Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

If you don’t believe freedom is for everybody, then the thing you love isn’t freedom, it is privilege.

A norm that restrains only one side really is not a norm – it is a trap.

If America since Jan 2025 hasn’t broken your heart, you haven’t loved her enough.

Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

You cannot love your country only when you win.

Their shamelessness is their super power.

Pessimism assures that nothing of any importance will change.

“In the future, this lab will be a museum. do not touch it.”

When you’re a Republican, they let you do it.

I swear, each month of 2025 will have its own history degree.

Jesus watching the most hateful people claiming to be his followers

Stamping your little feets and demanding that they see how important you are? Not working anymore.

A sufficient plurality of insane, greedy people can tank any democratic system ever devised, apparently.

Authoritarian republicans are opposed to freedom for the rest of us.

They traffic in fear. it is their only currency. if we are fearful, they are winning.

Peak wingnut was a lie.

Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

The line between political reporting and fan fiction continues to blur.

They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

The Giant Orange Man Baby is having a bad day.

Republicans do not pay their debts.

Giving up is unforgivable.

They love authoritarianism, but only when they get to be the authoritarians.

They are lying in pursuit of an agenda.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Thursday Evening Open Thread: KRUGTHULU!

Thursday Evening Open Thread: KRUGTHULU!

by | 74 Comments

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Professor Krugman, on the same story, “Knaves, Fools, and Quantitative Easing“:

When the going gets tough, the people losing the argument start whining about civility. I often find myself attacked as someone who believes that anyone with a different opinion is a fool or a knave; as I’ve tried to explain, however, that’s mainly selection bias. I don’t spend much time on areas where reasonable people can disagree, because there are so many important issues where one side really is completely unreasonable.

Relatedly, obviously someone can disagree with my side and still be a good person. On the other hand, there are a lot of bad people engaged in economic debate — and I don’t mean that they’re wrong, I mean that they argue in bad faith.

Which brings us to today’s installment of oh-yes-they’re-that-bad, courtesy of Bloomberg. You may remember the infamous open letter to Ben Bernanke warning that his efforts to boost the economy “risk currency debasement and inflation”; just in case you wondered about the political nature of the letter, among the signatories was that noted monetary expert William Kristol.

So Bloomberg had the bright idea, now that almost four years of low inflation have passed, of asking the signatories whether they would concede that they were wrong. Not a chance. Hey, they only said there was a “risk” of inflation, and the economy hasn’t done well, so it’s all good!

Just to say the obvious: if inflation had in fact risen, they would have claimed vindication. So it’s heads they win, tails they don’t lose…

***********
Apart from applauding the calling out of idiots, what’s on the agenda for the evening?

Reader Interactions

74Comments

  6. 6.

    lamh36

    Ok. I see some of the MSM (particularly Tweety) trying to play “gotcha” politics with Prez Obama for saying an OUTBREAK of Ebola in the US is unlikely. First of all OUTBREAK doesn’t mean 2 people who actually contracted disease in another country. Secondly, Let’s be very clear, the man in DFW who has Ebola, LIED to Liberia authorities so that he could leave the country. in other words, HE LIED so that is how Ebola “came to US”. Prez Obama had NO control over this dude lying, but hey, facts…who needs stinking facts!


    “Report: Liberia to prosecute man who brought Ebola to U.S.”

  10. 10.

    JPL

    @Karen in GA: You know you are suppose to keep him calm for weeks after treatment. haha.. Good luck to you and Iggy because he is not going to happy.

  11. 11.

    trollhattan

    An interesting take on sports and domestic violence, from Russell Wilson.

    I used to beat people up. Truthfully, I used to beat people up a lot. Many of you readers probably think I have been Mr. Goody Two-Shoes my whole life, but honestly, I was a bully growing up. In elementary and middle school, I threw kids against the wall. I rubbed their heads in the dirt at recess. I bit them. I even knocked teeth out.

  13. 13.

    Roger Moore

    @ranchandsyrup:
    I like to say something similar about teaching: it’s much more productive to show somebody the (or a) right way of doing something than to criticize them for doing it the wrong way. I think this also gets into a less examined reason why praise is a more effective method of behavior modification than punishment: we’re teaching people what we want them to do instead of what we want them to avoid. Putting somebody on the right path is a much bigger step forward than steering them off the wrong path.

