– It’s tough to imagine, but I think this is one of Krugman’s most depressing columns.
– Seattle should follow Cambridge’s lead until the feds repeal DOMA.
– Ants farm meat, maybe.
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I don’t find Krugman’s column depressing. He’s not saying anything I didn’t already know. This is just a rehash of the same debate that’s been going on since 2008.
Anyone who studies history (I do) knows Keynes was right. Economists know the gold standard was the leading cause of the Great Depression. They know a stalled economy won’t restart itself; it needs stimulus. They know a recession is the wrong time to cut spending and balance the budget. They know that programs like social security and unemployment benefits are effective insurance against a recession turning into a depression because they put a floor under how far consumer spending can fall.
Republicans think they know the opposite of all these things. They’ve learned absolutely nothing from all the crashes, panics, and depressions they’ve caused over the last 160 years. They still think Hoover knew what he was doing and FDR didn’t. Either that, or they want this recession to become a depression.
There’s always a disconnection between irrational politics and sensible economics, and the crazies usually win those arguments because economic theories don’t get to vote but mental incompetents do get to vote.
Thus it ever was, and thus it will always be so. The only thing you can do about it is sell them your stocks now, then wait for them to crash the economy and the markets, then buy the stocks back from them for half of what they paid you for them.
That’s what I’m gonna do.
My stockbroker still doesn’t believe the GOPers will actually push the Treasury into default. As I was placing my sell orders this morning, I told him that he hasn’t been around politics for a lifetime like I have, and he’s underestimating the capacity of the Republican Party for stubborn intransigence. Believe me, these guys are going to pull the trigger. It’s all but inevitable now.
Why are they doing it? Because a default will push up interest rates, and given they own most of the financial assets and are suffering from the same low returns as the rest of us, they’ll profit mightily from higher interest rates.
Not only that, but soaring interest rates will make the deficit balloon, creating even greater political pressure for even deeper cuts to social programs they want to get rid of.
So what if this turns the Great Recession into another Great Depression? Ballooning unemployment rolls will make today’s cheap labor even cheaper for employers. If you’re an employer, you like soaring unemployment, because scared workers work harder for less, and you can be choosier about who you hire.
Seizing up the political system and crashing the economy makes perfect sense from their point of view.
That’s why they’re going to do it.
RR gold or not the seeds of the Great Depression were planted in World War I. There were also a lot of contributing factors, the Smoot-Haley Tariff Act was just one. There was a paper that came out last year from the NBER suggesting that the French had a hand in it since they were hoarding gold as I recall.
There were a lot of contributing factors to the present problem; monetary policy, the wars, housing regulations, piss poor oversight by the SEC, etc.
One thing that might help is for local governments to reduce their licensing and permit fees. Licensing is pretty much a joke when it comes to protecting consumers any how. We need to quit waiting for D.C. to do something and get the ball rolling ourselves.
All the liberal pundits were complaining late last week when it looked like Obama was putting Social Security and Medicare on the table in the budget talks.
But by Sunday morning, Republicans were backing away from the “big deal” compromise involving some 4 trillion dollars of long-term budget cuts, like they had almost stepped on a snake. Instead, they said they would insist on the $2 trillion deal, as long as it didn’t include any tax hikes or tax loophole fixes.
Is it possible that we, on the left, are under-estimating Obama?
The House Republicans went into this discussion thinking that they had it made – they could force budget cuts which would keep the economy in the doldroms until at least the next election, and blame Obama for not agreeing to more budget cuts. Along the way, they thought they could avoid any tax increases, keeping their financial masters happy.
Instead, they will now go into the 2012 campaign with the Democrats arguing that it was the Republicans who failed to fix the budget defecit plan offered by the Democrats, thus dulling that campaign sword.
Warning to wingnuts:
Stop yer pissing around these parts — or yer goats will attack!
@4: OK, 9 (vice 11) dimensional chess then.
My “hope” is that he knows WTF he’s doing. Because if he doesn’t we’re fucked and there ain’t shit we (most of us) can do about it.
A D even bringing up Medicare, SSI, etc. for “cuts” of any kind is a bridge too far. They are NOT contributing to the deficit and it muddies what was just about a slam dunk ’12.
He better know what he’s fucking doing…
#3; Correct me if I am wrong, but wasn’t Smoot-Haley Tariff Act come about several years after the crash in 1929? Do you think it was instramental in the double dip of 1937? If so, justify. Just asking.
