Speaking of Fs!!

8/6/2011

How hilarious to find this on Huffington Post. Christina Romer lives not far from us. Our kids went to the same school, and summer camp, for many years. I used to shake her hand when she would greet in church on Sunday mornings.

Not long ago, my son and I bumped into Romer and part of her family at the grocery store.

"You're back!" I exclaimed. They smiled and said hello.

Minutes later, examining vegetables near one another, I hastened to explain how we recognized them while not expecting them to remember us. Actually Romer and her husband did, which was rather impressive.

I then recounted seeing the two of them on TV entering the seating area during the inauguration and how they were beaming.

"In fact," I added, "You were always smiling and so poised on television. Were you sad to leave Washington?"

"Christie" as she is called by many, smiled and said no that she was definitely glad to be gone.

"The weather?" I pressed.

"No, not the weather," she smiled.

We left it at that. It was good to see Romer back. Even better to hear her weigh in with that brilliant mind of hers again on TV.

And FWIW, I stopped thinking highly of the credit rating agencies back in 2008. Digby does a better job on this topic than I. Stroll on over to Hullabaloo and check out the latest hullabaloo on the recent setback for the U.S. Pray it away, Rick!!

Freddy el Desfibraddor

8/6/2011 05:17:30 am

What I recall hearing about Romer is that they paid no attention to her, and that her idea that "stimulus" would involve government spending that would give people jobs received very short shrift. Possibly, despite high positions in academia and government, she may have come to realize what is clear from ground level - that Obama is in the pocket of the banksters and the war party, knows he is doing nothing to stop the trend for greater income inequality in the US, and is perfectly comfortable with that.

Ottoline

8/6/2011 05:20:54 am

So could someone post the rest of her interview, pls? I can't seem to find it.

Freddy el Desfibradddor

8/6/2011 05:21:13 am

"I used to shake her hand when she would greet in church on Sunday mornings." Just guessing - Episcopalians?

Ottoline

8/6/2011 05:25:23 am

Freddy -- What do you think Obama should have done in the face of the TP/Repubs having the House majority and being determined to bring about this fake crisis?

This whole problem is one Obame inherited. Take a look at this one minute video on Sullivan:

http://andrewsullivan.thedailybeast.com/2011/08/the-tax-cut-trap.html

Laura Novak link

8/6/2011 05:48:33 am

No, non-denominational mainstream Protestants. Think: Congregationalist/Presbyterian. Not high church. Very liberal. Open. And most members come from other denominations and even RC church.

Ottoline: I haven't had a chance to find the rest. Wonder if it's embargoed for now. Will try to find it.

Viola-Alex

8/6/2011 05:51:53 am

I hate the news but love this post, Laura. I would have missed this otherwise. I also love that you church and shop with someone so eminent. (Absolutely Episcopalian. I'd bet my life on it.)

Sort of O/T: Did anyone else hear the "This American Life" show on the Myth of Job Creation? That it simply doesn't exist outside of government-created programs like the WPA. Politicians can talk it all they way, but there is simply no way to grow, stimulate, or guarantee new jobs other than to MAKE them, ie. spend money and invent programs. A government can do it. A war can do it. Otherwise, you just have to pray for them.

nswfm

8/6/2011 06:17:32 am

Seriously, if prayer was going to do something, we wouldn't be in this mess. It takes action. I'm glad CR is back in CA--who wants to be in WDC with all the rest of those C St and other fools?

Freddy el Desfibradddor

8/6/2011 06:28:01 am

"non-denominational mainstream Protestants" - We're already talking about money and politics, so why not religion too?

During my elementary school days my brother and I went to a Methodist church, including vacation bible school. In adulthood, our paths have diverged. I now attend Catholic church (maintaining my own inner Unitarian attitude), with my wife, while my brother goes to a fundamentalist church with HIS wife. He sent one of his daughters to Jerry Falwell's college, and that niece tried to explain to my wife and I that unless we believed and did certain things, we would fry in hell forever. Spouse and self refused to be intimidated, and the subject of salvation has never come up again at a family gathering. Just as well. A couple of years ago my father had his mainstream Protestant memorial service, which we all attended.

Demographically speaking, the mainstream Protestant churches are faltering, while the fundamentalists are prospering. And also, too, there are now NO Protestants on the US Supreme Court, just Catholics (Opus Dei fascist Catholics, most of them) and Jews. Laura, do you have any thoughts about why the Faith of our Fathers is in retreat?