  16. 16.

    Major Major Major Major

    @JPL: (Jefferson County)

    Fucking JeffCo. Meanwhile, Malkin and her ilk are trying to spin it as the teachers’ union tricking everybody into thinking this is about curricula when really it’s about merit pay, somehow.

  17. 17.

    JPL

    @Major Major Major Major: One of the students mentioned the lies being spread. I’m sixty-five and I just don’t remember being so well spoken at that age.
    Good for them and it makes me feel good about our future.

  18. 18.

    Mike in NC

    How is it that Billy Kristol continues to steal oxygen from more deserving life forms?

  21. 21.

    Davis X. Machina

    On the monomaniacal pursuit of non-existent inflation demons, in the absence of any evidence they exist, your man is Steve Randy Waldman, and his 2012 “Depression is a Choice“.

    …the preferences of developed, aging polities — first Japan, now the United States and Europe — are obvious to a dispassionate observer. Their overwhelming priority is to protect the purchasing power of incumbent creditors. That’s it. That’s everything. All other considerations are secondary….

  22. 22.

    Karen in GA

    @Amir Khalid: Yep. I expected lethargy, or more general unhappiness, but he’s still himself.

    Which is a problem at the moment. Because…

    @JPL:

    You know you are supposed to keep him calm for weeks after treatment…

    Yep. He’s crated, I got two big bags of rawhide and other assorted chews, a three-hour playlist of “Music Through A Dog’s Ear” on repeat (I don’t know if it’ll calm him, but it’ll drown out the kids and other dogs outside), low light, and I’ve gated the top of the stairs to keep the cats from even being on the same floor of the house with him. I’ve moved some of my own stuff downstairs where his crate is, and I’ll probably be spending a good amount of October within sight of him so I don’t risk him getting agitated when I leave or excited when I come back. And my job is letting me work from home for most of the month so I can keep an eye on him.

    Because I stopped being scared a couple of weeks after his diagnosis — now I’m just pissed off. Fuck those worms, he’s gonna live. FREEEEDOMMMMMM!!!

    Okay, sorry, got carried away there. But yeah, he’s crated, and I’m watching him like a hawk for the next 30 days.

  23. 23.

    raven

    @Karen in GA: Lil Bit had a bulging disc about 6 months after we adopted her. She was on limited duty for a month so I went to Habitat and got a used baby carriage. I rigged it so I could put her in it an do our morning walk down Prince. People would freak out when they saw this little black cocker being pushed down the street!

  24. 24.

    JPL

    @Karen in GA: Finch shows that the treatment works. I still question why I adopted a five plus year old who was treated for heart worm but he’s just a sweet dog who loves everyone.

  26. 26.

    Anne Laurie

    @Roger Moore:

    I like to say something similar about teaching: it’s much more productive to show somebody the (or a) right way of doing something than to criticize them for doing it the wrong way.

    Or, as the postive-reinforcement trainers phrase it: There are hundreds of ways for your animal partner to not perform the exercise correctly, and only one way for them to perform correctly. If you teach the action you want instead of correcting the actions you don’t, both partners will save a lot of time & effort!

  27. 27.

    RSA

    From the article:

    Ronald McKinnon, a retired economics professor at Stanford University, died yesterday prior to a Bloomberg call to his home.

    Nothing against McKinnon, but this made me laugh.

  29. 29.

    GHayduke (formerly lojasmo)

    Running a half marathon (single track) on the eighteenth. I think my longest run to date is five miles. My “long” run will be this weekend…MAYBE ten miles, more likely eight.

    Ugh.

  30. 30.

    beltane

    OT, but my ex-husband had a major stroke today. Our oldest son is 19 and the youngest is 14. I feel so bad that they have to deal with something like this at their ages. We’ll be going to the hospital in the morning.

  32. 32.

    srv

    If we had an opera based off of Krugman and these Austerian “Economists,” what would we call it?

  35. 35.

    I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet

    ObOpenThread – Poll for Ukraine’s October 26 election:

    39.5% Poroshenko bloc
    29% undecided
    10.4% Radical Party bloc
    7.8% Batkivyshchyna Party (Tymoshenko)
    6.9% People’s Front Party bloc
    5.2% Strong Ukraine Party

    A party has to have 5% to gain a seat.