@7: It’s glibertarian bullshit. We need more tariffs — now — while we still have the resources to build things and infrastructure. Global capitalism is in its death throes and one of the best things we could do for America is to withdraw from the WTO and most — if not all — of the trade agreements since the 80s.
Do I think that’s gonna happen? Not a chance! The fuckers are gonna take us all down with them. But they’re fat and they’ll make good eating when the time comes (h/t Artfart).
That other shit about local fees was just pathetic. They’re annoying but a drop in the ocean and necessary since we’re so dysfunctional we can’t even repeal clearly stupid tax expenditures anymore.
@3 Why should only government reduce taxes and permit fees? Why shouldn’t businesses lower prices, too?
@ 1, 2 & 3:
You should all give “The Creature From Jekyll Island” a read. It’ll show you where all economic troubles have originated over the past 500 years.
As for Krugman – he’s about as relevant as the color of Nero’s toga. The guy is yet another example of the tenured Ivory Tower academic snobs who like to pretend they’re soooo better than everyone else.
@4 “Is it possible that we, on the left, are under-estimating Obama?”
Not really. He was willing to trade cuts to medicare and social security in exchange for closing a few tax loopholes. All the pundits said Obama offered the GOPers most of what they wanted and got almost nothing in return — it was so good a deal for Republicans that everyone is amazed they didn’t take it.
WRT the link above about New hampshire rethugs waging a war on women – this encapsulates the observation that the ‘abortion debate’ is not about abortion – it is about women’s autonomy, part of which is access to health care. The Balloon Juice post also notes that a major impact for New Hamshire citizens is less access to birth control – a curious effect if your agenda really is fewer abortions.
re 10: If bankers are abusing their station, It’s nothing the ‘free market’ can’t fix. Right?
@13,
Just give the book a read. You’ll find it enlightening.
@9 they already have you out of touch twit.
In the end, the Dems and Reps will make a deal whereby they increase taxes, raise the debt ceiling, and agree to spending cuts. Sounds like good old-fashioned compromise to me.
After they get through these dramatic episode, they should turn their attention to shutting-down the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, ending the War on Drugs, simplifying the tax code, ending our involvement in foreign countries and their affairs, and reducing the size of the military. {Conservatives don’t realize that shrinking the military is in fact shrinking government. After all, the military people are government employees, and too many government employees is part of the overall problem.}
@12 I take it that the “live free” thing only applies to Republican white males. It appears that the freedom they seek is the freedom to control women’s bodies.
Ways to stop the money drain from the U.S.:
1. A severe contraction of our military spending, especially as it relates to money spent for bases and military adventures on foreign soil.
2. An end to the flow of money for illegal drugs, including marijuana. This could include legalization of the less-harmful drugs, such as marijuana.
3. A revision of our “Most Favored Nation” policies to include provisions that the labor policies in the other country meet minimum standards of pay and working conditions, both in law and in practice.
Since this is an open thread, it might be interesting to see what the U.K thinks of the fact that Britains have a longer life expectancy than in the U.S. Here is an article from the BBC News site. It doesn’t have anything we haven’t already heard (most of the quotes and figures are from U.S. sources), but their take on it is interesting. Also, it’s interesting to see them compare us with Australia.
Why do Americans die younger than Britains?
@10: Great emotional reasoning in recent troll posts, where an argument is undeserving of refutation because you don’t like the author or who they work for.
I guess embracing conservatism is a leap of faith after all, pretty much makes Krugman’s point.
# 20: That’s been a winut tactic since Spiro Agnew’s days, at least. Since they can’t win the argument on the facts, they slander the source. Why engage in debate when you can simply claim the sources are “radical liberals”, and then move on?
Roger Ailes and Karl Rove adopted this strategy with a vengence, and since it’s been adopted by all the wingnut propogandists, especialy at Fox News.
Speaking of Fox News, it’s ultimate corporate owner is 80 year-old Rupert Murdoch, who’s continuing to have problems in Britain due to the reporters hacking into people’s cell phones, voice mail, and text messages.
At first, it seemed a far-away scandal. What did we care if a tabloid newspaper infringed on the privacy of celebraties and royals? Then the scandal grew, as it became known that they bribed members of the royal security force for information, and hacked into the cell phone accounts of a murdered teenager and the families of soldiers killed in Afganistan.
But it appears that was merely the surface. An editor of one of the Murdoch papers involved in the scandal had joined the staff of Conservative P.M. Gordon Cameron, but today he was arrested in connection with the police bribary portion of the scandal.
