If They Spent More Time Brushing Up On Their Marx...

Brad DeLong reviews Ron Suskind's "The Confidence Men" and includes this anecdote about Obama and his economic team:

[Summers and Romer] were concerned by something the president had said in a morning briefing: that he thought the high unemployment was due to productivity gains in the economy. Summers and Romer were startled. "What was driving unemployment was clearly deficient aggregate demand," Romer said. "We wondered where this could have been coming from. We both tried to convince him otherwise. He wouldn't budge." Summers had been focused intently on how to spur demand, and on what might drive a meaningful recovery.... [W]ithout a rise in demand, in Summers's view, nothing else would work.... But productivity?... If Obama felt that 10 percent unemployment was the product of sound, productivity-driven decisions by American business, then short-term government measures to spur hiring were not only futile but unwise. The two economists strained their memory... had they said something he'd misconstrued?... After a month, frustration turned to resignation. "The president seems to have developed his own view," Romer said.

The President had developed his own view?  The President was chanelling his inner Karl Marx, who expounded about the Reserve Army of the Unemployed displaced by the substitution of capital for labor.  In fact, Obama has cited the displacement of bank tellers by ATMs repeatedly.

Is there any chance Obama did not read and love Kurt Vonnegut's 'Player Piano' back in his hipster college days?

Comments

[narciso]

This piece in the Journal is almost as facepalmy:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111904787404576532141884735626.html?mod=WSJ_hp_mostpop_read

[Danube of Thought]

It's those damned ATM's.

[Army of Davids]

Dennis Miller on election 2012

"Cain vs Unable"

LOL

[bgates]

If Obama felt that 10 percent unemployment was the product of sound, productivity-driven decisions by American business, then short-term government measures to spur hiring were not only futile but unwise.

Ah, but if the government would also interfere with sound, productivity-driven decisions by American business, then the problem would be solved!

[MarkO]

Holy crap, he's just not that smart.

[Army of Davids]

Wonder if Obama has ever heard of Say's Law.

Heck.

Wonder if Romer and Summers have ever taken the time to consider it. Doubt they had much exposure in their Ivy league circles.

[Ignatz]

DeLong relies on his usual sophistry to assert that Suskind's third person narrative tactics carried great weight and authenticity when he was skewering Bush but are not helpful or authoritative when applied to his pal Barry.

[Ignatz]

Doesn't this episode reveal the claim that 'Barry is a socialist' as just so much hogwash?
Isn't he really a marxist who is having the capitalists sell him what rope he can, constrained as he is by the political realities of a free and prosperous country?

[Sue]

Funny, I just had a conversation with a friend this morning about the difference between Clinton and Obama (stay with me, there are plenty of differences, but the one that concerns me about Obama and didn't concern me about Clinton) is Clinton didn't hate the United States. Obama does. And he spelled it out for any that want to know in his book. He is a Marxist. He tells you he is a Marxist. I don't know why people are shocked when they figure out he is a Marxist.

[narciso]

Maybe it's too early for snark, but after this passage I don't think so:

I thought the Obama economic-policy team was first rate. All five of the 
principals, Benjamin Bernanke, Timothy Geithner, Lawrence Summers, Christina 
Romer, and Peter Orszag, seemed to me among the very best candidates in the 
world for senior economic policymaking jobs in an American administration. 
And they were all my friends, or at least we were friendly. I did think that 
some of them were in the wrong jobs. Lawrence Summers made much more sense 
to me as Treasury Secretary than as NEC chair. Timothy Geithner seemed to me 
much better suited to be NEC Chair than to manage a large department with 
line authority.

[Army of Davids]

Obama blocked in by Bill Clinton on his proposed $1.5 Trillion in tax increases.

Payback for his racist smear of Bill in South Carolina Primary?

I think so.

[Benjamin Franklin]

You dug deep for that 'anecdote', Maguire.

Here is how DeLong concluides;

"Two and a half years ago I would have given long odds that Ron Suskind's 
book would provide me with a lot of the answers to these questions.

It does not."

Suskind is not Woodward.

[DebinNC]

Were Summers and Romer around in Sept. 2009 when Obama told a called Joint Session of Congress that ObamaCare would be "a good deal" for consumers, because it would avoid
"some of the overhead that gets eaten up at private companies by profits"?

[Army of Davids]

Barry defined....

Not by what he says but what he does.....

