Tag Archives | Democrat

Will Obama move to the left?

By on February 26, 2012 in General Discussion, Politics

Not too long ago The New Yorker magazine ran a piece which covered released memos from the Obama administration. The picture which is drawn from these is of a president who came to Washington determined to end partisan politics. After the Republicans he came to compromise with made a hard turn to the right Obama’s [...]

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Krugman in action

By on February 17, 2012 in General Discussion, Human Behavior, Politics

Arkady is on record saying that Paul Krugman is his favorite pundit (or at least social commentator). Leroy also likes Krugman and tows the Krugman line on stimulus and monetary easing (that if anything Obama didn’t spend enough on his stimulus and Bernanke’s ZIRP has been good medicine for what ails the economy). I am [...]

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A sociological artifact.

By on January 30, 2012 in General Discussion, Human Behavior, Politics

I was reading a piece from a book called New York Stories, which is a collection of essays from New York magazine from the past 40 years. I found this one quite interesting. It deals with rising anger amongst the white working class of New York in 1969, a lot of the points dealt with are regional, [...]

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A Tale of 14 Presidents

By on January 27, 2012 in Economics, General Discussion, Politics

These two websites give you a good idea of whether Democrats or Republicans are better for the economy and how the current economic situation stacks up against previous post-War recessions. www.economyinperspective.com/gdp http://alineofsight.com/_blog/Blogs/post/Percent_Job_Loss_in_Eleven_Recessions_since_World_War_II In the second, you might as well ignore the blatherings of the former right-wing Republican Congressperson and just consider the chart (from Chart of [...]

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The Monster in the Oval Office

By on January 24, 2012 in General Discussion, Human Behavior, Politics

I want to like Barack Obama.  Really I do — if only because the realistic alternatives are so horrible.  But he does more than any figure I can think of to make me focus on the term “evil” in the cliche “the lesser of two evils.”  He is a terrible human being — among the [...]

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The making of a good president.

By on January 13, 2012 in General Discussion, Human Behavior, Politics

David Brooks has a recent New York Times column called “The CEO in Politics,” which looks at the question of whether (as Mitt Romney would have us believe) a business background makes for a good president.  That line of argument doesn’t actually end up being terribly interesting in the column — Brooks rightly accepts that [...]

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They should rotate the caucuses/primaries.

By on December 30, 2011 in General Discussion, Politics

The federal goverment should set a system by which the caucuses and primaries rotate. The reason being that the early ones are refreshing. It is good to see people who want to hold one of the most importnat jobs in the world going to cafes to talk to locals, it is what democracy should be [...]

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A tale of two politicians.

By on December 29, 2011 in General Discussion, Politics

The NYTimes has a piece about how Obama has kept distance between himself and the political scene in Washington and how it has hurt his ability to pass legislation. I personally find this interesting since in New York we are dealing with the exact opposite situation as regards our governor Andrew Cuomo. Albany, (the state capital), has long [...]

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Has political discussion changed?

By on December 8, 2011 in General Discussion, Human Behavior, Politics

My first childhood memories about politics may have included the knowledge that Eisenhower was the President.  In my family that was a good thing because, Eisenhower was a republican.  What I don’t recall is the level of acrimony that characterizes today’s political discussions.  OK, one grandfather did say some very unflattering things about FDR but [...]

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In the US, the winds of Washington Politics don’t blow, they Suck.

By on November 22, 2011 in Economics, Politics

Gerrymandering the Jobs Bill: “The piece of the jobs bill Republicans will pass would end a requirement that the government withhold three percent of the cost of projects contracted out to private companies, to assure tax compliance. It’s a rule that Congress adopted during the Bush administration to cut down on tax cheating by government [...]

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