(Jeff Danziger’s website)
__
Praise Goddess, Professor Krugman is reliably shrill:
As the debate moves – appropriately! – to a discussion of Romney’s career at Bain, one thing I’ve noticed is that everyone on the right, and a fair number of people who should know better, basically believes that Gordon Gekko was right. Before the Gekkos came along, they assert, American business was sluggish, unproductive, and uncompetitive. Then came the LBOs and all that, and our economic energy was unleashed.
As I said, everyone on the right knows that this happened. Needless to say, none of it is at all true…
Read the whole thing, with graphs, at the link.
What’s on the agenda for the Day-Before-the-Day-Before-the-Unofficial-Start-of-American-Summer?
Raven
One day of work and then four off!
bemused
Love the cartoon.
kdaug
Sorry, Anne. I have no Covenant.
And I am definitely an Unbeliever.
NobodySpecial
Joy will be in the ears that hear when this fool loses 35 states.
c u n d gulag
Yes, American business was SOOOO “sluggish, unproductive, and uncompetitive,” that it’s a miracle we were the richest, most secure nation – and the envy of the world.
We had the worlds biggest and wealthiest middle class, and, if not THE best, certainly ONE of the best education and retirement systems.
Must have been all ‘smoke and mirrors.’
And then, came the Conservatives, who looked at the oppressive totalitarian, Fascist, regimes in Central and South America (which we/they put in place, and held in place) as the real envy of THEIR world.
And so, they gave us Nixon – but his own insecurities, and criminal tendencies, made him spit the bit.
Then they corrected their model, and gave America Ronald Reagan, a more polished actor, and “The Reagan De-evolution.”
And the result is that we’re well on our way to being the most well-armed Banana Republic in the world.
Thanks, Banana’s Republicans!
WereBear
When the Republicans decided tormenting women would be their plan this cycle, I ranted and raved and concluded with a number I yanked out of the air: that this would cost them 20 percent with women.
It’s eerie that it has pretty much come to pass. And in a sensible world, it would lose them 100% of women…
I try to comfort myself that:
Despite their overwhelming advantage in media outlets, people are not watching TV like they used to. Or taking it as seriously.
Despite their enlistment of fundamentalist religious figures, they are causing doubt instead of obedience.
Despite their gushers of crazy billionaire cash, they are running someone who repels human contact like a brand-new Teflon pan sheds overcooked eggs.
cintibud
Can’t help thinking that the ritual of desecration is coming
amk
And after all that, mitt will dig up the body of usa and will baptize it.
Heh, a mormon has gotta do what a mormon has gotta do.
Todd
Danziger did a nice job in capturing the glib “who cares who gets hurt” destructiveness of the financial service industry in coming up with “creative” investment schemes after an all night cocaine bender.
In that world, nobody spends more than 2 seconds assessing the long term ramifications of decisions regarding the instantaneous swing of billions of dollars. It’s like giving Porsche keys and a 12 pack of Schlitz to a 16 year old boy, and expecting him to act responsibly.
debbie
I worked for a publisher that KKR wanted to take over back in the 1980s. Management fought them off, and when KKR had backed off and the company had been sold off to a Murdoch wannabe, most of our management found jobs at KKR.
Comrade Javamanphil
OT: Tom Tomorrow needs a hand. Help a penguin out!
Riilism
Love the post title, Anne! Hafta remember that one….
Elizabelle
Morning Joe has Mann and Ornstein on NOW to discuss their book.
Regrettably, Joe himself is present.
Elizabelle
And Joe is making it all about himself.
He’s discussing the 1990s (the myth, not the fact). Won’t discuss current affairs at all.
Mann and Ornstein are pushing back well. I’ve heard the phrase “no Republican votes at all” twice now.
But Joe hijacked what could have been a productive discussion of their book.
c u n d gulag
@Elizabelle:
God, I hate Cup o’ Schmoe.
He makes unreasonableness seem so reasonable.
And when is Mika, that Stockholm Syndrome victim and psychologically battered TV wife, going to seek professional help?
c u n d gulag
@Elizabelle:
That’s what he gets paid the big bucks for!
That, and to re-brainwash the audience after a few hours of real news in the evenings.
People get a progressive look at the news when they’re tired in the evening.