He takes the best of thuggish Marxism (Putin, Chavez). Adds a good measure of crony capitalism. Tops it off w/ Eva Peronista Socialism.

He rolls these randomly cobbled together emergency ingredients into one big ball of incompetence. Calls it Hope and Change and gives it to us....the American people.

[Clarice]

BF"Suskind is not Woodward"
What? He doesn't have long interviews with comatose people? Imagine.

bgates: " Ah, but if the government would also interfere with sound, productivity-driven decisions by American business, then the problem would be solved!"

At last, someone here shows he's as smart as The Won. (XOXOXO)

[peter]

I doubt Obama read any books in college. He may have read the Cliffnotes.

[MayBee]

Ah, but if the government would also interfere with sound, productivity-driven decisions by American business, then the problem would be solved!

Ha! But true.

This is why he is trying/was trying to regulate businesses into hiring. It's why he thinks increasing CAFE standards on cars and trucks are "business friendly" regulations.

If he can't make companies stop using productivity enhancing equipment, he can make them hire more people to check compliance or chase mandated technology "advances".

[MayBee]

It is scary to hear this wasn't just a throw away line.

[Danube of Thought]

Whom were you quoting, Narc?

[narciso]

Through all the folderall, Delong almost makes his way of the 'cave', and then the torch blows out, The question of why the stimulus was constituted, in the manner that it was. Why Fannie and Freddie were left untouched, (where was the administrations staffed from, again)

[Captain Hate]

Tammy Bruce: Lady Gaga should be on a psychiatrist's couch, not at a fund raiser.

[Ignatz]

--Whom were you quoting, Narc?--

DeLong.

[narciso]

I read this, and I wonder are there two suns, hovering over Delong's office at Berkeley;

I had hoped to learn from Confidence Men why Federal Reserve Chair Ben 
Bernanke shifted from being the activist crisis manager and the advocate of 
aggressive quantitative easing that he was before mid-2009 to a man who does 
not take the Federal Reserve's dual mandate to focus both on price stability 
and full employment seriously

[Ignatz]

--Here is how DeLong concluides;

"Two and a half years ago I would have given long odds that Ron Suskind's 
book would provide me with a lot of the answers to these questions.

It does not.--

DeLong is as always the worst kind of partisan hack who is incapable of anything other than cant.
Suskind on Bush=smart excellent journalist chock full of answers.
Same Suskind using same journalistic tactics on Barry=useless tool.

[iqvoice]

Alright, I'll bite: what's Say's Law?

[narciso]

There are gems in this piece, but not in the sense that Delong intended here's another one:

I had hoped to learn why Tim Geithner had been strangely loathe to engage in 
large-scale quantitative easing using Treasury resources. Why wasn't the 
PPIP developed and expanded further? I had hoped to learn why Geithner was 
loathe to even to set up the game table for the possibility that it might 
become advisable to use Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to intervene in the 
mortgage market on a large scale.

[PD]

Well, well, well.

While a candidate for Madison Mayor, Paul Soglin was pretty harsh over Scott Walker's plans for the public sector unions.

Madison has now negotiated a new contract with the police and firefighter unions. One element of the amended contract: police and firefighters will, for the first time, contribute to their own retirement.

Soglin says the concessions will allow the city to avoid layoffs.

[Danube of Thought]

I think Say's Law is the one that says products are purchased with products.

I would place Putin more in the Fascist camp than the Marxist one. And a particularly corrupt Fascism it is.

[Army of Davids]

Didn't plan to do this so early....

I'm giving Herman Cain my Tea Party endorsement.

Nothing against Chris Christie or Ron Paul. Like them both for different reasons.

Cain/Rubio 2012

[Army of Davids]

Dennis Miller to host a fundraiser for Herman in Los Angeles.

What Herman needs most... money.

[Army of Davids]

Say's Law in a nutshell

Production creates it's own demand.

Throw a wrench in the productive process via government fiat and you influence demand.

[Danube of Thought]

From Reason:

"At the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, George Mason University economist Donald Boudreaux argues that the “regime uncertainty” theory developed by libertarian economist Robert Higgs presents 'one of the most powerful challenges to any Keynesian diagnosis of economic ailments.' As Boudreaux explains:

"Higgs' careful look at the data on the Great Depression and World War II convinced him that (1) a U.S. economy producing genuine prosperity wasn't restored until 1946, and (2) investors hunkered down, especially from 1935-40, because New Deal regulations -- along with President Franklin Roosevelt's increasingly vocal hostility to enterprise and successful risk-takers -- created too much uncertainty about how government would treat profits and wealth accumulation.

