I've been reading The structure of science; problems in the logic of scientific explanation (1961) by Ernest Nagel and found that there is a methodological issue behind the debate between the Keynesians and the Free Market Fairy crowd, notably Hayek and von Mises. The latter assert that there are no terms of economic theory that can't ultimately be reduced to properties of the individual, the former asserts that there are terms that are not so reducible. Among the latter are terms such as National Income, Total National Consumption and Total National Savings.
The FMF crowd is pre-disposed to see only the trees instead of recognizing that there is also a forest and this fits well with conservatives obsession with the individual.
Saturday, March 16, 2013
Friday, March 15, 2013
I DON'T GET IT
Why add more to a system you already determined doesn't work well?
US to beef up missile defense against NKorea
By ROBERT BURNS
— Mar. 15 5:59 PM EDT
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Pentagon announced Friday it will spend $1 billion to add 14 interceptors to an Alaska-based missile defense system, responding to what it called faster-than-anticipated North Korean progress on nuclear weapons and missiles.
... Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said he is determined to protect the U.S. homeland and stay ahead of a worrisome North Korean missile threat. He acknowledged that the interceptors already in place to defend against potential North Korean missile strikes have had poor test performances.
LIKE BACON & EGGS
These stories are a perfect fit:
Charlie Cook / NationalJournal.com: The GOP Keeps Getting Whiter
ThinkProgress:CPAC Participant Defends Slavery At Minority Outreach Panel: It Gave ‘Food And Shelter’ To Blacks
FATS LIMBAUGH ALTERS THE TRANSCRIPT, AGAIN
Today he talked about the Goldwater/Kennedy race and did not correct himself on air. He did bother to alter the transcript:
There was no conservative talk radio, nothing. I remember the Goldwater-LBJ campaign of 1964. Another little anecdote for you just to illustrate the media.
LOCAL TALK RADIO TIDBITS
KNST has been running free (unpaid) promos for Limbaugh and Hannity for close to a year now and in the last month, it's started to air promos for Beck. I suspect that's because advertisers are also fleeing Beck's show.
"CHARITY BEGINS AT HOME"
Now that he knows homosexuality has come to his own family, Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH) decides to support gay marriage. Before, he didn't have the moral strength to imagine that gay marriage might be good for other people.
I think Adam Smith wrote that our sympathy for others is often in rough proportion to how close they are to us.
UPDATE: I found this Smith quote in The Theory of the Moral Sentiments:
I think Adam Smith wrote that our sympathy for others is often in rough proportion to how close they are to us.
UPDATE: I found this Smith quote in The Theory of the Moral Sentiments:
We expect less sympathy from a common acquaintance than from a friend: we cannot open to the former all those little circumstances which we can unfold to the latter: we assume, therefore, more tranquillity before him, and endeavour to fix our thoughts upon those general outlines of our situation which he is willing to consider. We expect still less sympathy from an assembly of strangers, and we assume, therefore, still more tranquillity before them, and always endeavour to bring down our passion to that pitch, which the particular company we are in may be expected to go along with.
SAMUEL JOHNSON & "MAN ON DOG" SANTORUM
At CPAC, little Ricky pushed his latest effort to remain a significant factor in conservative politics:
Samuel Johnson had the best reply to this BS:
But at the end of the speech, Santorum asked attendees to join him in his efforts and text their "dream" to a number associated with his advocacy organization, Patriot Voices, an indication he's hoping to expand his base of supporters for future political endeavors.
Samuel Johnson had the best reply to this BS:
Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel.
VERY GOOD NEWS!!!
Let's hope the 9th Circuit upholds this decision...
Federal Judge Finds National Security Letters Unconstitutional, Bans Them
By Kim Zetter
03.15.13
4:27 PM
Ultra-secret national security letters that come with a gag order on the recipient are an unconstitutional impingement on free speech, a federal judge in California ruled Friday.