Laura Novak link

8/6/2011 06:54:58 am

Therein lies the rub, Freddy, et al. A true "Christian" or humanist or Jew or whomever, does not value their own religion above others. They do not feel that the RC church (or house of worship) is the only true church. Or that their way is the only way.

What they care about, IMHO, is making this world better. It's about caring for those who have less than us. It's not about putting another down to hell fire and damnation b/c they don't pray the same way.

It's nut jobs like those (in your family) that strain the ties of many families. Who can stomach it?

Show me where they do more good than other organizations? Tell me what makes them kinder or more generous (I mean that in the general sense, not you in particular). They can't. They back bite and cheat and "fornicate" along with the best of heathens.

I think it's called Reaction Formation, when they lambast that which they most covet or act on.

I don't care what god you believe in - if any. I want to see what you've done for mankind lately. How many people you've helped feed. What you've done for the planet. How many animals you've rescued. Elderly you've visited. Blood you've given.

That's what it's all about for me. To boot, our minister is a PhD and brilliant. I learn a lot of history from his sermons. And our choir is made up of professionals. The music draws people from all over the Bay Area.

Your turns.

Viola-Alex

8/6/2011 08:48:25 am

I would imagine any congregation in Berkeley would be an enlightened one. I'm an episcopalian by choice-- an episcopalian priest let my daughter go through confirmation as a buddhist when she was 13. I've always loved the church for that. The "whiskeypalians" aren't perfect but most congregations have their good points. My mother's small town TX episcopalian church is conservative, but the organist is a lesbian, and her partner sits beside her to turn pages every Sunday. Another lesbian couple brings their children to Sunday school. They give me hope.

My husband's family are mega-churchers in Houston. Within the mega-church, all your needs can be met. His half-sister has her teeth fixed, her plumbing fixed, clothes from a clothes pantry all for free or reduced rates among members. So the ideal is, we help our own. Join us and you're good. Any crisis is addressed. Everybody pitches in IF you mouth the fundamentalist creed.

As to why the mainstream churches are dying, I believe it's because they never promised anything. They simply were places of spirituality, that offered a message, and let people grapple with it. Now, the mega-churches are materialistic places. They offer prosperity and exclusivity-- like a country club. For many, it is the only community available. But not exactly the teachings of Christ or Buddha or Mohammed.

Ottoline

8/6/2011 10:44:32 am

I see some videos of Romer but the web is so bad about dating things -- you have to look at the video to figure out when it was filmed. That gets old fast. I would love to see a video of Romer commenting on recent events. Beyond just saying we are F'ed.

Bobcat Logic

8/6/2011 10:53:28 am

A bit OT, perhaps, but: 300,000 Israelis have taken to the streets protesting the government of Netanyahu. (This is 4% of the population, and the demonstrators have huge popular support. Imagine if 4% of our population were to take to the streets like this!)

These demonstrations have been going on for well over a week and could mean the end of the Israeli government and many of its current policies -- the ones that Palin wraps herself in.

This threat to the current Israeli government is hardly being mentioned in the MSM in the US.

And just when Palin's pal -- Glenn Beck -- was set to address the Knesset! I'm not kidding.

(The protests are being live-blogged at Daily Kos)

FrostyAK

8/6/2011 10:59:41 am

She is absolutely right, we are F**ked. To what extent, only time will tell.

Whatever your level of living is, figure it will be downgraded at least 2 notches. For those on the bottom 2 rungs of the ladder, well they won't be around when/if the ship of state rights itself. That goes for the entire world. Maybe Rick Perry and his religilist honchos can pray it away?

http://www.stonekettle.com/2011/08/what-rick-perry-is-really-praying-for.html

Freddy el Desfibradddor link

8/6/2011 01:20:36 pm

@Ottoline

Here's a link to someone who argues that Obama has many more degrees of freedom (possible actions, in other words) than generally conceded, and that Obama's choices, in what he has done and what he has NOT done, reveal his preferences and true allegiances

http://www.ianwelsh.net/comments-on-the-sp-downgrade/

Ottoline

8/6/2011 03:57:59 pm

Hey Freddy -- Thank you for the link. Interesting, and sounds credible. My first thought, though, is that Obama is smarter and better trained than moi (and possibly you, too). He has smart, able people around him. I am trusting him to take all those factors mentioned in the link into consideration and make the best strategic choice in this chess game between good and evil. I can see that the past values of this country and esp its middle class are being challenged in a planned, well-funded, long-term, and clever (clever enough!) way. Obama and his pals have a tough job. I dont think it's as simple as publicly declaring "Let's by God stand up to 'em!" I think it's more a matter of knowing the territory (which I sure don't and therefore hesitate to evaluate), knowing what's possible (ditto), making a choice among undoubtedly imperfect alternatives.