"The 'regime uncertainty' -- described by Higgs as "a pervasive uncertainty among investors about the security of their property rights in their capital and its prospective returns" -- unleashed by actual and threatened New Deal interventions made private innovation and entrepreneurial effort simply too unattractive. So private investment spending largely ground to a halt during FDR's reign.

"The 'Great' was thus put into the Great Depression."

[Army of Davids]

No doubt.... Putin does hold a fascist flexibility. But he definitely has a Marxist thug capacity when he needs it.

think it was Yukos CEO who would testify to his KGB skillset.

The modern day power player has many useful tools.

[Jim Rhoads a/k/a vnjagvet]

Is Say's law where Field of Dreams came up with "build it and they will come?"

[Dave (in MA)]

Maybe they could hook up a speech synthesizer to the teleprompter feed and get more productivity out of the Executive office. It could even use an 'n'-droppin' accent to tell cousin Pookie to take off his slippers and quit complainin'.

[narciso]

'Winning the Future'?

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/here-comes-fiattackwatch-bernanke-goes-watergate-prepares-eavesdrop-everything-mentioning-fed

[iqvoice]

Say's Law makes sense to me. There's lots of things in my house as proof: stuff I didn't know I wanted until after I discovered that it existed!

[Sue]

Herman Cain:

"Cain also responded to criticism from Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) who said that the budget standoff was "embarrassing" and that Tea Party conservatives needed to do a better job picking their battles. Cain agreed with the Virginia Democrat, saying that this is not an issue he would pursue as doggedly as House conservatives.

"This is one that I would basically try to, you know, fall on my sword for — go ahead and do what’s right for the people," Cain said. “People should not have to suffer because of the political bickering.”

None of our candidates are perfect. Somehow republicans fighting democrats over funding 'green' initiatives is somehow a reason to fall on our sword.

[Stu707]

Commodities, says Say, are ultimately paid for not by money, but by other commodities. Money is merely the commonly used medium of exchange; it plays only an intermediary role. What the seller wants ultimately to receive in exchange for the commodities sold is other commodities.

http://mises.org/daily/1803

[daddy]

Good Morning.

Haven't read the threads or posts yet (still working my way thru Insty, AltHouse, Drudge, etc as JOM prep) but at Althouse, she titles a Post:

"Roger Ebert, quoting John Waters: ""If you go home with someone and they don't have books, don't f**k them."
A stark tweet."

Then Ann asks the following question:

"What book, spotted on a prospective lover's shelf, would make you turn away and walk out the door?"

To which our MayBee responds:

"MayBee said...
I would throw out all of my books if it would save me from being f*cked by Roger Ebert."

LOL. Good morning!

[Ignatz]

--Say's Law in a nutshell

Production creates it's own demand.--

What that means in practical terms is that Keynes' vision of increasing aggregate demand has it backwards and in fact is counterproductive in that it hampers the elimination of misallocations in an economy and slows private investment, which is what increases production and eventually raises real demand.
Keynesian remedies for inadequate aggregate demand are something like taking a cough drop to treat double pneumonia.

[MayBee]

Good morning, daddy! xoxoox

[Jane]

Lady Gaga should be on a psychiatrist's couch, not at a fund raiser.

What did she wear?

[Neo]

Is there any chance Obama did not read and love Kurt Vonnegut's 'Player Piano' back in his hipster college days?

[after Diane gives Thornton an 'F' for his report, which was actually written by Kurt Vonnegut]
Diane: Whoever *did* write this doesn't know the first thing about Kurt Vonnegut!
[cut to Thornton's dorm suite]
Thornton Melon: [on the phone] ... and *another* thing, Vonnegut! I'm gonna stop payment on the cheque!
[Kurt tells him off]
Thornton Melon: Fuck me? Hey, Kurt, can you read lips, *fuck you*! Next time I'll call Robert Ludlum!
[hangs up]

[Sue]

Jane,

Funny you should ask. The article I read actually described her outfit, though I paid so much attention to it all I can tell you is it had black in it.

[Captain Hate]

http://weaselzippers.us/2011/09/26/lady-gaga-hits-35800-per-person-fundraiser-for-obama-in-eight-foot-tall-costume/

[peter]

Sad thing about Lady Gaga is that her popularity is due to the catchiness of her tunes, not the message she thinks it is conveying. she really has jumped the shark. Thanking Obama for all he has accomplished.

