Why is the Free Market so Foul?
Conservatives love the free market it theory, but hate it in practice.Conservatives love the free market. That goes without saying. They complain about any government involvement in the economy, any...
View ArticleThe Free Market: Embracing an 18th Century Economic Model
The upcoming Republican debate will feature moderators from the Fox Business Network. That means another lovefest, replete with softball questions and set ups that aid and abet. In preparation, I...
View ArticleThe 15 Hour Work Week
In 1930, in the depths of the worst global economic crisis, John Maynard Keynes predicted that the average work week would only need to be about 15 hours, to produce a satisfactory standard of living....
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Thinking fast and slow...about trade
In previousdiaries, I described the concepts of “loss aversion”, and how this can affect the process of change. Basically, any change in the macroeconomic sense involves “winners” (those who gain...
View ArticleThe Cancer Within Conservatism
Conservatives have experienced remarkable political and economic success over the last thirty years, but despite that success they’re still angry and outraged. In fact they’re madder than ever. It...
View ArticleEconomists discover people don’t behave rationally
“Contrary to our original thinking, I’ve come to believe that people don’t behave like the economic textbooks say they should behave,” wrote Dr. Paul Wingfield, an economist at Cato University. “People...
View ArticleWhere Are the Women in the Equation?
Maybe it takes a Swede. Or a couple of Swedes — like in the walk-away-from-rape case of Brock Turner as determined by Aaron Persky, blasting wide open the hypocritical rape culture embedded in the soul...
View ArticleA long read, but worth it
Leon Wieseltier certainly qualifies as a public intellectual. Currently the Isaiah Berlin senior fellow in culture and policy at the Brookings Institution, he previously spent more than 30 years as...
View ArticleMonthly Bookpost, July 2016
Going Overbard: Fool, by Christopher Moore "It's true, you git! Your mother was a poxy whore!""Beggin' your pardon, sir, but poxiness isn't so bad", said Shanker Mary, shining a ray of optimism on...
View ArticleMorning Digest: Is Rubio avoiding Trump's tentacles in Florida? The picture...
Leading Off:●FL-Sen: Monmouth's new Florida poll is a study in contrasts. At the same time it offers Hillary Clinton some of the gaudiest numbers she's ever seen in the Sunshine State—a 48-39 lead on...
View ArticleMonthly Bookpost, November 2016
Shit Happens: Bellwether, by Connie Willis Mood Rings (1975)--Jewelry fad consisting of a ring set with a large "stone" that was actually a temperature-sensitive liquid crystal/ Mood rings supposedly...
View ArticleJust a Historical Rant
I’d have more respect for anyone who called themselves a conservative if they actually embraced some of the tenets of say Adam Smith. Of course, Adam Smith called himself a liberal and proposed ideas...
View ArticleHouse Democrats threaten to oppose Mattis waiver after Trump team won't let...
Gen. James Mattis, Donald Trump’s pick for defense secretary, was slated to appear before the House Armed Services Committee on Thursday to talk about civilian control of the military. It’s an...
View ArticleGuess just how rich the 8 wealthiest people in the world are?
According to Oxfam, the crater between the wealthiest people in the world and the poorest people in the world has gotten to comically surreal levels. The “eight richest individuals” have as much wealth...
View Article"We can't do nothing," the general said. "Why not?"
"We can't do nothing," the general said. "Why not?"I'm normally not a big fan of Politico's reporting, but they have a fascinating and quite revealing article up on Trump's recent, alarming...
View ArticleNotes on Dodd-Frank reform, by Adam Smith
“...he was wary of businessmen and warned of their "conspiracy against the public or in some other contrivance to raise prices".Again and again, Smith warned of the collusive nature of business...
View ArticleThe only economists who ever created a national economy
A couple months ago, I found online a very useful graphic of the major schools of economic thought. Take a look at it, with this question in mind: Have any of the schools of economic thought shown in...
