It's Wednesday and I discuss a number of topics today. First, the 'million simulations' that…
Some images from the US election
One of things that is now clear from the US election is that the rabid, religious and not-so-religious right in the US blew it. They had all the media, all the cash, yet still couldn’t pull it off. Here are three images that make me laugh and tell me a story about how the extreme right in the US have more or less shot themselves in the foot. They should have supported the ban on guns after all!
First, the wonderfully educated and enlightened Tea Party lobby. Apparently they don’t know that Medicaid – damnit (sic) is government-funded. They probably also do not know – living in that glorious land of the free – that more than 50 per cent of Americans receive government-funded medical care in one form or another (veterans, etc).
Second, Mr MoneyBags having a dummy spit. He just couldn’t get used to the fact that the poor might have voted in their own interests for once. He was probably upset that his hair wouldn’t behave yesterday – after trying to put it in order for an hour.
Also what doesn’t Mr HairDo understand about more than 50 per cent of the popular vote and at least 303 electoral college votes?
Third, the youth of the religious right will ensure it has a great future. The following tweet appeared soon after the result was announced yesterday and demonstrated how educated the right-wing youth are in the US.
Just in case you are wondering – the Australian political leader is a Prime Minister rather than a President, she is a female, and an avowed atheist. I guess those 75 influential people who retweeted this will know that.
Finally, all the commentators this morning were saying that unless Obama stops the nation falling over the “fiscal cliff” America will be doomed. Meaning they understand that spending equals income which is the basis of employment growth.
The next segment on the news was the Australian Opposition leader berating our Government for not pursuing a big enough surplus (and making sure the budget actually goes into surplus in the coming year) – just before the labour force data today shows how weak the Australian economy is travelling.
Unfortunately, we will not be as successful in isolating this mad right-wing fringe as appears to have been the case in the US election.
Later, my Labour Force analysis will appear in a separate blog.
This is solid evidence that north america is largely a dumbed down society, whose beliefs and behaviour are manipulated by corporate owned media. The average person in main street has not the foggiest understanding of the forces which are moulding and directing his/her aspirations, consumption patterns and lifestyle. Candidates for public office are essentially actors who are economically illiterate and effectively serve the interests of powerful private corporations. They in turn are at the mercy of economic “advisers” who also largely serve the same private vested interests. The scenario is largely a case of the blind leading the blind.
The rants from the uneducated Tea Partiers brought to mind Chomsky’s frequent references to a report from the CFR (or some other elitist group) circa 1970 entitled The Crisis of Democracy. What was the crisis referred to? That there was too much democracy! In other words because the baby boomers had been going to university in greater proportions than previous generations and were demanding social and political changes, then the elites determined that public education must be dumbed down and defunded. It all fits with what’s happened in the interim.
As soon as I saw the lying, extremist fool that Romney was forced to run with (for a contrast to be possible with Romney on that dimension says a lot) I concluded that the plutocracy wanted Obama to remain in office. Perhaps QE, while a cruel hoax for the people in general, is beloved of hedge fund managers dealing with money centre banks.
Whether it’s led by extremist maniacs on the right or by extremist maniacs on the left, the once mighty USA will continue to decline. Hegemony will be more difficult to come by; and far more importantly, both Obama and his opponents will continue to impoverish most Americans. The one saving grace for the US is that voting remains voluntary: at least not everyone is forced to mandate their slow execution.
I have to say I hate that golfing set………….
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2012/oct/22/donald-trump-bbc-film-row
It has ruined a part of the Cork coast where I spent much of my childhood Sundays and now in its homeland it is spreading like a pox
There is something deeply pointless about that sport.
In this deeply ironic piece from last year his spokesperson complains about the visual destruction of a off shore wind scheme while he was in the process of destroying a untouched dune system for no useful purpose whatsoever.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NX7nBKCuHHg
(No fan of wind farms either as they are but neo -liberal turkeys , only Nuke stations can help to solve Scotlands end of the North sea nat gas problem)
An excellent video here featuring one of America’s best (in my opinion) contemporary thinkers, and why America is being forced to rethink its role in the world.
http://billmoyers.com/episode/moving-beyond-war/
So, US right wingers are eating their own arms but (and this has got me flumoxed) the UK right wing as represented by the Tory-graph (Telegraph) appears to have adopted MMT, become the Greeks best friends and moved further to the left than Marx himself. I kid you not, a splendid article by the splendidly named Ambrose Evans Prichard: http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/finance/author/ambroseevans-pritchard/
Maybe the worm has turned…
I suspect some of the infamous Tea Party signs are just trolling. I mean, “Don’t steal from Medicare to support socialized medicine” is probably authentic, because in America, socialism is something other people do. The guy on the top-right, though, has a really trollish look about him.
“adopted MMT, become the Greeks best friends and moved further to the left than Marx himself.”
Andrew Lilico’s piece on returning the central bank to the control of politicians had my flabber well and truly gasted.
Although Melia is a TEA chairperson (in Florida), she is not altogether disappointed in this week’s election result. I agree with the general conclusion (including some here) that President Barry Obama is a rather feckless leader … and I figured that here I would also find some agreement with my post-election analysis.
Although this time around more than 10 million fewer Democrats bothered to vote (along with 3 million fewer Republicans) and Obama found himself speaking to half-empty arenas (despite Jay-Z and Bruce Springsteen giving free performances), there were still more than enough who understood at some elemental level that … as is often stated here … spending = income.
And in this case that “income” may come from unemployment checks and food stamps, but it represents the thin line that allows millions to survive in an economy where there are 4 applicants for every available job. The endless GOP rhetoric about the $16 trillion “national debt” and “spending money we don’t have” and “stealing from our children and grandchildren” probably was understood to be aimed at cutting back on those checks and food stamps and in a way it’s surprising the margin wasn’t bigger (most likely due to Obama’s singularly uninspiring presence).
Let’s see now if the Democrats (who by the way Bill, actually have most of the “media” on their side) can consolidate this victory and provide a real stimulus – not one that is simply “shoveled” into state labor union pension funds – that puts people to work and repairs our steadily deteriorating infrastructure. This may be the time for MMT to become more known to larger numbers of Americans, particularly when the imagined disasters due to $20T in estimated debt do not come to pass and people start to ask questions about why.
I look forward to the next four years.