Displaying 301 To 330 Of 732 Comments It all seems pretty murky to me. I am not a lawyer, so I cannot parse the complications of a law. But, I do not care for it. Current criminal law gives the tools needed to deal effectively with those people. » Posted By agrippa On December 16, 2011 @ 12:08 pm Coalition of Church and State Revisited: Convincing The Public Sue, thanks for writing about those people. They should be written about, without being alarmist. » Posted By agrippa On December 30, 2011 @ 11:47 am The GOP and the Clinical Definition of a Sociopath Nihilists. Most of these people have no fact, no logic, no ideas. They may have attitudes, but that is a far cry from facts, logic or ideas. » Posted By agrippa On December 16, 2011 @ 5:57 am We have elections every two years; there will be another in Nov 2014. Three presidents – Harding, LBJ and Nixon – won with 60%+. None of them worked out well. The GOP – and the people who vote for them – can not be counted out; their share of the voters is about 47/48% nationwide. They will not disappear, nor will the GOP. The Democratic Party needs to be prepared for Nov 2014. The GOP will get over losing and will be ready to go again. » Posted By agrippa On November 13, 2012 @ 7:07 am I will be voting today. That ends the political campaign for me. I think that all 50 states should have early voting. If people vote early, that may have an effect upon political campaigns. » Posted By agrippa On October 22, 2012 @ 6:59 am I have doubts about the willingness of people to pay attention enough and are observant enough to take note of the photo, the words and behavior. Ignorance is bliss; a pattern that is alive and well. Romney will turn out like GWB: a failure that no one wants to discuss. » Posted By agrippa On October 18, 2012 @ 10:27 am It looks to me that what candidates and politicians say and do does not really matter. Polls are news; what pundits say are news. Candidates are not. » Posted By agrippa On October 6, 2012 @ 6:54 am I am stating the obvious here. We have seen, are seeing, and will continue to see political rhetoric about this matter. That is what it will remain – rhetoric. There is no easy way out of this. » Posted By agrippa On October 4, 2012 @ 2:56 pm It will not be long before Ron Paul stops being famous. He gets to be succeeded by his son as a Washington crackpot. » Posted By agrippa On December 28, 2011 @ 10:43 am I will not miss Ben Nelson; he is one of rhose political hacks that you wonder why he is a Senator. He probably figured that his usefulness in Washington is at an end ( no influence in the Senate)and he would not be re elected. Blanche Lincoln no asset in the Senate. The voters in Arkansas figured that out. Warren should win in Mass. Although Brown is fairly reasonable and responsible for a GOP hack. » Posted By agrippa On December 28, 2011 @ 10:40 am I am concerned about that bill myself. It is a slippery slope. » Posted By agrippa On December 7, 2011 @ 11:03 am The GOP will have to nominate someone, and the party is runnong out of people. It looks like it will be a matter of ‘the last one standing’. » Posted By agrippa On December 16, 2011 @ 5:55 am People do not really know what is in the ACA. When it starts to take effect, it will be better accepted. » Posted By agrippa On December 2, 2011 @ 8:07 am There is a lot of blame to go around in the housing bubble. The banks were at fault; the rating agencies were at fault. Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac were not innocent either. There have been a couple of good books written on what those companies did. At the least, they were very foolish. Then came the bailout. The banks were aware that they were ‘too big to fail’ ( see the concept of ‘moral hazard’) and that the Fed would save them from their folly. » Posted By agrippa On December 2, 2011 @ 8:01 am This line up is a good source of news. That story about the tea party is interesting. The tea party is mostly low interest and low knowledge conservatives; people who would be easily displeased. I think that, whatever their state of mind, they will either vote GOP or stay at home. Mostly vote. » Posted By agrippa On November 30, 2011 @ 3:04 pm Excellent! Thanks! » Posted By agrippa On November 28, 2011 @ 3:27 pm Rashomon Vol II. Eight Views of the Not So Super Debt Committee I expected this talking shop to ‘fail’. I see no reason to expect anything else as none of them can agree on anything. They may even didagree on the time of day. I think that PBO has played this well. » Posted By agrippa On November 22, 2011 @ 8:06 am There is a ‘cultural fault line’. And, conservatives are right to try and exploit it. This is a pretty volatile voting group and may are susceptible to ‘arguments’ based upon cultural matters. » Posted By agrippa On November 22, 2011 @ 8:13 am A Snapshot of The Occupy Movement Discussion on Planet POV I think that list of demands is excellent! It is a basis for action. » Posted By agrippa On November 16, 2011 @ 5:29 am The End of #Occupy? Or a Restart of New Economic Justice Movement? “What is to be done?”: Regulations have be enforced. The enforcement mechanism gas to be funded. » Posted By agrippa On November 15, 2011 @ 8:37 am This is