U.S. District Judge Susan Illston ordered the government to stop issuing so-called NSLs across the board, in a stunning defeat for the Obama administration’s surveillance practices. However, she also stayed her order for 90 days to give the government a chance to appeal to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Thursday, March 14, 2013
MORE ON THE NEW MARXIST POPE :-)
(h/t Blue Texan at Crooks & Liars)
The WaPo in 2005 had this nugget:
The WaPo in 2005 had this nugget:
A popular and well-known activist, Bergoglio has championed social programs and won respect for questioning free-market policies, which he blames for leaving millions of Argentines impoverished.In 2013, the WaPo found these:
Argentine bishops, including Francis, had long criticized the laissez-faire policies of Carlos Menem, who was president from 1989 to 1999. “The bishops were critical of the economic model as a generator of poverty and unemployment, notwithstanding the stability it had brought to the country,” Trebat wrote.
Allen quotes a later speech [2007] in which then-Cardinal Bergoglio declared, “We live, apparently, in the most unequal part of the world, which has grown the most yet reduced misery the least. The unjust distribution of goods persists, creating a situation of social sin that cries out to Heaven and limits the possibilities of a fuller life for so many of our brothers.”
BAD NEWS FOR GLENN BECK?
Beck has urged his audience to call their cable providers and demand that The Blaze TV be added to the standard subscription. So far, he hasn't succeeded but the Washington Times has been more successful:
The Washington Times extending reach with cable networkI don't think FAUX News is at all "center-right" but that description does indicate that the new channel will be going after pretty much the same audience as Beck is.
By Jennifer Harper
The Washington Times
Wednesday, March 13, 2013
Herring Broadcasting, owner of the Wealth TV network, and The Washington Times announced Thursday that they have joined in a strategic partnership to create a new national cable news network called One America News, set to debut nationwide this summer.
“One America News Network will provide Americans a new, credible source for national and international news and investigative reporting as well as talk shows designed to foster an independent, cutting-edge debate about the policies, issues and solutions facing the country,” said Robert Herring Sr., CEO of Herring Broadcasting, founded in 2004 and based in San Diego.
The intent is to provide credible news and thoughtful analysis for “viewers with self-described independent, conservative and libertarian values,” Mr. Herring said. “Fox News has done a great job serving the center-right and independent audiences. But those who consider themselves liberal have a half dozen or more choices on TV each day from which to get their news,” he said.
A PROGRESSIVE BUDGET
I don't think we'll hear much if anything about this from major news outlets, so here's the summary from EPI:
:
:
- Promoting job creation and economic recovery. The Back to Work budget would sharply accelerate economic and employment growth; it would boost gross domestic product (GDP) by 5.7 percent and employment by 6.9 million jobs at its peak level of effectiveness (within one year of implementation), while ensuring that fiscal support lasts long enough to avoid future fiscal cliffs that could throw recovery into reverse.2
- Targeting a full-employment economy. The budget would rapidly restore the unemployment rate near to pre-recession levels of 5 percent. The unemployment rate would be expected to range between 5.0 and 5.6 percent by 2014, in line with what the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) regards as full employment.
- Restoring full economic health. U.S. economic output is currently $985 billion (5.9 percent) below potential, and the economy is projected to remain 6 percent below potential in 2013 under current law. The budget would effectively use fiscal stimulus to restore actual GDP to potential GDP—the key barometer for restoring full employment in the economy.
- Financing job creation and public investments. The budget finances roughly $700 billion in job creation and public investment measures in 2013 alone and $2.1 trillion over 2013–2015.3 This fiscal expansion is consistent with Economic Policy Institute estimates of the fiscal support needed to rapidly restore the economy to full health (Bivens, Fieldhouse, and Shierholz 2013).
