I’m writing for tomorrow, day 78. I’m feeling much better, and I hope I have my sleep schedule back on track. It’s early morning, so news is still slow, but I think I found an excellent theme for the day. I have a lot of house work to do.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 2:44 (average 4:43). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From NY Times: …Some background: On the eve of the Great Recession, many conservative pundits and commentators — and quite a few economists — had a worldview that combined faith in free markets with disdain for government. Such people were briefly rocked back on their heels by the revelation that the “bubbleheads” who warned about housing were right, and the further revelation that unregulated financial markets are dangerously unstable. But they quickly rallied, declaring that the financial crisis was somehow the fault of liberals — and that the great danger now facing the economy came not from the crisis but from the efforts of policy makers to limit the damage.
Above all, there were many dire warnings about the evils of “printing money.” For example, in May 2009 an editorial [Faux Print delinked] in The Wall Street Journal warned that both interest rates and inflation were set to surge “now that Congress and the Federal Reserve have flooded the world with dollars.” In 2010 a virtual Who’s Who of conservative economists and pundits sent an open letter [Faux Print delinked] to Ben Bernanke warning that his policies risked “currency debasement and inflation.” Prominent politicians like Representative Paul Ryan joined the chorus.
Reality, however, declined to cooperate. Although the Fed continued on its expansionary course — its balance sheet has grown to more than $4 trillion, up fivefold since the start of the crisis — inflation stayed low. For the most part, the funds the Fed injected into the economy simply piled up either in bank reserves or in cash holdings by individuals — which was exactly what economists on the other side of the divide had predicted would happen.
Needless to say, it’s not the first time a politically appealing economic doctrine has been proved wrong by events. So those who got it wrong went back to the drawing board, right? Hahahahaha.
In fact, hardly any of the people who predicted runaway inflation have acknowledged that they were wrong, and that the error suggests something amiss with their approach. Some have offered lame excuses; some, following in the footsteps of climate-change deniers, have gone down the conspiracy-theory [TEAbuggery delinked] rabbit hole, claiming that we really do have soaring inflation, but the government is lying about the numbers (and by the way, we’re not talking about random bloggers or something; we’re talking about famous Harvard professors). Mainly, though, the currency-debasement crowd just keeps repeating the same lines, ignoring its utter failure in prognostication…
Paul Krugman is spot on! This is a small excerpt from the middle of an extensive article. Click through for a stunning exposé on how Republican choose what they want to believe over what they actually know in economics, just like they do in the physical sciences.
From Alternet: GOP lawmaker calls climate control biggest deception in history of mankind.
Similar to abortion foes, climate denialists are in competition for who can be more hyperbolic about the threat real science poses to mankind. Louisiana state Rep. Lenar Whitney (R) threw her hat in the climate denial ring this week when she released a campaign video accusing liberals, such as former Vice President Al Gore, of advancing "the greatest deception in the history of mankind" (manmade climate change) in a fiendish scheme to empower the executive branch and increase taxes.
Brilliant! Wish we had thought of that.
“A specter is haunting America,” Whitney warns ominously in the video. She goes on to claim, entirely inaccurately, that the planet "has done nothing but get colder each year” since the release of Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth in 2006.
“Quite inconveniently for Al Gore, and for the rest of the politicians who continue to advance this delusion, any 10-year-old can invalidate their thesis with one of the simplest scientific devices known to man: a thermometer,” Whitney said, citing record sea ice in the Antarctic sector.
Yes, her argument is very much like that of a 10-year-old, who decides that because today is chilly, or it snowed last month, climate change is a hoax, scientists be damned.
As Huffpo points out, “Whitney’s own state is one of the most vulnerable regions in the country to climate change, with rising coastal sea levels estimated to submerge the Louisiana coastline by 2100.”
Speaking of physical sciences, there they go again! This is only the seventh of seven vile Republican statements from last week alone. Click through for the other six.
From Crooks and Liars: …Out of nowhere, Bob Schieffer dropped The Question. "I have to ask, Senators, how do you feel about being part of a Congress that doesn’t do anything?"
Suddenly the sounds of pins dropping could be heard across the nation. John McCain stepped up first, proclaiming his commitment to keep on fighting while respecting his colleagues in the House, but rapidly pivoted to the bogus argument that it’s all Obama’s fault because he ‘changes every law he doesn’t like.’
And speaking of conspiracy theories, McConJob and Lindsey Poo have their heads buried so far up that they can see their own tonsils from below.
