Who Is The Flim Flam Man?

Megan McArdle makes the point that Paul Krugman has a highly selective (yet easily predictable) ability to spot flim flam.

In a lovely moment of arrogant pedantry meant to buttress his attack on Republican Paul Ryan's long term budget plan, Paul Krugman posted on "How To Read A CBO Report".  He included timeless tips such as as "[don't] think you can just skim it and get the gist" and "go through the whole thing with a fine-toothed comb".

Yet it was just one day earlier that Paul Krugman took the Medicare Trustees Report, with its glowing assessment of the budget savings attributable to ObamaCare, and delivered this howler:

Bending The Curve

...the Medicare actuaries believe that the cost-saving provisions in the Obama health reform will make a huge difference to the long-run budget outlook.

Really?  If Prof. Krugman had taken his fine-tooth comb all the way to the section titled "Statement of Actuarial Opinion", he would have found that the chief actuary believed no such thing.  Instead, the chief actuary took the unprecedented step of refudiating the analysis based on legislated savings unlikely to materialize, and provided a minority report:

...the financial projections shown in this report for Medicare do not represent a reasonable expectation for actual program operations in either the short range (as a result of the unsustainable reductions in physician payment rates) or the long range (because of the strong likelihood that the statutory reductions in price updates for most categories of Medicare provider services will not be viable).  I encourage readers to review the “illustrative alternative” projections that are based on more sustainable assumptions for physician and other Medicare price updates. These projections are available at http://www.cms.gov/ActuarialStudies/Downloads/2010TRAlternativeScenario.pdf.

So who are these Medicare trustees, and are they bending the curve or bending the spoon?  The trustees are chaired by Timothy Geithner, tax cheat turned Treasury Secretary.  HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, Labor Secretary Hilda Solis, Michael Astrue and the controversial Donald Berwick hold the other spots (two public trustee positions are vacant).

So in brief, Obama's Cabinet members put out a report declaring their confidence in ObamaCare, the chief actuary squawked, and Krugman's flim-flam detector never flickered (presumably because it is only able to point towards the right).

ERRATA: I am routinely giving props to Krugman for his titles; if you haven't seen The Flim Flam Man with George C.Scott, well, don't rush out to rent it if you were really hankering for LA Confidential.  But it's pretty good, or at least, I thought so forty years ago.

Comments

[Heavymonsoon]

It's.............Michelle, we all knew she was a man......How much for the little girls....I guess that's where the money is and good way to move up. O's want to help you with your children (Oprah just the little African girls in Africa)

National Service Agency CEO Encourages Children to Serve http://bit.ly/d7tsut

The initiative is an Administration-wide effort led by the Corporation in collaboration with First Lady Michelle Obama and five other federal agencies.

[anduril]

"arrogant pedantry," eh? could be worse. could be byzantine pedantry.

[LouP]

Krugman is just following the approved script for the left: conclusions/judgment/opinion first; selected facts and rationalization to follow. It's the Agenda Journalism way.

[Neo]

Krugman is another in a long line of "Nobel Idiots"

[Rick Ballard]

Actually, as Narciso linked, Krugman was refudiated by his own source.

Krugman's half assed attempt to poison the well is a decent indicator that Paul Ryan is on the right track for '12 (wrt policy, not as a candidate). Identifying the $400 billion in spending cuts really isn't that difficult a task. I'd start by taking a meat ax to the Department of Indoctrination but I'm certainly open to suggestions from others as to the appropriate starting point. EPA? DoE? HHS? DoD? They can all use a nice buzz cut.

[anduril]

Yves Smith has an interesting blog today, riffing off an article in the Telegraph: Should We Be Leery of the Generosity of the Uber-Rich?

The press has been duly supportive of the successful effort by Bill Gates and Warren Buffet to get other mega-rich individuals to give away at least half their wealth to charity. But is this the unalloyed boon that it is presented as being?

William Langley, in the Telegraph, points out that the new model of billionaire giving is a departure from recent models of giving among the upper classes. Noblesse oblige has given way to giving as a form of social engineering:

...

Yves here. This Big Charity 2.0 has a very uncomfortable flavor of Masters of the Universe simply shifting their focus from commerce other arenas.

A few things distressed me, however.

One, the misspelling of Über. Couldn't she at least have spelled it Ueber if she didn't want to insert the correct special character? My rule is, if you don't know the correct spelling, meaning and pronunciation of foreign words, use English instead, even if use of the foreign words in question has become fashionable. Come to think of it, most of that applies to English words, too.

Two, this passage:

I’m certainly not an expert in the history of philanthropy, but my dim impression as a student of the history of the modern era is that it noblesse oblige derived from the aristocratic idea of the merit of being a good master. A fictional example is Fitzwilliam Darcy in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, whose income was Forbes 400 level of his era. Protagonist Elizabeth Bennett sees him as a hopeless social snob, but begins to change her views when relatives bring her to his estate when he is supposedly away (it appears touring the homes of the upper crust was a permitted pastime) and the staff, much to Elizabeth’s astonishment, stresses what a good master he is. How one treats the help is a litmus test; the most important charity begins at home.

This is simply wrong. Elizabeth begins to change her views when she begins to gain more insight into herself. Darcy's letter begins that process.

[Chubby]

you can watch The Flim Flam Man for free YouTube

The Flim-Flam Man (1967) pt.1/10

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ue0vqeQSG5w

[Danube of Thought]

Not George C.'s best work.

Minus 10 at Raz today.

[Ranger]

Krugman is just following the approved script for the left: conclusions/judgment/opinion first; selected facts and rationalization to follow. It's the Agenda Journalism way.

Posted by: LouP | August 08, 2010 at 10:18 AM

Well, since Krugman is supposed to be a Social Scientist, what he is doing is even worse. It's called "Thesis Driven Research" and is the greatest sin (except for maybe plagerism) in science.

BTW, Krugman isn't the Flim Flam Man, because in the film, the con man holds to the romantic con man code and runs cons that will only work on dishonest people. "You can't con an honest man" is built on the premis that the con is honestly dishonest. He proposes a deal that the mark knows is illegal, but agrees to participate in any way because he thinks he will be taking advantage of someone else.

Based on his past with Enron, Krugman is actually the mark, not the con man. He is participating in the con thinking he will be on the winning side when it is all over. He has no idea that his cushy gig at the NYT and his cushy gig at Princeton will all come to an abrubt halt when the policies he is pushing come to full fruition and the entire system runs out of money.

[Clarice]

Minus only 10? was everybody sentient out camping?

[daddy the wanna' be heretic]

Great ">http://www.americanthinker.com/2010/08/clarices_pieces_from_cordoba_t.html"> Clarice's Pieces today Clarice. Simply great.

[Clarice]

Thanks, daddy. I loved your post about the morning's walk.

[Jim Ryan]

I skimmed the post. Basically, TM's saying Krugman is spot on.

[Chubby]

the krug man ... just looked up "krug" to find out what it means

maybe the krug man is perenially intoxicated:

((The actual greatest champagne in the world. Noted for pronounced aromas of gingerbread and tropical fruit that develop into a complex yeasty bouquet of infinite complexity with a finish that can last for hours in the best vintages. The only hundred-point champagne as rated by Wine Spectator ever, was the 1988 vintage. ))

I'm not gunna go where the 2nd definition goes, it's on urban dictionary and it's a gross factor of teabagging x 1000

[PD]

It's hard to believe that Paul Krugman, former Enron advisor, would engage in careless analysis.

[Chubby]

"krugging" used as a verb in regard krugman's economics might catch on

[matt]

one of the high crimes and misdemeanors of the ueberrich is their use of foundations to perpetuate the Leftist agenda, whether intended by the originator or not.

Whether it's Ford, Carnegie, Pew, Packard, Hewlett, ad nauseum, they all end up attracting the soggy headed do-gooders out of the various social sciences programs of the Ivy League who think they both know it all and can change the world through additional programs.

One can consider them as a separate but closely related species to Congressional staffers or perhaps simply a different breed of ugly dog.These nematodes then decide on the programs to submit to boards of directors, who normally choose from a limited portfolio that has already been decided upon.

These programs then go off to study various and sundry things such as peace, violence, the lack of personal hygiene among tribal Afghanis and such.Heaven forbid most of them actually accomplish anything.

Of course we do get the occasional library, hospital, aquarium, museum, or marine mammal study center out of it.

But when Bill and Melinda want to eradicate say, malaria, and the answer in the form of DDT is not even considered while the poor little African children die of a completely preventable disease, one can measure the depth of their commitment to real world solutions and even of, dare I say it, their human compassion.

Of course a large number of these groups, including the Soros, Gates, Packard, Pew, Ford, and Hewlett foundations use Fenton Associates, it is the political, rather than the practical agenda that is the main chance.

There is a lot of foundation money that does help with so many causes, but a far too large portion gets piddled away on overhead, living large, and personal agendas of staff.

[Captain Hate]

Paulie takes such a regular beating here it's hard to come up with an original way in which his character hasn't been completely maligned. I'll try though: He looks like he probably smells bad.

[Charlie (Colorado)]

Anduril, although I agree with you in principle, "uber" is now an English word, as a loan word from the German, as, viz Merriam-Webster.

[Charlie (Colorado)]

How one treats the help is a litmus test;

And an indication of a man's character.

One wonders how the staff feel about the Obamas. Especially Michelle.

[JM Hanes]

Chubby:

"krugging" used as a verb in regard krugman's economics....

.....with Krugerrants as coinage of the realm.

[JM Hanes]

TM:

Did you see Paul Ryan's response to Krugman?

The assertion by Krugman and others that the revenue assumptions in the "Roadmap" are overly optimistic and that my staff directed the Congressional Budget Office not to analyze the tax elements of the "Roadmap" is a deliberate attempt to misinform and mislead.

I asked the CBO to analyze the long-term revenue impact of the "Roadmap," but officials declined to do so because revenue estimates are the jurisdiction of the Joint Tax Committee. The Joint Tax Committee does not produce revenue estimates beyond the 10-year window, and so I worked with Treasury Department tax officials in setting the tax reform rates to keep revenues consistent with their historical average.

Here's the real howler in Krugman's Friday column:

You might have thought, given past experience, that D.C. insiders would be on their guard against conservatives with grandiose plans.

Krugmann should take his fine toothed CBO comb -- or pretty much any comb -- over to the Director's blog, for an instructive model of "How to Read a Monthly Budget Review." Bob Elmendorf is the Congressional Richard Foster. When the CBO's chief actuary is not constrained to flim flam mandated by the Democratic majority, the analyses produced by his office are not kind to liberals' modest little proposals.

[Clarice]

Kruggerrants is brilliant, jmh. Consider it stolen,

[Chubby]

((.....with Krugerrants as coinage of the realm.))

:)
minted in gold tinfoil

[Danube of Thought]

My sainted mother taught me that same litmus test, and I agree that it is an unfailing test of character.

And although it's not a test of character, I still want to know about the Obamas' table manners. How do they handle their knives and forks?

[Rick Ballard]

"How do they handle their knives and forks?"

Per the Hyde Park Hillbilly Code, of course. BTW - that's "dull butter knives and sporks".

[Chubby]

uh, Riok, do you want to disclose anything?

((The word spork originated in the early 1900s to describe such devices. According to a December 20, 1952 New York Times article, Hyde W. Ballard of Westtown, Pennsylvania filed an application to register "Spork" as a trademark for a combination spoon and fork made of stainless steel, although there is no longer any record of this application at the United States Patent and Trademark Office. ))

[centralcal]

The granddaughters went next door to play with the neighbor's granddaughter, so for fun I googled "Michelle Antoinette." Now, the 4,330,000 results include some gals who are really named that, but they are falling behind our Flotus in google hits.

By golly, I think the title is gonna stick to her like cellulite does to her thighs.

[Frau Steingehirn]

Yes, beware of rich men with gifts:
" George Soros's and Peter "Progressive Insurance" Lewis's The Democracy Alliance, founded in 2005, is a partnership of change-makers who seek to strengthen radically alter democracy by partnering with, making human and financial investments in, and fostering collaboration among leaders and institutions committed to realizing a vision of a more progressive America. "
...
From Discover the Networks: "Recipients of Democracy Alliance grants are sworn to secrecy about the funds they receive from this organization, thus only a small percentage of its grantees are known to the public. Among them are Media Matters, EMILY's List, ACORN, and the Center for American Progress."
LUN

[Spoke the Raven 'Evermore'.]

Nobel Caws.
=======

[Jane]

"How do they handle their knives and forks?"

They use their thumbs.

[Pagar]

"Peter "Progressive Insurance" Lewis's "

I keep seeing ads for this company. If the people who believe America is better off with a less progessive government were really working to make that happen, this company would be one of the first to --cease to exist, IMO.

[Pops]

Isn't it the liberals argument that any and all government spending stimulates economic growth? So won't taking 1 trillion out of Medicare cause a recession??

[anduril]

Charlie, in my own defense (because I couldn't wait all day for Ignatz to come to my defense again, his quota for the year having been exhausted yesterday, anyway) the main entry is: Main Entry: über. Unumlauted uber is a "variant." Actually, I only wrote that to be a supercilious jerk (h/t narciso).

[anduril]

I see AT has picked up on that SPLC story I linked the other day, via Instapundit: Southern Poverty Law Center is less diverse than the tea parties. Steve Sailer also has an update, this time with pictures of the home of one of the officers: Morris Dees' Poverty Palace. To give a flavor for it, here's a photo of Dees' wife, modeling a "creation" of her own:

Sailer's caption is, I thought, rather clever:

I'm not precisely sure what Morris' wife is wearing in this photo (Barbarella's coronation gown? Or, as a reader suggests, a shower curtain trimmed with fake fur?), but the caption reads "Susan Starr models a jacket she made in her studio at her home in Montgomery, Ala."

The denizens of the poverty industry do live, don't they? Yuck.

[Ann Mongrel]

OT

If you get a chance, say a prayer for Mark Levin and his dog Griffen.

My buddy Griffen Levin

[Chubby]

Jane: ((They use their thumbs.))

to pull out plums?

[centralcal]

I thought for a minute that the photo above was posted by Ann, but it was from An-duril.

Good lord, don't anyone tell Michelle Antoinette. You know, she IS placing orders for coats.

[anduril]

This Huffpo article by David Bromwich, One More War, Please, is fairly spotty in some respects, but I thought he was spot on re Iran:

Should we Americans also tremble for our country when we think of the wind we are sowing in Iran?

There is little disagreement about the facts. "No one believes," as Philip Giraldi put it recently, "that Iran is anything but a nation that is one small step away from becoming a complete religious dictatorship, but the country has a small economy, a tiny defense budget, and, as far as the world's intelligence services can determine, neither nuclear weapons nor a program to develop them." Yet President Obama and his advisers, if they dare to look, can watch House Resolution 1553 gaining signatures and stealing a march on their policy. The resolution is a demagogue's dream of bogus collective security. It declares American support, in advance, for an Israeli attack on Iran, and gives the unheard-of approval by the U.S. to a foreign power to use "all means necessary" to advance its own interests, and to follow its own definition of those interests. The resolution incidentally adopts the language of Israeli propaganda when it refers to Iran as an "immediate and existential threat."

