Ian Welsh

Friday evening, at the virtual Netroots Nation, Stirling Newberry, assisted by myself and Jay Ackroyd, talked about the economy, mostly in very very big picture terms. We sepnt a lot of time on the energy basis of the economy, how money actually works, how you shift the monetary and energy basis of an economy and what happens if you don't or if you do it badly.

Guns or butter. It's the eternal public policy question and Bush answered it "GUNS!" Rob Simpson, however, has asked what the US could have had for 1 trillion dollars if it hadn't spent it on war. Some of his answers are sad, some are tragic, others are comic. But they all put into perspective that was lost wasn't just lives, it was opportunity.

The only nation that can destroy America is America, and never let it be said Americans don't have a can-do attitude.

Margolis, see, has this problem. He's been everywhere, he knows everyone and he gets most things right. When he doesn't, you can understand his reasoning, because he lays it out, including the facts he's operating from. He certainly called Iraq right, he called the outlines of the Afghan war right and he's just generally been kicking ass and taking names for years now. So, of course, since he gets things right, you barely every get to read him.

So I'll suggest that the problem isn't partisanship, the problem is that there isn't enough partisanship. A hundred more fire breathing liberal Democrats in 2001 and the US wouldn't be nearly as much in debt, wouldn't be in Iraq, wouldn't still be torturing people and probably still wouldn't have George Bush as president.

Is anyone surprised that Fannie and Freddie are being bailed out in such a way as to harm as few fat cats as possible?

What happens if there's a class war and only one side bothers to show up and fight it? That's what happened over the last thirty years. There was a class war, and the rich won. Period. It's over.

I loves me some Gretchen Morgenson. She's one of the few folks who have been paying attention for the last few years, and constantly pointing out "you know, I do believe that the financial sector may be without proper attire. Indeed, it might just be that the sod is 3 sheets to the wind, buck naked and running down Wall Street screaming "money, money, money! Give it all to me! To me. It's all mine! Ahahahahaaha!"".

The blood tide is just starting to wash in, and this corpse will soon be joined by many others.

This is the way disaster works in the modern day. Some DFH says "perhaps a land war in Asia against a country that has never attacked the US and presents no threat might work out badly." Responsible people reply "You Damn Fucking Hippies. You were right about Vietnam and we've never, ever forgiven you. So we're going to cut off our nose just to spite your face."