But perhaps more chilling, it appears that former Labour P.M. Brown’s account was hacked, and his son’s medical records were compromised. What’s chilling about this was that the Murdoch-owned papers led the charge against Brown in the last elections, resulting in a Conservative victory. How much of the hacked information was made use of in the political campaign?
Here in the U.S., the government is opening it’s own investigation to see whether some or all of the Murdoch media machines could be charged with the Corrupt Foreign Influences Act, as a result of the bribary scandal.
It would be interesting if the investigation finds links between the illegal activities in Britain and Fox News.
I’m not willing to say whether or not Fox News committed any illegal acts. Immoral, certainly, considering their negative effect on American politics, but not necessarily illegal. But I have to smile at the potential image on TV as the FBI carries out boxes of records and computers from Fox News headquarters as part of their investigation, as it’s staff looks on in befuddlement.
re #7
Smoot-Hawley was passed in 1930 and probably had little impact on what happened in 1937
Café Hayek has this: “But while the tariff might not have caused the
Depression, it certainly did not make it any better. It provoked a
storm of foreign retaliatory measures and came to stand as a symbol of
the “beggar-thy-neighbor” policies (policies designed to improve one’s
own lot at the expense of that of others) of the 1930s. Such policies
contributed to a drastic decline in international trade. For example,
U.S. imports from Europe declined from a 1929 high of $1,334 million to
just $390 million in 1932, while U.S. exports to Europe fell from
$2,341 million in 1929 to $784 million in 1932. Overall, world trade
declined by some 66% between 1929 and 1934. More generally,
Smoot-Hawley did nothing to foster trust and cooperation among nations
in either the political or economic realm during a perilous era in
international relations..” http://cafehayek.com/2007/06/more_on_smootha.html
If those numbers are true then a lot of jobs probably disappeared as well.
I have read some who suggest that the decline in spending by the government led to the problems of 1937 and others who have suggested the start of Social Security also helped cause the problem because the withholding of the new tax reduced the spending by families.
Here is an interesting possible cause. “Agricultural producers received high prices through most of this period, due to domestic demand fueled by an increasingly urban population and by export demand spurred by World War I. A sharp drop in export demand following the war triggered a price collapse in 1920-21 that continued through the decade and led to widespread farm bankruptcies and an economic crisis in the agricultural sector. In response, political efforts began in the 1920s to secure government policies to improve access to credit and to support agricultural prices that would enhance farm incomes.”
http://www.ers.usda.gov/amberw.....tafeature/
I’ll suggest that the collapse in farming helped rural banks fail and that this was something like dominoes falling. It was one thing after another.
And I like this one just for the fun of it. The death and subsequent collapse of Swedish investor, Ivar Kreuger’s, the Match King, financial kingdom in 1932 may have contributed to it.
WWI started it and stupid men kept it going.
re 18 I emailed our two Senators and my Congressional Representative last night suggesting that the troops be brought home. All that did was make me feel like I did something positive and it accomplished nothing in terms of changing policy.
Looks like rain!
@10 “The guy is yet another example of the tenured Ivory Tower academic snobs who like to pretend they’re soooo better than everyone else.”
Well, he does have more Nobel Prizes than you.
@12 “Liberal Scientist wonders why the intelligent designer made Republicans such assholes”
I think the current theory is that the wart on the intelligent designer’s dick was spun off and is now a separate entity known as “Satan”.
@15 Really? What prices have been cut?
@16 “In the end, the Dems and Reps will make a deal whereby they increase taxes, raise the debt ceiling, and agree to spending cuts. Sounds like good old-fashioned compromise to me.”
I think you’re wildly optimistic. But not to worry, I sold more stock this morning to bolster my cash position for when formerly Republican-owned stocks are selling for pennies on the dollar about a month from now.
I’m currently reading an autobiography of Robert Morris, who was among the delegates of the 2nd Continental Congress who signed the Declaration of Independence.
I think the author is a bit too far right-wing for my taste – he clearly is anamored of Morris’ pro-business and anti-regulation views.
But by his account, even Morris & John Adams were dismayed that the “radicals” in Congress obstructed any measures to impose and collect taxes. Still chaffing under the Stamp Act, they wanted no part of taxes, except for possibly the most local ones.
Ultimately Congress, paralyzed from imposing taxes, decided to “borrow” their way to financing the war, with France being the lendor of last resort.
Kind of sounds a lot like the Republicans over the last decade. They wanted to borrow to finance the wars in Afganistan and Iraq, Medicare Part B, and even ongoing government operations while cutting taxes.
