Monthly Archives: January 2012

Dirtballs face off in Florida

Posted on January 30, 2012 by

Background on Mitt Romney’s “you’re as big a dirtball as I am” line of attack: A recent newspaper story detailed at great length how campaign strategists for Romney and Newt Gingrich are battling to secure a win for the their … Continue reading →

Posted in campaign finance reform, economic collapse, Great Recession, mainstream media, Mitt Romney, Politics, The New Depression, unemployment, Wall Street | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

‘Job creator’ myth debunked

Posted on January 28, 2012 by

NYT reporters don’t seem to have access to the same facts as NYT columnist Paul Krugman, maybe because he doesn’t have an intranet connection to the newsroom. I’m kidding, but who knows? On Friday, Krugman lit into Indiana Gov. Mitch … Continue reading →

Posted in campaign finance reform, economic collapse, globalization, Great Recession, mainstream media, New York Times, The New Depression, unemployment | Tagged , , , , , | 5 Comments

Newt promises the moon

Posted on January 28, 2012 by

Newt Gingrich was in Florida the other day, speaking of plans to build a colony on the moon. This is funny, but cruel. Florida’s economy collapsed when the housing bubble burst. There will be no more housing booms in Florida, … Continue reading →

Posted in arts, economic collapse, humor, pop music | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

A life-affirming little theft

Posted on January 27, 2012 by

Call Jennifer Egan’s A Visit From the Goon Squad a collection of interrelated short stories. Or call it a novel, if you like. The book has won several prestigious awards, so Egan might not care what you call it. She … Continue reading →

Posted in arts, fiction | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Natural-born faux populists

Posted on January 26, 2012 by

Watching Barack Obama’s speech the other night, my mood swung from bemusement to grudging admiration to laugh-out-loud disbelief. I wrote a post yesterday that focused on the president’s innate acting ability. Today, Robert Scheer noted that Obama’s gift is strongly … Continue reading →

Posted in Goldman Sachs, Great Recession, humor, mainstream media, movies, Obama | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Barack Obama, prince of players

Posted on January 26, 2012 by

Listening to Barack Obama’s State of the Union address in 2012 was like listening to his campaign speeches in 2008. Every issue he’d placed in deep freeze during his first three years as president was brought out to thaw. His … Continue reading →

Posted in Congress, economic collapse, globalization, Obama, Politics, Wall Street | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

Slave labor is good for business

Posted on January 24, 2012 by

A depressing piece in the Sunday New York Times re-explained why the U.S. is losing huge numbers of manufacturing jobs, but it didn’t mention how we can hope to reverse this trend if our biggest corporations continue to work with … Continue reading →

Posted in economic collapse, environmentalism, globalization, mainstream media, New York Times, Obama, unemployment, world-wide economy | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

A masterpiece, exclusively for you

Posted on January 24, 2012 by

I like Betsy Lerner’s blog, about the craft and business of writing. Here’s her response to someone who asked how long a writer should wait for a response from an agent to whom the writer has offered an “exclusive submission”: … Continue reading →

Posted in arts, fiction, humor | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Waiting can be bad for your health

Posted on January 22, 2012 by

With apologies to Jagger/Richards, today’s deep thought: It’s OK to wait for something you want, but not for something you need — health care, for example. Sometimes there are no jobs, and money you were counting on simply doesn’t come … Continue reading →

Posted in campaign finance reform, Congress, economic collapse, Great Recession, Politics, unemployment | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Brothers under the skin: Mitt and Jay-Z

Posted on January 21, 2012 by

The question on Bill Maher’s show was “Why do many people not like Mitt Romney?” Maher didn’t mention that Mittens looks soft and un-molded, like a pod creature in Invasion of the Body Snatchers that hasn’t yet assumed full human … Continue reading →

Posted in economic collapse, globalization, Great Depression, Great Recession, Mitt Romney, Politics, The New Depression, unemployment | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments