Now we know why Moody’s put out that bogus report (shameless nutpicking but I don’t have the heart to read what the wingnut blogs are saying):
Convenient. Apparently Zandi wants to stay on the Obama Christmas card list.
Zandi seems to play the role of Washington’s perennial arbiter of Economic Rightness.
Dan
So now they’re doing Obama’s bidding. I thought business hated Obama.
ThatLeftTurnInABQ
We have always been at war with East Bankistan.
Parallel 5ths (Jewish Steel)
So, you haven’t been banned at Time yet. Is that due to your restraint or Time’s indifference?
Davis X. Machina
It was Rahm.
PeakVT
It’s an argument the conservatrolls trot out often for economists when they say something that accurately reflects reality. I think some people are still accusing Krugman of angling for a Obama Administration job despite both saying he doesn’t want one and hammering on Obama’s economic team on a weekly basis.
The Dangerman
Zandi? Doesn’t sound all that American. What kind of car does he drive?
A Commenter at Balloon Juice (formerlyThe Grand Panjandrum)
It’s hard out here for a simp.
Sly
Don’t knock the seductive appeal of the White House Christmas Card list. True American Patriot Dan Burton didn’t.
Though I don’t remember if the two weeks of hearings he conducted on the use of Christmas Cards by the Clinton administration occurred before or after he shot a watermelon in his back yard to prove that Bill Clinton killed Vince Foster.
FlipYrWhig
Wasn’t Zandi an honest-to-God John McCain adviser? Or am I thinking of someone else?
Cain
@The Dangerman:
Sounds vaguely muslimy.. is he even American? What does his birth certificate say?
cain
Another Commenter at Balloon Juice (fka Bella Q)
Jesus H. Christ on a cracker. Is there something in the wingnut water supply?
Svensker
Trolling your own troll comments?
MattF
Yeah, well, reality’s liberal bias, and so forth. I’ll note only that wingers have the helpful habit (projection, for the psy-ops among us) of accusing liberals of doing the things that they have already done over and over again. Might be an inneresting subject for you investigative journalists out there.
Nylund
Recall the last time a Democrat was in the White House:
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
New Yorker
@Dan:
Well, when you can wrap your head around the idea that our president is both a radical Islamist and a godless communist at the same time (I wonder which side he was on during the Soviet war in Afghanistan?), I guess anything is possible.
geg6
@Sly:
Well, I’m on the Christmas card list (I have three Christmas cards from the Obamas!) and I criticize the President on a weekly basis, at least. But I DO think Michelle can do no wrong, so that is probably what keeps me there.
MikeJ
@New Yorker: Saw a file on TPB today claiming that Obama’s pose as a christian and a muslim are both fake and he’s really a jooo.
geg6
@New Yorker:
Not to mention that Zandi worked for the McCain campaign. So apparently Zandi is now the John Cole of economists?
MeDrewNotYou
@FlipYrWhig: Yes. Yes he was.
MeDrewNotYou
@geg6: Hell’s belles! Scooped by a minute.
danimal
Is “shameless” the BJ Word of the Day?
steve
Lotsa relatives like this. Any evidence that disagrees with them is automatically wrong. Anything said by an enemy is automatically wrong. One of them literally told me 2 weeks ago that oil would never run out because “That’s AAAAL GOOORRE bulllll—shit.”
PaulW
that id “freeinpa” reeks of astroturf.
Blue Neponset
I hate to agree with the wingnuts but anyone who quotes a report produced by the Zindi is probably just an anti-federation zealot and should be ignored.
steve
He stood in the middle and shot one gun in each direction
grape_crush
Hey, that was you poking your head in, Doug…
@3: Is that due to your restraint or Time’s indifference?
Indifference. There’s very little moderation over there. Pretty much the only thing that will get you bounced is threatening violence.
@11: Is there something in the wingnut water supply?
Considering that two of the wingnut regulars there are from PA, the answer is probably yes.
@5:It’s an argument the conservatrolls trot out often for economists when they say something that accurately reflects reality.
