IGNORING STIGLITZ AND KRUGMAN IS IGNORING A HIGHER POWER

We have two great Nobel prize winning economists (Joseph Stiglitz and Paul Krugman) and are ignoring both of them in favor of the guesses by politicians. Joseph Stiglitz is recommending making every attempt to immediately reverse economic inequality. To see an exclusive interview with him by Lynn Parremore in its entirety, click here.  His great concerned is about this divided society.  The Republicans have wanted to privatize everything from jails, schools, health care and all sort of things.  On capitalism, he responds:  "...capitalism does have a lot of strengths, including producing things that are very innovative. But what drives capitalism is the profit motive. You can profit not only by making good things, but also by exploiting people, by exploiting the environment, by doing things that are not so good."

Paul Krugman wrote an Op-ed on the the economy in the N. Y. Times in which he writes:  The Conscience of a Liberal .He writes: "The Bank for International Settlements has just come out with a report emphasizing the “limits to monetary policy”, which is apparently being taken seriously. I guess I’d start from the observation that the BIS has already embraced liquidationism, the idea that all this suffering is good for us and that trying to mitigate the pain would somehow be a bad thing. Now they’re just trying to come up with additional arguments for doing nothing."  His whole piece is worth reading.  Click here.


It is a winder that the self-serving Republicans and the (no longer Neo-) Cons do not listen to or seem to respect either of these men.  Instead, they hold up Paul Ryan whose greatest achievement is not in economics and cannot compare himself or his ideas to these two great men above.

`While trying to sort out thoughts as to where my head is right now instantly gave me an analogy: trying to see a complete and intact picture reflected from a broken mirror.  As if the reality of a degenerating retina doesn't do enough of that, the political system is doing it as well.

Romney is as elusive as an ant in the kitchen when you swatted at it and missed.  The man is incapable of making a coherent script of his goal for action as president.  Today he has been accusing President Obama of character assassination of Romney.  Apparently he doesn't listen to himself.  Today he couldn't remember what he had said but confirmed that 'I don't remember what I said, but I stand behind it, whatever it was I said'

Understanding the man is as clear as looking  through a kaleidoscope.  As soon as you move slightly, the whole picture changes. He doesn't remember what he has said because he hasn't said the same thing often enough for it to get into his longer term memory. His advisers are as effective as all the young MBAs who were being churned out of colleges in the 80s and on.  They had learned little but one-size-fits-all rules when they hadn't yet learned that one size just does not fit all.  Who do the marketers think they are kidding?  Women's fashion catalogs have been trying to save money on these items forever.  A size 2 petite will never fit a 3X,

Paul Krugman, Nobel Prize winning economist,  a far better economist than Paul Ryan, should be listened to by the legislators.  The way to come out of a depression should be one in which money must be spent to get out of it.  In 1930, my Dad owned offices and stores.  Those hurt by the depression could not pay their rents, many units would be emptied if he demanded rent paid immediately.  New tenants were given three months free of rent to get himself started.  My father borrowed money, from a frugal old Yankee, to buy a farm.  The investment balanced our lives.  We ate.  My father allowed a sand and gravel company to take away a stone filled hill to make better farm land out of his       acreage.  He got 50 cents for every load that left our driveway. My parents sold cedar posts, manure, milk, eggs, flowers, and anything anyone wanted that was in season and didn't deplete what we needed.  We stayed on the farm through WWII and ate better than most of our friends on rations.  He was an uneducated (a fifth grade education in a small village in the Greek mountains), an immigrant who figured out economics logically and by watching how some others were managing.  When he was 102, the local Board of Trade gave him an honorary title as Mayor of the section of the city in which he owned his property.and still walking around collecting his rents

One has to wonder what kind of parents all the people who argue against more regulations are or were.  Read Lord of the Flies, a book written decades ago that clearly shows the psychology and action with no regulations. In the 70s, schools listened to the students and had open campuses, allowing students to do whatever they wanted about class attendance  That resulted in some very bad outcomes and very poor education.  Imagine a country with no laws, no police force, no reason for people to behave in a way that was safe for themselves and those around them.

If you can imagine that, you will recognize the Republican parties view for our future.

