The Times Ignores Their Own Paul Krugman

My goodness - NY Times columnist Paul Krugman has a Nobel Prize for his work in international trade but the NY Times editors have totally tuned out his embrace of the Senate Democrats and their China-bashing currency bill.

Let's hear from the Princeton Populist first:

The dire state of the world economy reflects destructive actions on the part of many players. Still, the fact that so many have behaved badly shouldn’t stop us from holding individual bad actors to account.

And that’s what Senate leaders will be doing this week, as they take up legislation that would threaten sanctions against China and other currency manipulators.

Respectable opinion is aghast. But respectable opinion has been consistently wrong lately, and the currency issue is no exception.

And the respectable opinion of the Times editors:

The Wrong Way to Deal With China

China is undeniably manipulating its currency. Countries around the world, including the United States, are losing jobs because their manufacturing industries cannot compete with artificially cheap Chinese goods. For the good of the world economy, and its own long-term economic development, China should stop.

Still, a Senate bill, with strong bipartisan support, to punish countries that manipulate their currencies is a bad idea. It could do even more damage to the American economy if — as is all too likely — China decides to retaliate.

Krugman, a prophet without honor, has lost his own left-leaning editors with his latest dive into the Democrats tank.  And for old time's sake, let's recall that when President Bush was complaining about China's currency manipulation in 2003 Krugman was there to explain what a moron Bush was.  Hmm, maybe Bush was smarter than Krugman on the question of whether China was manipulating its currency?

Ah well, a foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.

Comments

[Rick Ballard]

Why would the NYT editorial board consider reading anything that Krugman writes? They know it's just piffle propaganda for progs too dumb to count. The NYT editorial board prefers the higher, more intelligent type of propaganda proffered by Friedman. They've made the tremendous intellectual leap from Crazy Eights to Old Maid (or hopscotch to jacks, to put the concept in the physical realm).

[rse]

LUN is Daniel Hannan's article on how the political class in Europe is the most ardent defender of the EU.

Loved his question at the civil society summit on who attending is getting EU grants. All of them.

[Ignatz]

--China is undeniably manipulating its currency.--

When our own Treasury Secretary and President are strutting about talking about how a weak dollar will help exports and when our country has had a tacit weak dollar policy for going on ten years and when that weak dollar has devalued foreign investments denominated in dollars and pressured commodities and poor countries around the world isn't the pot/kettle metaphor in need of invocation?
Perhaps the Senate could rename the China proposal the Smoot-Krugman Act.

[Rob Crawford]

Can't we have the Smack Krugman Act instead?

[Rick Ballard]

Ignatz,

I believe I'd put Mad Ben printing up $2.6 trillion BOzobucks ahead of Turbo Timmy in the devaluation race.

If they want to ding China they should consider requiring EPA/OSHA certifications for Chinese factories.

[narciso]

I imagine a scene like that one in 'Airplane'
with each person, saying 'get a hold of yourself'

[NK]

Tom-- I am honored that you picked up on my Hobgoblin reference. Although I see you insist on using the full "foolish consistency" quote.

Ignatz- bingo-- you are the man. Because of Greenspan's disasterously low % rates 2005-2007 the Dollar was artificially weak (Bush was ambivalent about that because the resulting housing bubble yielded 4%+ unemployment.) The Obamaniac and the Bernanke have openly debased the Dollar in order to stiff T-Bill holders by paying interest with devalued Dollars. And now these Senate Schmucks (sorry that's the only word) want to cause another Worldwide Great Depression with higher Tariffs?

[narciso]

Ah, NK they hiked rates continuously from 2004-2006, from a lower trough.

[NK]

Rick Ballard is spot on as well.

[Danube of Thought]

A very satisfactory -24 at Raz today.

[Army of Davids]

InTrades on Obama re-election this AM 46.6%.

[Ignatz]

--I believe I'd put Mad Ben printing up $2.6 trillion BOzobucks ahead of Turbo Timmy in the devaluation race.--

Rick,
I excised the Fed from my comment only because I was naming the goons who have actually spouted off about how great our weak dollar policy is. Ben has his hand on the wide open faucet but at least he's circumspect enough to pretend that he's not all wet.