Cartoon:
14 Responses to “Open Thread–7/8/2014”
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3:31 The tower confused me because I lean to the Left not the Right.
2:54 Patty, if you go to the other side and look at the tower, it leans to the left. That's what I did and it came together quite nicely. I think TC had his claws out to scale the thing so fast!
3:16 I thought it was the tower of pizza and went to get something to eat.
4:38 – Puzzle 🙄
Excellent Richard! Under the average.
Wooo Hooo!
I had an advantage, because for me, the tower is the only thing that was straight up and down. 😉
NY Times ~ Since Math is an exact Science, it does not exist in the minds of the Foolish, Don't even try to talk sense to them.
Alternet ~ 1. I think Laura Ingraham hates everyone who is not a friend of FAUX NOISE and even hates some of them. She always looks like she is smelling something bad. 2. According to Rush, white men don't have sex unless they want to "help" a woman "cause a pregnancy". Interesting. 3. This one should have been about Billy O and his odd beliefs. 4. WHAT??? 5. They are all falling all over themselves trying to put a bad spin on the numbers. but, you can't change Math. Numbers speak for themselves. 6. Jerry Patterson's new gig as fashion critic? 7. Whitney is out to prove those "dumb scientists" wrong with her trusty thermometer. Good luck, Lady!
Crooks & Liars ~ At the risk f being redundant, one of the first signs of insanity is repeatin the same thing constantly and expecting different results. John McConJob says he's going to keep on doing the same thing and Lindsey is going to continue to get the "vapors".
Cartoon ~ Do I hear an Amen?
Amen!
5:04 I can't stand up straight today either.
NY Times – To address the theme, I like fantasy myself, but I like it much better when it is not pretending to be reality. But what concerns me most in what Krugman has to say is "For the most part, the funds the Fed injected into the economy simply piled up either in bank reserves or in cash holdings by individuals …." Well, yes, we know that though the economy has rebounded on paper we still have more and more people who are poor or marginally poor, and fewer and fewer middle class, which means less and less disposable income which can actually be spent. In other words, the Fed's policy is not helping those who most need the help. And gives Conservatives an opening to claim that there would be inlfation if any of that money got into the hands of the unwashed. We need to come up with something better.
Alternet – I looked up their weekly article earlier, I think Sunday, so I have overdosed on Republican hate and don't dare add anything lest I upchuck.
Crooks and Liars – What they really mean is everything is Obama's fault, because, you know, BLACK. How dare he try to be President while black. In their little pea brains, it makes sense.
Cartoon – Where's the gun?
The Fed saved Wall Street. Had it collapsed we would have all been devestated. Hut iot was supposed to be coupleds with measures for Main Street. After reducing the initial stimulus for main street by giving over half of it to billionaires, Republicans have blocked the rest, the part that would have created the jobs that fuel demand needed for business to spend on creating more jobs.
Puzzle — 2:54 Patty, if you go to the other side and look at the tower, it leans to the left. That's what I did and it came together quite nicely. I think TC had his claws out to scale the thing so fast!
NY Times — Krugman says the problem isn't ignorance but "it’s wishful thinking." Personally, I call it willful ignorance and ideological ES (elephant shit!). The right hasn't an inkling as to what needs to be done. The are so far up the ideological whazoo that they only have one way, and that way is wrong.
Alternet — You just can't fix stupid, and that is exactly what the Republicanus/Teabaggers represent.
Crooks and Liars — These 2 boneheads are 2 bricks short of a full load! My momma always told me that it takes 2 to tangle. These idiots blame everything on Obama and ignore the obstructionist pact that they all engaged in.
Cartoon — "Lordy, Lordy! Come to Jeeezzzus! A free elephant T shirt for every new recruit!" as proclaimed by pseudo Christian Jesus.
I think I'll be getting a lot of use from the Republican Supply-side jsus blank that I made.
I am so glad you are feeling better.
The New York Times. I always enjoy Krugman, he is so sensible. The Republicans only believe what their corporate masters tell them is true. They will never admit they made a mistake.
Alternet: Obviously, the good lady from LA is missing a few clues. When the sea level completely swamps New Orleans, maybe she will admit to climate change.
Crooks and Liars: I turned off Bob Schieffer Sunday when I heard about two sentences from each of these guests, they make me ill. Neither of them would recongnize the truth if it kicked them in the butt.
Cartoon: That is exactly the Jesus the right wing wants.
Thanks Edie. I would have turned them off too!