And when they wake-up in fresher in the morning, Cup o’ Schmoe’s there to make them think what they heard was some sort of a dream, and that they’re now back to the usual hack-talk-fest that passes for TV news shows.
‘Maddow was but a dream…’
mapaghimagsik
Great comic — people who are all eager for government to be run *exactly* like a business don’t seem to connect the dots
zmulls
I’m not going to make another Donaldson joke. But I will share the thread title with my sons….
the Conster
Every day now I’m in an existential battle between being hopelessly depressed that our citizenry has been turned into dumb cattle like they eat (you are what you eat), herded and led to slaughter by the corrupt media and the sheer brazenness of the lying Repukes, and feeling hopeful because after all the media failure to inform and the relentless onslaught of lies and “both sides do it!” bullshit, Obama was elected in a landslide last time, and will probably win again. I’m staking my hopefulness on the fact that as November approaches, the more people start imagining the Romneytron in their living room for 4 years, they will experience the Uncanny Valley revulsion and will appreciate that Obama warmth and charm. Or not.
FlipYrWhig
A few threads ago I was saying I wanted to see an ad that took this approach. This is not a bad start. But needz moar dystopia.
Schlemizel
I had never heard of this guy but accidentally bumped into his work via gocomics. _ think folks here would enjoy his stuff
http://www.gocomics.com/jimmorin/2012/05/24
HRA
@Elizabelle:
“And Joe is making it all about himself.
He’s discussing the 1990s (the myth, not the fact). Won’t discuss current affairs at all.”
He either jumps into this or totally ignores the bad news for his side of politics. I became tired of his game. I will no longer watch this show. That is what more people should do. Maybe his ratings would tank enough to get him off.
Ben Wolf
Trade deficits desperately need to be addressed. For those arguing stimulus didn’t meet its billing, $600 billion exited the U.S. economy in 2011 alone. That means nearly half the budget deficit went to replacing the private sector’s lost net financial assets for that year instead of adding to aggregate demand.
Hill Dweller
@HRA: I can’t remember where I read it, but apparently their ratings have plummeted.
Matt in HB
@kdaug:
Thanks for the covenant confirmation. It’s been so long since i read those books,I wasn’t sure I was getting that right. :)
I was young enough when I read them that I’m not sure if they were really as good as I thought at the time.
MattF
Take some hikes around my neighborhood and into DC, reread Gene Wolfe’s new book “The Sorcerer’s House” which features the most unreliable narrator I’ve seen yet, figure out how to spice up lentils so they don’t taste like mud,
… and ponder the euro-crisis:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/24/world/europe/euro-crisis-intensifies-as-leaders-bicker.html?hp
Nice quote at the end of the article:
Mr. Cooley, of New York University, said: “I don’t think we’ll get all the way to the unraveling of the euro system. The way they are approaching solutions to it is the one that’s going to cause the most possible pain and damage to the countries on the periphery.”
HRA
@Hill Dweller:
“I can’t remember where I read it, but apparently their ratings have plummeted.”
I am not at all surprised. Though I did not a new ad for the show the other day and wondered if they were losing the audience.
Hillary Rettig
the most popular commenter draws a useful distinction between “marriage” and “rape” capitalism, the former being the paternalistic but reliable capitalism of pre-1980, when the company, for all its ills, would take care of you. The latter is what Bain & Co. do,
I hope those terms become more popularly used, esp. during the election season.
Another commenter raises the interesting question of whether a business model that allows you to get rich whether your company succeeds or fails is inherently flawed.
mai naem
I can’t stand Romney’s face. If this pig wins in November, I am going to really start looking to emigrate. We can’t afford even four years of a Republican who thinks like this idiot along with the Teabaggers in the House and Senate. Just because the Teabaggers don’t want the social safety net that they need more than I do, does not mean that I want to go along for the ride. I can’t stand the look on Romney’s face. All I see under that supercilious fake smile look is somebody telling himself mentally finger pointing to people in the crowd: And there’s a rube there, and another one there, oops there’s one I missed, another three at the back there, ohhh there’s another one behind the “Obummer -Not An American but a Moozleem”sign….
McConnor
Best. Headline. Evah!
Ken
The only step the cartoon misses is “
steal the pension fundre-invest assets more productively,” which would translate into “privatize Social Security.”low-tech cyclist
And in Romney’s case, a lomillialor test of truth would be completely superfluous: if his lips are moving, he’s lying.
