Jun 9, 2011
A Minor Reminder
We're dealing with the massive hangover from the biggest, craziest party ever. There's no way to hurry it along, it just takes time. Of course, it'd be nice if certain people weren't walking around banging pots and pans together, and generally acting as if they're intentionally trying to make things worse.
Jun 8, 2011
Welcome Home, Sarge
I guess all I can say is that you should get used to it(?) And also that this is actually what you've been fighting for, in spite of what you believe you were supposed to be fighting for.
Privatization is the newspeak term for when Government is manipulated in order to pump public dollars into private pockets.
For myself, I can only say I'm sorry for not being able to keep you from it.
Privatization is the newspeak term for when Government is manipulated in order to pump public dollars into private pockets.
For myself, I can only say I'm sorry for not being able to keep you from it.
Free Markets
Like everything else, Labor is a marketable item - a commodity just like any other.
When a business manager is trying to figure out what his plan should be for the coming year/quarter/whatever, he has to figure out what the costs will be for him to produce the goods and services his company offers. He has things like rent, and equipment, and taxes, and raw materials, and labor. He looks at several options before he moves into the space he needs for his operation; he invites at least 3 vendors to bid on selling him the stuff he needs to build whatever he's selling, etc. The point is to get some real competition going in order to drive down his costs.
If he can pay some dues to Chamber of Commerce, or American Manufacturer's Assn, or some other trade group that can help him elect sympathetic politicians who will pass laws and enact policies that drive down the cost of practically everything, then he benefits greatly; and he will do exactly what we see being done to American workers right now.
When you look at Paul Ryan's budget plan, you needn't wonder why it seems he intends to tamp down on Medicare; he intends to press down on all aspects of the cost of labor because his Corporate Masters have told him to push the labor market to be more highly competitive. They understand that when you have 100 people standing in line to fill an opening for one decent job, then you've basically created a bidding war. Suddenly, every prospective employee (aka Labor Vendor) has to bid on that job, and the "winner" is the guy who's willing to do it for the lowest pay, or the longest hours, or the crappiest benefits, or whatever.
You think politicians aren't doing enough to get the economy going again? Then you're thinking about it from the wrong angle. The economy is actually going pretty well for the ownership class; all they're trying to do is to figure out how to placate us just enough to keep us from taking to the streets and burnin' this shit down.
When a business manager is trying to figure out what his plan should be for the coming year/quarter/whatever, he has to figure out what the costs will be for him to produce the goods and services his company offers. He has things like rent, and equipment, and taxes, and raw materials, and labor. He looks at several options before he moves into the space he needs for his operation; he invites at least 3 vendors to bid on selling him the stuff he needs to build whatever he's selling, etc. The point is to get some real competition going in order to drive down his costs.
If he can pay some dues to Chamber of Commerce, or American Manufacturer's Assn, or some other trade group that can help him elect sympathetic politicians who will pass laws and enact policies that drive down the cost of practically everything, then he benefits greatly; and he will do exactly what we see being done to American workers right now.
When you look at Paul Ryan's budget plan, you needn't wonder why it seems he intends to tamp down on Medicare; he intends to press down on all aspects of the cost of labor because his Corporate Masters have told him to push the labor market to be more highly competitive. They understand that when you have 100 people standing in line to fill an opening for one decent job, then you've basically created a bidding war. Suddenly, every prospective employee (aka Labor Vendor) has to bid on that job, and the "winner" is the guy who's willing to do it for the lowest pay, or the longest hours, or the crappiest benefits, or whatever.
You think politicians aren't doing enough to get the economy going again? Then you're thinking about it from the wrong angle. The economy is actually going pretty well for the ownership class; all they're trying to do is to figure out how to placate us just enough to keep us from taking to the streets and burnin' this shit down.
There's A Line?
Anthony Wiener is just the latest in a very long (and ever-lengthening) line of people who get into positions of power and prestige, and come to think of themselves as bulletproof.
Jun 6, 2011
Well, It's About Time
In keeping with the spirit of bi-partisanship, Congress and the White House have just announced a compromise aimed at resolving the main differences between The Ryan Plan and ObamaCare.
As usual, we're not sure the American public actually had a Senior Death Match in mind, but hey - at least we're making a little progress (?) Oy.
As usual, we're not sure the American public actually had a Senior Death Match in mind, but hey - at least we're making a little progress (?) Oy.
Jun 4, 2011
Jun 2, 2011
Hmmm
The population in the US grows at about 9 or 10 or 11% per year. (The rate of growth is starting to slow a bit, but the Census Bureau predicts we'll be at about 392 million people by 2050)
Some questions:
Why is it hard to find out what the actual numbers are when I ask, "how much is the Federal Gov't expanding? "
What's an appropriate rate for a government to expand relative to the expansion of population?
If government is supposed to operate more like a business, and our Debt-to-Revenue (using GDP) ratio is right around 1:1, and there are many many very large and profitable companies running much higher ratios, then what's the big fuckin' problem?
