Ryan and Ayn Randism mainstreamed

Old Hickory's Weblog

Ryan and Ayn Randism mainstreamed

Tristero rightly observed when Romney announced Paul Ryanas his Vice Presidential pick, interpreting advice he once got from Dave Neiwert ("Two Distinct Ideologies?" Are You Kidding? Hulabaloo 08/11/2012):

The problem is that elevating extremism to the level of serious discussion tends to confer enormous status on bad ideas and that makes it more difficult to fight against them. It also tends to move the discourse towards treating the bad ideas as reasonable ones - the Overton Window concept, more or less.

The standard conventional wisdom about the 1964 election was that the Republican Party embraced radicalism with the Barry Goldwater nomination, and since then they've stayed away from it, having learned their lesson.

Now that the mainstream press operates so reliably with "scripts" cooked up in the Washington Beltway, they continue to recite the notion that the Republican Party is composed of reasonable conservatives. And so they largely ignore the most defining feature of mainstream politics, the cycle of radicalization in which the Republican Party is caught. With no end in sight.

Paul Krugman in Romney/Ryan: The Real Target describes how that feature works in the Ryan case:

Like Bush in 2000, Ryan has a completely undeserved reputation in the media as a bluff, honest guy, in Ryan's case supplemented by a reputation as a serious policy wonk. None of this has any basis in reality; Ryan’s much-touted plan, far from being a real solution, relies crucially on stuff that is just pulled out of thin air — huge revenue increases from closing unspecified loopholes, huge spending cuts achieved in ways not mentioned. ...

So whence comes the Ryan reputation? As I said in my last post, it’s because many commentators want to tell a story about US politics that makes them feel and look good — a story in which both parties are equally at fault in our national stalemate, and in which said commentators stand above the fray. This story requires that there be good, honest, technically savvy conservative politicians, so that you can point to these politicians and say how much you admire them, even if you disagree with some of their ideas; after all, unless you lavish praise on some conservatives, you don’t come across as nobly even-handed.

The trouble, of course, is that it's really really hard to find any actual conservative politicians who deserve that praise. [my emphasis]

Even-the-liberal Kevin Drum at Mother Jones plays this game in Programming Note: Ryan 2013 Is Not Ryan 2012 08/17/2012, scolding liberals for not, uh, pretending Ryan's plan to end Medicare isn't completely sensible, someway somehow. KJ does make some good observations sometime. But ever since he played this liberal troll game in the lead-up to the Iraq War, this stuff coming from him has really annoyed me. Even a catastrophe like the Iraq War didn't persuade him to clean up his act. Basically, he tries to pretend that Ryan is the "bluff, honest guy" of Beltway scripting that Krugman analyzes so well.

Here is the eminently respectable PBS Newshour bringing us Sleepy Mark Shields and National Reviewer Rich Lowry talking about Paul Ryan, Shields and Lowry on GOP Veep Choice Paul Ryan, Medicare 08/17/2012 (with transcript): READ MORE

 

Money, Power and Wall Street

Episode one of Money, Power and Wall Street, FRONTLINE’s four-hour investigation into the global financial crisis, received a Writers Guild Award in the Documentary – Current Events category last night. Produced by Martin Smith and Marcela Gaviria, the episode explored how the the rapid rise of credit default swaps, originally designed to stabilize the economic system, brought the global economy to its knees.

Today it also was announced that the full four-hour series produced by Martin Smith, Marcela Gaviria, Michael Kirk, Jim Gilmore and Mike Wiser will receive the George Polk Awardfor Documentary Television Reporting in April. From the award citation:

It provided a thorough examination of the epic global financial crisis, from its origins to the present day. The team drew on more than 140 in-depth interviews, conducted around the world, with people tangentially or directly responsible for the crisis. In blunt, first-hand accounts, viewers were given an unprecedented look inside key decisions that affected the lives of ordinary people around the country and a play-by-play road map of what ultimately would shatter the global economy. The series also dissected and distilled down the complicated subject of the modern credit derivative market and provided a sober look inside the struggle to rescue and repair this country’s battered economy.