Will Iran become our third war of the moment? Sanctions which, Benjamin Netanyahu has said, should soon become "crippling sanctions" already have us in lockstep on that path. To be satisfied with his advice, we have only to believe the Likud theory that Iran is a "suicide nation" whose rulers would gladly send their first nuclear weapon (still some years off) to destroy Israel and kill the Arabs in Israel along with the Jews; and that they would do it in the certain knowledge of bringing annihilation upon Iran itself. For Israel, unlike Iran, is known to have a large nuclear arsenal and the ability to launch a nuclear attack. It is a projection of fantasy not of policy to suppose the United States has a duty to join or support an Israeli attack on Iran. Yet not one word has thus far been spoken by anyone around the president to counteract the fantasy.

[Frau Steingehirn]

Needless to say, I prefer an umlaut even if TypePad again refuses to allow them in my comment box. Pfui!

[narciso the harpoon]

I imagine Serge you argue for this path, is because you want them to take out 'two birds with one stone, if Iran gets the bomb, more
than a few other countries will get, and there
will be an eventual nuclear exchange, that will take out Israel, but will likely devastate the region in general

[narciso the harpoon]

Very hard to do accent mark or that little
symbol over the n, 'dieresis'common to certain spanish words

[Melinda Romanoff]

narciso-

"tilde" ~

[Jack is Back!]

Anduril,

Send that photo of the fur trimmed shower curtain to Michelle Antoinette. She may want to have the WH contact Ms. Starr and order one bespoke for her (t)highness:)

[narciso the harpoon]

Right but do you do actually do it on the computer

[Pagar]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~On my Acer Aspire 5517 it is the shift and first key in the number row. but I don't know how you get it over the n~

[Captain Hate]

The denizens of the poverty industry do live, don't they?

Who knew do-gooding could be so lucrative?

[hit and run]

Füñémplôÿméñt

[Clarice]

I did. The amount of $$$$ piled up in untaxed
charitable" operations is in the billions and billions. It is largely unmonitored and mostly in the hands of left wing administrators after the founders of these trusts died and their children passed on or couldn't sustain the effort to oversee the disbursement of these funds.

[hit and run]

Wait. That didn't get it all. Take two...

Ḟüñéṁpļôÿṁéñţ

[Clarice]

How in the world, hit?

By the way I just recently noticed your post on the NYC voters' views of the mosque--Wish I had seen it earlier.

[narciso the harpoon]

That's looks some obscure Turkish government
agency, from my reading of Pamuk

[narciso the harpoon]

Rutten has a truly verklempt column that surfaced like Jaw's shark fin, in our local paper

[narciso the harpoon]

It was from last week, but it earns him honorary status in the Journolist

[hit and run]

From the wording of that http://www.siena.edu/pages/179.asp?item=2752>Siena poll . . . it's not just NYC residents,but all New Yorkers.

[narciso the harpoon]

"And Now for Something Completely Different"
in the LUN

[Pagar]

Clarice, If you still have room on next week's government insanity "Pieces"
I believe this LUN qualifies:

'York reports that the DOJ ridiculously made the claim that electronic book readers like Amazon’s Kindle violated the “civil rights” of the blind and so, e-books violate the Americans with Disabilities Act"

[Ranger]

The amount of $$$$ piled up in untaxed
charitable" operations is in the billions and billions. It is largely unmonitored and mostly in the hands of left wing administrators after the founders of these trusts died and their children passed on or couldn't sustain the effort to oversee the disbursement of these funds.

Posted by: Clarice | August 08, 2010 at 03:52 PM

Since the Dems love "comprehensive reform", one of the early items on the Republican agenda should be comprehensive NGO reform, and comprehensive Higher Educaiton reform. I have a feeling the wide spread love of government regulation on the left will quickly dissipate once those who so ardently advocate it for others are forced to live under such regimes themselves.

