secrecy on either the employer or the employee side — unless, of course, there’s something ethically suspect about the arrangement in the first place.

Maybe I’m wrong to fixate on this so much, but I see this kind of thing as the central problem facing contemporary democracies: it’s too easy for monied interests to control the flow of information. You want a very serious economist to endorse whatever scam you’re running? Give him a few hundred thousand for speaking fees, consulting fees, whatever the term is that they’re using these days. That’s chump change, but it’s a lot to him or her, and you can probably find a respectable person who’s enough of a whore to do it, if you look around.

There’s a crazy asymmetry at work when things that are worth a lot can be bought for so little, and this is just one example. People make a big deal out $4 billion spent on an election. That’s not a lot of money to buy off the people who run a $3 trillion budget. At least there used to be transparency about that particular form of bribery, but not anymore.

Careful With This One

You could break your brain.

Why Don't They Listen?

I found it!  The so-called conservatives have long been among the most vocal deniers of Climate Change, and I think I know why now.

Watch this one and pay particular attention to what Kent Butts has to say (at about the 1:50 mark).
"...an ice-free arctic, where 25% of the world's resources of oil and natural gas according to USGS may be found."



They don't want us to do anything about Climate Change because they need the ice in the Arctic Sea to go away.

BTW: I think it won't be a lot longer before a large bi-partisan group of politicians can stop pretending and acknowledge the simple fact that they're actually working for Big Oil.

Climate Change

Not that it'll make much difference now that the Right Radicals have taken us around the bend, but hey - fut the whuck, y'know?

We Are So Fucked

Bill Moyers addressing a crowd at Boston Univ a couple of weeks ago.

This is your homework for the week. You must listen to the whole thing if you expect full credit for this course.

Sleight Of Hand

Hey, Tea Partiers - while you're busy getting suckered into wasting your political energies on birth certificates and gays in uniform and Sharia Law and whatever else, the Republicans you've been electing to office are busy trying to give $370,000 of your money to Bill Clinton, while adding $700 BILLION to that deficit y'all keep bitchin' about.

Banana Republic of America.

Just sayin'.

The Conservative Case For Climate Change

It is my firmest conviction that the people being called "conservatives" right now are not conservative at all, but quite radical.

Here is a piece in WaPo this morning making a good part of the case for me.

In fact, far from being conservative, the Republican stance on global warming shows a stunning appetite for risk. When faced with uncertainty and the possibility of costly outcomes, smart businessmen buy insurance, reduce their downside exposure and protect their assets. When confronted with a disease outbreak of unknown proportions, front-line public health workers get busy producing vaccines, pre-positioning supplies and tracking pathogens. And when military planners assess an enemy, they get ready for a worst-case encounter.

...

Today's conservatives would do well to start thinking more like military planners, reexamining the risks inherent in their strategy. If, instead, newly elected Republicans do nothing, they will doom us all to bigger government interventions and a large dose of suffering - a reckless choice that's anything but conservative.

The Real Victory

Repubs won the midterms, taking the House and whittling away at the Dems' strength in the Senate.  But I think the real impact comes from the Repubs' bigger wins in Governors and State Houses.  38 states have Repub governors, and while I can't find the exact numbers, I've heard reports from different sources to the effect that a good-sized majority of state legislatures are Repub majorities.  So what we'll get now is redistricting aimed at shoring up those majorities at the state level, which will further entrench Repub incumbents.  This is exactly what the Dems would be planning if the results had gone the other way, so hold your fire.

The point here is that there may be better ways to approach the task of redrawing the lines.

Here's one.

Politicians have an obvious incentive to fuck us over for the sake of maintaining their power, and we give them the means to do just that when we elect them. But we don't have to just sit and watch while they do it.

Perriello's Farewell

My guy got beat Tuesday night, but he's a class act all the way.  This is the email he sent out to his supporters.

This has been an awesome couple of years and couple of months. I promised you I would have your back against the powerful interests in Washington, and last night, you had mine. Even though we fell short of reelection, we defied the pundits in the roughest of political years. Because I come out of faith-based justice work instead of politics, I can see last night as a victory for conviction and hard work for the idea that when you fight for the people, the people win.

Consider this. We won Danville, Martinsville, Charlottesville, Albermarle, Prince Edward, Brunswick, Buckingham, and Nelson with stronger than expected turnout. Over 110,000 voters had our back last night. And when you compare us to other races across the state and nation, we dramatically outperformed others in "safer" districts and those where members had either dodged the tough votes or run away from them after. And we did not back away from this President when it would have been convenient, because in politics, I will stand with the problem solvers over the political game players any day.

Look at what else we have won. Because of our work together, we turned near-economic collapse into nine straight months of private sector job growth. Because of our work together, 1,800 homes in our district have been weatherized, putting people to work making $20 an hour. Because of our work together, over 20,000 young people in our district are getting more aid to afford college. Over 120 small business owners got the loans to live their American dream. And being a woman is no longer considered a pre-existing condition in this country. And because of our work together, Medicare is now solvent for a generation and beyond, and I do not believe any party will have the gall to roll that back.

I wake up this morning inspired by the people-powered, conviction politics we offered and the incredible results it produced. I feel bolstered by a team that understands real change does not happen with one election night victory or end with one loss. We shouldn't have expected nirvana after our win in 2008 and we shouldn't expect armageddon now. As I told the crowd last night, my father made me promise when I entered politics that I would always consider Judgement Day more important than election day, because doing what's right is more important than winning elections. I believe he is smiling on us today, and that he is thankful for all of you who sacrificed so much to offer a better kind of politics in America.

One More

From Everlast. Ya gotta be careful with this guy - too much and you're gonna paint the ceiling with your brains.

That said, I get a sneaking suspicion we'll be hearing a lot more of this kinda tune in the years ahead. Hoping for the best, but preparing for the worst.

The Dissenter

GW Bush is about to unleash his memoirs, and one of the focal points is to start the whitewashing of his criminal behavior in taking us to war in Iraq.

Here's a quick look at some of the shit Bush dropped our people into.

"Really, I'm tryin' to do the right thing; I hope my government can say the same."

A Bit Better

Mercy Now - Mary Gauthier

Feelin' a little beat down today. I guess we just keep pluggin' along and hope for the best.

We Are So Fucked

From Paul Krugman's piece in NYT:

So the moralizers are winning. More and more voters, both here and in Europe, are convinced that what we need is not more stimulus but more punishment. Governments must tighten their belts; debtors must pay what they owe.

The irony is that in their determination to punish the undeserving, voters are punishing themselves: by rejecting fiscal stimulus and debt relief, they’re perpetuating high unemployment. They are, in effect, cutting off their own jobs to spite their neighbors.

But they don’t know that. And because they don’t, the slump will go on.

Asking The Right Question