This turned into a severe problem for America in prosecuting the war for independence, as it’s credit dried up overseas delaying the purchase and shipment of arms & supplies, and inflation imposed it’s own tax upon anyone who took “Continentals” as payment. After the war, the national debt became a political issue as the “Tea Party” folks preferred to let the debts default – including those in payment to Colonial troops – rather than impose a fair tax across the populace.
It’s interesting that these are the folks the “Tea Party” seeks to emulate – ones that even the staunch advocate of independence such as John Adams, and a prosperant merchant and “free-market” economist such as Roger Morris, came to dispise.
RR @ 29: “…I sold more stock this morning to bolster my cash position….”
Oh, so THAT explains today’s drop in the Dow. ;-)
@28
TONS!
but just for an example, construction costs, both commercial and residential, have plummeted over the last few years.
use any metric you want to, but commercial costs per sq ft are at rock bottom right now.
Lori Klein, Arizona State Senator, Pointed Loaded Gun At Reporter Richard Ruelas’s Chest
Wow. I just do not know what to say. Anybody who knows ANYTHING about guns knows that
(a) a gun is ALWAYS considered to be loaded;
(b) despite # 1, you only put your ammo in a gun when you expect to be using it immediately thereafter;
(c) who carries a gun that doesn’t have a safety? And who would make such an inherently dangerous piece of junk?
(d) and obviously, you never, ever, point a gun at someone, even in jest, even if you think it’s not loaded, even if your finger isn’t on the trigger, etc.,
(e) who in the world makes, buys, or carries a rasberry-pink handgun? These are deadly weapons, not fashion accessories!
All I could think of is the reaction of my Dad, my gun-safety instructor, my range master, or even my scoutmaster if commited ANY of these violations. Each of them would have taken my gun away from me, refused to give it back for at least or year or two, and even then only if I demonstrated over time that I had managed to learn a little common sense, in addition to gun safety.
And this lady is an advocate for 2nd Amendment rights? She’s more of an argument against them.
I listened to Micheal Medved for 5 minutes on my commute home. He was slamming the president for trying to get the republicans to compromise. Medved’s mentality was dems had gut Social Security and Medicare, and pass a balance budget amendment and destroy every aspect of the Great Society, but there was no give and take, there was no way in hell they were going to given an inch on raising taxes on the rich.
Wow.
Another example of why Democrats should stop trying to negotiate and reach a compromise with republicans. They want to to destroy America.
@26: But Roger, you forget that the Nobel committee are all flaming Ivory Tower academic snobs who like to pretend they’re soooo much better than everyone else.
@31 You have program trading and then you have rabbit trading …
@32 I can’t eat commercial footage. What I see in the grocery store is smaller packages coupled with price increases — how again is that a “price cut”???
@33 “I just do not know what to say.”
I know what to say. “Go to the police and swear out a formal complaint.” In any state you care to name, pointing a gun at a person, whether loaded or not, without that person’s permission is criminal assault.
@32
I’d hope so we just had a housing bubble burst.
@35 Snobs or not, I’d take one if they gave it to me — I need the money.
@33
A Republican state Rep. In Main pointed a gun at a reporter a couple of months ago. All the cool kids are doing it…
@33
Nice of her to keep that gun in her purse where it’s easy to steal and hard to get to if you actually need it.
@42 It’s already been established the woman’s an idiot.
Whence Professional Journalism
Although newspapers are struggling financially, the public’s need and demand for news hasn’t lessened. The question is not whether we will need professional journalists in the future (we will) but how professional news organizations will be financially supported. For those interested in this issue, this article from The Economist provides the most comprehensive discussion I’ve yet seen.
http://www.economist.com/node/18904178
Conservative Magazine: GOPers Mostly To Blame
Here is what The Economist, a U.K.-based news/opinion magazine with a conservative pro-business editorial orientation, says about the stalled debt negotiations:
“The sticking-point is not on the spending side. It is because the vast majority of Republicans, driven on by the wilder-eyed members of their party and the cacophony of conservative media, are clinging to the position that not a single cent of deficit reduction must come from a higher tax take. This is economically illiterate and disgracefully cynical.
“This newspaper has a strong dislike of big government; we have long argued that the main way to right America’s finances is through spending cuts. But you cannot get there without any tax rises. …
“And the closer you look, the more unprincipled the Republicans look. Earlier this year House Republicans produced a report noting that an 85%-15% split between spending cuts and tax rises was the average for successful fiscal consolidations, according to historical evidence. The White House is offering an 83%-17% split (hardly a huge distance) and a promise that none of the revenue increase will come from higher marginal rates, only from eliminating loopholes. If the Republicans were real tax reformers, they would seize this offer.