- Strengthening social insurance. The Back to Work budget strengthens the social safety net and proposes no benefit reductions to social insurance programs—in other words, it does not rely on simple cost-shifting to reduce the budgetary strain of health programs. Instead, it uses government purchasing power to lower health care costs (health care costs are the largest threat to long-term fiscal sustainability) and builds upon efficiency savings from the Affordable Care Act. The budget also expands and extends emergency unemployment benefits and increases funding for education, training, employment, and social services as well as income security programs in the discretionary budget.4
- Making targeted spending cuts. The budget focuses on modern security needs by returning Defense Department spending to 2006 levels. It ends emergency overseas contingency operation spending in FY2015 and beyond, and cuts non-emergency Defense Department spending by $897 billion over 10 years.
- Raising revenue progressively. The budget restores adequate revenue and pushes back against income inequality by adding higher marginal tax rates for millionaires and billionaires, equalizing the tax treatment of capital income and labor income, restoring a more progressive estate tax, eliminating inefficient corporate tax loopholes, and enacting a financial transactions tax, among other tax policies.
- Reducing the deficit in the medium term. The budget increases near-term deficits to boost job creation, but reduces the deficit in FY2015 and beyond relative to CBO’s alternative fiscal scenario (AFS) current policy baseline. The budget would achieve primary budget balance (excluding net interest) and sustainable budget deficits below 2 percent of GDP in FY2016 and beyond. The deficit would gradually fall to 1.2 percent of GDP by FY2023.
- Targeting a sustainable debt level. After increasing near-term borrowing to restore full employment, the budget gradually reduces the debt ratio to a fully sustainable 68.7 percent of GDP by FY2023. Relative to CBO’s AFS, the budget would reduce public debt by $4.4 trillion (equal to 16.9 percent of GDP). Relative to current law, the budget would reduce public debt by $2.1 trillion (8.3 percent of GDP).5
THIS IS AN INADEQUATE REPLY
In response to Democratic Senators complaints about the lack of information on drone killings, Pres. Obama said “This is not Dick Cheney we’re talking about here” but I can't tell the difference.
Wednesday, March 13, 2013
THE FUNDIES REMEMBER THEY ARE CHRISTIANS...
This is bad news for the anti-immigrant conservatives...
Evangelicals urge S.C. Christian voters to back changes to immigration law
By Franco Ordonez | McClatchy Newspapers
Posted on Wednesday, March 13, 2013
WASHINGTON — Leading evangelicals who want to overhaul the nation’s immigration laws launched a new ad campaign Wednesday on 15 Christian radio stations across the deeply conservative state of South Carolina to build support and counter a deluge of attacks ads targeting Sen. Lindsey Graham, one of the most vocal Republican proponents for granting citizenship to the estimated 11 million people living in the country illegally.
The ads urge Christians to call their members of Congress to support new immigration legislation that includes a path to citizenship for people living in the country illegally.
“Many of our neighbors came here seeking opportunity, but our dysfunctional immigration system breaks up families across the U.S.,” the Rev. Jim Goodroe, director of missions at the Spartanburg County Baptist Network, says in the radio ad. “Christ calls evangelicals to compassion and justice. . . . Our South Carolina elected officials need your prayers and to hear your voice. Speak out.”
South Carolina business leaders have joined forces with the evangelical group, launching their own series of television ads with the help of a Republican political group, Republicans for Immigration Reform, a “super” political action committee dedicated to backing Republicans who support changes in immigration law.
THIS IS KILLING SEAN & GLENDA
The new Pope is a Fundie on gay marriage but he's not a complete reactionary:
NEW POPE: Who is this man named Bergoglio?
By Catholic Online (NEWS CONSORTIUM)
3/13/2013
Catholic Online (www.catholic.org)
As Cardinal, Bergoglio became known for personal humility, doctrinal conservatism and a commitment to social justice.
Tuesday, March 12, 2013
THE NEWEST PAUL RYAN BUDGET: GUNS OR BUTTER?
The answer is...GUNS. From the online summary:
This budget funds defense at levels that keep America safe by providing $554 billion for the next fiscal year – $6.2 trillion over the next decade – for national defense spending, an amount that is consistent with America’s military goals and strategies.