    Right Sector is one of 29 parties on the ballot. They aren’t doing too well in the polls…

    Who will be Putin’s boggie man after October 27?

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  37. 37.

    Omnes Omnibus

    Still the first quarter, but this looks more like the Packer team I was hoping to see this year. Lacy already has 58 yards off four carries and D is playing well.

    ETA: And now a 66 yard TD to Nelson.

  38. 38.

    Shana

    @Mike in NC: And I have to sit in synagogue with that waste of space for Kol Nidre tomorrow night…

    On the upside, we signed a contract with a new contractor today. They start work on our kitchen addition/remodel on Monday. So our project that started January 7th and should have taken 12 weeks, will ultimately take almost a year. And, yes, there will be a lawsuit and we’re not the only ones that were screwed over by the original contractor. Be very careful about vetting contractors folks.

  41. 41.

    raven

    @Shana: We are 17 months past the groundbreaking where we hit the city sewer. The city is moving the line but it has taken all this time to get it designed and approved. They think it will take a month to do the sewer once they start and THEN we can start our addition.

  48. 48.

    The Fat Kate Middleton

    @beltane: So very sorry to hear this. Tell them to hold on to what efgoldman told us here. Other health-related news: my sister (and best friend) just told me that her husband learned today he has oral/throat cancer. Surgery next week, radiation thereafter.

  59. 59.

    beltane

    @efgoldman: He is conscious but cannot speak and is paralyzed on the right side. The situation is made worse by the fact that he experienced a severe brain injury as a teenager and his brain had adapted by shifting the language center to a different region of the brain. The brain has an incredible resiliency though, so there’s always hope.

  60. 60.

    Shana

    @raven: Oh man! At least we were only dealing with what turned out to be crooks. Took money for deposits on materials ($11,000 plus for windows as just one example) and then never ordered materials, or ordered materials like the countertop but won’t release it to us so we can pay the balance. Getting the municipality or utility to move is another kettle of fish however. Good luck with that.

    BTW, I seem to remember from some of your posts that you’re either in Champaign, or went to school there. Me too.

  61. 61.

    raven

    @Shana: We’re much luckier than you. Strangely this is the only way we could have gotten the addition at all. We had both a building permit and a historic district clearance from the city. They did not know where the sewer was and, because it runs under a house, they agreed to move it at a cost of $300K. Had they known where it was they would have just said no. We’re out about $5000 but we’re trying to take the high road.

    I was born in Mercy Hospital and went back to C-U after the Army. I lived there for 15 years and have been gone 30 but it’s still home.

  62. 62.

    Elizabelle

    How is Violet? Any updates?

    @beltane: Your family is in my thoughts. Time is the great healer with strokes. I hope your ex has a good recovery, with full return of functions. How scary.

  66. 66.

    PurpleGirl

    @trollhattan: They are sort of weird, funny though. A number of them aren’t bad at all (#s 4, 6, 8, 13, 14, maybe others I don’t remember the # of). Thank you for some laughs.

  67. 67.

    Ruckus

    @Mnemosyne:
    Just got home from work a bit ago and read through the post from this morning.
    That truly is some scary stuff. I hope for the best.

    Been there, spent a few years working at a crisis hotline/counseling service and some in therapy myself. It can be really hard to see clearly when it(whatever it may be) is happening to you, you just need it to stop.
    I hope for the best and second if one(or many) of the FB folks could email her

  69. 69.

    PurpleGirl

    @raven: Not saying a lot of NYers are using strollers for their little dogs but it is happening more and more. I think some are even designed for dogs.

  70. 70.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @raven: I once freaked out a little crossing a street in NYC. I saw a Rolls Royce that looked like it was being driven by a Great Dane. It turned out that the car was right hand drive and the dog was in the passenger seat.

  72. 72.

    Radio One

    Getting worried about the mid-terms. Got phone-banked by my state Democratic Party the other day. The guy actually seemed somewhat surprised/relieved that I was going to vote straight up for the Democratic ticket. Not a good sign.

  73. 73.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Radio One: Because one dude expressed surprise/relief, you are worried? I suspect that you were ready to be worried and just went with it.

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