View ArticleGwen Graham better watch her six
It would appear Gwen Graham had a wonderful time on the Fourth of July, carrying on the family tradition of marching in the Lynn Haven Red, White and Blue Parade.“We are going to celebrate our nation’s...
View ArticleMonday Open Thread; July 17 is the World Day for International Justice
July 17 is the 198th day of the year. There are 167 days left.-Today's number is 17-17 is a prime 17 is the sum of the first four primes (2,3,5,7) 17 is a Fermat Prime 17 is the minimum possible number...
View ArticleHere We Go Again: The Zombie GOP No Healthcare Bill That Refuses To Die
Medicaid expansion is going to be destroyed if Republicans get their way on healthcare. The bottom line is that It will be just one more way Republicans can indulge one of their favorite pastimes,...
View ArticleMUST-WATCH: Congressman Adam Smith sounds alarm about Trump's authoritarian...
The ranking Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, Adam Smith, is not at all enamored with Trump’s plans for a massive military parade through the streets of Washington. Not only does he feel...
View ArticleWA-09 Race: The Rundown
In my home district (WA-09), we have a compelling race. It’s the most watched and most intriguing house race in Washington State that isn’t currently held by a Republican (WA-03, WA-05, WA-08 are all...
View ArticleWhy Yemen War, Why Congressional War Powers, Why Now?
Last Thursday, a group of House Democrats, including Ro Khanna, Adam Smith, Mark Pocan, and Jim McGovern, announced that this month they would introduce legislation invoking the War Powers Resolution...
View ArticleVote AGAINST this Democrat?
First thing to make clear is that this diary is about an election between two Democratic candidates running against only each other in Washington’s 9th congressional district. If you only care how many...
View Article“TAKE DOWN THE RULE!” We’re “scoring” this vote on unconstitutional war in Yemen
Sometime this afternoon, the House is expected to vote on the rule for consideration of H.R. 6784, the “Manage our Wolves Act.” The rule for consideration of H.R. 6784 approved by Paul Ryan’s House...
View ArticleYO MEDIA: How About Not Airing Trump's 'National Security' Propaganda Until...
It's as predictable as the sun rising over lobbyists at Mar-a-Lago. Whenever Donald Trump's anxiety swells his otherwise empty cranium, he lashes out at the press with hollow insults and reckless...
View ArticleWhat I Learned From Knocking On 4,000+ Doors In 2018
Here are some valuable things I learned from my time politic-ing over summer vacation and the Fall months:The Democratic Party is slowly losing African-American voters. Despite the fact that...
View ArticleGays for Trump founder challenges Ocasio-Cortez on U.S. history, but he gets...
Earlier Wednesday Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez schooled an uninformed reality television star on some basic laws of liability. Wednesday afternoon, Rep. Ocasio-Cortez was faced with this bit of...
View ArticleMilitary leaders to face House committee for some very tough border wall...
Today in “Elections have consequences,” two military leaders will face the House Armed Services Committee to answer some real questions about plans for Donald Trump’s border wall.Acting Defense...
View ArticleHouse committee has a firm no for defense secretary's plan to send $1 billion...
Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan is going to have to reckon with House Armed Services Committee Chair Adam Smith before he follows through on taking $1 billion in military funding from the...
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House Armed Services Committee Chairman Adam Smith Denies drumpf His Billion...
House Armed Services Committee Chairman Adam Smith has sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Defense CFO and Comptroller David Norquist a cease and desist letter denying him the ability to assist...
View ArticleEconomics as Cultural Warfare: The Case of Adam Smith
Practical men who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any intellectual influence, are usually the slaves of some defunct economist.—John Maynard KeynesFor over a century now, professional...
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Anti-Capitalist Meetup: The Unbalanced Budget Amendment's Time is Coming
I had the idea recently to dig out my Unbalanced Budget Amendment, to mandate savings during good economic times, tax hikes during bubbles, and Keynesian countercyclical spending on jobs and...
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Anti-Capitalist Meetup: Some thoughts on the so-called "productivity puzzle"
Finally free to write on something besides the sucking black hole that is Brexit, I wanted to write on the other issue that seems to be a point of major hysteria on the part of the media in Britain;...