[amy shulkusky]

I visualized a political cartoon right after Pres. Obama was elected:

Pres. Bush, alone in the room, arrow to him saying "Smartest man in the room"

Next panel, him surrounded by his advisors, no arrow.

Next panel, Pres. Obama alone in the room, arrow to him saying "Smartest man in the room"

Next panel, him surrounded by his advisors, another arrow "STILL the Smartest man in the room"

This is how he sees himself, and since he surrounds himself with people who know better, but can't get through to him, I figured this would be true. Too bad it is.

[Captain Hate]

Maybee with a jaw-dropping quote about Roger Egbert.

[narciso]

'These googles, they do nothin'

[Danube of Thought]

Speaking of Fascism, a chilling note about China's one-child policy.

Try to imagine: an entire generation in the planet's most populous country with no siblings, no aunts or uncles, no first cousins. Who could even hazard a guess as to what the psychic and sociological impacts of such a barbarous policy will ultimately be? Who knows what sort of new human being they are breeding over there?

[Porchlight]

daddy,

Looks like those of us who don't hang out in Althouse's comments are missing a lot. :)

[Rick Ballard]

"All five of the 
principals, Benjamin Bernanke, Timothy Geithner, Lawrence Summers, Christina 
Romer, and Peter Orszag, seemed to me among the very best candidates in the 
world for senior economic policymaking jobs in an American administration. "

If DeLong and Krugman joined the group, would the circle of credentialed moron jerks be unbroken? Is there any level of catastrophic failure which would cause DeLong to question the efficacy of the wholly falsified pseudo-Keynesian model he's clinging to?

[Clarice]

"Not only did U.S. officials approve, allow and assist in the sale of more than 2,000 guns to the Sinaloa cartel -- the federal government used taxpayer money to buy semi-automatic weapons, sold them to criminals and then watched as the guns disappeared.
This disclosure, revealed in documents obtained by Fox News, could undermine the Department of Justice's previous defense that Operation Fast and Furious was a "botched" operation where agents simply "lost track" of weapons as they were transferred from one illegal buyer to another. Instead, it heightens the culpability of the federal government as Mexico, according to sources, has opened two criminal investigations into the operation that flooded their country with illegal weapons. +

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/09/26/us-government-bought-and-sold-weapons-during-fast-and-furious-documents-show/#ixzz1Z5KdMXpz

It's obvious that brainiac O is planning on a Truman=like attack on a "do nothing Congress". I hope the R's are prepared to catalogue stuff like this; Solyandra; $16 muffins; lying Interior Dept scientists, etc. as the reason why they will not give these clowns more of our money.

Posted by: Clarice |

[daddy]

"The answer to life's problems aren't at the bottom of a bottle, they're on TV!"---Homer Simpson.

Woo Hoo!

[jimmyk]

What that means in practical terms is that Keynes' vision of increasing aggregate demand has it backwards and in fact is counterproductive

That's right, and it shows that as dumb as Barry was in those meetings, Summers et al were not much better. The blind failing to lead the blind.

[Jane]

Capn', That's so funny, I read something after I asked that question that said she wore a black dress with a veil. It certainly did not capture the pix you posted which is really really uckky. She looks like she is wearing a hornet's nest on each foot.

Clarice, I'm starting to think Issa has known all of this from the beginning and he's just waiting to see who commits perjury. It's a long way til November 2012.

[peter]

The problem is, Clarice, most of Congress' Rs don't know shit from Sinaloa.

[centralcal]

What an excellent comment at Althouse, MayBee!!! Nearly choked on my bottled water.

[Captain Hate]

She looks like she is wearing a hornet's nest on each foot.

I can't imagine those garish things being particularly good for the health of her feet. I assumed that what I linked to was a photo from the beg-a-thon but it might just be one that WZ had on file.

[narciso]

I'm trying to figure out the 'Underpants Gnome' enforcement strategy in 'Fast and Furious,' sell guns to the cartel, . . .
get guns off the street, ?

[MayBee]

I think Michelle Obama had a tummy tuck.

[DebinNC]

Cain argued that keeping the disaster programs funded now was more important than finding the immediate cuts, and suggested an agreement that would keep the program from becoming a "political football."

