Politics & Propaganda

And there's the problem. Americans don't care about the rest of the world nearly as much as you think we do.

Statistics can say whatever you want them to. In fact, 93% of the people reading this agree.

There are three types of lies: Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics. ~Mark Twain

Well now there are five, since we added "hope" and "change" in 2008. :)

Nah, those are just the "Damned Lies" variety (things that come out of candidates' mouths).

Jon Stewart is not a real liberal and Stephen Colbert is not a real conservative; they truly do "just play pundits on TV." These guys are just here to entertain you ... and in this case, to play off the angry hyperpartisan tone of 2010 politics to attract viewers.

No, I don't blame them. It's what they do.

But it would be a bad idea to use their entertainment as a starting point for actual political punditry.

Here's something I didn't know.

Pat Sajak (yeah, the Wheel of Fortune host) is a political pundit.

http://ricochet.com/Profile/Pat-Sajak

Who knew?

Colbert is more of a deliberate caricature of all the excesses of right-wing punditry, like Rush in his heavily fortified bunker.

Incidentally, Christine O'Donnell is a witch. She said so herself, on Politically Incorrect in 1999 ;)

Just the other day, I heard about some new movement or something:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tea_Party_movement

Apparently these guys are all upset about deficit spending. Who knew? I wonder how Ragnar D feels, since he's been a somewhat consistent proponent of deficits in the past.

Apparently these guys are all upset about deficit spending. Who knew?

I wonder how Ragnar D feels, since he's been a somewhat consistent
proponent of deficits in the past.

I'm in agreement that deficits and debt are, ultimately, a bad thing.

Smaller, more efficient government should always be the goal.

Reagan was right seeking a Balanced Budget Amendment.

That being said, I do understand the need for the flexibility of deficit spending on occassion. Wars, and possibly recession, etc. may make it a necessity.
But, I don't think that perpetual deficits are a good thing by any stretch, and I don't think that Keynesian economics really works when going into debt.

Now, do I think things are as bad as they're being made out to be? Hell no. But recessions are created to drive wealth into fewer hands.... And sometimes they're created to foster a regime change. Don't think for a second the media has a huge hand in the recession. They do.

America is approximately $12.5 trillion in debt - not yet even 100% GDP.
We see many foreign nations with much higher debt loads. Also, we seem to forget that over half of the debt we have is Americans investing in America.
Treasuries, bonds, etc. are all "debt".

China doesn't "own" America. China isn't even Americas biggest foreign debt holder, Japan is.

The average American is in far worse shape than the country when it comes to debt. How much do people owe on their houses and credit cards compared to thier incomes?

So, I'm not as grim as others about Americas prospects for the future.

I think that government needs to be significantly smaller, and eliminating our yearly deficits would be a great place to start.

But, I don't think that perpetual deficits are a good thing by any

stretch, and I don't think that Keynesian economics really works when

going into debt.

I don't entirely get what you're saying here, unless you insert "beyond a certain level" after "going into debt." Keynesian economics, to my understanding, has a lot to do with deficit-spending your way out of recession.


Certainly, that's the idea that was pushed on me throughout my school years: that it's legitimate and correct for government to borrow/stimulate during a recession.

I'm saying that tax revenues are unpredictable, and a certain amount of deficit spending is s necessity. Especially for essential services, like the military, etc.

And yes, Keynes thought that government should "stimulate" the economy, but it generally doesn't work well.....

The command economy is counter the capitalist system.

We saw during the 1930's that government actually wound up prolonging the depression.

It would be wise for us to learn those lessons again.

We saw during the 1930's that government actually wound up prolonging

the depression.

There's two camps of historians on that one, then, perhaps; the other side holds that, if you look at most countries as they came out of the depression, the ones that came out the quickest were the ones that, shall we say, played funny money games...

Well, we did have WWII, and the one that made out the best was the one that didn't have to rebuild from the ground up!

*snicker*

European Union (EU): A soon to be dissolved association of Socialist states, whose sole purpose is to mislead investors into believing the United States is (comparatively) fiscally responsible. See also EuroFASB: A criminal legal enterprise of accountants whose members help banks hide massive losses;

-- The PermaBear-to-English Translation Guide, http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2010/10/the-permabear-to-english-translation-guide/