tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post2443292555376057942..comments2024-03-28T16:08:29.578-04:00Comments on Sardonicky: Secret CeremonyKaren Garciahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15612731479365562803noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post-3894110795703634132011-10-26T21:11:23.451-04:002011-10-26T21:11:23.451-04:00I saw on tonight's PBS NewsHour the latest of ...I saw on tonight's PBS NewsHour the latest of Paul Solman's series of interviews on economic matters. In this one, he interviewed Richard Epstein. (From Wikipedia --- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Allen_Epstein --- Epstein is "an Adjunct Scholar at the Cato Institute ... Senior Fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution ... and Professor of Law Emeritus and a Senior Lecturer at the University of Chicago Law School". He's currently at NYU.).<br /><br />Based on Epstein's biography, his positions should not be surprising, but I truly could not believe what he was saying in this interview --- basically a full-throated support of gross inequality, and more claims of the mythical trickle-down. If ever there was something to get one angry, this was it. (@KAREN: this interview would be a great topic for you to dissect via your juxtaposition technique).<br /><br />I advise everyone to watch the NewsHour interview, and/or read the transcript, both at:<br /><br />http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/business/july-dec11/makingsense_10-26.html<br /><br />There is also this:<br /><br />http://www.pbs.org/newshour/businessdesk/2011/10/join-paul-solman-for-a-chat-ab.html<br /><br />which gives one sample of Epstein's position, and news about a public interactive Twitter chat with Solman this Friday.Fred Drumlevitchhttp://www.freddrumlevitch.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post-319737224599903302011-10-26T20:49:16.510-04:002011-10-26T20:49:16.510-04:00@ Fred
Ha!@ Fred<br />Ha!Katnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post-76067966178341999442011-10-26T19:41:49.533-04:002011-10-26T19:41:49.533-04:00@Fred,
Thanks. No particular name for my writing t...@Fred,<br />Thanks. No particular name for my writing technique... just something I do when I get mad.Karen Garciahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15612731479365562803noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post-35155501308102811372011-10-26T19:25:36.328-04:002011-10-26T19:25:36.328-04:00Great column, Karen. You've been in fine form ...Great column, Karen. You've been in fine form lately. By the way, your juxtapositions, whether inline or via paragraph alternation, of what was said versus what would have been said if the speakers were obliged to be honest, are always great. (Is there a particular name for that writing technique?)<br /><br /><br />On Oct 21, Charlie Rose interviewed Steve Case, who is on Obama's so-called "Council on Jobs and Competitiveness". See: <br /><br />http://www.charlierose.com/view/interview/11958<br /><br />As usual, Case is into his self-serving generalizations about entrepreneurship, and plenty of buzzword phrases. Also, beginning about 14 minutes from the start of the program, Rose brings up a couple points made by Robert Reich that large companies (well-represented on the "jobs" council) aren't interested in innovative ways of increasing employment or raising wages, and in fact many (including Xerox, Boeing, and American Express) have cut jobs this year. For a moment, Case looks slightly uneasy, but soon recovers.<br /><br /><br />@Valerie: good summary of the situation. <br /><br />@Kat: "[These corporations] have the president's ear!". Actually, I think that they have him by a more private body part --- but he himself took down his pants!<br /><br />@(all): I did see the "Last Train Home" film that Ned recommended. I second the recommendation.Fred Drumlevitchhttp://www.freddrumlevitch.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post-66308796928579785592011-10-26T14:12:46.955-04:002011-10-26T14:12:46.955-04:00Here's a great movie: "Last Train Home&q...Here's a great movie: "Last Train Home". It is about a Chinese family. The parents work in factories and leave their children in the care of a grandparent....thousands of miles away. Each Chinese New Year they travel back to their home to visit their children. See it and you will understand why people are jumping off the roofs of their factories. And you probably won't ever again complain about the indignities inflicted by the TSA.<br /><br />NedAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post-81691916930162506082011-10-26T13:44:56.636-04:002011-10-26T13:44:56.636-04:00It is inspiring to see what a ragtag but plucky ba...It is inspiring to see what a ragtag but plucky band of corporations can accomplish when they work together. Finally! They have the president's ear!Katnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post-11998044825537261812011-10-26T12:04:49.316-04:002011-10-26T12:04:49.316-04:00Bravo, Karen, keep hammering at the clown.Bravo, Karen, keep hammering at the clown.James F Traynornoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post-23168167977778474852011-10-26T05:59:03.106-04:002011-10-26T05:59:03.106-04:00Well, I certainly hope more and more Americans wil...Well, I certainly hope more and more Americans will rouse themselves out of their consumerism to recognise the lie that is “Free” Trade. There have been enough stories about the horrible conditions most third world factory workers endure to question the bill of goods sold to us before NAFTA that Free Trade is lifting up the poor in those countries. If compassion for the vulnerable and exploited isn’t enough to move the hearts of all those Christians out there, it is hard to deny the decimation of our manufacturing base and the decline of the Middle Class in America. Any person with “a lick of sense” can see the only winners in Free Trade are the giant corporations and the CEOs who enrich themselves by outsourcing as many American jobs as they can get away with doing. And let us not forget the atrocious environmental degradation that is taking place in these countries which has already come back to bite us with global warming and our dying oceans. Now that we weigh in the REAL costs of all those cheap goods people have been buying at Walmart and IKEA, they aren’t looking like such a bargain anymore.<br /><br />As for our Colluder and Chief, it is clear which side Obama is on. He knows he can't get a jobs bill past the Republicans so the plan of the Obama Camp, wink-wink, is to act like he actually cares about jobs and unemployment while doing nothing to challenge the status quo of the plutocracy. Yellow dogs might let him off the hook for the jobs bill – poor guy, just can’t catch a break with all those crazy Tea Party types. However, Obama is going to have a harder time hiding this one. He didn’t have to advocate for another four "free" trade agreements that guarantee more jobs will be outsourced to yet more third world countries and he didn’t have to sign them into law. I really hope he gets outed on this one and we are finished with Obama once and for all. He is so blatant in his adoration and desire to do the bidding of his corporate masters at the expense of the 99%. His press releases implying he has had a “Come to Jesus moment” and will now support his constituency, isn't very convincing. What a loser! No amount of crazy Republican candidates thrown into the ring are enough to make Obama look good in comparison.<br /><br />But for a bit of good news – check out the police in Albany New York who refused to obey Cuomo and arrest the protesters! I detect a little crack in the armour of those protecting the plutocracyValerienoreply@blogger.com