Krugmania and Open Thread

 

"Man Out of Time" - Elvis Costello and the Attractions

" . . . real life becomes a rumour"

- Some days I wonder why anyone else bothers writing.  Krugman with yet another brutal assault on the op-ed pages men of the center (of Flat Bobo Patio World):

Check out the opinion page of any major newspaper, or listen to any news-discussion program, and you’re likely to encounter some self-proclaimed centrist declaring that there are no short-run fixes for our economic difficulties, that the responsible thing is to focus on long-run solutions and, in particular, on “entitlement reform” — that is, cuts in Social Security and Medicare. And when you do encounter such a person, you should be aware that people like that are a major reason we’re in so much trouble.

I wonder what Thomas Friedman and David Brooks think when they read this stuff.  I like that Krugman is committed to not backing off of this line of attack.  His attempts to shame the Very Serious People are no doubt in vain -- they are shameless to their very core -- but I admire his relentlessness.

- As those of you who have been reading the blog for a long time now, I tend to be a China skeptic, finding claims of its imminent superpower status to be dubious.  The hype around China's first aircraft carrier amplifies my feelings in this regard.  The United States commissioned its first aircraft carrier nearly ninety years ago.   It is not exactly a cutting edge technology.  And their whole high speed rail thing doesn't appear to be quite so compelling either. 

- I think I might enjoy this blog.  Although I had a few outstanding professors. I pretty much hated the whole law school experience -- particularly being taught by people whom one had the sense would have their asses handed to them in most court rooms in the country.  Law school remains a wholly unsatisfying blend of trade school and pretentious academia.  I, personally, would have preferred more trade school and less pretense. 

Are you all ready for the massive Rick Perry hype?   

Comments

[oddjob]

Excellent read by Timothy Egan on Rick Perry and his proud wearing of his bullying brand of Christianity on his political sleeve.

Hat tip, The Plum Line.

[big bad wolf]

the chinese have pulled ahead of louisiana in causeway building. surely, this is cause for concern.

i quite enjoyed that law blog, depressing as it was.

i'm crossing my fingers that the perry campaign makes the gramm campaign look successful.

you're playing my song.

[oddjob]

Appeals Court for the 11th Circuit rules Health Care Reform law unconstitutional (unlike the ruling of the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals which upheld the law).

[Morzer]

Rick Perry might make a splash in the Whackjob/Big Hair primary, but I reckon the blossom will be off that turd pretty quickly. Try: Rick Perry + NAFTA Superhighway in teh Google and see what you get, just for starters.

[oddjob]

Joe Scarborough may be a moron, but even so his rant about Bachmann's insanity is perfectly put.

[Joe S]

What amazes me about the 11th Circuit Decision is realizing how political legal decisions really are/have become. There used to be more of a strong professional norm associated with dividing law from policy especially in the area of economic regulation. Now, first with Bush v. Gore and moving forward with the Roberts Court, you see an effort to use the Constitution to remake the society away from the New Deal vision of the United States back towards a Lochner vision. I never thought we'd see something like this.

But it can't be good for the courts in the long run. If federal judges are seen as just policy makers,then sooner or later, they lose their authority (which stems not from the will of the people or the strength of the armed forces and police services, but a belief that there's some neutral law out there to be determined and which rules us). It's the Critical Legal Studies critique given form. When judges outrun the belief of the people in what's right and what's wrong, it's a disaster waiting to happen for the judiciary.

[Morzer]

Hmm, another post vanishes. Still, once more unto the breach with the Gospel of Perry. It's really worth a read to see just what a bad bargain Perry would be for the GOP:

AllThingsPerry

[Sir Charles]

Morzer,

Jesus, Perry is out of his mind -- but I think he is the likely nominee. I really do. I think there is a substantial group of Republicans who just don't want Romney to be the nominee. I think they are going to coalesce around Perry -- however absurd a character he might be.

