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osewalrus' LiveJournal:
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| Friday, July 10th, 2009 | | 7:02 pm |
| | 11:23 am |
| | 10:45 am |
| | 10:36 am |
Link Harvest: Krugman Raises the Political Problem of Admitting Mistakes
Krugman's Op Ed here is mostly about whether we need another stimulus. But he touches on the more difficult problem of modern politics -- changing course. Nothing better highlights to problem for the politician wise enough to change course in the face of real world data than Obama's press conference where he increased the heat on Iran. The glee with which some reporters pounced ("What took you so long" is a direct quote) shows the mentality of the modern press. Even those who are not branding themselves as your detractors are happier if they can nail you. Hence Karl Rove's political advice to never apologize and never admit to a course correction. Over time, of course, this policy became equally ridiculous. In a world where "That which is sealed with the ring of the king may not be recalled," we inevitably run into the problem that the leaders of the country setting policy are human beings. If they cannot admit error and correct course, we will inevitably end up further down the wrong track. Which brings us back to Obama and a news media consumed with treating political discourse like a spots game, in which one team will always win or lose by the latest move. To compound our problem, the news media has also generated an atmosphere of permanent election -- or am I the only one who finds it ridiculous we are debating the possible candidates for 2012? On days like this, I wonder if it would not be such a terrible thing, in the short term, for the news media to die as they keep threatening to do. More seriously, we need a hardier breed of politicians, capable of ignoring the instapolls and chattering classes and thus holidng a steady course, but not so tone deaf to the realities of politics that they cannot change course at need. | | 10:23 am |
Google and the Paradox of Size
Google's announcement that it is developing a Chrome OS has raised the intriguing paradox of size in the marketpower analysis. On the one hand, only a company as large as MS, with a core base not impacted by MS' market power, could hope to challenge MS dominance in the OS market. OTOH, the threat of Google leveraging and expanding its marketpower into yet another critical infrastructure market is not exactly encouraging. Or, in the words of Opus the Penguin from Night of the Mary Kay Commandos: "Ah, rescued from sadists by terrorists. Kind of a dream come true, ya know?" | | 9:16 am |
| | Thursday, July 9th, 2009 | | 1:15 pm |
| | 1:07 pm |
| | 8:49 am |
The Real Double Standards
My friend Jen Pozner of Wimn in Media wrote this piece on sexism in the media on the coverage of Palin. Pozner is a progressive who dislikes Palin's politics (which comes through in the piece) but this does not stop her from objecting to the way in which the punditry and others have made distinctly sexist attacks on Palin by focusing on her good looks and speculating that her "whacky" behavior is due to post-partum depression. I'm a little less certain that sexism is the double standard here. Consider the delightful media coverage of Obama in a swimsuit and the tittering admiration from talking heads of both sexes that followed about his "washboard abs." Was the highly popular "Obama Girl" video of last year any less offensive in this regard than Republican pundits celebrating Sarah Palin's "hotness?" And has analysis of Obama's, or any other politician for that matter, been any less surface and dismissive? Mind you, the case against a sexist double standard is not so open and shut. Traditionally, a women is sexy or smart and combining both is too much of a good thing and threatening, whereas, traditionally, a man can be both handsome and smart. But even this stereotype has eroded over time. Now our cultural ideals are all pretty people all the time, a blandness and attraction to surfaces and shiny objects reflected by the immaculately groomed very pretty talking heads that dominate our political discourse. We certainly have a host of double standards in the news and in the media these days. We begin with "my party/person is wonderful and yours is out to destroy the country" and move on to "You must give me the benefit of the doubt for whatever dumb-ass or hateful thing I say/I can be as sensitive as I want about what you say." And of course, the most common of all "lets only cover pretty people and talk about surface crap." As Fourth Estate Barbie & Ken would say: "News is hard, lets do commentary!" I don't doubt sexism is in there as well, but our modern media double standards have truly gone equal opportunity. There is nothing and no one that cannot be trivialized by the 24-hour news cycle. | | Wednesday, July 8th, 2009 | | 9:06 pm |
| | 7:06 am |
My Latest 5 Minutes: The Newspapers' Lame Blame Game
I propose the radical notion that not only is changing the copyright law to preserve existing newspapers a bad idea, it doesn't address the problem and won't work. The New York Times needs to get with the times and get over themselves. Of note, Tribune, the bankrupt newspaper/TV chain, continues to have a profit margin of 8%. That's right, they are making money. Just a heck of a lot less than they used to and not nearly enough to service their debt. And, for amusing contrast, Jason Jones' report on traditional newspapers. They have better production values. | | Tuesday, July 7th, 2009 | | 9:13 pm |
| | 5:19 pm |
Are We Spending The Stimulus Fast Enough? Yes.
As I anticipated some months back, people are impatient about getting the stimulus money into play. This NYT piece on how France has spent 70% of its stimulus money catches the current meme -- especially with the job market in such lousy shape. As I wrote back when the stimulus passed, the stimulus bill is trying to do two things. One is inject money into the economy, the other is to fundamentally change the economy. As a result, we have a slow release of money over time rather than a massive dump of work projects. The first stage of the money spigot was extending unemployment benefits and passing money to states for traditional construction project type things. There was also the usual larding of useless tax breaks, which people keep insisting gives money in the economy right away and I keep pointing out are pretty damn useless given that most corporations aren't paying taxes given how the tax code works, so the impact on behavior is minimal. The second stage was standard construction type projects and what most people think of as traditional New Deal stuff. The third and most critical phase is where we are now. the innovative programs around smart grid, BB stimulus, transportation, education, and healthcare are finally starting to come online. these are projects that will not just create an infusion of short term jobs, but can fundamentally alter how we do business -- which is critical to our national survival as an economic power. We cannot continue relying on a combination of consumer spending and financial market tricks to push us forward. But the economy right now is 2/3 consumer spending. That has to change or we will quickly be right back where we started from. Mind you, I think the Administration has screwed up the recovery in a number of ways, but they are largely in the refusal of Congress and the Treasury to take on the mortgage crisis and the financial sector. Without cram down and real mortgage relief, bad paper remains an anchor on the financial system and real estate values continue to decline. Nor do people spend money and engage in productive economic activity when they feel buried in credit card debt or have an underwater mortgage hovering above their head. At some point, the delicacy toward the financial sector must give way or we will all go under. | | 4:36 pm |
| | 4:13 pm |
| | 4:04 pm |
| | 2:04 pm |
| | 11:30 am |
| | 10:42 am |
Sam The Eagle Sets Us Straight About Online Video
Drags a little at the end, as I would have loved to have seen more from Animal. But loads of fun -- especially for those of us who remember the original as a major part of childhood. It's not quite Schoolhouse Rock . . . . | | Monday, July 6th, 2009 | | 11:00 pm |
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