Seems like yesterday D.F. Rogers and I were discussing the 50th anniversary.
Category: Politics, Religion & Money
Read my lips…
In ten years, when somebody makes a movie about Mitt Romney’s two terms as President, it will for sure star Jon Hamm.
Where I was when I heard the news
I was in Mrs. Pini’s 3rd grade class at the Winnipauk School in Norwalk, Connecticut.
http://youtu.be/0aBqRB-DsFQ
Back then, this bit of film was all there was, but if this happened today there would HD video from every angle, available worldwide, immediately.
Blowing ownership smoke
On BBC Radio 4 today I heard an American, whose named I didn’t catch, in a panel discussion. He stated, as a matter of fact, that the Wall Street meltdown in 2008 was caused by the government requiring banks to issue subprime mortgages. This is nonsense. Enabling? Yeah, OK, but requiring? No. He’s simply pushing the story that Republicans are using to counter the Occupy Wall Street protests, which have, if nothing else, brought income inequality into the discussion on government taxes and spending. Would increasing the marginal tax rate on the richest Americans by a reasonable percentage lead to Communism, and discourage the next Mark Zuckerberg from pursuing his ambitions? Of course not.
This past week I’ve been hearing, over and over, the laughable assertion that blame for the residential real estate bubble belongs to Barney Frank alone. Was Barney Frank involved? Sure, as I wrote six months ago. Was Frank completely wrong in denying there was a residential real estate bubble? Yes.
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But if any single politician is to blame for pushing mortgages on unqualified borrowers, it’s George Bush, with his “ownership society” initiative.
http://youtu.be/kNqQx7sjoS8
Fresh Air on money and music
Here are a couple of interesting segments from the NPR’s Fresh Air that are well worth hearing. First, Tim Dickinson is interviewed by Terry Gross about his must-read article in Rolling Stone on the history and effect of tax cuts for the rich.
And this puts the musical genre called ‘Hillbilly Boogie’ into historical perspective.
Why I don’t subscribe to the Economist
The Economist, published in England, is supposedly one of the few weekly print magazines that’s making money. I’ve thought about subscribing to it, but I don’t care for its editorial slant. Here’s an example from the October 28 issue.
“Thousands of anti-capitalist protesters” it says. I grant you that some in the Occupy Wall Street crowd are nascent Socialists who feel they have found an outlet, but a blanket statement that they’re all anti-capitalist is an inaccurate and slanted assertion, and that’s why I don’t buy The Economist. I subscribed to Business Week for years, until I got fed up with the puff pieces that offered uncritical praise of sham “job creator” corporations like Enron and Worldcom.
Occupy Wall Street and the Tea Party both believe the big banks should be held accountable for what they did to trash the economy. This is where left and right meet, and I think politicians should take the hint and realize they’re going to get squeezed if they don’t start representing the voters instead of vested financial interests.