[Neo]

Social Security has a $7.9 trillion shortfall (up $0.1 trillion from last year), which means the program would require $7.9 trillion in cash—today!—to afford its promises. Alternatively, closing that gap would require payroll taxes to rise immediately and permanently from 12.4 percent of earnings to 14.24 percent. For a worker earning $50,000, that’s a $920 tax increase.

[Clarice]

I saw that, pagar, but I wonder if the real problem isn't the overreaching of the ADA itself.

I think most people thought if meant wheelchair access to public buildings, not, for example, a requirement that schizophrenic workers be kept on the job dealing with the public.

[Publius from Idaho]

"The Colorado Model goes national" by Adam Schrager & Rob Witwer in The Weekly Standard LUN

In 2004, Colorado Republicans held the governor's mansion, both U.S. Senate seats, five of seven congressional seats, and both houses of the legistature. After the 2008 election, the opposite was true.

Even taking into acount political and demographic trends, there can be no doubt the Colorado Model intensified the state's shift from red to blue. Seth Masket, a professor of political science at the University of Denver, recently calculated that in the 2004 and 2006 elections Democratic legislative candidates supported by left-leawning nonprofits enjoyed a 4 percentage point bump in their final vote tallies--enough to swing close seats.

In Masket's view, the Colorado Model's significance is more that tactical; it protends a major change in the way politics is practiced. "This new model of campaign activity may in fact represent a new form of political party," Masket writes. "It is a form that has arisen as an unexpected consequence of campaign finance reforms; with parties limited in their ability to directly fund campaigns, party actors have developed innovative ways of using campaign resources to aid preferred candidates."

Progressives hope extensive opposition research conducted over the past 12 months will offset some of the strom headwinds Democrats face in 2010. "Ultimately the commodity we're dealing with is political power," says ProgressNow founder and CEO Michael Huttner. "It's all about building political power at the state level. We're trying to replicate our model in every state."

But ProgressNow is just the tip of the iceberg. Under the auspices of a group called the Democracy Alliance, progressives are stitching together dozens of left-leaning nonprofits into a cohesive, tightly controlled national network.

The Democracy Alliance is an association of more than 100 donors who havae agreed to pool thier resources in furtherance of waht they call "progressive philanthropy." Its members are among the wealthiest and most powerful people in the country. According to Matthew Vadum of the Capital Research Center, the list includes financiers George Soros and Steven Gluckstern, Hollywood personalities Rob Reiner and Norman Lear, Taco Bell heir Rob McKay, SEIU secretary-treasurer Anna Burger, Progressive Insurance founder Peter Lewis, Families USA founder Tim Gill, and medical device heiress Pat Stryker.

I hate long posts, but thought this article appropriate to this discussion.

[Publius from Idaho]

Sorry, I forgot to include the link. I hate it when that happens.

Take Two. LUN

[Publius from Idaho]

Take Three. My fingers go numb when I panic. LUN

[Clarice]

That's the more obvious impact, publius. Then there are the foundations like Ford, Rockefeller, Packard, Pew which though grants support academics who share their view, support publictions and others who will shape and promote the agenda.

[Pagar]

Clarice, I'm not sure I'm following some thing. The article is talking about not putting college textbooks on Kindle because some students can't use Kindle. The fact that buildings are required to have wheelchair access is different IMO, because a person who does not use a wheelchair is not restricted from using the building. If college textbooks can not be put on Kindle, everyone is restricted from using Kindle for text books.

Another thing that Kindle type textbooks would do in the lower grades especially is to stop some of these insane weights kids are putting in backpacks or rolled bookbags.
We have neices and nephews that have bookbags that probably weigh more than the kid does.

[Clarice]

Think back to the campaign finance reform push. As I recall Pew funded the skewed polling which indicated people wanted it; paid the writers who promoted it and did all that under the radar so that only after it passed was its role known. IIRC some of McCain's staff was even working for Pew at one point through some grants or something like that.