[Army of Davids]

(Soviet) Unions

SEIU, AFL-CIO, NEA, AFSCME

[Army of Davids]

Smoot-Krugman...... appropriate.

[NK]

Narcisco-- AH take a look at real interest rates 2005-2007 -- Greenspan keep pumping out cheap money in disasterous amounts for a disasterously long period of time. That cheap money coupled with Fannie Mae's insanity inflated the housing bubble to the monster that ate the economy. Rick Ballard is right that Greenspan's cheap money had much less effect on the Dollar than the Bernanke's printing press I acknowledge that, but Ignatz is right, the USA has NOT had a strong dollar policy for almost a decade.

[Threadkiller]

Army, you said it enough, so I did it. I watched Waiting for Superman.

Everyone should watch this. It is on a channel called Epix this month.
http://www.epixhd.com/channel/schedule/

Thanks Army!

[Army of Davids]

RMB (Chinese Yuan)/USD.

Largest portion of our trade deficit is oil. A global/fungible market. When the RMB strengthens vs the USD it means that oil becomes comparatively cheaper for the Chinese and their growing thirst.

It has the opposite effect on the US.

Political leaders and economists who don't understand the consequences of this are completely missing the boat.

[Army of Davids]

Asian Tigers manage currency strength in relation to the USD/RMB peg. This adds momentum and strength to the unwind of the peg.

Global re-balancing needs to be a process and not an event.

Senate Schumerucks do no favors.

[Danube of Thought]

I deplore this Krugman obsession.

[Ignatz]

--the USA has NOT had a strong dollar policy for almost a decade--

If you want to know whether the dollar is strong or weak in absolute terms, not just in relation to some currency or another, just take a look at how much, or more accurately how little, gold it will buy.

[Melinda Romanoff]

NK-

Greenspan's rate work was not the faucet of funds. It started way earlier and much further away. And launched the hedge fund industry.

It was the Bank of Japan and the global "carry" trade.

[Danube of Thought]

WaPo:

"Four in 10 Americans 'strongl'y” disapprove of how President Obama is handling job as president in the new Washington Post-ABC News poll, the highest that number has risen during his time in office and a sign of the hardening opposition to him as he seeks a second term. While the topline numbers are troubling enough, dig deeper into them and the news gets no better for Obama. Forty-three percent of independents — a group the president spent the better part of the last year courting — strongly disapprove of the job he is doing."

[Army of Davids]

Glad you got a lot out of it. Threadkiller.

K-12 education....JMHO.... core of the long term future problems we face.

I have no kids in the system...and I'm sure it varies by locality....but I have to wonder how much of the Marxist rot mentality I see around is grown there these days.

In Los Angeles....Caesar Chavez Day is a day off from school.

Lenin/Stalin both appreciated the need for early childhood education. Maybe I'm a little unfair and paranoid. But we do have problems. And it certainly seems to be "more about the adults than the children".

[rse]

For those of you on the other thread on the climate change laundry posting, LUN is what happens when you click all the way through.

Q:Does 2% of all this federal green energy money that the feds just keep spending going into this money transfer?

You can see why the science has to be settled. Combine with Hannan above and we are all serfs funding a political class. How cool is that-an invisible serf's collar-under control and unaware.

[Jack is Back!]

Ah, to wake up in the morning to the sweet cries of torture as JOM cuts Krugman one keystroke at a time. What would we be other than uneducated economic dopes without the good Professor there to iron out all those silly notions we have of free markets, capitalism and proper management of facial hair?

Has Mars attacked yet?

[jim crane]

Krugman is a muppet.

[Rob Crawford]

You insult muppets.

[narciso]

Other silliness bordering on malfeasance offered here:

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/the-keystone-pipeline-revolt-why-mass-arrests-are-just-the-beginning-20110928

[jim crane]

sorry, I wasn't thinking.

