http://www.forbes.com/2009/02/26/obama-budget-reagan-clinton-bush-opinions-columnists_higher_taxes.html?partner=links
link here to article
Bruce Bartlett, an economist who served in Reagan administration, destroys the GOP talking point that tax increases hurt the economy. He provides DATA that shows that this did not occur under Reagan, Clinton and Bush. He also reminds us that GOP leaders in Congress today voted for expanding Medicare and increasing our long term budget deficits when the expansion was proposed by a Republican. They must assume that their base does not pay any attention to data and that truth is whatever is politically expedient. History can be revised at will just as it was done in the USSR.
Friday, December 31, 2010
Massachusetts Joins California and New Mexico in Carbon Reduction
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/30/science/earth/30climate.html?hpw
We can't expect Congress to deal properly with an issue that one of our major parties intends to use as a campaign issue that as been successful in ingniting its base. We are seeing some leadership from states that prefer coffee to tea.
We can't expect Congress to deal properly with an issue that one of our major parties intends to use as a campaign issue that as been successful in ingniting its base. We are seeing some leadership from states that prefer coffee to tea.
Do You Believe in Magic?
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/31/opinion/31krugman.html?_r=1&hp
The GOP House leadership has adopted budget magic as its formula for success. It belives that the magic will work because it also believes that American voters believe in magic. They will probably believe the GOP when they are told that tax cuts do not have to be paid for with spending cuts because everyone loves tax cuts. On the other hand, everyone hates government spending so spending increases in one area must be paid for by cuts elsewhere.
The GOP House leadership has adopted budget magic as its formula for success. It belives that the magic will work because it also believes that American voters believe in magic. They will probably believe the GOP when they are told that tax cuts do not have to be paid for with spending cuts because everyone loves tax cuts. On the other hand, everyone hates government spending so spending increases in one area must be paid for by cuts elsewhere.
Monday, December 27, 2010
The Bizzaro World
http://www.american.com/archive/2010/december/how-government-failure-caused-the-great-recession
Seinfeld fans will remember an episode in which Elaine meets a group of characters who are exactly the opposite of Seinfeld's regular cast. The American Enterprise Institute (AEI)is an example of a bizzaro world. In the bizzaro world, government interference in markets is always the reason why markets seem to fail. They would always self correct if government would stay out of the way. They found an economist from the mid-west who makes the bizzaro case for the financial crisis. Most economists agree that the deregulation of the banking system was one of the major reasons for the financial crisis. In the bizzaro world it was government regulation of the financial markets that caused the crisis. In particular, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which are government sponsored entities, were responsible for making the subprime loans that sank the system. This flies in the face of all of the evidence which shows that the Wall Street Banks provided the great majority of the securitized mortgage loans that required the government to take extraordinary steps to save the banking system from collapse.
The AEI is one of many conservative "think tanks", funded by wealthy conservatives, which provide a lot of the content that eventually finds its way to Fox News, The Wall Street Journal, talk radio and other outlets for conservative opinion. If you want to know what GOP politicians will be saying on the Sunday AM TV news shows you can source it at the AEI, The Heritage Foundation, The Cato Institute and numerous other GOP "think tanks" before it makes its way to the mass media.
Seinfeld fans will remember an episode in which Elaine meets a group of characters who are exactly the opposite of Seinfeld's regular cast. The American Enterprise Institute (AEI)is an example of a bizzaro world. In the bizzaro world, government interference in markets is always the reason why markets seem to fail. They would always self correct if government would stay out of the way. They found an economist from the mid-west who makes the bizzaro case for the financial crisis. Most economists agree that the deregulation of the banking system was one of the major reasons for the financial crisis. In the bizzaro world it was government regulation of the financial markets that caused the crisis. In particular, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which are government sponsored entities, were responsible for making the subprime loans that sank the system. This flies in the face of all of the evidence which shows that the Wall Street Banks provided the great majority of the securitized mortgage loans that required the government to take extraordinary steps to save the banking system from collapse.
The AEI is one of many conservative "think tanks", funded by wealthy conservatives, which provide a lot of the content that eventually finds its way to Fox News, The Wall Street Journal, talk radio and other outlets for conservative opinion. If you want to know what GOP politicians will be saying on the Sunday AM TV news shows you can source it at the AEI, The Heritage Foundation, The Cato Institute and numerous other GOP "think tanks" before it makes its way to the mass media.
How Global Warming Shifts Temperature Patterns
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/26/opinion/26cohen.html?src=me&ref=homepage
I was talking with my cousin about our blizzard and he asked whether this meant that global warming is not happening. I told him that this has been the warmest decade in history because of global warming. This article explains how the Himalayas and the Siberian snow fields are shifting the prevailing winds and contributing to colder winters in previously warmer areas even as the global temperature continues to rise.
I was talking with my cousin about our blizzard and he asked whether this meant that global warming is not happening. I told him that this has been the warmest decade in history because of global warming. This article explains how the Himalayas and the Siberian snow fields are shifting the prevailing winds and contributing to colder winters in previously warmer areas even as the global temperature continues to rise.
Sunday, December 26, 2010
Holiday Break
I will be traveling for the next week. I will post when I have access to a network. Hope to have you back after we get out of this blizzard and arrive in a warm place.
Norm
Norm
Sustainable Community Development in Kenya
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/25/science/earth/25fossil.html?src=me&ref=general
Off grid renewable power and advances in lighting technology improve well being in poor communities. Finance and distribution are current hurdles that need to be overcome.
Off grid renewable power and advances in lighting technology improve well being in poor communities. Finance and distribution are current hurdles that need to be overcome.
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