This budget replaces the indiscriminate reduction in defense spending scheduled to take place under the sequester with targeted reductions in non-defense mandatory spending. This protects defense from cuts that would jeopardizes critical missions and the well-being of soldiers and their families.
DAVID WEIGEL SOMETIMES WRITES FACT-CHECKERS
Weigel seems plugged in to the GOP and he doesn't fall for their fibs. That's why he often writes posts like this one:
Fox News Catches Obama Nominee Tom Perez in Vast Time-Travelling Conspiracy
By David Weigel
Posted Monday, March 11, 2013, at 2:25 PM
According to [Megan] Kelly, Perez's "fingerprints are all over some rather significant controversies, including questions about whether he may have lied about his role in the New Black Panther Party intimidation case."
Here's the problem. The DOJ dropped those charges in May 2009. Perez wasn't confirmed until October 2009.
Monday, March 11, 2013
SOME OF THE FUNDIES ARE TURNING ON GLENN BECK
Not because they believe in social justice but because he's too tolerant (Alan Keyes) or not sufficiently militant (Larry Klayman).
THIS COMMENT LEFT A MARK
Media wingnuts are hypersensitive about their "vast influence" so Kelly's remark will really hurt:
"Well, I don't know anything about who Breitbart is or anything about his website," Kelly told CNN's Wolf Blitzer.
Sunday, March 10, 2013
THE LEGALITY OF DRONE KILLINGS
emptywheel and bmz have done some serious research into the drone killings which I encourage you to read for yourself because I am not qualified to summarize their work. The first surprise I had was this part of US Code:
The statutory language of 18 USC 1119 states:Here are links to the USC sections mentioned above:
(a) Definition. – In this section, “national of the United States” has the meaning stated in section 101(a)(22) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(22)).
(b) Offense. – A person who, being a national of the United States, kills or attempts to kill a national of the United States while such national is outside the United States but within the jurisdiction of another country shall be punished as provided under sections 1111, 1112, and 1113.
(c) Limitations on Prosecution. – (1) No prosecution may be instituted against any person under this section except upon the written approval of the Attorney General, the Deputy Attorney General, or an Assistant Attorney General, which function of approving prosecutions may not be delegated. No prosecution shall be approved if prosecution has been previously undertaken by a foreign country for the same conduct.
(2) No prosecution shall be approved under this section unless the Attorney General, in consultation with the Secretary of State, determines that the conduct took place in a country in which the person is no longer present, and the country lacks the ability to lawfully secure the person’s return. A determination by the Attorney General under this paragraph is not subject to judicial review.
18 U.S.C. § 1111 : US Code - Section 1111: Murder
18 USC § 1112 - Manslaughter
18 U.S.C. § 1113 : US Code - Section 1113: Attempt to commit murder or manslaughter
HAVE BILLY & SEAN BROKEN UP?
Billy Cunningham and Sean Hannity used to give each other on-air BJs but tonight Billy mentioned his 3 greatest radio gasbags: Limbaugh, Levin & Boortz. Perhaps Billy has realized that Hannity supports the neo-con war whores.
BUSINESS AS USUAL
(h/t Dan Crawford at Angry Bear)
Here's a graph from 2010 that shows who's benefitting:
US household wealth regains pre-recession peak
Surging stock prices and steady home-price increases have finally allowed Americans to regain the $16 trillion in wealth they lost to the Great Recession. The gains are helping support the economy and could lead to further spending and growth.
The recovered wealth — most of it from higher stock prices — has been flowing mainly to richer Americans.
Here's a graph from 2010 that shows who's benefitting:
STUPID GOVERNMENT TRICKS
Sometimes the conservatives have a point about government being out of control.
1) The TSA decided that it's OK to bring pocket knives onto planes in response to the extremely powerful National Pocket Knife Association.
2) The Air Force decided not only to stop reporting drone strikes in Afghanistan but also to erase previously posted information.
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