[Benjamin Franklin]

All Hail Bush III !!!! The Empire is dead, long live the Empire !

http://www.counterpunch.org/

"Lately, there has been pullback even on the few intimations of change for the better that survived into the administration’s first months. Back then, it was not too unreasonable to hope that Obama would move to reverse the anti-regulatory tide of the past three decades and that he would at least try to rein in banksters and corporate polluters. It didn’t take long for that illusion to be dispelled. Obama’s most recent gift to the industries that pollute the air, his order to the Environmental Protection Agency to delay implementation of legally mandated ozone regulations, is only the latest in a long line of environmental malfeasances. It is a particularly egregious case, however, because this time there was no question of Republican obstructionism; Obama did it all by himself.

To be sure, his interventions abroad are less inept and more multi-lateral than Bush’s were. But the difference is mainly one of tactics and style. It has by now become clear to all but the willfully blind that Obama is as much a steward of the empire as any of his recent predecessors. The military does not rule directly, but along with the rest of the national security apparatus it calls the shots.:

[Rick Ballard]

Fall Harvest From Arab Spring

Sounds like Panetta came this close - until you get to the bottom and read

In addition to elections for the lower house scheduled for next month, Egypt’s rulers recently agreed to a timetable for transitioning to civilian rule that calls for balloting to choose the upper house of Parliament in January, followed by the drafting of a new constitution and presidential elections in 2013.

The only reason that Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi will not last as long as Mubarak is that he's starting at the age of 75.

[NK]

MelR-- I would of course never disagree with your monetary policy takes (you're from Chicago the ancestral home of monetarism!), and no doubt that 'carry trade' chart explains a lot of bubbles during the past 20 years (Tech Stocks, Oil, US Housing Chinese real estate, Euro Soccer player transfer fees and on and on) but Ignatz and my point relates to Dollar valuation, and Ignatz is again spot on referring to the Dollar/Gold relationship.

[Benjamin Franklin]

" Ignatz is again spot on referring to the Dollar/Gold relationship."

http://twentycentparadigms.blogspot.com/2011/10/keynes-on-youtube.html

[NK]

RickB-- Field Marshall Tantawi?now you may be too cynical.... I hope....

[Rob Crawford]

Oh, the confusion's understandable, jim. Krugman clearly has someone's hand up his backside, and says whatever they want him to say, but, see, the Muppets are funny. Krugman's just sad.

[Neo]

China is undeniably manipulating its currency.

... and QE2 is what ? ... chopped liver ?

[Melinda Romanoff]

NK-

And my point was the BoJ had more to do with dollar creation than the Fed. Thus diluting the value of same.

[Sue]

So, if the Times is ignoring Krugman, shouldn't we ignore him too?

[NK]

RobC/Jim Crane-- let's all just agree that the Senate and the Obamaniacs are a bunch of 'EFFIN MUPPETS.

[Melinda Romanoff]

Neo-

QE2 never went any further than the primary dealers. Nor was it intended to go any further.

[narciso]

Krugman is more Gollum, than Muppet,

This analogy is sadly more likely with Egypt's history

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,728107,00.html

[Ranger]

To be sure, his interventions abroad are less inept and more multi-lateral than Bush’s were.

Yes, who can argue with interventions that last not weeks, but days!!! (Who cares if the the number of days adds up to months.) And we had 5, maybe 6 countires along with us bombing Libya, a nice, small, easy to manage group. Not like the 40+ countries supporting us in Iraq!

[Benjamin Franklin]

Question for Mel...

What is the first, most significant event you see occurring, should 'insolvency' raise it's hydra head?

http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2011/10/bankings-self-inflicted-wounds/

"Morgan Stanley in a free fall. Goldman Sachs at multi-year lows. Citigroup looking Ugly. Bank of America off 50% from recent highs.

You may be wondering what is going on with the major firms in the financial sector. While each of these firms have different problems — vampire squids to Countrywide acquisitions — they all have something in common: Their balance sheets are opaque.