Joe,

I can't believe they ruled this way either. The amusing thing is that they just got rid of the individual mandate -- as far as I can tell everything else was upheld. So you have the abolition of pre-existing conditions and no requirement for people to buy insurance -- which they can then delay until they are sick. The insurers will go crazy.

[Davis X. Machina]

It's a sequenced attack.

Get rid of the mandate, and the other features are too expensive to maintain.

Now the insurers go to Congress, cry poor, and the legislature then repeals those features seriatim on the basis of cost. After all, a bankrupt insurer can't even insure healthy people.

Three years, five tops, and it's the status quo un-fucking-regulated ante all over again. Fat enough cash reserves, you could ride that out.

[Davis X. Machina]

Oh, and it's "Texas Governor -- and 1988 Gore state campaign chairman -- Rick Perry."

That Al Gore. You could look it up, as Thubur said.

[big bad wolf]

i'm surprised at the 11th circuit decision. joe is correct, the judges are outrunning their coverage. after lopez there was an attack of the statute criminalizing possession of a machine gun. i said the supreme court wouldn't go near that one and they never did, though the arguments were much the same. it's difficult to be a court perceived as legitimate when you invalidate machine gun laws. things have changed. i still think the ACA will end up being upheld, and i think roberts is in the majority on that. the 11th circuit decision makes this more of a potential campaign issue because affirmances of the ACA did not call out for cert. an appellate declaration that the mandate is unconstitutional calls out for cert. the adminstration has to figure out when cert is best granted. asking for rehearing en banc in the 11th circuit may push the case into the october 2012 supreme court term and thus after the election. asking for cert now may allow for validation of the act before the 2012 election, or, alternatively, an invalidation in time to advance a court-packing plan :)

[big bad wolf]

i still think perry is too dumb to get the nomination, even in that party

[Joe S]

bbw- Do you sometimes feel like Pandora in letting all of this bad commerce clause jurisprudence out of its box ?

As for Perry, somebody has to win the Republican nomination. Repubs can't stand Mitt "Road to Serfdom through a mandate" Romney, and I think even the Repubs know that Bachmann is perceived as insane (although Perry seems just as insane). Pawlenty comes across as Eddie Haskell. That leaves Perry. Somebody has to win the nomination.

[beckya57]

As somebody pointed out the other day, Perry is indeed as nuts as Bachmann, but the GOP elite likes his genitals better. Yes, I went there.

I stand by my previous prediction: the SC will overturn the individual mandate. I think they'll let the rest stand, knowing as others have already pointed out that the rest becomes impossible without the mandate. And don't bother saying the legal arguments against the mandate are very weak, Sir C. I'm sure you're right--unlike me you are competent to make that determination--but in case you haven't noticed, that doesn't matter anymore. The judiciary has indeed become thoroughly politicized on the Republican side.

[big bad wolf]

every once in awhile, joe, but not too often. i think lopez reached the right result both for lopez and for reminding us there is an outer edge to power. but being aligned with the pacific legal foundation and their ilk did make me uneasy. rightwing as bill rhenquist was one could sort of trust him to use the stick lopez was as a threat, not an everyday tool. the new guys, especially in the lower courts, not so much.

i fear you are right about perry, but seeing him up close all these years just makes it hard for me to take him seriously. he's palin with more expensive hair. i had a conversation the other night with a very smart, very serious guy who worked for pawlenty and who had recently seen perry and was not impressed by the contrast to his old boss, about whose current publicly stated positions he expressed some wonder.

[oddjob]

Oh, and it's "Texas Governor -- and 1988 Gore state campaign chairman -- Rick Perry."

That Al Gore. You could look it up, as Thubur said.

"That" Al Gore was rather a bit more conservative than the one who ran as Bill Clinton's VP, and who won a Nobel Peace Prize after filming An Inconvenient Truth. (Not, of course, that Al Gore in '88 wasn't already thinking about the ideas he expounded in An Inconvenient Truth, but there were other ideas we don't now so much associate with him.)

