This will sound stupid, but I’ll admit it anyway. Yesterday I was so excited about the prospect of returning to blogging, that my mind kept racing, as I thought about things I want to say. I was so hyped over the prospect, that I could not sleep at all, so I need to delay my return for one more day. 
I’ll stay current with recent comments. Keep keeping your fingers crossed please.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 3:47 (average 4:46). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From MoveOn: Robert Reich On Why You Shouldn’t Accept Chained CPI From Obama Or Anybody
I agree, but with the caveat that I believe Obama and most Democrats are setting the price for chained CPI higher than what Republicans will accept (revenue increase from the 1%) to demonstrate that Republicans consider bipartisanship as all for them and none for us. Nevertheless, please keep making that call, and sign this petition.
From NPR: Oregon state lawmakers have scheduled a marathon public hearing Friday on four gun control bills. The proposals include a ban on guns in schools and criminal background checks for private gun sales.
Opponents are lining up against the measures, but some gun control advocates say the proposals don’t go far enough…
…One February rally drew more than a thousand people — . Afterward, Negru toured the Capitol building with a hunting rifle slung over his shoulder and a handgun at his side…
…It’s perfectly legal to openly carry a gun in the state Capitol in Oregon if you have a concealed handgun license. But while no incidents were reported, the sight of people walking the marble hallways with semi-automatic weapons rattled some lawmakers.
That led to a proposed ban on openly carrying weapons in the state Capitol. The other measures would ban guns from school grounds; require more training for people who want a concealed carry permit; and require criminal background checks for private gun sales…
Even here in Oregon, we have TEAbuggery and InsaniTEA. Ginny Burdick, my state Senator, also wants a ban on assault weapons and high capacity clips.
From NY Times: When the Great Depression struck, many influential people argued that the government shouldn’t even try to limit the damage. According to Herbert Hoover, Andrew Mellon, his Treasury secretary, urged him to “Liquidate labor, liquidate stocks, liquidate the farmers. … It will purge the rottenness out of the system.” Don’t try to hasten recovery, warned the famous economist Joseph Schumpeter, because “artificial stimulus leaves part of the work of depressions undone.”
Like many economists, I used to quote these past luminaries with a certain smugness. After all, modern macroeconomics had shown how wrong they were, and we wouldn’t repeat the mistakes of the 1930s, would we?
How naïve we were. It turns out that the urge to purge — the urge to see depression as a necessary and somehow even desirable punishment for past sins, while inveighing against any attempt to mitigate suffering — is as strong as ever. Indeed, Mellonism is everywhere these days. Turn on CNBC or read an op-ed page, and the odds are that you won’t see someone arguing that the federal government and the Federal Reserve are doing too little to fight mass unemployment. Instead, you’re much more likely to encounter an alleged expert ranting about the evils of budget deficits and money creation, and denouncing Keynesian economics as the root of all evil…
Click through for another fine Krugman editorial. Just like a Republican waging class warfare (Hoover) got us into the Great Depression, a Republican waging class warfare (Bush) got us into the Republican Recession. Getting us out of the Great Depression required a Democrat with a stimulus plan (FDR). To get out of the Republican Recession, we need a Democrat with a stimulus plan.
Cartoon:
17 Responses to “Open Thread–4/5/2013”
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.
WRT today's Cartoon:
Surely SOMETHING of importance must have happened on April 5. (Or is that April 7th date a typo?)
It's the excitement! He's over wrought! See Patty's comment.
Actually, it was the exhaustion behind that typo. OOPS!
3:18 Did I race along quickly enough on my little Vespa today?
3:10 Uh. . . that's my Vespa!
4:05 I fell off the Vespa.
We got Big Footed!
Or were we lead-footed by Lynn?
LOL!
My, my, Tom. You sound like a little kid excited about Christmas.
MoveOn ~ Brilliant! Why can't the politicians see that? Stupidity or Greed? You decide for yourself. I've already made up my mind. Already signed.
NPR ~ Open-carry laws scare the beJesus out of me. We need a stricter national law regarding weapons.
NY Times ~ It's way over my head. I do know who got us into this mess though. I hope the Dems can get us out before it's too late.
Cartoon ~ Definite typo, Nameless. April 5 – On this day. 1792: George Washington issued the first presidential veto, rejecting a bill to give more House seats to northern states.
That's about right. These last few monts have been most frustrating!
Good!
I fully agree!
I hope so too.
Correct.
Puzzle — 3:10 Uh. . . that's my Vespa!
MoveOn — Excellent as usual from Robert Reich. Perhaps he should be invited to educate the asshat legislators. Seniors demand better! Seniors can't increase their income so chained CPI just reduces their benefits when all costs are going up.
NPR — "…It’s perfectly legal to openly carry a gun in the state Capitol in Oregon if you have a concealed handgun license. …the sight of people walking the marble hallways with semi-automatic weapons rattled some lawmakers."
And it should rattle people because there is, in my mind, the implied threat of 'govern my way or else. . . " — the idea of holding the people's Assembly hostage until the gun lobby gets what it wants. Sick! That is not democracy!
NY Times — "Unemployment, not excessive money printing, is what ails us now — and policy should be doing more, not less." — Get people working and they will be contributing to government coffers in the form of taxes, and contributing to the economy by buying things again. Why is this so hard to understand? Or maybe it's not too hard to understand — Republican/Teabaggers don't want to understand because they are so accustomed to obstructing Mr Obama and the Democrats.
Cartoon — "April 5 – On this day. 1792: George Washington issued the first presidential veto, rejecting a bill to give more House seats to northern states." — a man of integrity? . . . or a southern gentleman?
Bif Foot on the accelerator! 😉
Exactly!
I'm sure that just how they felt.
I'm pretty sure they do understand, but they want to funnel all the "stimulus" to the one percent.
A little of both. Jeffersons bill exceeded the Constitutional aportionment, but he foresaw that, as the country grew, less populous states would have disproportionate power, and that's exactly what we have now.
I just received the weirdest message that something in my last comment blocked my access. Said I should ask you to "whitelist" me for future. Huh???
I have no idea where that came from Lynn. I certainly received no notice, ad, iof your access had been blocked, this comment would not have cleared.
All that changing to Chained-CPI does is reduce SS benefits. It does nothing to reducing the debt or deficit. SS benefits are paid for entirely, ENTIRELY, out of the payroll deduction. SS is self supporting by law.
Precisely!