This is no accident. Indeed, it was by design that execs in the banking sector, and their outside accountants, hatched a scheme in 2008 to hide their balance sheets from public view. The bankers had been lobbying the Financial Accounting Standards Board to change the rules that governed “Fair Value Measurements” also known as FAS157 (September 2006).

You may recall during 2008 this was referred to as “Mark-to-market” accounting.

Banks loved m2m during a boom period. M2M made the more unusual balance sheet holdings — derivatives, the mortgage-backed securities (MBS), exotic liabilities, and other assets — look fantastic. The fair value measurements of these items — essentially, yesterday’s closing price — allowed the accounts to show enormous profits. Those were the underlying basis for huge bonuses, stock option grants and of course, company share prices.

The reality was quite a bit different. These were not equities or treasuries or corporate bonds — they were thinly traded items whose prices were ramping upwards on a sea of delusional optimism. As soon as the credit bubble ended and housing began to retreat, these assets would free fall like an Acme anvil in a Roadrunner cartoon — and the bankers were the Coyote.

[glasater]

OK, rse -- I'll 'see' your Daniel Hannan article and 'raise' you Nigel Farage ;)

[MarkO]

Please, can we ignore Krugman?

[Captain Hate]

Duke & Duke weighing in on peasant outreach: http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2011/10/top-gop-official-we-%E2%80%9Cdo-not-consider-perry-a-factor%E2%80%A6-we-know-who-it-is-who-will-be-our-nominee%E2%80%9D/

[NK]

Mel R-- as usual you are right about the BOJ and QEII mechanisms, but I think the BOJ stuff is a stretch and you can't possibly mean to say QEII wasn't 'intended' to debase the Dollar and cause asset inflation. Bernanke clearly intended to fiannace the Obama explosion of US sovereign debt by paying back T-Bill interest with devalued Dollars. We got the bad side of QEII in the form of commodity (food and fuel) inflation, but why no rapid escalation of T-Bill rates? (they have dropped in the last 6 months). Answer-- Euro implosion and the double dip. If the Bernanke saw those things coming in summer 2010 and realized they would mitigate the inflationary effects of QEII-- well I take back a lot of nasty things I said about him.

[narciso]

Well, yes, Captain, game over, it's like 'Global Thermonuclear War' the only way to win, is not to play;

http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/culture/2011/10/3609389/romney-time-christie-holdout-gop-bundlers-finally-ready-settle-mitt

[Benjamin Franklin]

Double-digit increases in electric rates on the horizon. Even if it wasn't couched as 'infrastructure upgrades the toothless public utilities commissions would rubber stamp it.

Hmmmm...how is this not a 'tax'?

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/10/05/americans-face-double-digit-hikes-in-electricity-bills-to-fund-upgrades.html

[matt]

We are seeing the beginnings of a class war, if you can call it that, between the leftist activists and the rest of us. NPR was pushing the Wall Street protest meme, as was the LA talk show that has the largest audience.

NK, we've been having an ongoing discussion on this for at least a year.

We have the Treasury/Fed ready to inject even more money and liquidity which will be sucked out of the system even as it's printed

There is no realistic ability to pay back that debt unless we see hyperinflation, which is contraindicational of a default implosion such as is happening in Europe.

Best case is a double/triple dose of the Japanese malaise. But this time credit will dry up even more, driving up interest rates. That will have a significant impact upon economic activity for many years to come as it stands now.

[Sue]

Before his speech Tuesday at Eastfield College in Mesquite, Tex., President Obama stopped by an early childhood education laboratory with children ages 3 to 5.

3 guess what book he chose to read them and I bet you only need 1.

[Benjamin Franklin]

matt, matt...how did Tea Party rallies begin? Relax. There's bigger fish to fry....namely us..

http://spaceweather.com/

"With eight active regions on the Earthsde of the sun, the chances of an Earth-directed eruption are increasing. Credit: SDO/HMI"

[jimmyk]

If the Bernanke saw those things coming in summer 2010 and realized they would mitigate the inflationary effects of QEII-- well I take back a lot of nasty things I said about him.

I doubt he saw them coming, but he took a calculated risk. I still think inflation is a ticking time bomb, and we'll see it whether or not Europe implodes.