You can watch all four hours of the series on our website, and also watch, read and sharedozens of in-depth interviews that provide first-hand testimony inside the financial crisis and its aftermath.

WATCH THE SERIES

EPISODE ONE

Watch Money, Power and Wall Street: Part One on PBS. See more from FRONTLINE.

EPISODE TWO

Watch Money, Power and Wall Street: Part Two on PBS. See more from FRONTLINE.

EPISODE THREE

Watch Money, Power and Wall Street: Part Three on PBS. See more from FRONTLINE.

EPISODE FOUR

Watch Money, Power and Wall Street: Part Four on PBS. See more from FRONTLINE.

==============================================>
Sorry folks,  I haven't finished watching the whole thing but...  Very early on in this crisis we learned from the real economists who railed against this insanity,  the loans were not going to the people who could not afford them.  Those people were blissfully unaware that they could even qualify for loans,  so they did not apply in any great numbers.  Of course,  bankers and brokers who had knowledge would seek out high risk borrowers,   because they knew they could create and profit from the paper.  But then,  since these people also knew what they were doing,  why would they need a borrower of any type?  So,  the few people who were knowledgeable invented "straw buyers" and "straw sellers",  so that they could control the entire buying and selling process and pocket all of the money,  then simply walk away and let the "straw buyer" default.  Usually these straw buyers were drug dealers,  meth labs,  homeless people and other such people being victimized.

Meanwhile,  the ready credit in an easy money market,  made people who were long time home owners,  familiar with refi strategies,  eager to draw down profits from homes that were appreciating 10% each year.  First time and poor,  high risk home buyers tend to be very conservative about what they buy,  because they're intending to keep the home and not willing to risk losing it.  While long time home owners,  more familiar with finance,  mortgages and loans,  were eager to take advantage of this "easy money",  they knew and could see as increased equity in their homes due to the 10% /year appreciation.  Knowledge became power for them.  A 250k home was appreciating at a rate of 25k per year compounded. so,  3 or 4 years down the road,  the home owner would say hey,  this house is worth 350k why not refinance it and take some of that 100k appreciation?   Why not indeed,  since next year that same house would be worth 35k more and you could sell it and pass the mortgage (which includes the money you've just borrowed) off onto the new buyer.

The economist who first explained the crisis to us also told us that less than 1% of the people getting these subprime loans were people who should not have gotten them,  the rest went to people who knew what they were doing.  The markets locked up with fraud was discovered in the market and that prevented the buyers of CDO from investing any more money.  The banks couldn't sell any more paper,  thus they could not raise any more money to make any new loans.  Just use the search box up at page top and plug in "29 trillion",  have a nice read. 

World War II nuclear waste found leaking from tanks

Workers says they’re unsure how long or how much has leaked

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FILE -- In this March 23, 2004 file photo, workers at the tank farms on the Hanford Nuclear Reservation near Richland, Wash., measure for radiation and the presence of toxic vapors. Six underground radioactive waste tanks at the nation's most contaminated nuclear site are leaking, Gov. Jay Inslee said Friday, Feb. 22, 2013. Inslee made the announcement after meeting with federal officials in Washington, D.C. Last week it was revealed that one of the 177 tanks at south-central Washington's Hanford Nuclear Reservation was leaking liquids. Inslee called the latest news "disturbing." (AP Photo/Jackie Johnston, File)

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6 tanks at Hanford nuclear site in Wash. leaking

Speaker tours nuclear power plant

Washington Gov. Inslee says 6 underground tanks at Hanford Nuclear reservation are leaking

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FILE - In this July 14, 2010 photo, workers at the Hanford nuclear reservation work around a a tank farm where highly radioactive waste is stored underground near Richland, Wash. Six underground radioactive waste tanks at the nation's most contaminated nuclear site are leaking, Gov. Jay Inslee said Friday, Feb. 22, 2013. Inslee made the announcement after meeting with federal officials in Washington, D.C. Last week it was revealed that one of the 177 tanks at south-central Washington's Hanford Nuclear Reservation was leaking liquids. Inslee called the latest news "disturbing." (AP Photo/Shannon Dininny, File)

Some of the waste dates all the way back to the bomb created for and used on Nagasaki during World War II. The site as closed in 1987 but the waste has remained since that time.