Of course, in the end the law enhanced Pew's power to influence even mroe elections and political issues..

[Army of Davids]

Democrat policies.... 3 minimum wage increases have been brutal to African American male teens.

Many Tea Party people care about inner city Americans contrary to media stereotypes.

This is a long term problem that is simply not getting the media coverage. Access to the workforce at an early age is vital for long term prosperity. And African American male teens are being brutalized by this policy.

[Clarice]

pagar, I'm saying that the Americans with Disabilities Act is so broad it, not the DoJ, may be the reason for the kindle ruling absurd as that seems.

[Pagar]

OK, I understand, and if I can remember, I hope never to mention it again. I don't imagine I have ever read more than a summary at most of the ADA, but I don't recall any other action that totally prevents millions of people from benefits of a product because a few can't get any benefit from it.

How long before they take away the Kindles from non students because there are older people who are blind and can't use them?

[narciso the harpoon]

Like with the Clean Air Act, or even with the way that the Civil Rights Act has been interpreted, one has to suspect a certain agenda; but such skepticism is only reserved
for the Patriot Act

[MarkO]

I have been conducting a little thought experiment about health care. I would be interested in your responses.

I ask those I know who support, adore, abide, or merely accept Obama just how they would like to have GWB or Newt handle their personal health care. The responses are wonderful. I suppose they just never thought of it.

[andycanuck]

In Krugman's case, it should be a lice comb.

[Danube of Thought]

How about the RICO statute, whose target was organized crime?

I was taught securities law by a guy named Louis Loss, who among other things had written SEC Rule 10b5, prohibiting fraudulent transactions. He said it was intended to be a rule upon which the SEC, and the SEC alone, could file suit against wrongdoers, and that it was never contemplated that it could be used by private plaintiffs. Since at least as early as 1970 it has been the cornerstone of just about every plaintiffs' class-action securities lawsuit, and was used as a very lethal strike weapon against Silicon Valley companies by the now-convicted felon Bill Lerach.

[Jane]

that electronic book readers like Amazon’s Kindle violated the “civil rights” of the blind and so, e-books violate the Americans with Disabilities Act"

Free IPODs for the blind!

[Clarice]

The odd thing about the charitable foundations was that they were permitted to form during the depression, the idea in Congress being that they could provide through charity the necessary services which the government could not afford to fund. Now that money--tax free and building up rapidly generation after generation--is used to fund a host of anti-American operation like the Ford Durban fiasco just before 9/11 which trained third worlders to hate the US and Israel.

No one seems inclined to stop this. My all back plan is to lead the rich into wasting their excess lucre on yachts, liquor,and women--whatever will not last terribly long.

[Dodler]

It's.........this poor adopted Obama man, I mean women..........

[mockmook]

My fall back plan is to lead the rich into wasting their excess lucre on yachts, liquor,and women...

Sexist!!!! How 'bout the rich women waste some lucre on us men (guess they are all lesbians)... ;)

[Jack is Back!]

ADA aside, I am buying my son a Kindle so he can read to his heart's content kid's books much cheaper than I can buy them at B&N. My kindle is on its 46th book since my wife gave it to me for Christmas. But its lousy with older books, non-fiction with the photos, illustrations and maps. I have to make do for my bibliographic research with a library of stale, leathery, warped and ancient from Gutenberg but when it comes to Johnny time, nothing beats a Kindle. Thank you, Mr. Bezo.

[bgates]

they could provide through charity the necessary services which the government could not afford to fund. Now that money--tax free and building up rapidly generation after generation--is used to fund a host of anti-American operation like the Ford Durban fiasco

Obviously the time for such things has passed - the government can easily afford any number of such anti-American projects. (Hey, the victory mosque is shovel-ready, right?)