Obama has my trust and support. I'm okay with him making some mistakes and being smarter tomorrow than he was today or yesterday. I'm not at all convinced that the writer you linked to knows more than our President about his true options.

I do know that in upper management, as in all efforts, things are not always what they seem to outsiders, everyone's a critic, and it's sometimes not possible or practical to explain all the lines of force to your stakeholders. I believe that to be esp true now, with big-time forces arrayed against the non-mega-wealthy, the middle-class, and the poor.

I'm trusting Obama until I hear something concrete and compelling that he's not the best leader we have right now. By a huge margin.

Freddy el Desfibradddor link

8/6/2011 11:05:38 pm

Ottoline - Here's the crucial point where we disagree. You say, "He has smart, able people around him." I say, "He is surrounded by banksters, whose fraud and incompetence produced the worldwide financial crisis, and whose interests are NOT THE SAME as - in fact, are often directly opposed to - that of the average person."

You could say of me, "what a bitter, cynical person - something must have hurt him badly to have produced so twisted a world view." People have said that of me. Admittedly, I have suffered much - but in this I am not so unique.

I am not sure whether Obama is "smarter and better trained" than I - well, he is better trained than I on some things, but the reverse is also true. One thing I am sure of - Obama is in the pocket of, is the instrument of, would like to think he is now a part of, the ruling class - and the ruling class are the "Masters of War" that Bob Dylan's song angrily condemns, and rightfully so. This is the truth, and I'm not surprised that you don't want to see it. As I heard a psychologist say once, "The truth will make you free - but first it will make you very uncomfortable."

comeonpeople

8/6/2011 11:59:17 pm

O/T sorry but interesting.
Photo in playboy mag with Mercede Johnston interview has photo caption "Mercedes holding Bristol's son TriG. " It's the famous kitchen photo with a "post-partum" "breastfeeding" Sarah in shorty shorts with her ass in the air and sportin' a pullover hoodie sweatshirt.
Here is link.
Gryphen commenter posted it.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2023189/Sarah-Palin-mental-breakdown-elected-president-claims-Levi-Johnstons-sister-shocking-new-Playboy-interview.html?ITO=1490

V ictoria link

8/7/2011 12:47:31 am

@comeonpeople

That is really something about the photo caption. Can we verify that it was not a mistake? Because if so then Mercede is revealing even more...!

Laura Novak link

8/7/2011 12:52:21 am

I just looked at the Daily Mail article. (I love the DM and try to read it, well, daily!)

You're right of course. It says Bristol's son Trig.

Either other journalists are SO out of the loop on this compared to us sleuths, or they know something.

Can't wait to learn more about her intv. She really sent a shot across their bow with the Track drugs comments. Wonder if she'll link it to her mom selling as people have speculated. Allegedly, reportedly, supposedly.

V ictoria link

8/7/2011 01:03:45 am

And if Mercede was negotiating an interview with Playboy, it could explain why she has not come forward before this.

8/7/2011 01:07:45 am

For some reason I'd never made that connection that Sherry could have been Track's dealer, but it definitely makes sense.
I've always had the impression that the Palins had a meth operation or something like straight out of "Under the Dome" by Stephen King, and only a few select Wasillians (is that what they call themselves?) are in on the operation. It wouldn't surprise me, and I recall back in the late 90's, early 00's that meth use among "soccer" (could easily replace with hockey) moms was in style and on the rise, and given Sarah's style of jumping on the bandwagon, I just wouldn't doubt anything at this point.

So, is Todd a pimp AND a kingpin?

Ottoline

8/7/2011 01:58:17 am

Yes, very interesting photo caption.

Re Sherry giving Track drugs, the descriptions of the Alaska drug scene suggest to me that drugs are widely, easily available to teens, so Sherry's role would be v minor, if there is a drug dealing role there at all.