View ArticleShanahan memo mandating restrictions on Pentagon info to Congress irks...
In an internal May 8 Department of Defense memo that was only sent to selected members of Congress afterThe Washington Post first brought it to light, Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan has laid...
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The Capitalist Argument for Medicare-For-All
The term ‘socialism’ has been carefully crafted throughout decades of American political history as a knockout accusation; effective when the Overton window barely even stretched to accommodate...
View ArticleGood news from Bernie, Avaaz & the Chamber on ending the Saudi regime's...
“Come gather ‘round you workers,Good news to you I'll tellOf how the good old unionHas come in here to dwell.”- Florence Reece, “Which side are you on?”In deference to the Labor Day holiday, I’m only...
View ArticleIf @SenatorMenendez & @ChrisMurphyCT lead, we can end the Yemen war on...
The importance of the leadership of New Jersey Senator Robert Menendez to efforts to end the Saudi war in Yemen on the bill that funds the Pentagon and its contractors [“NDAA”] cannot be overstated. It...
View ArticleNunes likely to undergo House Ethics Committee investigation — but this time...
Per Politico — House Armed Services Committee Chair Adam Smith (D-WA) told Joy Reid on MSNBC yesterday that it was “quite likely, without question,” that Devin Nunes (R-CA), top Republican on the House...
View ArticleIn House hearing on extremism, Republican reveals he's been duped by military...
Most of us don’t think Bill Gates has uploaded Windows Vista into the COVID-19 vaccine, and we won’t give credence to inanities burped out by semi-ambulatory heaps of knob cheese who listen to demon...
View ArticleMusings on political discourse.
Adam Smith’s stated that “The profits of production must be reinvested in increasing production.”I would assume from that that the good A. Smith may have agreed that if the profits of production go...
View ArticleIn their search for ways to attack Biden, Republicans go after...
The Biden administration removed the element of surprise from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine by sharing, ahead of time, the broad strokes of intelligence on Vladimir Putin’s plans, and preparing an...
View ArticleUkraine, The Common Good and Truer Notions of Freedom and Liberty
For you these from me, O Democracy, to serve you ma femme! For you, for you I am trilling these songs. -Walt Whitman, For You O DemocracyThe self-defense of Ukraine is about more than the...
View ArticleVoodoo Economics is Back
On November 16, 2017, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a tax overhaul bill. The U.S. Senate has their own bill. The Senate Finance Committee approved a $1.5 trillion tax overhaul proposal after...
View ArticleMorning Digest: Rep. Colin Allred launches bid to unseat 'all hat, no cattle'...
The Daily Kos Elections Morning Digest is compiled by David Nir, Jeff Singer, and Stephen Wolf, with additional contributions from Daniel Donner, David Jarman, Steve Singiser, James Lambert and David...
View ArticleCapitalism is not Usury
Economics has become the science of wealth consolidation, which is very different from the generation of value. In a nutshell, neoliberalism enshrines the ancient practice of usury (maximizing the...
View Article07/17 is the World Day for International Justice
Today has somehow come to be named World Day for International Justice. Isn't that just too cute for words. I suppose we must start with Hammurabi's code and then plow through all of Plato, etc.We...
View ArticleAdam Smith on the Nature of Wealth
Everything for ourselves, and nothing for other people, seems, in every age of the world, to have been the vile maxim of the masters of mankind. It would be too ridiculous to go about seriously to...
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ACM: On Reproductive Justice, the dangers of Malthusianism, Neo-Malthusianism...
Sometimes you need to return to the past in order to understand some of the issues of the present. There have been several things that have come together recently in terms of social policy and...
View ArticleHow “Market” Nonsense is Killing our Economy and our Democracy
Remember Adam Smith? Modern, right-wing ideologues have perverted his brilliant, path-breaking analysis of economic markets into a fairy tale. All the little farmers sell their apples or oranges in...
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