Some questions:
Why is it hard to find out what the actual numbers are when I ask, "how much is the Federal Gov't expanding? "
What's an appropriate rate for a government to expand relative to the expansion of population?
If government is supposed to operate more like a business, and our Debt-to-Revenue (using GDP) ratio is right around 1:1, and there are many many very large and profitable companies running much higher ratios, then what's the big fuckin' problem?
Yo, Rand Paul
Go fuck yourself.
Why do we keep handing real power to people who are all about abandoning the two mainstays of what makes the US such a great place?
1) Freedom of expression and association.
2) Presumption of innocence.
I don't know if there's anything else - what Hannity said in response eg - but I'd be very interested to find out what the rubes think about it.
And BTW, Democrats, ya gotta be able to make some hay outa this.
Why do we keep handing real power to people who are all about abandoning the two mainstays of what makes the US such a great place?
1) Freedom of expression and association.
2) Presumption of innocence.
I don't know if there's anything else - what Hannity said in response eg - but I'd be very interested to find out what the rubes think about it.
And BTW, Democrats, ya gotta be able to make some hay outa this.
The Point
Art is supposed to be about something.
And it can be about supporting the artist (which should follow naturally if the concept and the execution are good to begin with).
And it can be about supporting the artist (which should follow naturally if the concept and the execution are good to begin with).
Jun 1, 2011
If Palin Isn't Running
If she's really not running, then she's not running in a very 'yes she's running' kinda way.
I dearly loved hearing her say she's just out on a little vacation romp with the kids, and she's not trying to disrupt anybody's day or anything - while traveling in a quarter-million-dollar bus with 20 or 30 thousand dollars worth of Ad Graphics splashed all over it.
What if we're seeing a new kind of candidacy though? Given the power of Roger Ailes to run DumFux News as the GOP's PR Department, they could be thinking Palin doesn't have to make any concessions at all to any media they think might be "hostile" to her.
A couple of things: first, there's already a caravan following her around like a bunch of Konrad Lorenz's geese (hat tip).
And two, if she avoids all media outlets except Fox and a few others that get Uncle Roger's seal of approval, then if anybody wants to know anything about Sarah Palin, they'll have to go thru DumFux News to get it.
Obviously, I dunno. What we all have to have learned by now, though, is that we need to be pretty damned careful not to mis-underestimate another Empty-Vessel Candidate neatly packaged and sold by the GOP.
I dearly loved hearing her say she's just out on a little vacation romp with the kids, and she's not trying to disrupt anybody's day or anything - while traveling in a quarter-million-dollar bus with 20 or 30 thousand dollars worth of Ad Graphics splashed all over it.
What if we're seeing a new kind of candidacy though? Given the power of Roger Ailes to run DumFux News as the GOP's PR Department, they could be thinking Palin doesn't have to make any concessions at all to any media they think might be "hostile" to her.
A couple of things: first, there's already a caravan following her around like a bunch of Konrad Lorenz's geese (hat tip).
Obviously, I dunno. What we all have to have learned by now, though, is that we need to be pretty damned careful not to mis-underestimate another Empty-Vessel Candidate neatly packaged and sold by the GOP.
May 31, 2011
As If Truth Even Existed
There is only Info-tainment in service of a political agenda. Wherever you think you wanna be on the standard spectrum, you can find a thousand "news" outlets to help you confirm your bias. There are still some places you can go to get fairly old-school, evenhanded reporting - Christian Science Monitor, McClatchey, AP (kinda), et al - but they're mostly pretty boring. And there's the problem as I see it. We've come to see straight up news as boring. We want spice; a little salsa. And a really smart guy like Roger Ailes knows exactly how to give it to us.
To watch even a day of Fox News – the anger, the bombast, the virulent paranoid streak, the unending appeals to white resentment, the reporting that’s held to the same standard of evidence as a late- October attack ad – is to see a refraction of its founder, one of the most skilled and fearsome operatives in the history of the Republican Party. As a political consultant, Ailes repackaged Richard Nixon for television in 1968, papered over Ronald Reagan’s budding Alzheimer’s in 1984, shamelessly stoked racial fears to elect George H.W. Bush in 1988, and waged a secret campaign on behalf of Big Tobacco to derail health care reform in 1993. "He was the premier guy in the business," says former Reagan campaign manager Ed Rollins. "He was our Michelangelo."Lots of great take-aways in this thing, but I think my favorite is the term "liberal bigots". It has a great ring to it, and captures the perfect combination of conservative self-loathing, white-bread aggrievement, and guilty projection.
Another one:
Dwell on this for a moment: A “news” network controlled by a GOP operative who had spent decades shaping just such political narratives – including those that helped elect the candidate’s father – declared George W. Bush the victor based on the analysis of a man who had proclaimed himself loyal to Bush over the facts. “Of everything that happened on election night, this was the most important in impact,” Rep. Henry Waxman said at the time. “It immeasurably helped George Bush maintain the idea in people’s minds that he was the man who won the election.”And the Big One: DumFux News has become the model, so it probably just gets weirder for a good long while.
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