LIES. DISTORTIONS, CONSPIRACY THEORIES, AND PARANOIA

It is rare that I refer my readers to read a single op-ed article.  I do so now because I am in such agreement with the writer that I am unable to improve or add to what has been written..  Paul Krugman writes so explicitly and always in a style that most anyone can understand.  He builds his thesis empirically with a proper perspective historically, offers statistics and other facts as needed.

The article to which I refer you is by Paul Krugman, in the NYTimes, March 22, 2012.  In it he speaks of the lies and paranoia and the conspiracy theories in the past and some that whirl around today.

To read this article if you have not seen it, click here.  The article is titled Paranoia Strikes Deeper/

ROGER AILES - OUT FOR RATINGS, NOT TRUTH

Every small child learns the safest course when you have done wrong is to deny your responsibility. Most mature adults out grow this childish tendency and face the consequences of their actions. In this world of technology, video, and fast news transmission it is even more amazing that there are still those who try to get away with this tactic.

Last Sunday, January 31, 2010,
Roger Ailes, CEO and American president of the Fox News Channel, was a guest on a talk show of another channel. During the Round Table discussion, he denied that Glenn Beck ever used the word slaughter. Today several shows had a field day play video tapes of Glenn Back doing just that. Ailes inaccurately said Beck was talking about Hitler and Stalin, patently wrong from the context in which it was said. He is quoted: "They are taking you to a place to be slaughtered.

Regarding Health Care which Ailes and Fox are clearly against. Ailes weaseled out of a reasonable explanation as to why they stopped showing the President 20 minutes before it was over when none of the other channels did.

Roger Ailes On "This Week": Defends Glenn Beck, Insists Fox Is No Longer At War With Obama

Fox News Channel President Roger Ailes insisted on Sunday that his network was no longer at war with the Obama White House and defended Fox's Glenn Beck over some of his more inflammatory statements.

Appearing for the first time on ABC's "This Week," Ailes said that Beck's often over-the-top rhetoric was politically legitimate, even if it ruffled a few feathers.

Reminded by HuffPost's Arianna Huffington that Beck has warned of "slaughter" and a "killing spree" for those not on board with the Obama administration's agenda, Ailes insisted that the reference wasn't to this president but rather to murderous dictators.

"Well, he was talking about Hitler and Stalin slaughtering people, so I think he was probably accurate," he said. "I think he speaks English, I don't know. But I don't misinterpret any of his words. He did say one unfortunate thing that he apologized for. But that happens in live television."

Ailes was wrong. Beck's reference was, indeed, to Obama. Here is the "killing spree" quote from October 2009:

Spread the wealth -- hello, Mao -- that is what this is all about. And anybody not on board, look out because you too could be the next victim of the killing spree. Is it far fetched to think that [pay] Czar [Kenneth] Feinberg could go into Walmart and argue it that it is just too important to the economy if Walmart fails? I mean it's the biggest store in the world. We feel you are being reckless in your pay structure Walmart. We have to bring the unions in to control your pay. What about Rupert Murdoch? if News Corp failed would it be harmful to the economic health of America?... Obama has repeated over and over again just how dangerous, old and unworkable our economy is.


And here is Beck warning of a possible impending "slaughter" in November 2009:

I told you yesterday, buckle up your seatbelt, America. Find the exit -- there's one here, here, and here. Find the exit closest to you and prepare for a crash landing. Because this plane is coming down, because the pilot is intentionally steering it into the trees!

Most likely, it'll happen sometime after Christmas. You're gonna see this economy come up -- we're already seeing it, and now it's gonna start coming back down again. And when you see the effects of what they're doing to the economy, remember these words: We will survive. No -- we'll do better than survive, we will thrive. As long as these people are not in control. They are taking you to a place to be slaughtered!


From the Huffington Post: "Lamenting what he felt was the "word police" nature of the questions being directed at him, Ailes tried to turn the tables by saying that he had been subjected to some ridicule on the pages of the Huffington Post. The remarks he cited, however, did not come from a Huffington Post employee, but were written by a blogger, longtime TV critic Bill Mann. What's more, Ailes misquoted what Mann had said about him. Mann did not, as Ailes claimed, describe him as "a malignant tumor." Here is what he wrote: "So, while Fox News, as the Times story stresses, may be a financial success story, it's also a malignant tumor on the body politic. For that you can thank Roger Ailes."