[glasater]

From Captain's and narciso's links:
The woman in this photo, Georgette Mosbacher, has got to be pushing eighty years of age. Scary!

[fdcol63]

Personally, I think Krugman is the sock puppet of Soros. And Soros has decided, this time, that HE'LL be the currency manipulator ... not the US or China.

[jimmyk]

NPR was pushing the Wall Street protest meme, as was the LA talk show that has the largest audience.

Yeah, I heard some reporter waxing about how the protest had a "Woodstock" feel to it, as if that's a good thing. When will these people grow up? The journalists, I mean. I have no hope for the protesters.

[NK]

JimmyK-- I have not yet taken back the nasty things about Helicopter Ben. I agree with your take; my opinion is that we (worldwide) will be stuck with hyperinflation and stagnant growth-- ugh.

[fdcol63]

" ... When will these people grow up? The journalists, I mean ..."

Same for the fashion world. Criminy, it seems like we've been stuck in the Retro 60's - '70's world since Grunge took off in the early 90's. Designers reliving their youth, I guess.

Bring back the '80's, fer crissakes! LOL

[narciso]

Actually she's only 64, ouch glasater, but it shows a truly disturbing tone depthness which
is sadly typical of Duke and Duke Ltd.

[glasater]

Well, Georgette Mosbacher's wiki page says she is 64. Her former husband Robert Mosbacher died last year at the age of 82.

[Melinda Romanoff]

NK-

Once again I disagree but have to go (this is starting to look bad, on my part) but I will try to explain my points at a later hour.

[rse]

Glas-

She used to own la prairie cosmetics iirc. Looks like she was a big customer of her own product.

I like nigel farage. He has that Thatcher ability to use humor to deliver points.

I was finishing some outlining yesterday and came across an unrepentant US Marxist prof who claimed in 1992 that the EU would be used to create tensions that would give socialism another try. Prescient. Look at those faces.

[Benjamin Franklin]

"I still think inflation is a ticking time bomb.."

It's been held back by wholesale for some time, but it's here already. Gasoline seems about right, but food? Nope. Food riots are what the Empire fears. Costly, them inconvenient things.

"Inflation is felt directly by consumers when they go to the grocery store and fill up their cars at the local gas station. Consumers may also be affected indirectly. Indexes such as CPI are sometimes the reference points for periodic changes made in various cost of living adjustments or pension plans or Medicare.

Overall, the energy portion of the total inflation measure was reported to be up 18.4 percent during the past 12 months. Within the energy category, the gasoline price change for the past 12 months was an increase of 32.4 percent. The composite food inflation measure was reported to have increased 4.6 percent during this same period. Such dramatic increases in the prices of these goods may lead many consumers to feel inflation is much higher than the aggregate CPI figures reported."

[narciso]

Really, go to the supermarket and tell me, food has only gone up 4.6 percent, and we're talking bread, milk, basic staples,

[Melinda Romanoff]

I thought Waylan Flowers had died, but I guess Madame lives on, unguided.

[Benjamin Franklin]

link for 11:58..

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/700182682/Inflation-being-felt-at-grocery-stores-gas-pumps.html

[Ignatz]

Is Mel's graph at 10:32 a graph of Japanese interest rates or what?

[Melinda Romanoff]

off to the train...

[Benjamin Franklin]

"off to the train..."

Were you here?

[Rick Ballard]

I agree with this take on China. There's not enough bondo and spackle in the world to keep up the Chicom slaver mercantilist facade.

[Ranger]

Gasoline seems about right

Only if you artificially restrict both the production of oil from domestic sources, and make it impossible to build new refineries.

[NK]

catch your train, explain when you have a chance..

[BB Key]

Sue, 1st guess : himself

[glasater]

Should have known narciso would beat me to the punch on Mosbacher's age along with a gentle chastisement -- such a gentleman and I do mean that sincerely.

rse -- on the Nigel Farage page -- after his video was finished the next in the queue was one of Daniel Hannan. Some have made the association.

