Displaying 391 To 420 Of 732 Comments The health care atricle describes the GOPpoisition very well: they are very afraid that the ACA will succeed. The source of that fear: that they will lose power and will have a great deal of trouble regaining that power. » Posted By agrippa On September 1, 2011 @ 2:30 pm Americans Elect – A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing? It is mostly bolier plate. » Posted By agrippa On September 1, 2011 @ 5:24 am Trumka cannot tell friend from foe. In a way, I can see why he cannot. Democrats bought into the free trade/globalization/deregulation business just as much as the GOP did. The legislation based upon those ideas did not help american workers at all; quite the opposite in fcat. » Posted By agrippa On August 26, 2011 @ 7:46 am Another good column today. We do live in interesting times. » Posted By agrippa On August 26, 2011 @ 7:39 am Cher, it is not about principle or policy. It can get very narcissistic with the most flagrant. The weakening of the two great liberal institutions – unions and liberal churches – has, to a large extent, atomized liberalism. » Posted By agrippa On August 24, 2011 @ 2:19 pm There is an awful lot of fear and anger out and about today. I wonder how it will all work out. » Posted By agrippa On August 24, 2011 @ 1:37 pm “fight the people” is excellent. That is what occured in 1968/69. It is what is occuring now. » Posted By agrippa On August 24, 2011 @ 1:34 pm There is no simple way out of it. We started down this ‘road of progress’ and we do not want to go back to being ‘just another animal in the woods’. It is hard to be sustainable and stay out of the ‘world of necessity’. Sustainabilty may come down to the idea of ‘enough’. The irony of this is that those who live in the world of necessity do not really consider the idea of ‘enough’. » Posted By agrippa On August 22, 2011 @ 7:36 pm When Journalists Lie: Rewriting History Good article. And, there is peer review, before and after. If a historian misses documents, makes errors in inference/analysis, that will be pointed out to him. Perlman blotted his copybook! » Posted By agrippa On August 24, 2011 @ 1:52 pm I am old. Who did I vote for in 1968? Humphrey. I had no problem doing so. I thought that HHH would do a better job than Nixon. Including the War in Vietnam. I do understand that attitude; I saw it in 1968. Today’s firebaggers are, imo, very naive. » Posted By agrippa On August 21, 2011 @ 1:19 pm Ladies and Gents: The Real Ron Paul That is a good article about Ron Paul. » Posted By agrippa On August 18, 2011 @ 10:51 am That was not to slight the other articles. There is a lot of good stuff! There is a lot of good material being written for people to inform themselves. If they look. » Posted By agrippa On August 16, 2011 @ 8:39 am Romer’s piece is very good. I hope that many peope have a chance to read it. » Posted By agrippa On August 16, 2011 @ 8:35 am Ladies and Gents…The Real Rick Perry! Perry lives in a state in which his party has very effevtive opposition. Texas is, virtually, a one party state. Perry will face real competition; something that he has not really faced. It is not easy to ‘climb the greasy pole’. » Posted By agrippa On August 13, 2011 @ 1:45 pm The time is not ripe for harsh methods. This is a long march. I have my eye on the Nov 2012 election; and the goal is Congress. That is the task of the party. Recruit, nominate and run in general election, as many good and competent ccandidates as can be found. Have an excellent campaign strategy. get out the vote. Eyes on the prize. Then, some work can be done. The country has some hard choices to make. If they are not made, fate is a hard master. For good or ill, Obama is committed to a course of ‘sweet reason’ and ‘balance’. That may work, especially if the GOP continues as it does. The two strategies are compatible. Above all, stay calm and stay focused. Let the other side lose their wits. The GOP is in mortal peril of doing just that. » Posted By agrippa On August 12, 2011 @ 12:41 pm Thanks caru. Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, the right hand man of Augustus. The name of the game is ‘muddle’ and ‘dither’, with a great deal of wailing and knashing of teeth while doing both. The elephant will give birth to a mouse. » Posted By agrippa On August 12, 2011 @ 12:26 pm Politics. I have decided that “politics is war by other means.” That is, reward your friends and punish your enemies. Arguments over policy are the stick to beat you enemy and the means to reward your friends. This has general application; not just the USA. But, there are real issues and real problems that need to be addressed politically: defense, medical care, unemployment, social security, etc. I do not see those issues being handled well due to the nature of politics. » Posted By agrippa On August 12, 2011 @ 10:36 am Al Jazeera has a good analysis and I think that al jazeera is right across the board. » Posted By agrippa On August 12, 2011 @ 10:28 am I agree with Kos 100% as well. I think that it is easy to second guess and whine. If people want liberal/progressive laws passed, a liberal majority is needed. So: find and recruit good competent liberals to run for office; get them nominated; raise money; write and carry out an excellent campaign. If that does not occur, there will be no liberal laws passed. Romney does not impress me at all. » Posted By agrippa On August 10, 2011 @ 1:12 pm I agree cher » Posted By agrippa On August 9, 2011 @ 4:00 pm eternal hell fire and damnation! That is what you are saved from KT. » Posted By agrippa On August 9, 2011 @ 3:59 pm I liked that dummy belt article. It is funny in a way. Most of those states are ex confederate. There has been little immigration to those states and not very much economic development. And, the South was physically wrecked by the Civil War; it took years to rebuild. Evangelicals believe in salvation in the world to come. The here and the now is to be endured. » Posted By agrippa On August 9, 2011 @ 8:19 am I think that two articles of faith have to be kept in mind: Keynesianism is the main theoretical counter to that. This the heterdox