“Both parties have in recent months been guilty of fiscal recklessness. Right now, though, the blame falls clearly on the Republicans. Independent voters should take note.”
http://www.economist.com/node/18928600
Roger Rabbit Commentary: Man I hope the GOPers are stupid enough to pull the default trigger! I’m sitting on tens of thousands of dollars of cash, waiting to pounce on cheap stocks! A 40% fall in the stock market seems about right to me. Most financial assets are owned by rich Republicans, so these guys really are shooting themselves in the balls, and that’s fine with me — I’ll be more than happy to relieve them of their stock shares at fire-sale prices! Of course, that’s not all I want … I want to live in their mansions and drive their Lamborghinis … but they can keep their trophy wives — they’re too high maintenance and too much trouble. I’ve got Mrs. Rabbit and that’s enough trouble for me. I don’t want any more wives, but I’ll be more than happy to take their stock off their hands for cents on the dollar …
Looks like there’s a bit of a kerfuffle a brewing over in Spokane.
Impasse!!!
Yes, my friends, there will be a U.S. Treasury default just 22 days from now. Why? Because Republicans have kicked the stool out from under themselves, and Obama can’t possibly give in to their demands that elderly pensioners swallow big cuts in social security and medicare so billionaires don’t have to pay taxes!
“‘Republicans haven’t voted for a tax increase since 1990,’ says Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform. ‘Democrats who think Republicans can be talked into passing tax increases so that Democrats can spend more money have very, very long memories.'”
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43.....e_monitor/
That’s right, and because you can’t possibly bring the deficit down to an economically sustainable level without revenues, and because the GOPers are insisting on dismantling the New Deal, there’s NO FUCKING WAY there will be an agreement on the debt ceiling.
Which leaves President Obama with two options: The 14th Amendment, or default.
Because the White House has refused to rule out the 14th Amendment, it’s obvious that’s Obama’s fallback position. It’s the circuit breaker that keeps insane Republicans from plunging the world into another global financial crisis, and he’s going to use it.
If he doesn’t, a Treasury default is now inevitable. Obama can’t possibly give in to the GOP demands, and the GOPers know it. What they’ve promised him is that he must cave in to ALL of their demands, with NO concessions from their side, and then they’ll vote against raising the debt ceiling anyway! What the GOPers have done is paste a sign on their backs that says “Kick Me!”
It’s going to be a lot of fun to see the look on their faces when they get kicked. And they WILL get kicked!
If, for some strange reason, Obama fails to deploy the 14th Amendment Option and allows a default to happen, trillions of dollars of Republican wealth will be wiped out almost instantaneously. I don’t know about you, but I’m not gonna lose sleep over it.
I mean, who cares if all those fuckers go broke and jump out of 50th-floor windows? I’m not gonna miss ’em. It’s the next best thing to the Rapture! And think of how many Sanitation Department jobs will be created to clean up the splatter they make on the sidewalks.
Republican pols are now promising their base that there will never, ever, be any tax increases or closing of tax loopholes. The last time I heard this kind of rhetoric, it came from the Politburo in Moscow who claimed that a country, once communist, would never be allowed to revert to non-communism. Look where they are now!
Of course, the idea that you can expand govenrment revenues by reducing taxes to zero is idiotic. But these fools, at the urging of Norquist and his ilk, actually believe this pablum. They have long ago departed from all reason. To them, Reagan is a traitor because he had the gall to reinstate some of the taxes he overcut when supply-side voodoo didn’t work as advertised.
You can’t reason with irrational people bent on self-destruction. The only thing you can do is stand aside and let them destroy themselves.
Many, I’m looking forward to living in one of the gorgeous mansions that will soon be vacated by some Republican who is going to sell me his stock portfolio for cents on the dollar a little more than three weeks from now.
What makes me think he will? Well, simple, all of these guys are leveraged, you see — and I’m not.
22 days from now the government will stop paying our soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan because Republicans “supported the troops” by kicking the stool out from under them.
14.5 Trillion and counting, stock market down 151 yesterday and 100 more today, 9.25 unemployment and rising, Great Job Obama!
This pretty much sums up what I think of Republican politics right now.
