"By not making another financial crisis impossible, they are making another financial crisis inevitable, and next time it will be even worse."
cupidty –noun; eager or excessive desire, esp. to possess something; greed; avarice.
Read this from Ian Welsh.
Friday, October 23, 2009
Thursday, October 22, 2009
The Warning
We're gettin' fucked with our pants on, guys. And it doesn't stop until we all stand up and make it stop. So here's your homework assignment for tonight.
Front Line - The Warning
Be aware of the problem, and at least be supportive of people who try to do something about it.
Front Line - The Warning
Be aware of the problem, and at least be supportive of people who try to do something about it.
Mr Grayson Rocks The House
Pointing out the stupid shit that sometimes passes for "The People's Business" is an important function. Let's hope he has the integrity to do the same with the Dems from time to time as well.
Money In Your Pocket
When the cost of healthcare coverage (as a percentage of compensation) goes down, wages go up.
Ezra Klein posted a good look at the concept.
Ezra Klein posted a good look at the concept.
Mind Your Mother
"The problem with modern contrarianism is that it's lazy. Too often, it's the sole focus of a piece, and it's the focus for reasons purely of entertainment or ideology. Which is too bad, because the kind of journalism that's most useful is the kind that explains both first order things and counterreactions and doesn't pander to readers' desires to pretend that the world is simpler than it really is. After all, counterreactions may usually be less important than first-order effects, but they're still worth investigating. Some tax cuts really don't raise as much revenue as you'd think. Raising the minimum wage really can have perverse effects in specific slices of the economy. If you're genuinely interested in knowing how the world works, you want to know this."
Kevin Drum explains at Mother Jones.
Kevin Drum explains at Mother Jones.
Give 'Em Hell, Harry
From a speech Harry Truman gave at a convention of The AHA in 1952.
At about 11:40, he makes the point that healthcare is vital to national security. "only the strong survive, and only the healthy can be strong."
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
At about 11:40, he makes the point that healthcare is vital to national security. "only the strong survive, and only the healthy can be strong."
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Wow
I got my first ever comment. It's from somebody signing as "Snowball", posted yesterday, and I just noticed it this evening. Yay. Thanks, Snowball.
Ten Years Of Hell
Matt Taibbi does some great reporting. It's a long piece, and I had to circle back to read some of it more than twice, but the perspective is important.
"By the middle of the Bush years, the great investment banks like Bear and Lehman no longer made their money financing real businesses and creating jobs. Instead, Wall Street now serves, in the words of one former investment executive, as "Lucy to America's Charlie Brown," endlessly creating new products to lure the great herd of unwitting investors into whatever tawdry greed-bubble is being spun at the moment: Come kick the football again, only this time we'll call it the Internet, real estate, oil futures. Wall Street has turned the economy into a giant asset-stripping scheme, one whose purpose is to suck the last bits of meat from the carcass of the middle class."
"By the middle of the Bush years, the great investment banks like Bear and Lehman no longer made their money financing real businesses and creating jobs. Instead, Wall Street now serves, in the words of one former investment executive, as "Lucy to America's Charlie Brown," endlessly creating new products to lure the great herd of unwitting investors into whatever tawdry greed-bubble is being spun at the moment: Come kick the football again, only this time we'll call it the Internet, real estate, oil futures. Wall Street has turned the economy into a giant asset-stripping scheme, one whose purpose is to suck the last bits of meat from the carcass of the middle class."
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Monday, October 19, 2009
Rush Is Out
Rush LimpBalls has run the standard play (claim to be the victim and deny any ownership of your own actions) in his attempt to salvage something from his latest little dalliance at the edges of the NFL.
He also throws out the usual dodge of pointing at Al Sharpton (Tawana Brawley) and Jesse Jackson (HymieTown), and trying to say, "it's OK if I'm a racist asshole because those other guys are racist assholes too."
Rush is given space in (where else, right?) The Rupert Street Journal to plead his case.
The last full paragraph is my favorite. First, he whines about "the news business...contempt for conservatives". (Does this mean that Rush has a paricular soft spot for liberals that I'm just not seeing? And is he somehow working under an assumption that the tight little group of the NFL Ownership is just chock full of Democrats?) Then he seems to be saying that his poor humble self is being denied access to the American Dream just because he's a simple hardworking guy getting' beat up by those leftwing bullies.
Poor Rush - but guess what? The rubes are gonna eat it up. I'm bettin' his ad revenues get a nice bump outa this after all.
He also throws out the usual dodge of pointing at Al Sharpton (Tawana Brawley) and Jesse Jackson (HymieTown), and trying to say, "it's OK if I'm a racist asshole because those other guys are racist assholes too."
Rush is given space in (where else, right?) The Rupert Street Journal to plead his case.
The last full paragraph is my favorite. First, he whines about "the news business...contempt for conservatives". (Does this mean that Rush has a paricular soft spot for liberals that I'm just not seeing? And is he somehow working under an assumption that the tight little group of the NFL Ownership is just chock full of Democrats?) Then he seems to be saying that his poor humble self is being denied access to the American Dream just because he's a simple hardworking guy getting' beat up by those leftwing bullies.
Poor Rush - but guess what? The rubes are gonna eat it up. I'm bettin' his ad revenues get a nice bump outa this after all.
Too Rich To Care
If you don't have it, then (obviously) you don't deserve it.
This is why unregulated free enterprise always leads to bloody revolt.
NY Times Op-Ed by Paul Sullivan - can this guy get any more tone deaf?
Here's No More Mister Nice Guy taking it apart.
This is why unregulated free enterprise always leads to bloody revolt.
NY Times Op-Ed by Paul Sullivan - can this guy get any more tone deaf?
Here's No More Mister Nice Guy taking it apart.
Sunday, October 18, 2009
10 Years Of Hell
From Lance Mannion:
"We’re experiencing a jobless recovery right now. That’s a problem. But my fear is that we’re on our way to a jobless economy"
-and-
"It’s a good bet that company execs rarely think of their companies as making something or doing something special at all. All big businesses are in the business of selling stock."
"We’re experiencing a jobless recovery right now. That’s a problem. But my fear is that we’re on our way to a jobless economy"
-and-
"It’s a good bet that company execs rarely think of their companies as making something or doing something special at all. All big businesses are in the business of selling stock."
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Larry Summers Speaks
Sounds a lot like he's warming up to do battle with Wall Street. Should be interesting to see if he calls for any specifics.
From The Agonist.
From The Agonist.
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