It's relatively easy to go online and learn what happened to Rick Perry as a consequence of the '88 Dem. nominee being Michael Dukakis. Karl Rove was involved.

[oddjob]

(... who ran for PRESIDENT as the Dem. nominee and Bill Clinton's VP.....

Apologies for the poor wording.)

[kathy a.]

bbw, that must have been an interesting conversation the other night. i love the description of perry as "palin with more expensive hair."

[oddjob]

i had a conversation the other night with a very smart, very serious guy who worked for pawlenty and who had recently seen perry and was not impressed by the contrast to his old boss, about whose current publicly stated positions he expressed some wonder.

Not all that many years ago the GOP was roughly defined as a party with a lot of grown-ups in it, as well as a fringe of seriously weird anti-government crazies.

The crazies have won that contest. Now you can't be a GOP grown-up of yore and win the GOP nomination for president.

Both Mitt Romney and T-Paw are making that very, very clear. For that matter, so also are the popularity of Bachmann, Palin, and Perry.

Nowadays there's no way either Barry Goldwater or Ronald Reagan would ever be the GOP nominee for president. Neithers' willingness to compromise would be acceptable. To be today's GOP nominee for president you more or less have to be able to win the enthusiastic endorsement of the John Birch Society.

In my eyes, I can't see voting for a governor who was busily figuring out ways to reduce spending on roads while one of the most important bridges between Minneapolis & St. Paul collapsed. That such a man could be taken seriously as the US President is laughable to me, but at the same time I realize that in the eyes of his party that isn't the reason he won't be nominated.

In the eyes of his party the reason he won't be nominated is that he's not sufficiently anti-government.

It is to weep........................

[kathy a.]

preach it, oddjob. we need to keep talking about the real stuff.

[oddjob]

@ beckya57 | August 12, 2011 at 11:04 PM

I will be utterly delighted if becky's post turns out to be an incorrect prognostication, but unfortunately at this time I'm mostly inclined to agree with her (genitalia and all).

:((((((((((((((

[oddjob]

i love the description of perry as "palin with more expensive hair."

Can I also just say that, I hope, that during the course of Perry's run for the White House SOME fundy or other will have the nerve to "go there" and talk about the rumors that Perry bats for the home team?

;)

No - generally speaking - a person's private life should be their private life, but if you're going to run for President of the USA as a fundy (& he is SO running as a profoundly un-Christian fundy "Christianist", and thus fitting right in with all those tribally correct, un-Christian, culturally conservative Southern Baptists neither Jesus Christ, nor William Faulkner, nor Harper Lee, nor Tennessee Williams had the time of day for), then as long as you're running for President of the USA, the rest of the USA is entitled to know about all those details!

[beckya57]

@oddjob: believe me, you won't be the only one who'll be delighted if I'm wrong. I really, really want to be, since I don't see any way out of our healthcare mess if the SC throws out the mandate, and President Perry is a truly frightening prospect.

[beckya57]

@oddjob: "bats for the home team": I'm sure this is just a reflection of how tired I am, but can you please translate for this dense person?

[beckya57]

And yes, "Palin with better hair" is indeed delicious.

[nancy]

re Perry: question is, who will be his running mate? and this exchange is giving me hives.

[oddjob]

"bats for the home team": I'm sure this is just a reflection of how tired I am, but can you please translate for this dense person?

There are more than a few on-line rumors that, despite being married to a woman, Texas Governor Rick Perry enjoys bedding down with men.

[oddjob]

re Perry: question is, who will be his running mate? and this exchange is giving me hives.

I have no idea who he'd pick and I don't blame you in the slightest for getting the heebie-jeebies.

Back in the mid-1970's (because of the moderate/liberal's clout at the time) both then President Gerald Ford and then conservative challenger to Ford, CA Governor Ronald Reagan, found it highly desirable to select Northeastern (pro-business, but social agenda liberal) "moderate" Republicans to be their Vice President (in Ford's case - NY Governor Nelson Rockefeller), or Vice Presidential nominee (in Reagan's case in 1976, when he selected then moderate Republican PA Senator Richard Schweiker, who later became Reagan's first Secretary for the Dept. of Health & Human Services).