One thing you can count on – regardless of how unreasonable or intransigent the Repubicans get on the budget issues, if America defaults on it’s debt obligations, Republicans will spend the next twenty years claiming that Obama “bankrupted” America. They will do so because they have found that they don’t suffer any severe consequences for telling lies, and to them the benefits of telling lies outweigh the downside.
Believe me, they’ve already written the script for Fox News and every GOP Congressman to utter, starting with the first day of default.
Until American voters fix that problem – i.e., refusing to vote for Republican liars – the U.S. economic and political system won’t change.
I smiled when News Corp sold off Myspace.com for 35 million..
I’m smiling even more now:
http://www.iol.co.za/news/worl.....-1.1097353
Couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy.
@49, 50 – It could be worse, at least we’re not Afghanistan yet, where assassination is the preferred method of removing someone from public office (see, e.g., Hamid Karzai’s late brother, and before him, most of Afghanistan’s important leaders since the 19th century), although Republikkkans appear to be working toward this, too.
Guns Don’t Kill People Dep’t
13 people were shot in New Jersey on Monday, 1 fatally, in a spate of violence that isn’t all that abnormal for the Garden State.
Hey, we all know guns don’t kill people; guns are inanimate objects that are utterly harmless until activated by deranged people.
So, we don’t have too many guns; we just have too many deranged people.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43.....nd_courts/
I think the solution to New Jersey’s violence problem is to get rid of all the people. If they ship all the humans elsewhere and recolonize that place with rabbits, they won’t have these problems anymore.
Climate science denying asshats – it’s hot outside!
http://arkansasmatters.com/fulltext/?nxd_id=441417
You don’t hear much about Libya anymore, mainly because Europeans are shouldering nearly all of the military burden of protecting unarmed civilians from Libya’s bloodthirsty strongman and his murderous military machine, but you occasionally still hear some Republican or other bitching about the efforts to overthrow Gadhafi, a known terrorist whose close associates have confirmed was behind the Lockerbie bombing that killed dozens of American citizens.
Republicans opposed the intervention in Bosnia, too — the one by Bill Clinton that stopped a genocide and resulted in the overthrow of Europe’s worst madman since Adolf Hitler.
But they were in favor of the intervention in Iraq that stumbled along for over six years and cost more than 4,000 young Americans their lives.
When you try to make rational since of when Republicans do or do not support a military intervention against a genocidal maniac in another country, the correlation that emerges from comparing the data are that Republicans seem to favor unsuccessful interventions that kill lots of American troops, and oppose successful interventions that don’t cost any American lives.
Weird, huh?
Anyway, the latest news on Libya is that the French government, which is heavily involved in the airstrikes against Gadhafi’s forces, says Gadhafi’s emissaries — who have been in contact with the French government all along — have told them Gadhafi is ready to relinquish power and this intervention will wrap up soon.
@56 Apparently it’s not hot enough for House Republicans yet, because they’re pushing a bill that would repeal light bulb efficiency standards. They want to preserve the use of old-fashioned light bulbs that are only 10% efficiency, convert most of the energy they consume to heat, and require more electricity and hence more coal-burning to keep them lit.
This bill must be a nostalgia thing, because it doesn’t make any economic or environmental sense. That would be consistent with the Republican mentality generally — they yearn for a return to the antebellum 19th century.
Never mind 9.2% unemployment, the fact we’re involved in three wars, or the looming debt meltdown — the most important thing on the GOP agenda right now is protecting your constitutional right to screw in inefficient light bulbs.
@60
I’ve screwed in a lot of places, but I’ve never screwed in a light bulb.
I see that Texas Gov. Rick Perry is going to hold a prayer-fest to solve the nation’s financial problems. Gov. Perry earlier held a prayer fest to ask God to do something about the Texas drought. Hmm, I sure hope God does a better job with the nation’s economy than she did with the Texas weather.
Speaking of Gov. Perry, he has a prayer buddy who hates the Statue of Liberty (heh- what God-fearing wingnut doesn’t?).
@62 I suppose it’s immaterial that the people who gave us the Statue of Liberty are all dead, and therefore can’t harm us anymore; that thing is sacrireligious, and therefore has to go! Maybe we can hire Al Qaeda or the Taliban to blow it up?
Neither will Puddy since most by last count are rich DUMMOCRAPTS, ya know Bernie Madoff and J. Allen Stanford types.
Now we see Obummer using Jon Corzine as his latest lacky to acquire Wall Street money, so this is one time I totally agree with you about those rich DUMMOCRAPTS! I’m not gonna miss ‘em.