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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: i-node who wrote (794000)	7/7/2014 1:52:27 PM
From: bentway	Respond to of 1578370

Study links Oklahoma earthquake swarm with fracking operations latimes.com Chad Devereaux of Sparks, Okla., examines damage to his in-laws' home after two earthquakes hit the area in less than 24 hours in 2011. A new study strengthens the link between Oklahoma quakes and fracking. (Sue Ogrocki / Associated Press)

To: i-node who wrote (794000)	7/7/2014 2:30:06 PM
From: bentway	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1578370

Paul Krugman: Here's a New One—Faith-Based Economic Denialism And similar to other science denialism, it is impervious to facts or evidence. July 7, 2014 \| alternet.org Paul Krugman makes it abundantly clear in Monday's column that denialism about factual things like climate change, evolution and plain facts about monetary policy are not so much a problem of ignorance, but more akin to religious dogma. After all, these denialists are often highly educated people: "The problem, in other words, isn’t ignorance; it’s wishful thinking," Krugman writes. "Confronted with a conflict between evidence and what they want to believe for political and/or religious reasons, many people reject the evidence. And knowing more about the issues widens the divide, because the well informed have a clearer view of which evidence they need to reject to sustain their belief system." If you think that we've never been here before, alas, we have. Krugman informs that there is a historical precedent to the economic denialism of the right-wing. On the eve of the Great Recession, many conservative pundits and commentators — and quite a few economists — had a worldview that combined faith in free markets with disdain for government. Such people were briefly rocked back on their heels by the revelation that the “bubbleheads” who warned about housing were right, and the further revelation that unregulated financial markets are dangerously unstable. But they quickly rallied, declaring that the financial crisis was somehow the fault of liberals — and that the great danger now facing the economy came not from the crisis but from the efforts of policy makers to limit the damage. Above all, there were many dire warnings about the evils of “printing money.” For example, in May 2009 an editorial in The Wall Street Journal warned that both interest rates and inflation were set to surge “now that Congress and the Federal Reserve have flooded the world with dollars.” In 2010 a virtual Who’s Who of conservative economists and pundits sent an open letter to Ben Bernanke warning that his policies risked “currency debasement and inflation.” Prominent politicians like Representative Paul Ryan joined the chorus. Well, Mr. Ryan, et al, here's the rub: Reality declined to cooperate. (Don't you hate when that happens!) Inflation stayed low. Mostly, the money piled up in bank accounts and cash reserves. "Needless to say, it’s not the first time a politically appealing economic doctrine has been proved wrong by events," Krugman writes. "So those who got it wrong went back to the drawing board, right? Hahahahaha." (Krugman is really losing it with these guys. Can you blame him?) No, instead of admitting they were wrong about runaway inflation, some have offered lame excuses; and some even more desperate, "have gone down the conspiracy-theory rabbit hole," Krugman writes, "claiming that we really do have soaring inflation, but the government is lying about the numbers (and by the way, we’re not talking about random bloggers or something; we’re talking about famous Harvard professors). Mainly, though, the currency-debasement crowd just keeps repeating the same lines, ignoring its utter failure in prognostication." Krugman, a rational man, concludes that money has become a theological issue, an unshakable belief system, impervious to evidence and new information. He concludes: Many on the right are hostile to any kind of government activism, seeing it as the thin edge of the wedge — if you concede that the Fed can sometimes help the economy by creating “fiat money,” the next thing you know liberals will confiscate your wealth and give it to the 47 percent. Also, let’s not forget that quite a few influential conservatives, including Mr. Ryan, draw their inspiration from Ayn Rand novels in which the gold standard takes on essentially sacred status. And if you look at the internal dynamics of the Republican Party, it’s obvious that the currency-debasement, return-to-gold faction has been gaining strength even as its predictions keep failing. Is there any hope? A few conservative intellectuals are trying to convince their ilk that monetary activism has its place. But they are increasingly marginalized. So, no. Not a lot of hope that evidence will hold sway with the deniers.

To: i-node who wrote (794000)	7/8/2014 12:33:55 AM
From: tejek	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1578370

>> Because you've created a straw man based on your biases; that the US is a welfare state. It isn't. I'm not sure how YOU define it, but by any reasonable definition we ARE a welfare state -- No. Just no. Only by your definition and the five other wingers, including home school hanna, who recommended your post. one in which a person can earn more by not working than by working would HAVE to encompassed by the definition of the term. And that is certainly a fact in the US as I've told you for a decade now. There is, of course, plenty of strong evidence to back up that position. I don't know about Arkansas but based on my understanding of welfare there is no way in hell someone is better off on welfare than working in Seattle. NO WAY IN HELL. Now maybe its possible in Arkansas with its lower standard of living but not in most other parts of the country. >> You don't know any of that.. I don't know people who are quitting are choosing not to work? I think I do. >> its mostly anecdotal Hardly. We have a figure approaching HALF of Americans who are on the public dole in some shape or form. Yeah and that includes unemployment benefits [thanks to the Bush recession] and SS because people are retiring. And some of that 49% is double counting for SS and Medicare which go hand and hand. So then, when did a retirement pension that you paid for became welfare? You're a frigging idiot like most addled wingers. The increase in recent years is likely due in large part to the lingering effects of the recession. As of early 2011, 15% of people lived in a household that received food stamps, 26% had someone enrolled in Medicaid and 2% had a member receiving unemployment benefits. Families doubling up to save money or pool expenses also is likely leading to more multigenerational households. But even without the effects of the recession, there would be a larger reliance on government. The Census data show that 16% of the population lives in a household where at least one member receives Social Security and 15% receive or live with someone who gets Medicare. There is likely a lot of overlap, since Social Security and Medicare tend to go hand in hand, but those percentages also are likely to increase as the Baby Boom generation ages. blogs.wsj.com Disability fraud is rampant. Really? You ever tried to get disability? Try it and then get back to me. Food stamps are traded openly at 50c on the dollar. Where? I want to turn them in. A new health insurance law provides government subsidies for families of four making $94,000/year. A link please. Our labor participation rate is at the lowest in more than 40, almost 50 years; Hey if Bush/Cheney had been doing their jobs instead of starting senseless wars we wouldn't have had the worst recession since WW II. and the only job growth we have is "part time" work resulting from the latest welfare program, Obamacare. Not true. The Labor Force participation rate is up YOY and we are on track for the best employment growth since the Clinton years. Please note that we skip right over the Bush years. Our deficits are "unsustainable" SOLELY because of Medicare, SS, and Obamacare, and the interest on the debt they are adding. How is that anecdotal? No. Just in your very paranoid and very biased mind.