FEMA funding does seem the wrong mountain for Republicans to choose to die on, especially with the Katrina "We need help now!" visuals still fresh.

[Neo]

I doubt that all or most of the "rich" are paying at a lower rate than the "middle class." Of course, if the "rich" are paying less, it's because they have capital gains (15%) on an investment or from a state or municipal bond.

If Obama would prefer that the "rich" stop investing (and the jobs that go with it) or if he wants to destroy the ability of state or local governments to effectively float bonds (and the jobs that go with it), I suggest he go ahead and tax the "rich" more.

Afterall, the poor don't invest, and in Obama's America everybody (except his crony friends) are supposed to be poor.

[Captain Hate]

FEMA funding does seem the wrong mountain for Republicans to choose to die on, especially with the Katrina "We need help now!" visuals still fresh.

Especially with the clean toga crowd wrinkling their noses up at the thought of tying it to the donk's insatiable need to keep shoveling money to green energy scams.

[Sue]

MayBee,

Why do you think that?

[matt]

Fast & Furious just got worse.

"In June 2010, however, the ATF dramatically upped the ante, making the U.S. government the actual "seller" of guns.

According to documents obtained by Fox News, Agent John Dodson was ordered to buy six semi-automatic Draco pistols -- two of those were purchased at the Lone Wolf gun store in Peoria, Ariz. An unusual sale, Dodson was sent to the store with a letter of approval from David Voth, an ATF group supervisor.

Dodson then sold the weapons to known illegal buyers, while fellow agents watched from their cars nearby.

This was not a "buy-bust" or a sting operation, where police sell to a buyer and then arrest them immediately afterward. In this case, agents were "ordered" to let the sale go through and follow the weapons to a stash house.

According to sources directly involved in the case, Dodson felt strongly that the weapons should not be abandoned and the stash house should remain under 24-hour surveillance. However, Voth disagreed and ordered the surveillance team to return to the office. Dodson refused, and for six days in the desert heat kept the house under watch, defying direct orders from Voth.

A week later, a second vehicle showed up to transfer the weapons. Dodson called for an interdiction team to move in, make the arrest and seize the weapons. Voth refused and the guns disappeared with no surveillance.

Dodson was the ATF officer who objected to the transactions and program, while Voth was his supervisor.

[MayBee]

Her stomach hasn't looked as pouchy lately. It's almost flat. Which is hard to get in just a few weeks. Even her lower abdomen is almost flat. And on Saturday night, she actually had a waist. Granted, it was with a corset, but it didn't bulge underneath.

She also disappeared for much of the summer.

[narciso]

Surprise, surprise, however the main point is they want the unicorn dust, I mean green jobs:

http://sayanythingblog.com/entry/shocker-disaster-funding-may-not-be-needed-after-all/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+SayAnything+%28Say+Anything%29

[Ignatz]

--Maybee with a jaw-dropping quote about Roger Egbert.--

That one seems a bit of a low blow even for my admittedly skewed tastes, Cap.

[narciso]

He wants to be Warren Buffett, when he grows up:

http://www.therightscoop.com/question-at-obama-town-hall-would-you-please-raise-my-taxes/

[Jane]

Who doesn't think that was a plant Narc?

[narciso]

Of course, one poster on Ace, compared it to when Mr. Burns tried to get a portion of the oil windfall, and represented himself as mr. Snurb

[narciso]

Ah, it turns he was a Google 'drone from Sector 7G' named Mr. Edwards,

[lyle]

Sad thing about Lady Gaga is that her popularity is due to the catchiness of her tunes

I'll take your word for it as I'm quite sure that I've never heard one.

As for Bammy's book reading in college, I'm just as sure he didn't.

[Captain Hate]

That one seems a bit of a low blow even for my admittedly skewed tastes, Cap.

Sorry I crossed your line, Ig; but I find him to be a thoroughly undeserving object of sympathy. Too bad because I used to watch him regularly with Siskel and then Roper; even back then he seemed overly emotional and came up with some howlingly poor analyses of movies in both raves and pans. Even when you've endured a rough patch, you're ultimately judged by your actions and words; and for at least the last decade his have been horrible.

[MayBee]

As for me, the reason I wouldn't want to do Ebert has nothing to do with his jaw.

[Porchlight]

She also disappeared for much of the summer.

Nose job and tummy tuck, I'd think.
Her second nose job, if you ask some observers.

