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Real Name: Duncan Black
Age: 38
Location: Philadelphia


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Monday, August 09, 2010
 
Maybe They Should Do Something

Not especially optimistic.

A string of developments, including the weak jobs report last Friday, has altered the sentiment within the central bank, leading Fed policy makers to stop worrying for the moment about the increasingly remote prospect of inflation. Instead, they are increasingly focused on the potential for the economy to slip into a deflationary spiral of declining demand, prices and wages.

 
Evening Thread

enjoy.

 
Outing

Signorile has long written on the double and quite frequent "no" standard approach to outing gay public figures. In practice this has meant that the mainstream media figures often condemn those who out conservative gay politicians who vote for anti-gay legislation while being quick to out those who support gay rights.

Personally I don't think the ethics of outing is simple (and I don't think anyone else does either), but the predominant mainstream media ethic seems to involve, as always, preserving the status quo and the perceived rights of the powerful.

(ht KF)

 
Awful And Dumb

I'm one who thinks that ultimately the forces of light will prevail and the repeated attempts to carve out internet walled gardens will, over the long run, fail as killing the internet would... kill the internet. But the long run is a long time and companies will likely screw and gouge us over the not very short run unless the FCC acts.

 
Because He's The Specialist Ever

In his head Ross Douthat has a bunch of identity politics checkboxes. Anything that suggests the precise checkboxes that apply to him aren't somehow the bestest most awesomest checkboxes, as opposed to less than the most awesomest or things that aren't really a competition, gives him a sad face.

 
Austerity

Good luck, Britain!

 
Afternoon Thread


 
Lunch Thread

enjoy.

 
Bankster Madness

Dday:

This stems completely from a worldview that says, essentially, protect the banks, and let nature take its course. . . .

A well functioning financial intermediary system is important to a modern economy, but we've had a wee bit of proof over the last couple of years that our financial intermediary system is neither healthy nor much of a financial intermediary system. It's a giant casino industry with a side gig in banking, and that banking side gig has meant the government will always guarantee the house bets. Not a bad setup, for the banksters, but not really something we should encourage or think is important to preserve.

 
August Blogging

Will probably be even suckier than usual. DC shuts down, Congress is out of session until like 2017, and that means there will be much less to talk about.

 
No We Can't

This country has long failed to provide adequate infrastructure and services for some of its population, but increasingly it seems that elites believe that all such things are luxuries only the wealthy should experience.

No worries, we'll always be the greatest country in the history of the universe.

 
Another In A Series

Lamenting the plight of poor employers who can't pay peanuts even in a horrible recession.

 
Morning and Stuff



Sunday, August 08, 2010
 
YOUR media, not theirs

Tonight, Watertiger and Avedon Carol on Virtually Speaking Sundays beginning at 5:00 PM Pacific, also known as 8:00 PM Eastern, or, as we call it around here in London, one o'clock in the morning.

Signed,
Not Atrios

 
SUPERTRAINS

Nothing really objectionable in this article, but I do think the focus on high speed trains hides the fact that while high speed rail would be great, "fast enough rail" would also be really great and that most places don't have anything resembling that. 186 MPH top speed trains are awesome, and 105 MPH or even 90 MPH average speed trains would, in many places, be pretty damn awesome too. Obviously given my policy biases I'm not going to complain if we spend some money on truly super SUPERTRAINS, but if I ran the world I'd spend the equivalent money on fast enough inter-city trains in more places and on improving intra-city transit.

 
More Thread

Travel Day.

 
Lunch Thread

enjoy

 
Now I Know We Need More Stimulus

Because the Very Serious People think we don't.
The U.S. economy will improve slowly and another round of fiscal stimulus likely wouldn’t be effective, former Treasury secretaries Paul O’Neill and Robert Rubin said.

Rubin, who served under Democratic President Bill Clinton, said the U.S. is “going to have slow and bumpy growth,â€? in a taped interview on CNN’s “Fareed Zakaria GPSâ€? scheduled to air today. A “major second stimulusâ€? might create uncertainty and undermine confidence, he said.

Can someone get me some of the Very Serious Person crack rock so I can understand the very sophisticated economic model such that all that matters is "confidence" and that confidence could be undermined by fiscal stimulus?

Businesses don't need customers, just a pep talk. Or, wait, naybe they do need customers?


Companies are concerned about demand and won’t expand facilities and hire new employees until sales have improved, said O’Neill, who was Treasury secretary under Republican President George W. Bush.

Oh, wait, demand is a problem. So the solution is to...do nothing to help demand.

Got it.






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