[Ranger]

Rick,

I've been surprised that the Chicoms have not jumped in more fully to prop up the EU. They know that if the Euro cracks and Europe goes into another recesion, they are toast. I take it as a sign of significant weakness on their part that they haven't done much to save one of their largest export markets.

[NK]

RickB-- saw that article/book review as well. I too agree with its premise, which is very unfortunate. It seems the political class in the PRC, EuroLand, Tokyo, Wash DC all have one common trait; snatch and grab as much swag as possible and bust out their taxpayers before the poor saps catch on. Live the high life in le maison grand after the stuff hits the fan. They are all disgusting.

[Sue]

BB,

Yep. The children's book he wrote (or says he wrote).

Gateway Pundit has the picture along with the article I snipped above.

[Benjamin Franklin]

"There's not enough bondo..."

The Worldwide Economy....Ponzi squared.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=94377295

"The recycling drive was right next door to the down-on-its-luck Coney Island carnival arcade, where Howie Montebillanco was running a game called Kentucky Derby. Players try to throw rubber balls into little holes; the balls roll out, and the players throw them in again.

"The more balls you get in, the quicker your Kentucky Derby horse advances," said Gina Quatrocchi.

The ways in which Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac help recyle U.S. dollars back from China can seem very abstract. But Quatrocchi saw an analogy in the Kentucky Derby game. Imagine the balls are trillions of dollars, and players are throwing them over to China. That's the trade deficit. But the balls, or dollars, come right back, she said, "so we can buy more things we can't afford."

With her boardwalk analogy, Quatrocchi nailed a concept that must have been on federal regulators' minds. However painful the bailout might be, surely Treasury Secretary Paulson was thinking about how much tougher it will be for the U.S. if China doesn't have Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in place to recycle Americans' dollars."

[glasater]

Awhile back I read that China has 5 million people coming on line every month who need jobs. That is a staggering figure.

[Jack is Back!]

From West Wing Reports, his picture of the DWOTUS.

[narciso]

Beyond parody, seriously, the kids would have better off, with 'My Pet Goat'

http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2011/10/unreal-obama-show-and-tell-me-me-me/

[Ignatz]

JimmyK or Rick or anyone else who might actually know the answer as opposed to guessing it,
What is the effect on inflation in the way BLS calculates housing costs?
By applying their rental equivalence standard to owner occupied homes how do they avoid overstating inflation for the last several years?
You can click on just about any zillow home and see that homes which 5-6 years ago had a fairly equal value on rent vs mortgage, now are vastly cheaper to own than rent.
Do they just blow that off as irrelevant or am I missing something in their calculations?

[Clarice]

Ras:
A generic Republican now holds a six-point advantage over President Obama in a hypothetical 2012 match-up for the week ending Sunday, October 2.

[Charlie (Colorado)]

I imagine a scene like that one in 'Airplane' with each person, saying 'get a hold of yourself'

"I do, Doc, three times a day, but even that doesn't help!"

[Charlie (Colorado)]

I have no kids in the system...and I'm sure it varies by locality....but I have to wonder how much of the Marxist rot mentality I see around is grown there these days.

Frankly, K-12 is so ineffective teaching anything I wouldn't worry about it.

[Ignatz]

--A generic Republican.....--

Does the generic Republican have better hair than Perry or Romney?

[Danube of Thought]

If only the Generic Republican were running...

[Benjamin Franklin]

"Frankly, K-12 is so ineffective teaching anything I wouldn't worry about it."

Well, you turned out ok. Anyhew, it's more about socialization/indoctrination for the most part. Every once in a while you luck upon an inspired educator, and that fuels the desire to actually learn.

[pagar]

"but I have to wonder how much of the Marxist rot mentality I see around is grown there these days."

Why do you think Maxine Green converted William Ayers from trying to blow up NCO clubs to destroying the American school system? Much more effective, I doubt if you can find many teachers that have not been browbeaten by their high schools, colleges, unions and school administrators to the point they dare not utter a conservative word. Pure communist party infiltration thru out the system.
William Ayers in charge of the (see link inside the LUN)

"As I have shown elsewhere in City Journal, Ayers’s politics have hardly changed since his Weatherman days. He still boasts about working full-time to bring down American capitalism and imperialism."