ETA: Good timing, btw. I was just re-reading the first Thomas Covenant trilogy for the first time in many years; just finished The Power That Preserves last night.
Sly
I used to have quite a few finance major friends who never understood that movies like Wall Street and Boiler Room were cautionary tales. I don’t know where they are now, but I would not be surprised if they were mid-level guys working on CDOs at Lehman, Merril, or Bear.
gene108
@MattF:
Lentils = Dal.
Indians cook dal a lot. Links to various recipes for dal exist all over the intertubes.
Basilisc
So The Daily Caller is giving away one gun a week between now and the election.
We’re giving high-powered weapons to people, and linking it explicitly to a presidential election, in a country with astronomical rates of gun violence, where four presidents have been assassinated and where a Congresswoman was shot just last year.
This makes me angry, frightened, depressed, and physically ill. Does that mean I’m un-American?
MattF
@gene108: Yes, that’s been my main source of ideas. Tumeric, coriander, cumin, and then a half-dozen other things.
Tmill
@Matt in HB: Oh, they are! To make it even better ther3 are another 6 books carrying on the story (with one MORE coming in 2013). Excellent series!
Yutsano
@MattF: Add in cardamom, ground ginger, and pepper and you have a basic garam masala. From there you can go as crazy as you wish. Also cook the lentils in stock with some onion and garlic, that will help wake up the flavours as well.
Rob in CT
@Ben Wolf:
Sounds right. How, though?
mai naem
@MattF: cayenne pepper, you can also slip in one single dry hot red pepper for a pot and tomatoes. Chopped Tomatoes and tomato sauce are very important with daal and you need to enough water to make it more liquid. I personally have never liked thick daal, it needs to be more of a thin soup.
DFH no.6
@Matt in HB:
I read Donaldson’s Covenant series (beginning with Lord Foul’s Bane) as the books came out, starting in the late 70s.
And then I later re-read all that have been published to date (he has one more to go to finish what will be a ten book series).
YMMV, of course, but I found Donaldson’s first three books (the original trilogy) to be about as good as anything (before or since) in the genre.
Sadly, the later books did not live up to the promise of the beginning (though there was a lot in them that did, there’s been too much that did not).
Still searching for the one great fantasy series that starts strong and stays strong all the way through to the end.
Don’t think it exists, not even the venerable LOTR.
Maybe Williams’ Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn trilogy, and the great Poul Anderson’s four-volume King of Ys (though that last is more historical fiction with a heavy dose of the mythic and supernatural than fantasy, strictly speaking) come closest of those I’ve read (and man, I’ve read a lot of them over the past 40+ years). If you haven’t read those but enjoy the genre you absolutely should.
Martin’s Song of Ice and Fire – Game of Thrones for those enjoying it through HBO – showed great promise all the way through book 4 (yeah, I found book 4 just as good as the first three, which puts me at odds with a lot of critics and fans) but I found book 5 (the latest one, out last summer) fairly disappointing.
Not bad, per se, just somewhat “overwritten” – no surprise after, what, six years in the making? – with too much that just did not reach the quality of storytelling and character-development of the first four books.
Can Martin bring it back in the last couple books? Can HBO actually go all the way to the end (and not pull a Carnivale half-way through)? I’m hopeful but skeptical on both accounts (I don’t see how Martin finishes the story in just two more books, or how HBO could do the entire series in less than ten seasons).
IMAO, HBO should have done the King of Ys instead. It’s a similar style (“sword and sorcery”, I suppose, with lots of HBO-friendly sex, to boot) story that’s fascinating and well-written (based on an ancient Breton legend) that has the additional superior qualities (over Game of Thrones) of actually being finished, and of a reasonable length that it could be done in 4 (or at most 5) TV seasons. No one asked me, though, more’s the pity.
Anyway — fuck Romney, and all other fascists, too.
LanceThruster
Even if Utahr was a loss leader, he’d come up with some rationale to keep it, much like deficit spending never addresses to sinkhole so much defense spending entails.
When will these deficit hawks want to get to the bottom of Dov Zakheim’s $2.3 trillion defense department loss announce by Donald Rumsfeld on 9/10/2001?
http://911research.wtc7.net/sept11/trillions.html