Freddy -- I would never try to refute your argument by calling you bitter, etc., because that would be an irrelevant ad hominem attack that has zip to do with the quality of your argument, which stands on its own merits. So far, I have no evidence that Pres Obama is in anyone's pocket, only that he compromised more than many would like. I'm still giving him the benefit of the doubt because:
--not sure I could have done any better;
--it may have been the best decisions possible, considering;
--it may be that by compromising AS IF in good faith, it has served to expose how bankrupt the GOP is, which I hope will result in a landslide Dem victory in the next election.

Ivyfree

8/7/2011 03:32:17 am

"I've always had the impression that the Palins had a meth operation or something"

I've never understood how the Palins could pay for everything they had while Sarah was mayor. The lakefront house, the vacation property, the snowmobiles, the plane- she was a smalltown mayor (and before that, city councilor) and he worked the slopes and did some fishing each summer. Now, I know people who head north to fish each summer- it pays well- you spend the season fishing and take your money south with you and here, it's good money. But the cost of living in Alaska is much higher, so if they stay there, it doesn't buy so much as it does here. Oh, and they had some failed small business.

I just don't see how they managed it legally.

Mhurka

8/7/2011 03:48:37 am

Maybe playboy is intentionally taunting Sp with that caption so that if she complains they will say prove that you gave birth to Trig before we make a correction.

Freddy el Desfibradddor

8/7/2011 04:02:54 am

Ottoline: If you would be open to evidence as to whose side Obama is on, you could look at an article in today's New York Times, and then a caustic brief critique of it. Drew Westen, in his article "What Happened to Obama?", points out: "In contrast[to FDR], when faced with the greatest economic crisis, the greatest levels of economic inequality, and the greatest levels of corporate influence on politics since the Depression, Barack Obama stared into the eyes of history and chose to avert his gaze. Instead of indicting the people whose recklessness wrecked the economy, he put them in charge of it." http://tinyurl.com/3wlhgws

Bitter iconoclast Arthur Silber replies, nothing happened to Obama. He is as he ever was. He quotes a piece from May 2008 (before the election) in which Pam Martens stated, "The Wall Street plan for the Obama-bubble presidency is that of the cleanup crew for the housing bubble: sweep all the corruption and losses, would-be indictments, perp walks and prosecutions under the rug and get on with an unprecedented taxpayer bailout of Wall Street....Why do Wall Street and the corporate law firms think they will find a President Obama to be accommodating? As the Black Agenda Report notes, 'Evidently, the giant insurance companies, the airlines, oil companies, Wall Street, military contractors and others had closely examined and vetted Barack Obama and found him pleasing.'"
http://powerofnarrative.blogspot.com/2011/08/impotence-of-intellectual-elite.html

How did Pam Martens, The Black Agenda Report, and Arthur Silber manage to predict, three years in advance, what Drew Westen is now reporting to us in the New York Times?

Lidia17

8/7/2011 04:12:11 am

@Freddy: "He is surrounded by banksters, whose fraud and incompetence produced the worldwide financial crisis, and whose interests are NOT THE SAME as - in fact, are often directly opposed to - that of the average person."

I had a perfectly nice upbringing, and I agree with you…!

Ottoline

8/7/2011 05:31:37 am

Freddy and lidia17: I will read what you cited. Meanwhile, FDR also followed the Hoover/T-Party macroeconomic approach for his first few years, cutting spending (with no improvement). It was only later that FDR made a difference. NYT's Krugman has lectured endlessly, to no avail.

Ottoline

8/7/2011 05:32:59 am

Once again, I sure would like someone who follows Romer post a relevant quote by her. This thread was about her, no?

Lidia17

8/7/2011 08:21:48 am

Just to add… the vast majority of economists work completely in the dark, but almost intentionally so.

When John Kenneth Galbraith wrote, in 1975, that "the process by which banks create money is so simple that the mind is repelled."… well, he was right… and was ignored.

Like Captain Renault in "Casablanca", we mustn't actually acknowledge that our economy is run by the casino.

Lidia17

8/7/2011 08:33:42 am

I thought I had put a link to Romer's posted work:

http://elsa.berkeley.edu/~cromer/index.shtml

Conscious at last!

8/7/2011 09:42:18 am

This a an interesting discussion.