Back then most of the conservative Southerners were still Democrats, but now (in coordination with the seriously weird anti-government extremists of the Midwest and Mountain West) all those folks more or less define "the Republican base". Consequently if Rick Perry is the GOP Nominee for President of the USA I can't see how his VP Nominee won't be someone equally strange (if not worse).

[beckya57]

@oddjob: you went there too. ;)

The modern GOP is a good illustration of what happens when the grownups decide to let the crazies run the asylum.

[beckya57]

@nancy: me too, pass the Benadryl. >:(

[oddjob]

@oddjob: you went there too. ;)

Well, for myself, as I previously insinuated, if you're an adult citizen, as long as you're not messing with minors and it's all consensual it's your own business, you know?

However, since I myself bat for the home team, I'm not insensitive to the rumors of politicians (especially the rumors of anti-gay, "Christian" fundamentalist up & coming politicians of potentially national stature) who then go out of their way to make the lives of gay American citizens like me more difficult than they need to be!

[beckya57]

@oddjob: my favorite comment on this and related subjects is, "I have enough trouble running my own life, I don't have the time or energy to run anyone else's."

"Bats for the home team." I'll have to remember that one.

[beckya57]

My last parting comment: I'm generally against outing, as I feel people should have control over their privacy, and it doesn't get much more private than one's sexuality. However, I certainly understand the desire to out someone who is engaging in same-sex relations undercover while publicly advancing their career by participating in gay-bashing. I don't know that I have a good answer to that one.

[nancy]

Becky--I view this as on a par with people like Jim Bakker, tele-evangelizing and preaching to sinners, while doing whatever he was up to, I don't quite remember the details, but suffice it to say he needed to ask for forgiveness from both his wife and his very large "flock". Preaching for dollars has its costs.

Bill Clinton on the other hand, randy fellow that we all suspected, wasn't preaching to anyone.

Oddjob is right I think--it's when these people proudly and loudly sit in judgment that they ask to be exposed. So better now than later with Gov. Secessionist. Might cause a problem with the cash flow on its way to his coffers.

[oddjob]

"I have enough trouble running my own life, I don't have the time or energy to run anyone else's."

TELL ME ABOUT IT!!!!

That is in no small part why I deliberately chose never to father a child!

[oddjob]

"Bats for the home team." I'll have to remember that one.

It's not by any means original with me, but you're welcome! ;)

[Morzer]

Rick Perry - Sarah Palin with deep-fried hair and a seriously fried mind.

[beckya57]

Way to go, Morzer!

@nancy: I certainly understand the urge to out these hypocritical, hurtful people. I just have problems with outing on principle.

@oddjob: I don't have kids either!

[Morzer]

There's nothing wrong with children that good garlic, some olive oil, and a roasting spit can't fix.

[beckya57]

@Morzer: ouch.

[kathy a.]

morzer!!

i'm against outing, too. isn't there enough weirdness about perry to keep us busy without going there?

that is more or less the beat of the other occupants of the clown car, anyway, since they think eternal damnation is a heck of an issue for the primary.

[nancy]

Morzer, I see you've been reading your Roald Dahl.

Becky, I don't know that outing commands an especial concern when the public figure would-be outee persists in demeaning and vilifying his (it's usually been a 'his', hasn't it?) fellow human beings. Think Larry Craig.

I'm all for privacy and its protections--heaven knows I'd wished, as my then eleven-year-old absorbed the importance of stained-dresses and oral sex to the Clinton impeachers and the country-at-large, that the GOP had had such delicate concern for same.

But a press asking fair questions about matters relating to hypocrisy and character is OK by me. I don't care who's "batting" for whom, and outing is most certainly not the objective. Don't remember anyone shying away from Gennifer Flowers when Bill was being grilled.