Not just economists, but pretty much everything that pokes a hole in their ideologically self-contained worlds.
jl
@Nylund:
Wasn’t it the Clinton cat’s Christmas card list? Or do I have my Clinton scandals mixed up?
Which reminds me, how does one get on Tunch’s Christmas card list?
As for the report, all of the macroeconomic forecasting organizations I am aware of, either independent, or part of a bigger organization, will get the same results. They all use Keynesian models because the Keynesian approach is the only macroeconomic approach that has been able to generate testable predictions, and is suitable for forecasting.
Some forecasting places want to publish in academic journals, so they will use a dynamic general equilibrium model of some kind for that purpose, but with assumptions about the many many unobservable parameters that go into these models that force it to act like a relatively simple Keynesian model.
Modern academic macroeconomics in the US has ceased to be an empirical science, if being an empirical science requires making testable predictions.
So, I expect all of these ‘real world’ macroeconomic forecasting and modelling organizations to show that a sudden cut in government spending to reduce employment.
geg6
Interesting conversation at lunch today with a co-worker who has always identified with GOPers and who especially loved Sarah Palin.
She’s been watching the goings-on in Madison on TV. And today, our new governor here in PA announced that he is taking something like 40,000 adults off of adultBasic, the state subsidized health plan for adults. She’s freaking out because her sister is on adultBasic. She has another co-worker (she works in a different department from me) who depends on adultBasic now that she is retired. It has finally hit her that she and her family are the targets of the GOP’s war against the middle class. Her prejudices and religious background won’t save her or hers. I pushed her as hard as I felt I could without making it seem hostile. She finally gets it. Not enough yet. But definitely the wheels are turning and she is not happy. I wanted to shout at her “This is your fault and the fault of all the people like you, you idiot!” but I refrained. I figure the less I talk and the more I just listen and nod, the brighter the light bulb will glow.
Davis X. Machina
@geg6: One quick chat with Pastor Bob, or whomever, and she’ll be right back in the fold.
In six months, she’ll tell you she, and her sister, and her retiree friend deserved it.
Blessed be the Market, the righteous Judge.
geg6
@Davis X. Machina:
I really don’t think so. This is hitting too close to home for her. She is also a university employee and she knows that we’re going to take a big hit, too. I even said that I didn’t want to get political, but there’s a pattern going on here all over the nation and it’s the Republicans who are doing it. She knew that the WI public employees had agreed to the cuts already and said that should have ended the standoff. The light bulb has been lit and I don’t think it’s gonna turn off or burn out, no matter what.
Anyway, here’s the story about adultBasic:
http://www.wtae.com/news/27024596/detail.html
kdaug
@geg6:
Yurp. My problem is trying to keep the smug look of “well, duh, I’ve been saying this for years” condescension off my face.
But yeah, people are waking up.
Worldwide.
Kirk Spencer
I ran across this today – apologies if you’ve seen it before.
gypsy howell
geg6, from your link:
I haven’t followed this, but can BCBS just “decide not to put more money into it”?
Corbett is the silent killer here in PA. And my rightwing local rag isn’t likely to actually report on anything he’s doing.
fasteddie9318
@geg6:
More anecdotal evidence that conservatives only stay that way as long as it’s Somebody Else who’s suffering for it.
fasteddie9318
@gypsy howell: Well, OK, those poor folks are getting kicked out of Medicaid. But it’s not like there’s anything going on in PA that might kill people and that Corbett decided to deregulate .
gene108
@Dan:
They were for him (in 2008), before they were against him (in 2010).
Mnemosyne
@gypsy howell:
I’m sure they can, and I guarantee you what their excuse is: “Obamacare made us do it!”
piratedan
will you guys please quit shifting the narrative? How in the heck can a small businessman make a living selling catchy paraphernalia to gullible wingnuts if you guys keep changing the friggin’ narrative?
El Cid
@A Commenter at Balloon Juice (formerlyThe Grand Panjandrum): That’s awesome.