The policies of FDR's recovery strategy were creative(WPA, PWA, CCC) and supportive of working people - NLRA part of the NRA. While the NRA helped steady the economy, it also open the doors to increased concentration of capital. But the most important factor in the U.S. recovery from the depression of the 1930's was called World War II. If you don't understand this simple but astounding fact, you will have missed the point. It is a point which has relevance for today.

There is a second point regarding all the financial shenanigans of recent decades. After the first time that a stock is sold, all the other revenue generated is speculative. In other words, when the stock is first issued, the initial buyer uses their money to "invest" in a company - thereby (hopefully) increasing productive capacity. After that, every trade is a speculative effort. Now add to that all of the new complex financial vehicles - derivatives,etc.... all speculation.

Sorry folks, you can't expect St. Obama to clean up a mess that is this complex and deep.

Ottoline

8/7/2011 11:06:17 am

Yes, WWII: lots of government spending. And we will soon be (I do so fervently hope) shutting down a war with its accompanying spending. All the more reason to shift that spending to infrastructure (education? highways/bridges? alternative energy? etc.) or we will have a massive contraction, way more massive than we are in right now.

The time to reduce a deficit is after prosperity and growth, like Clinton had started to do. Not now.

phantomimic link

8/7/2011 11:21:37 am

The way I see the current problem of the US is the following.

Even before the recession the years from 2000-2007 were the period of weakest job creation since the great depression. This was a trend that was already in place, and it has continued. US corporations are awash in cash but they are not spending it here. The US companies that do business in global markets currently contribute almost nothing to American job growth. The companies responsible for job growth in the US are mostly those that do not have to compete internationally. The reason for this is simple. Technology has made it possible for American's work to be performed overseas by skilled professionals willing to work for less. There are 250 million of us and there are 500 million of them.

However, there ARE job openings in the US, there were 3 million of them last May, the problem is few are filled. This is because the job skills of the sectors leading the recovery are very different from the sectors that suffered from the downturn and workers cannot transfer easily from one to the other. Another factor is that job mobility is down. Thirty years ago 1 in 5 workers in the US found a new job by moving, nowadays that figure is down to 1 in 10. Add to this that people are tied to houses that have lost huge chunks of their value and you see why unemployment will remain high.

I don't think Obama sold out, I think he does care for American people, but he and his advisors made the mistake of underestimating the crisis. They followed a Keynesian recipe to jump start the economy, but this economy does not have what it takes to respond the way they wanted it too, and the way it should have. I do think it would have been worse if Obama had not acted the way he did, but that is little comfort for the unemployed.

8/7/2011 11:53:22 am

Isn't that caption calling Trig Bristol's son in the Daily Mail, not in Playboy?

If it were in Playboy, it might be an admission. In the Daily Mail it is just a mistake, maybe even a typo for Tripp.

Laura Novak link

8/7/2011 12:21:16 pm

This has been an interesting discussion. Thank you everyone! From religion to Keynes to the Daily Mail.

I am no economic expert by any stretch. What I'd like to believe is that Obama has the best interests of the middle class in mind, while having to answer to the ruling class. Congress is a mess while being in control. I wish the President stood up to these misfits more stridently, but I often wonder if he doesn't have a strategy that is more zen koan then obvious political tactic.

Yes, I got the feeling that things didn't go the way Romer would have liked. I'm sure that was in her meaning.

I'll let everyone know if she gives any talk locally and speaks about her time in D.C.

V ictoria link

8/7/2011 04:04:37 pm

I'm going to do a general rant, and I might as well place it here.

I am so tired of decisions based on lies and faulty premises. I find that they're more prevalent on the right, but the left has a few too. Here are a few:

Trickle down economics doesn't work.

The economy was much better when the rich were taxed more (by the way, it was better for the rich, too).

You shouldn't give to UNICEF unless you're also willing to support birth control.

Abstinence, like hope, is not a method.

Most gays are born, not made.

Given how much life expectancy has increased, there will have to be changes, eventually, to the programs supporting old age.

The US does not have the best health care system in the world.

Human females don't have gestations of six weeks.

Ottoline

8/8/2011 01:29:26 am

Phantomimic: thx for a good comment.

V ictoria: good rant.

B: good catch!

lidia17: thx for link! I just read the July 2 2011 article by Romer, and she makes so much sense. It's time to reinstate those tax cuts, and tax even more. I sure would like to hear her speak on the politics of recent events, but I bet she never will. Or only circumspectly. Like saying it was not the Washington weather that drove her home.

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