Category: Good Writing

Jon Stewart Nails the Press … Again

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The Best Journalist in America

This time, he’s angry at the press, Fox, or rather the idiotic Gretchen Carlson, in particular, but the press as a whole, over their coverage of the McChrystal affair.

He notices that everyone in the MSM is stunned and amazed that Rolling Stone reporter Michael Hastings was willing to piss off someone by doing his job, and thus not have him as a source again.

You see, a lot of bad reporting is driven by the fact that reporters have their tongues so far up well connected sources asses that they can taste tonsil, and it makes the mainstream media resemble a protection racket.

H/t the inner walls, aka my hairy barbarian elder brother, who dryly observes, “What a concept, doing the job comes first, careerism later.”

What Simon Says

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Specifically, Simon Johnson, former IMF chief economist, who notes that with Peter Orszag resigning as as director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), Paul Krugman would be the best replacement:

The president should nominate Paul Krugman to replace Peter Orszag as director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). (Orszag resignation details are here.)

………

But for the OMB position, the dynamic of a hearing would be terrific for the president’s specific agenda and broader messages. Krugman, of course, is the leading advocate for continued (or increased) fiscal stimulus. This is exactly President Obama’s message to the G20 this weekend.

Plus, when Republicans push back against Krugman on this issue, he will let them have it full blast on fiscal policy during the Bush administration. Krugman has, again and again, been an outspoken critic of the Bush era fiscal policy. He has precise chapter and verse on where the Bush team went off the deep fiscal edge.

………

It will not happen, of course, because Obama only tries to do the right thing when he has no other alternative, and there is simply not the pressure to have Krugman take the post.

Go read the whole thing.

Economic Quote of the Year*

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Paul Krugman finds this quote from Adam Posen of the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee regarding people who think that somehow the European Central Bank is not “Chaste” enough in matters of fighting inflation because it is engaging in quantitative easing (printing money) in the form of buying bonds:

Cultures which make a public fixation of virginal maturity, of a stylized maiden’s reputation, tend to be backward superstitious cultures that impede people exercising autonomy and making responsible choices.

Word up.

*So far.

Lies Conservatives Give Us

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Like the one that higher marginal tax rates stunts the economy and hurt the ordinary people.

Paul Krugman looks at the data, and notices that median family income stalled out once we started cutting the top tax rate:

You can see why: the facts are embarrassing. Here’s a rough-cut version. The blue line, left scale, shows median family income in 2008 dollars; the red line, right scale, shows the top marginal tax rate, a rough indicator of the overall stance of policy. Basically, US postwar economic history falls into two parts: an era of high taxes on the rich and extensive regulation, during which living standards experienced extraordinary growth; and an era of low taxes on the rich and deregulation, during which living standards for most Americans rose fitfully at best.

I would also add that the flattening of income growth also happened as more and more of these families became two earner families.

So the addition of the 2nd earner also masked a very real drop in wages of ordinary people.

We want the marginal rate back above 75, and we want the lower taxes on unearned income, capital gains and dividends, to be reversed.

Money does not trickle down, it bubbles up, and money that goes to paying billions to hedge fund managers and other criminals is money that is taken from ordinary families who play by the rules and work for a living.

Read the Shrill One

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He comments on the IMF’s latest report on the fiscal situation worldwide, and notices something buried in the footnotes, that the large structural deficits currently forecast are due to depressed demand and economic activity causing deflation, not government spending.

The solution is therefore for governments to engage in stimulus activities of the sort that put an end to the great depression, while (hopefully) avoiding that whole “World War” thing:

It takes careful reading to discover what’s really going on:

The persistence of deficits reflects permanent revenue losses, primarily from a steep decline in potential GDP during the crisis, but also due to the impact of lower asset prices and financial sector profits.

(emphasis mine)

Aha. Most people who look at the IMF report will, I suspect, read it as telling a tale of government profligacy getting us into a hole. But what the report actually says is quite different: it says that the financial crisis has made us permanently poorer, which among other things reduces revenue, and governments have to tighten their belts to make up for that loss.

He is correct when he says that the IMF’s burying the lede means that , “[T]he report isn’t literally misinformation, but in practice it’s likely have that effect.”

Jon Stewart Makes a Very Good Point

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See profiling comment at 4:20

As always.

Actually, he makes a number of them, with the big one being, “What are we going to do in this country when we get attacked by someone who’s not one of the Home Alone burgers?”

But there is the little point that he makes that I find far more trenchant.

He runs an ad put out by a Teabagger candidate running against Alan Grayson, Dan Fanelli, talking about profiling terrorists, and brings out two men, one swarthy and bearded, and one white and old, which asks “Where’s Waldo” which one is the terrorist?

This leads the doyenne of late night news to ask the question himself, “Which one? Doctor Kevorkian on the left, or the cast member from The Jersey Shore on the right?”

Stewart’s answer is that the terrorist who flew his plane into the IRS building in Texas looked an awful lot like Congressman wannabe Fanelli.

The Meth Lab of Democracy

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You know, maybe legislators should engage in a mental exorcise known as a Jon Stewart test

Arizona, of course, Stewart makes the comment about 1 minute in.

As Wyatt Cenac notes, the authorities are just looking for suspicious behavior, like, “Gardening or burping white people’s babies.”

I so want one of his writers as a speech writer if I ever run for office.

Stephen Colbert Answers the Question

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The W0rd is: Straight to Video

You see, the teabaggers are accusing of Lindsey Graham of making nice with the Democrats because he is being blackmailed because he’s gay.

Colbert’s solution, Lindsey Graham needs to release a heterosexual sex tape.

It’s a reasonable suggestion, but I’m not sure that making such a tape is even remotely possible.