[rse]

In education, first they recruit the foundations or centimillionaires "wanting to give back".

Then they point out that their donations will not go far if they try to create their own lobbying efforts,

Then they point out that there are already nonprofits with a DC presence whose rhetoric and policy materials state good goals.

Next thing you know the aspiring philanthropist is sending their money to yet another huge non-profit being directed by the Gates Foundation.

Clarice-Have you looked much into the Philanthropy Roundtable?

[hit and run]

I'm thinking of doing a youtube video with images from Michelle's Spain vacation superimposed with Obama audio saying,"I do think at a certain point you've made enough money".

Alas,I am on my work laptop which does not have video editing software,and hit and run jr is on our home laptop with such software.

He's building online plans for lego creations (Lego Star Wars at the moment).

I think I'll leave him be.

[Pagar]

Sounds a little like JOM!
"America Speaking Out

Anyone tried it yet?

[Chubby]

I watched the Flim Flam Man on YouTube this afternoon and it was funny ... unlike the political and economic flim flams taking place in real life.

Clarice, you did an excellent job connecting all the week's various flim flams! I enjoyed reading "From Cordoba to Marbella" and once again appreciated your talent for combining the big picture with the cogent details (many of which I did not know before).

[Chubby]

Pagar, if the lefties attack Kindle, maybe Jeff Bezos will rethink donating so much to Democrats in future?

http://www.newsmeat.com/billionaire_political_donations/Jeff_Bezos.php

Ah well, we can dream.

[Old Lurker]

Don't worry, Neo (5:25).

As soon as Simpson-Bowles report out their VAT and other debt fixes, SS payments to those above poverty levels will become means tested...so bye-bye.

I just turned 62 and will immediately ask for my benefits to see how long they come...

[doc]

Walter Mondale listed The Flim Flam Man as his favorite movie during the 1984 campaign. I thought this showed refreshing honesty on his part.

[Rob Crawford]

The article is talking about not putting college textbooks on Kindle because some students can't use Kindle.

This policy brought to you by Diana Moon Glampers.

[hit and run]

OL:
I just turned 62

Happy Birthday OL!

The List is very disappointed,however,to just be finding about this now.

[Neo]

Markey: Deniers of global warming should 'start their own country'

He said it was "unclear how many giant blocks of ice it will take to break the block of Republican climate deniers in the US Senate who continue hold this critical clean energy and climate legislation hostage."

[Pagar]

Something I did not know about Kindle.

[JM Hanes]

Clarice:

Prepare for an Instalanche! Glenn Reynolds just linked to your Cordoba to Marbella Pieces. That's sure to be happening more and more frequently!

[sbw]

Instalanche for Clarice!

[Janet]

Happy Birthday Old Lurker!!

and Clarice gets an Instalaunch with Clarice's Pieces!

[Danube of Thought]

"wasting their excess lucre on yachts, liquor,and women..."

Well here I sit, wasting away. Hell of a shame.

[Ignatz]

--Deniers of global warming should 'start their own country'--

That's a good suggestion on Ed's part, but where are he and his ilk going to live, cause if we start our own, I'm pretty sure we're starting it right here.
Heller says we can.

[sbw]

Typhus pad is lagging.

[sbw]

I just posted "Instalanche for Clarice!"

[sbw]

So now it appears. Sigh.

[Chubby]

hmmmmm LUN

good song too ..

Hands off the man, the flim flam man.
His mind is up his sleeve and his talk is make believe.
Oh lord, the man's a fraud, he's the flim flam man.
He's so cagey, he's a flim flam man.

Hands off the man, flim flam man.
He's the one in the Trojan horse making out like he's Santa Claus.
Oh lord, the man's a fraud, he's a flim flam man.
He's a fox, he's a flim flam man.

...

[Clarice]

Happy Birthday,OL.

Thanks guys! I was entertaining guests and when I returned to my computer I got an email telling me of the instalaunch..Yahoo!