wow. if growing up in a single-parent household, working your way up into the senate, and speaking with farmers about the crops they grow makes you an elitist, imagine what being born into an admiral's family, marrying into a beer distribution empire with its own private plane, wearing $500 loafers, and owning 10 homes, make you..

Posted at August 21, 2008 2:32 PM in response to McCain Camp Responds On Houses Gaffe: He Was A POW!

OK...false start

remember everyone, obama needs to maintain a certain jackie robinson coolness and high-mindedness. the last thing he needs is an 'angry black man' thing starting up among the chattering class.

i actually think the best response for something like this is something that throws the angry curmudgeon thing onto mccain while pointing out his hypocrisy and hopelessness

how's this for a try...
"john mccain is becoming more and more angry. what i find it puzzling the reason he is so angry isn't the because his party and presidnet have driven this country into a ditch but the fact that i'm offering americans the opportuntiy to work together to get out of it."

Posted at July 30, 2008 4:12 PM in response to Obama On Britney Spot: "I Don't Pay Attention To John McCain's Ads"

ANGRY MCCAIN

Posted at July 30, 2008 3:59 PM in response to Obama On Britney Spot: "I Don't Pay Attention To John McCain's Ads"

in no particular order:

1. a stable urban footprint that looks to densify to accommodate the population
2. environmental restoration on the scale of a massive public works program
3. a commitment to broad cultural and artistic education and free schooling
4. living wages and labor rights for all and another great compression of incomes
5. local food systems integrating vibrant rural communities with urban populations
6. a society of joy
7. open travel between all nations
8. true transportation options with HSR, bicycles, and functioning local transit
9. no more homelessness
10. a government we can believe in

Posted at May 30, 2008 1:23 PM in response to Dreams from the Left: The Shape of Things to Come

i would have very much enjoyed BO giving FOX a rhetorical whipping, but our side occassionally seems as if it doesn't know how to modulate tone and only knows the most aggressive posture imaginable.

BO had as much to gain by going into the lion's den of republican propaganda and coming out unscathed as FOX had to lose by being thoroughly whooped like BC did during the whole Path to 9/11 non-sense. lets remember that the "take 'em on" talk came out before the interview and likely shaped the tone of the interview - sort of a heidelberg effect.

the question is how this will shape their ongoing coverage>

Posted at April 27, 2008 10:41 AM in response to Obama Doesn't "Take Fox On," After All

a strategic response would be to put in an amendment making an employer's interference in a 'secret ballot' election a criminal offense and give the union unfettered access to the employees for the campaign - basically level the playing field for workers trying to organize. seeing the bosses reject real fairness in the process would lay their argument bare

Posted at April 25, 2008 12:24 AM in response to Employer Anti-Union Advertising Campaign Twists the Truth

its actually frustrating to read this post and the comments it spawned and run into only one person who actually appears to link the development of a new energy infrastructure with the rebuilding of our transportation systems and - ostensibly by extension - our land use patterns.

moreover, something not stated by anyone is the vast sea of humanity that is living in abject poverty in global slums that could be a natural target for new decentralized low cost new energy that will not generate demand for coal.

its very possible to combine the REALITY of environmental limits with the rhetoric & politics of human ingenuity. keeping these two items as some sort of opposing methods makes this entire debate a silly little cartoon that avoids the reality of what needs to be done today as well as tomorrow.

Posted at October 8, 2007 3:06 PM in response to American Power: The Case for an Energetic New Progressive Politics

why are the dems acting so weak?

well once reason is because they think they've essentially won the presidential election and now don't want to lose it.

its football analogue is called the "prevent defense."

unfortunately for the dems, those of us who've watched enough football also know that commentators often say that the only thing a prevent defense does is prevent you from winning.

Posted at September 22, 2007 9:16 PM in response to Why Are Senate Dems Afraid of a Real Filibuster But Not Afraid to Condemn Move-On

don't underestimate the power of disclosure in the short term. i get some of the responsibility in modeling the costs of our union's multi-employer health care trust fund so i've had the displeasure of sitting with the fund's administrators to kvetch about costs

one of the big pains in the ass is that the hospitals and insurers who we buy coverage from consistently jack us around on pricing and don't really give us a way to compare costs and quality. full disclosure may not be so important for individual health care decisions but it will allow the big purchasers to shop around and structure coverage in a way to at least hold costs down.

while this is really something that only has relevance in the existing market structure, the power of information should not be underestimated.

aml

Posted at August 9, 2007 9:45 AM in response to Universal Access to Affordable Care: A Declaration of Health - Step One

prof. krugman,

i actually don't think there is dispute that neo-classical economics incorporates ideas of market failure or that it can be used to critique "red in tooth and claw capitalism." the main point of the article, and indeed the comments of the distinguished guest bloggers is that the "neo-classical mafia" systematically excludes and marginalizes alternative approaches that challenge its fundamental assumptions.

please share with us your thoughts on the article's thesis.

thanks

Posted at May 30, 2007 1:02 PM in response to Heterodox Errors