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2008/08/will_ayers_and_obama_radicaliz.html

Maxine Green and her converts, such as William Ayers have completely converted the American school system to Communism.

[Charlie (Colorado)]

Bernanke clearly intended to fiannace the Obama explosion of US sovereign debt by paying back T-Bill interest with devalued Dollars.

I'm learning to distrust any statement that asserts "clearly". In this case, the problem is that we haven't had particularly dramatic inflation.

It's a lot easier to see QE2 as an attempt to prevent DEflation by increasing the money supply to counter dropping velocity. (Think of it like a balloon: money supply is the amount of air in the balloon, velocity is temperature.)

[Porchlight]

Frankly, K-12 is so ineffective teaching anything I wouldn't worry about it.

Those of us with kids in the system beg to differ. My third grader frequently lectures me about recycling, and I had to explain to her the other day why rich people were not bad and why it's okay that things aren't free, because in paying for them we help create jobs for people.

[Charlie (Colorado)]

Well, you turned out ok.

Thanks, but I'm not a good paradigm -- I was a child prodigy who first attended college at 8 whose experiences in publics schools were more of a 12 year sentence than a leraning opportunity.

Anyhew, it's more about socialization/indoctrination for the most part.

I agree; that's one reason K-12 was mostly such a trial for me. I was always the nail that stood out and "needed" pounding down -- which included being beaten rather badly by my junior high school principal.

Every once in a while you luck upon an inspired educator, and that fuels the desire to actually learn.

Yeah, but how much does the usual K-12 do the opposite. I was really struck by seeing a 4-5 year old kid in my building when I lived in Germany: he loved learning new things and always wanted me to teach him new words in English. How many kids who are like that at 5 have lost it by 8?

[Neo]

When it comes to climate change denial, not all human beings are created equal. As a recent study shows, conservative white males are less likely to believe in climate change.

Perhaps, the difference lies in the fact that conservative white males are less likely to be suckling the "public teat."

[NK]

Sorry Charlie-- you're entitled to your own opinion but not your own facts. August 2010-August 2011 CPI was 3.6 (memory) that is DOUBLE the Fed's CPI target rate-- that is REAL inflation. Plus this inflation was felt much harder by consumers because fuel and food inflation was much higher than CPI. QEII as a Stimulus!? sorry Charlie that was a failure, the double dip started during QEII. Preventing DEflation? that's just a semantic way to say QEII was inflationary. I stand by all my statements.

[Benjamin Franklin]

" I was a child prodigy who first attended college at 8 "

Hey. Were you the kid?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thick_as_a_Brick

[Captain Hate]

Beyond parody, seriously, the kids would have better off, with 'My Pet Goat'

Actually My Pet Goat's a pretty good children's book; but, in the faintest praise possible, at least he was talking about something he knows. And not having the kids doodle pictures of him.

You can file this under "The only thing that could make me think less of him": I hope Bo the dog is being well treated by the family and is used as more than a convenient book subject for El JEFe to read to children.

[PD]

A very satisfactory -24 at Raz today.

I will be satisfied when he is driven from office in disgrace.

[Thomas Collins]

See LUN for a recent short summary of the involvement of 501(c)(4) organizations in politics, and how much 501(c)(4) organization political activity is permissible. This was of interest for a time on some JOM threads. I don't think it's been posted on for awhile, but I'm sure that as the campaign season heats up, we'll be hearing more on this issue.

[henry]

Rick B, I'm reading a book by Dumas & Choyleva (The American Phoenix) that makes a similar argument. They explain QEII as a backdoor exchange rate adjustment forcing inflation in China rather than deflation here -- and forecast serious trouble for China when Europe and the US go into recession in 1012 (or sooner).

[Thomas Collins]

See LUN for a summary of the comments of an IRS official on the topic of exempt organizations and political activity.