[Porchlight]

I'm trying to figure out the 'Underpants Gnome' enforcement strategy in 'Fast and Furious,' sell guns to the cartel, . . .
get guns off the street, ?

If you're asking what the broader strategy was, they thought that if they could trace US guns to Mexican violence, they could use it to justify a massive gun control crackdown.

[centralcal]

Not so sure about the tummy tuck - there is one photo of her from the side where the tummy bulges despite the cinched cumberbund and competes with her large rear-end.

From MOTUS. Just a better containment system?

[centralcal]

hhhmmm - inserted a photo from MOTUS, but it disappeared.

Here is a link, scroll down.

[MayBee]

As for me, the reason I wouldn't want to do Ebert has nothing to do with his jaw.

[daddy]

"Dennis Miller on election 2012

"Cain vs Unable"

Last week Dennis said that Michael Moore's new movie was so bad and doing so poorly at the Box Office that the Supreme Court had issued a temporary edict that in the case of Moore's movie cinema-goers were in fact allowed to yell "Fire" in the Theater.

LOL.

[centralcal]

On Twitter, Byron York has been asking his "followers" why they think all of the Republican candidates are meeting with Donald Trump.

I have wondered the same thing. WHY? Some of the responses have been to discourage him from a 3rd party run, to solicit donations, to appear on Celebrity Apprentice, to get hair styling tips . . . etc.

Really, why are they paying so much attention to the Donald? Sarah. Perry. Romney today. Cain meeting coming up.

[MayBee]

OOps!

[Porchlight]

I think he's threatening a 3rd party run if they don't meet with him. He must want something very specific in return.

[centralcal]

Well, MayBee, forget Ebert for a minute. Picture George Clooney and . . . DAVID GERGEN . . . climbing a fence and jumping into Lake Como (intoxicated):

Hell, I thought, I have an early morning plane and I don’t want wet clothes. So… what choice did I have? I stripped down to my skivvies, climbed that darn fence…. And whoa, it seemed like I was 30 feet above the water. One… two… I was in the water by three. It was very dark, a little cold, but terrific. So we kept jumping.

Eventually we repaired to his kitchen in bathrobes, trying to warm up. Out came a bottle of limoncello, and the conversation flowed on until I finally crawled up to bed at 4:30.

From TVNewser

[narciso]

I'm sorry, he makes my skin crawl,

[narciso]

That was referring to Trump, although Gergen also fits.

[daddy]

Re Miz Obama:

Fresh off her Cheeseburger Facism campaign, now Michelle is taking charge in that other pressing national Problem we've all been fretting about, helping Female Scientists Have Babies.

[Ignatz]

--That was referring to Trump, although Gergen also fits.--

First comment at CC's link;

After seeing Gergen in that state of undress, I hope folks had a lot of limoncello. Might have to pour it into my eyes directly. ;-)

[Ignatz]

--Sorry I crossed your line, Ig; but I find him to be a thoroughly undeserving object of sympathy.--

No sweat Capn. He is a first rate maggot. Probably some subconscious thing related to the wifey.

[Danube of Thought]

Well before he lost his jaw Ebert had let politics creep obnoxiously into his program, and I dropped him like a hot rock.

[daddy]

Anybody out there need a good German Language Professor for their local College?

[Neo]

First put aside his lame arguments about the necessity of the government funding stuff for the public good that the private sector doesn't. The government wasn't supposed to be taking "risks" with the money that Solyndra was given in the first place. This was "stimulus" money. It was supposed to be spent on "shovel ready" jobs, according to President Obama, then-House speaker Nancy Pelosi and just about every left-of-center economist when they began humping passage of the $800 billion stimulus package back in 2009.

[Janet]

What? You don't want to see this guy in his wet underwear swimming in Lake Como?

[Janet]

No wonder there is no balanced reporting. How can conservatives compete with liberal actors throwing Italian, geezer-orgies for reporters? Liquor, food, wet underwear, bathrobes???? It just SOUNDS inappropriate.

[MayBee]

Hmmm. Thinking about Trump naked makes me wonder about his puha. Do you think he styles it in the same fashion?

[Ignatz]

--Hmmm. Thinking about Trump naked makes me wonder about his puha. Do you think he styles it in the same fashion?--

Even after Binging it I'm still not sure what a puha is, but that line is still funny no matter the definition.

[Try to think good thoughts about a puddy tat.]

Maybe he brushes up and leaves marks.
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