Posted on 18 June 2012. Tags: Austerity, Barack Obama, Crisis, Debt, Deficit, Euro, Financial Transactions Tax, France, Francois Hollande, Germany, Jobs, Sanity, Socialists
So, it’s not all bad news in the world. Some sanity prevails when real-life economics, not blather about the glories of the "free market", triumphs and one can hope for a bit of truthiness to spread. First, the good news: President François Hollande’s Socialists and their allies won an absolute majority in runoff […]
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Posted in General Interest
Posted on 19 April 2012. Tags: Alan Simpson, Blackstone, Budget, Carried Interest, Catfood Commission, Class Warfare, Debt, Deficit, Democrats, Erskine Bowles, Journalists, medicare, Pete Peterson, Private Equity, Republicans, Scams, Serious Person, Social Security, Taxes
I love it when billionaires feel misunderstood. It sounds something like this: “I’ve fleeced you or just piled up gobs of money at your expense but, gee, that really wasn’t personal, I’m really a good guy with all the right motives, if you could just see it my way because, well, my way is […]
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Posted in General Interest
Posted on 23 March 2012. Tags: "Free Trade", Austerity, Barack Obama, Debt, Deficits, Europe, Markets, Pensions, Retirement, Taxes, The New York Times
Really. When I read The New York Times editorials about the economy, or the truly shallow reporting from most of the paper’s reporters, often I think: the people at The New York Times actually are dolts. They don’t understand economics–at all. But, more often, it’s worth considering–they actually believe what they write, even if […]
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Posted in General Interest
Posted on 03 December 2011. Tags: Catfood Commission, Debt, Deficits, Joe Lieberman
I could blame Joe Lieberman for deciding to take a week off starting Monday but it would be unfair. I’m doing that for other reasons–my computer will be, intentionally, in a different place for that week. But, reading this crap reminds me why it will be good riddance when Lieberman rides off into […]
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Posted in General Interest
Posted on 30 November 2011. Tags: Austerity, Catfood Commission, Debt, Deficit, Depression, Financial Crisis, Fiscal Policy Institute, Jobs, New York, Poverty, Wages
I’ve written a lot about the complete immoral insanity of the obsession over the phony debt and deficit "crisis"and the rush to impose austerity on the people when we really need much more public spending to employ the masses of people who are falling, falling, falling further behind. Well, truth is austerity is not […]
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Posted in General Interest
Posted on 09 November 2011. Tags: Debt, Deficits, Michael Bloomberg, Nonsense, Paul Krugman, Social Security
Billions of dollars can buy you a lot–for example, a little toy called New York City that you pocket for yourself and, then, keep for yourself even when the rules say it’s time to go (hey, if you’ve got billions, you can buy off politicians to let you keep the toy for a little […]
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Posted in General Interest
Posted on 05 November 2011. Tags: Capitulation, Debt, Deficit, Democrats, Financial Transactions Tax, Medicaid, medicare, Nonsense, Peter DeFazio, Super Committee, Tax Rates
Yesterday, I wrote about the monumentally crazy letter co-signed by 60 House DEMOCRATS, who, by adding their names to the letter, in my view, were embracing austerity, cuts in Medicare and a de-funding of basic government services. One of the signers of the letter, Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-OR), responded to my post. So, in […]
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Posted in General Interest
Posted on 04 November 2011. Tags: Capitulation, Debt, Deficit, Democrats, Medicaid, medicare, Nonsense, Super Committee
In today’s installment of stupidity, crass political calculations and the desperate need to be inducted into the Washington Post’s circle of Very Serious People, I present to you a list of 60 House Democrats who now say they are willing to lock arms with the people who seek to destroy Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security […]
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Posted in General Interest
Posted on 03 November 2011. Tags: Alan Simpson, Alice Rivlin, Debt, Deficit, Erskine Bowles, Molly Ivins, Moody's, Nonsense, Pete Domenici, Republicans, Super Committee, Taxes
Somehow, I’ve been thinking a lot about Molly Ivins recently and how she would know exactly what to say about the absurdity of our political leaders who are just clueless. She once said, of former Republican House Majority leader Dick Armey, “If ignorance ever goes to $40 a barrel, I want drillin’ rights on that […]
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Posted in General Interest
Posted on 22 October 2011. Tags: Debt, Deficit, Nonsense, Super Committee
This is great news: Senate and House leaders are becoming more directly involved with the supercommittee responsible for delivering a sizable deficit-reduction plan by Thanksgiving, amid growing concern the panel’s members could be deadlocked. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D., Nev.) has been meeting more frequently with Democratic members of the 12-member supercommittee, an […]
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Posted in General Interest