view. There are times that deficits are right and proper; in hard times the govt must intervene to reflate aggregate demand. Orthodox economics has held sway for many years. That is one reason why so little was done in the way of recovery. » Posted By agrippa On August 9, 2011 @ 8:04 am That is what occured. Some of the pressure came from inside the Admistration: Garner and Morganthau were “deficit hawks” on the inside. Spending was cut back and unemployment went back up. » Posted By agrippa On August 11, 2011 @ 8:35 am Another part of the national emergency in 1932 was foreign policy. There was going to be another world war, and people knew it. The scope of the depression: 25%+ unemployment; banks bankrupt; compaines bankrupt; state and local govt bankrupt; farmers bankrupt. » Posted By agrippa On August 11, 2011 @ 5:56 am When FDR came to power, we had a national emergency and Congress had an overwhelming majority. The above links describe the Congresses that began 1933 and 1935. Who they were and what they did. Yhe FDR Admin in 1936/37 drew back from federal spending to stimulate the economy. The “deficit hawks” acquired a lot of influence. So, unemployment got worse. The New Play was closed to plyed out in 1937. We do not have as severe a situation as in 1932, and the Democrats had a small majority. Obama received only 53% of the populat vote. » Posted By agrippa On August 11, 2011 @ 5:48 am Adonai, I noticed your number 6. China will have serious troubles of their own down the road. » Posted By agrippa On August 8, 2011 @ 3:53 pm Adlib, that is a good article. I do not see a good way out of this. A real and strong stimulus was not passed. And this deficit reduction business is wrong. This did happen before with FDR. That administration did pull back from “pump priming” in 1937, to ill effect. It boils down, I think, to an article of faith about deficits: they are always bad. I do not think that much of anything positive is politically possible right now; so I see years of economic stagnation. High unemployment and no growth: a lost decade. Wall Street and multi national corporations do not care; manufacturing has been largely outsourced and for that reason alone there should not be much job growth. It will take a long time for ordinary people to see all this. Most are too busy trying to provide for themselves and their family. » Posted By agrippa On August 8, 2011 @ 3:50 pm Presidential Primary Challenges Miss the Point Cher, that is how it worked out. Cher, you are right about China. That is what they are doing. Liberals do need to devise a long term plan and long term goals. That is a very difficult thing to do, without a theoretical framework. Liberals need a new theoretic framework. » Posted By agrippa On August 12, 2011 @ 5:12 am I do not see the point of a primary challenge. That is: recruit, nominate, and run, more liberal Democrats. Run an excellent camapign and get them elected. This strategy is very difficult to execute. But, I think that it a far better strategy, in the long term. » Posted By agrippa On August 11, 2011 @ 10:45 amComments Posted By agrippa
Power is the name of the game: the ability to reward your friends and punish your enemies.
I just glance at HuffPo once in a while when I think of it.
And, that sits atop an underlying equivocal attitude toward unions in the USA.
I do wish that people like Krugman had more influence than they do. I think that we would be much better off if they did.
My phrase is: “Does not work well with others.”
For myself, I work largely through my liberal denomination. I read nonfiction – history mostly – and I read the “pundits”/blogs for the drama of the day. I do not watch TV.
Sad to repeat history and to forget hard earned lessons.
Historians are not supposed to lie. Historians are supposed to rely upon evidence – documentation and testimony. Then draw inferences, analyze and write a narrative.
It is not that simple, as we have cultural truths and myths that hard, if not impssible, to dispell. And, those sources are supposed to open and available for double checking.
When I was young, there was an actual left: Marxists, Maoists, SWP, SLP, SDS, Socialists, etc ,etc, etc. Liberals were so _______. I thought that they were all so naive; very idealistic, mind you, but no realism. None of that was going to take place.
People need to know who and what he is.
When I was working, I had to make some big decisions; decisions that were big for that time and that place. Nothink like how big the decisions are in the WH. I did the second guessing and whining.
Sure they belive in good personal behavior: do not lie, steal, cheat or fornicate. Some of them do none of that.
But, other than that, the here and the now does not matter so much. What matters is personal salvation through Jesus Christ.
Deficits are bad, always bad. And, the economy runs runs itself, and fixes itself; human intervention – taking action to end a recession – is, always harmful. Both are tenets of classical economics; and are believed by many. It is the orthodox view.
The two Contresses of 1933 and 1935 acconplished a lot ( see my links above)
Germany; Spain; Italy; Japan; China. All were on fire or about to be set alight. By 1937, for informed people it was a matter of when and where for the USA.
Several orders of magnitude worse than now. And the GOP was bankrupt mmorally and politically. ( You see they came back — ideas die hard)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/73rd_United_States_Congress
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/74th_United_States_Congress
It is hard to go back to more stimulus now. We are kind of stuck right now.
LBJ made a serious mistake with VietNam; that helped turn the Liberals against him and gave Nixon the opportunity that he needed.
The civil Rights and Voting Rights acts helped Nixon as well. The ‘solid south’ began to vote solid GOP. So, Nixon devised his “southern Strategy”.
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I consider it a misdirection of energy. A much more difficult, and in the long run, more useful, strategy is Congress.
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