Workers say there are six tanks leaking and they are not sure how long the problem has been going on or much has escaped.

The site is in the state of Washington, about 185 miles from Seattle according to reports. See more on this story here.

Joe the Plumber giving away free assault rifle

Joe Wurzelbacher wants to
give away a free assault weapon.  / File

by Amulya Raghuveer Posted: 02.21.2013 at 7:05 PM Updated: 02.22.2013 at 12:05 PM TOLEDO -- Former Congressional candidate, Joe Wurzelbacher, wants to help create a safer America and intends to start by giving away a free gun. Wurzelbacher, or "Joe the Plumber" as he has been referred to since meeting then presidential candidate Barack Obama in 2008, says his website is hosting an "Assault Weapon Giveaway" with a free AR-15 assault rifle to be awarded to a "lucky winner" on April 1. The Holland man, and former Republican candidate, ran unsuccessfully against Marcy Kaptur (D) for Ohio's newly-structured 9th District in Nov. 2012. In a statement released on his website Thursday, Wurzelbacher said guns are getting a bad rap. "Despite what the left-wing media would have you believe, there is no such thing as an 'assault weapon'," Wurzelbacher stated. "Guns are defined by how they are used, and the AR-15 can be used for sport, collection, and personal defense. In order to honor this unnecessarily vilified piece of machinery, my site, JoeforAmerica.com will be giving away a FREE AR-15, valued at $1200." In August 2012, months after facing national backlash for his YouTube video about the Holocaust and gun control, Wurzelbacher made headlines once again for statements about illegal immigration. According to the Associated Press, Wurzelbacher said that the U.S. needs to build a fence at the Mexico border and "start shooting" at suspected illegal immigrants during a fundraising event for Arizona state Sen. Lori Klein in Prescott, Ariz. READ MORE

Steve Wonder: Ribbon in the Sky

Stevie Wonder - Ribbon In The Sky by jpdc11

Sign Petition: Stop GEO Group from Naming a Stadium!

Florida Atlantic University is about to let the GEO Group, a notorious private prison company, slap its name on a new football stadium. Don't allow that to happen! GEO has a shameful record of human rights violations, abuse, and neglect at its facilities.

Sign the petition below to demand that university president Mary Jane Saunders reverse her decision! Click here for the full letter. (And special thanks to the ACLU, Nation Inside, Cuéntame, and Grassroots Leadership for partnering with us on this action!!)

Is the Recovery in the Dow Jones an Illusion?

It has been reported that the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) last week reached a four year high not seen since before the onset of the financial crisis. Just one look at this graph shows that this is true, and that the DJIA is within striking distance of reaching its all time daily high of 14,164 which it hit on October 7, 2007.

This chart seems to be saying that anyone who invested in the Dow during this 50 year run has much to celebrate, especially given the fact that this chart shows levels of the Dow and does not try to calculate holding period returns which would be even better once you include dividends paid each year. It also suggests that people who bought and held during the crisis were rewarded as the Dow rebounded from its crisis low of 6,627 on March 6, 2009. But does this graph tell the whole story?

Here is the same graph of the DJIA, but now adjusted for historical consumer price inflation. Suddenly, the recent trend line is not so obvious.
I would argue that adjusting the DJIA solely for historical consumer price inflation does not tell the whole story. The Consumer Price Index, by definition, can only tell you about historical inflation. Other assets that can act as long stores of wealth move in price not only to reflect historical inflation, but investors' best estimate of future inflation as well. We see that these long maturity assets move up in nominal price reflecting expected future inflation long before consumer prices ever start to move up.
So, it only seems fair to compare the DJIA as a store of wealth to other long assets to see how it did in preserving its purchasing power relative to these assets. Maybe the Dow's recent run-up in nominal price is just reflecting greater expected inflation in the future similar to what is driving gold and other commodity prices higher.
Here is a picture that shows how the DJIA has done if priced in gold ounces instead of US dollars.

Where did the big rebound go from the crisis's depths in 2009? Where is this new high that everyone is talking about? And what has happened to our country's stock market wealth since 2000? READ MORE