a long haul enterprise. I understand that some people want to get to policy: “What is to be done?” I think that there will be time for that. Right now, it is a matter of organization, discipline and endurance. And, building mass. If you start talking policy now, you create infighting, factionalizing, attention seeking and power grabbing. Marxist organizations had that problem, and radical movements largely split into factions; and forgot the adversary. That does not mean that the question, “What is to be done?”, should not be posed. Just be aware of the risks. OWS is nowhere near a critical mass that cannot be ignored. » Posted By agrippa On November 15, 2011 @ 8:20 am Child sexual abuse – a moral failure Pedophiles are, mostly, not treated. First, there is the of revulsion and outrage. That makes it very difficult for anyone to do research into pedophilia; or, to treat the pedophile. Thus, we know little about it. Penn State did almost nothing to potect the children; it did little to Sandusky. It was covered up. The “Angry Black Lady” blog has good articles about it. http://www.angryblacklady.com/ » Posted By agrippa On November 15, 2011 @ 11:24 am I agree. » Posted By agrippa On November 11, 2011 @ 10:36 am I agree. It becomes a variety of social psychological dysfunction. A kind of ‘paranoid style’ ( Hofstadter). » Posted By agrippa On November 10, 2011 @ 5:29 pm There were: socialists of the Harrington sort; Trotskists; communists; anarchists; academic marxists; social democrats, though they did not really call themselves that. Thus, there people who had a therteical basis for challenging the sttaus quo. With the end of the Cold War, most of that fell away. IIt was an intellectual challenge. » Posted By agrippa On November 10, 2011 @ 5:26 pm I found the Pew typology to be be a good one. I think that it goes a long way toward describing why a consnesus on problems is very hard to get. People here are quite divided. I do appreciate the psychological explanations as to why political attitudes are so emotionally loaded and illogical. This will no go away. We do need elected officials who are not pandering to, or believers in theses attitudes. Such practical, logical and dedicated to finding solutions people are what is needed. But, it is very difficult to get them elected. Getting elected and staying elected requires playing up to the emotions. This leads to the GOP ‘clown car’. » Posted By agrippa On November 10, 2011 @ 1:28 pm Occupy Wall Street: A Vision for A Movement by and for the 99 Percent! Murph, that is a very good article. So far, I do not have a good reading on where OWS is going. I suppose that I will find out. » Posted By agrippa On November 7, 2011 @ 2:17 pm Kazin wrote a good column; it is well worth the read. » Posted By agrippa On November 4, 2011 @ 11:07 am Payint attention to polls, at this point is pointelss. Conditions change and they can change quickly. » Posted By agrippa On November 4, 2011 @ 10:58 am The ‘pay go’ programs cannot be cut. » Posted By agrippa On November 1, 2011 @ 2:55 pmComments Posted By agrippa
I do not know anyone now who can ; and, very few in the past who could have.
What really matters are the pundits and polling.
The economy was turned upside down; and, we narrowly averted a liquidity trap and a resulting depression. Coming back from that is long hard road, and many will continue to struggle for a sustained period.
The field of economics did not know – or was divided about what to do – what to do. And Washington – the Congress and the WH ( especially Congress)- lacked the political and moral will to take effective measures.
This means that people are, essentially, on their own, as the economy will have to fix itself.
That amendment that passed does improve it a little.
The GOP, and GOP voters, will continue to whine. Which is what nihilists do.
The borrowers were very naive; they thought that they could speculate on rising prices they would be fine.
That is a hard question. My first premiss is is that capitalism will continue; the issue is to regulate it so as to minimize its’ main failing: the primacy of fear and greed. That is not easy to do, as it requires regulations and regulations requre compliance and enforcement.
You, then, come to the question of detail in those regualtions. They will be written by mortal men who have serious interests. They will not be written by disinterested parties with no stake in the game.
There is no easy solution as we do not have a ‘national emergency’ as we did during the 30’s. The system did collapse. At that time, steps had to be taken. We do not have that now. Also, we do not have a real left as we did then.
The Tea Party is a very old faction in the USA; it goes back to the “know nothings” and earlier. The TP today is the newest incrnation. The RW did re organize and is able to hit above its’ weight.
The left ( liberals/progressives) has to do the same thing; Kazin has a good history of how it was done. A key is to become a force that politicians can no longer ignore. Politicians, usually, react to events and social forces, they do not drive them.
OWS has the potential to compel politicians to take notice.
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