73%

see, i told you.

Who are you going to listen to?

The debate on the causes, nature and solutions to our economic woes has been ongoing for years, and one side is is plainly wrong. Its not long term government debt projections that we need to worry about, or inflation, or the god damned stupid debt ceiling. Its low aggregate demand and high unemployment, private household debt and deficient federal revenue. This is plain as day to anyone smart who's looking at the data with an unbiased eye and a clear understanding of economics. I am not one of those people, but I know who they are and i know how to listen to the smart people making the logical arguments supported by the data. So lets take a look at 3 people and what they're saying:
1) Bill Gross, probably the most famous and one of the most successful bond investors in the world

2) Warren Buffet, probably the most famous and one of the most successful businessmen in the world and

3) Joseph Stiglitz, nobel prize winner and one of the most famous economists in the world

Gross - "Fiscally, however, an anti-Keynesian, budget-balancing immediacy imparts a constrictive noose around whatever demand remains alive and kicking. Washington hassles over debt ceilings instead of job creation in the mistaken belief that a balanced budget will produce a balanced economy. It will not.

The president and Congress must recognize that an AA-plus country, to remain AA-plus, must focus on growth, not debt reduction, in the short term. We have a debt problem — but primarily a crisis of aggregate demand. A 21st-century Keynes would have recognized this and sounded the alarm, pointing out that policymakers from a fiscal perspective are pointing us toward recession and the destructive 1930s instead of a low-growth but still breathing U.S. economy of the 21st century."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/americas-debt-is-not-its-biggest-problem/2011/08/10/gIQAgYvE7I_story.html

Buffet - " We raised the debt ceiling seven times during the Bush Administration," Buffett told CNBC on Thursday. Now, the Republican-controlled Congress is "trying to use the incentive now that we're going to blow your brains out, America, in terms of your debt worthiness over time....We had debt at 120 percent of the GDP, far higher than this, after World War II and no one went around threatening that we're going to ruin the credit of the United States or something in order to get a better balance of debt to GDP"..... We shouldn't be playing Russian Roulette with the debt ceiling....I would go after the very rich.....Removing stimulus too fast could be a negative

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2011/07/07/137684470/warren-buffett-playing-russian-roulette-with-debt-ceiling-is-silly

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/07/warren-buffett-debt-ceiling_n_892332.html

Stiglitz - "austerity is not only a recipe for pain now, but for more pain in years to come." And we should 1) repeal Bush tax cuts for the rich 2) End the wars 3) Use further stimulus including poublic works programs and 4) reform medicare part d to allow the government to negotiate drug prices.

http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/daily-ticker/joseph-stiglitz-simple-4-step-plan-solving-america-120134116.html;_ylt=ApgO0_piB5btWZ4ROVmAPoC7YWsA;_ylu=X3oDMTE2YTVyYTF1BHBvcwMxMgRzZWMDdG9wU3RvcmllcwRzbGsDam9zZXBoc3RpZ2xp?sec=topStories&pos=9&asset=&ccode=

So to all the tea partiers, the republican congress and the various and sundry republican presidential cadidates, I'll stick with these guys for advice, thanks. You can stick to looking for Obama's birth certificate and fighting against the myths of evolution and global warming.

Fuck the New Jersey DMV

So here's my New Jersey rant. About a year ago, I got pulled over for being on my cell phone. OK, you got me. Reasonable law, fine me, whatever.

But lo and behold, my driver's license is suspended. "Why is your license suspended?", asks the police officer.

"Why IS my license suspended?" asks the francis.

Turns out, a parking ticket i forgot to pay. So now I get hit with a big old driving on a suspended license ticket, plus the cell ticket and I can't drive home. I'm lucky the cop didn't arrest me, which he could have. For a parking ticket.

So i go to court, pay a butt load of money and get it all taken care of. So last week, I get pulled over for no reason. Ask the cop why and he says "I ran your plates and your drivers license is suspended. Why is that?". Well, long story short, turns out when my license was suspended the first time and I got pulled over, the DMV automatically charges an insurance surcharge of 250 bucks. They don't tell you that in court and I never got a notice in the mail. So my license was suspended again. And I had to pay 350 for that, and go to court next week with a max penalty of 750 + 10 days in jail or something crazy + resuspending my license again. FUCK NJ.

The sad plight of Rick Santorum

Stephen Colbert points out that Rick Santorum is still being dogged by the Dan Savage designed affiliation of his last name, Santorum, with the frothy mixture of lube and feces created during anal sex. Now, whenever anyone googles santorum, that's what comes up. And just by posting about it and adding another link to that definition, i've contributed to the problem. poor guy.

http://www.spreadingsantorum.com/

All debtors are not created equal

Why should the government be spending more to fix the economy despite the increase in government debt? Paul Krugman explains it nicely. http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/10/25/sam-janet-and-fiscal-policy/#more-13811

For my pot loving and/or nmeeding friends in Cali

http://motherjones.com/politics/2010/10/california-medical-marijuana-pot-card

I needn't have worried. Soon enough, I found Price-Less Evaluations, "the most trusted medical marijuana evaluation center in San Francisco," whose site features a photo of a model in a lab coat and a coupon for a "420 special" (good for a $20 discount on April 20, 2011). Many California pot doctors will ask patients to bring in medical records that prove that their problems are legit (though they don't always check them). But the woman who answered the Price-Less 24-hour info line assured me that despite my lack of documentation, "the doctor can just evaluate you, and he'll decide whether you qualify or not."
.,.....
The receptionist led me back into a hallway, where I saw a stooped, white-haired man in a rumpled pullover—the doctor. "Come on in," he mumbled. I stepped into an office and sat down at the edge of his desk. "So, can cannabis help you in some ways?" he asked, pen poised over a recommendation form. "I think so, yeah," I replied, trying to sound confident.
"So how does it help you?" he asked as the ink dried. "Well," I offered, "I have periodic pain from typing a lot, and in my lower back, and it could help me with that." He smiled. "Good. It's signed right there." The entire conversation had taken less than 90 seconds.

Vagina Coast Guard

out of laziness i steal content

From Krugman:

What’s striking about the you’re-so-ignorant critics, however, is their tendency to get all confused about very basic things – to insist that the savings-investment identity somehow implies that government spending can’t increase demand, that the Euler condition is somehow a causal relationship implying that low interest rates cause deflation, that Ricardian equivalence means that even a temporary rise in government spending will be fully offset by reduced consumption.

I believe that what we’re looking at is people who know their math, but don’t know what it means: they can grind through the equations of their models, but don’t have any feel for what the equations really imply.

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/10/04/math-models-and-mystification/

Tyler Cowen, another supply sider with tired talking points

So via Kevin Drum I saw this post by Chicago School economist Tyler Cowen:

Yet Keynesian theory has a no less serious problem, namely that workers take a "stupid voluntary vacation" during the downturn, due to their stubbornness on nominal wage cuts......Aggregate demand macroeconomics works in many cases and it almost always "works" (predicts well) when the macro forces are pointed toward destructive ends.  We are not sure why it works at all, or if it always works, and yet we see a great fervor of belief in it and a demonization of those who are skeptics.

steny hoyer is a fucking moron

that is all.