I’m writing for tomorrow, and although my COPD is still severe, I do have a second article for you today. Conditions are improving, but still horrid. The freezing rain advisory ends later today, and I should be able to get out again before the end of the week.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 2:24 (average 4:12). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From Upworthy: Meet Nick Hanauer. He’s a very wealthy man, his family owns a lot of things, and he’s invested in some big companies that started out small (ahem … Amazon…). He’s got a few things to say about who the job creators really are in our country, and it goes totally against the standard trope you usually hear from politicians and talking heads. Delightfully so.
INEQUALITY FOR ALL – The Power of Job Creators from New Birch on Vimeo.
It is certainly refreshing to see a member of 0.1% recognize that he and his ilk are not the job creators. We are.
From NY Times: …Some Republicans justified last week’s filibuster with the tired old argument that we can’t afford to increase the deficit. Actually, Democrats paired the benefits extension with measures to increase tax receipts. But in any case this is a bizarre objection at a time when federal deficits are not just falling, but clearly falling too fast, holding back economic recovery.
For the most part, however, Republicans justify refusal to help the unemployed by asserting that we have so much long-term unemployment because people aren’t trying hard enough to find jobs, and that extended benefits are part of the reason for that lack of effort.
People who say things like this — people like, for example, Senator Rand Paul — probably imagine that they’re being tough-minded and realistic. In fact, however, they’re peddling a fantasy at odds with all the evidence. For example: if unemployment is high because people are unwilling to work, reducing the supply of labor, why aren’t wages going up?
But evidence has a well-known liberal bias. The more their economic doctrine fails — remember how the Fed’s actions were supposed to produce runaway inflation? — the more fiercely conservatives cling to that doctrine. More than five years after a financial crisis plunged the Western world into what looks increasingly like a quasi-permanent slump, making nonsense of free-market orthodoxy, it’s hard to find a leading Republican who has changed his or her mind on, well, anything.
And this imperviousness to evidence goes along with a stunning lack of compassion…
I snipped this from the middle of an excellent Paul Krugman editorial on Republican soft heads and hard hearts. Click through for the rest. It’s well worth the read.
From TPM: The tea party has taken a series of hits since it goaded Republican leaders into a costly and self-defeating government shutdown last fall. But the conservative movement remains formidable when it comes to pushing Republican leaders to just say no, at all costs, to new economic and domestic initiatives that aren’t essential to avert immediate crisis.
The emerging dynamic is one where the tea party can no longer hold the basic functions of government hostage to conservative policy reforms, but has effective veto power over major new proposals that require bipartisan deal-making. It’s an important shift from the last three years since the nascent movement helped the GOP win more than 60 congressional seats and re-take the House in the 2010 elections, spurring a party-wide lurch to the right.
In spite of mainstream Republican efforts to reign in the open InsaniTEA that is too obvious for them to successfully hide from voters, there is little actual difference between the two, except that Baggers are too stupid to realize how few people actually agree with them. The Tea Party provides a venue for the hatred, without which the Republican Party has no base.
Cartoon:
15 Responses to “Open Thread–2/11/2014”
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2:52 That is one tough and fast puddy tat!
I think TomCat got his groove back.
2:53 What's a guy to do?!? I am under 3 minutes and only number 4. I don't even get the bronze!
Puzzle — 2:52 That is one tough and fast puddy tat!
Upworthy — I always like listening to Nick Hanauer because his enlightenment is spot on. His reference to the 1% not generating jobs but generating status, privilege and power is right on. And I loved it when he said trickle down economics is wrong and must be replaced by "middle out economics". You and I are the job creators with our purchasing power . . . or lack thereof. Any doubt about that? Look at the big corporations that have changed their tune about some things when consumers boycott them over issues and the bottom line takes a hit!
NY Times — I, as a longterm unemployed person, can attest to the bias that some employers have, although I'll never categorically prove it. And as an older employee (62), well did you know that I am incapable of learning anything new? The longer that any person remains unemployed and actively seeking work, the fatigue factor and demoralisation sets in. It took me 4 years of "no" or "we chose someone with skill sets closer to our needs" before I finally gave up. And that's for positions in my field for which I was over qualified.
Republicanus/Teabagger politicians in the US (and Canadian Conservatives) haven't a clue about surviving in today's world. May they all go into the unemployment line at the next election!
TPM — May the Republicanus and the Teabaggers take a hit during the midterms and beyond. Both are power addicts and need to go into rehab. You know, I think there is a movie about them — no heart, no brains, no courage. Now where are those red shoes!
Cartoon — An old Republicanus/Teabagger "tradition". After all, the Republicanus/Teabagger party is a decendant of the Democratic-Republican party to which Elbridge Gerry belonged.
2:43 I think TomCat got his groove back.
Groove back and then some!
Upworthy ~ Nick Hanauer talks a good game. He does understand economics but why isn't he doing anything about it. His factories are still in Viet Nam where he doesn't have to pay a living wage and he is not creating jobs here in America as far as I can see. If I'm wrong, please correct me.
NY Times ~ Excellent article by Paul Krugman again. It's too bad RepublicanTs can't grasp the evidence at hand. The saddest part of this is that I doubt they will change in our lifetimes.
TPM ~ I think they need to take some more hits. Unfortunately, America has to suffer while that is happening.
Cartoon ~ Have the Republithugs canonized him yet?
Head up to Illinois for a few days. Time to re-stock my Mom's pantry, fridge and medicine chest. At least were supposed to have a break in the frigid weather w/ temps up in the 40s even in Northern Illinois. It'll be in the 50s down here in KCMO when I come home! YIPPEE!!!
4:55 Not what one expects from the expression "Mountain Cat."
Upworthy – Gosh. Do you think he could be cloned?
NYTimes – You know, when we talk about Republicans voting against their own best interests, we are generally thinking about the Republicans in the 99%. But it can't be good for the 1% to have the economy collapse around them, to have no new customers, to have ever declining receipts. Look at WalMart's fourth quarter losses. Look at how the Dow tanked right after those losses were made public – and tied to cuts in SNAP. Apparently ALL Republicans are voting against their own best interests.
TPM – Let's not get all comfortable because the insaniTEA is so obvious, though. There are a lot of them out there, and they VOTE. We have to vote too, and get the vote OUT. It's our biggest obstacle.
Cartoon – Yup. Only one of many election-throwing Republican techniques.
I hope you re feeling better soon, Tom. I am sorry to hear that you are ill again. Take good care of yourself. We need you in this fight against the troglodytes on the right.
4:18 – Puzzle
Economics 101… 🙄
Many economic problems exist because the concept of profit exists. A careful analysis reveals that profit-taking means taking more than you need. If corporations today had to reorganize as employee-owned or as non-profit entities, most of the economic problems now facing us would be so trivial they wouldn't even be newsworthy.
UPworthy: Shared this on FB, trickle down has only worked for the 1%.
NY Times: Krugman always gets it right. Rand Paul has never really had to work a day in his life, he has no idea how the rest of us live. Shames me that he is a Ky. senator.
TPM: The tea party may just show conservative voters what simpletons they are to continue to vote Republican.
CARTOON: Wish we could go back in time and "uninvent" it.
I hope you are better soon. We had no snow today, gasp. But 1 to 4 inches predicted for tomorrow. We have had 28 days of snow since Christmas, has to be some kind of record for our area,
Thanks everyone.
I greased my pawsw for that puzzle.
Phil, the problem is not profit. If I provide a good or service, my own livelihood is the difference between what prociding it costs me and what people pay for it. That is profit. Vulture Capitalism does not run on tradotional profit. It runs on excessive profit derived from manipulating the market..