I love it when conservatives pick and choose which principles of Keynesian capitalism they wish to be validated by. I wish people were required to refresh their economics education at least as often as they are required to be tested to drive. Comparably speaking, bad drivers don’t seem nearly as dangerous as bad voters. Yes, I know many conservatives don’t subscribe to Keynes at all, but you cannot swing a sword if you aren’t prepared to get cut by a sword. Of course, most of the time, when you are debating economics with conservatives, you’re usually not discussing it with someone with enough of an understanding of economics to get into nuance. Usually, you’re just debating the echoes of Mitch McConnell’s Jedi-mind-trick talking points.

Small and large businesses create jobs, but small businesses also quickly close their doors unless there are people who can afford to buy the products. So unless you can inject fuel into our economy by opening 1,000,000 shops that sell products in a recessed/depressed economy (which you cannot do), you still need to stimulate the economy. In order to do that you need to give a lot of money to people who will spend it.

Now, conservatives will tell you that you should give that money to people who are already making a lot of it, and that they will invest the extra money into ventures that produce jobs. But who is going to buy the products these new businesses sell?

Is it other rich people? These people already have a lot of money. Why aren’t they spending enough to encourage other wealthy people to start these businesses now? Is it because they know that a depressed/recessed economy (when there are fewer people who can afford to buy products) is a terrible economy to try to sell things in? Gosh, if I were looking for a safe place to invest my money, I’d place a bet on that one.

Aggregate demand is down. The way you stimulate demand is by putting money in the hands of people who need to spend money immediately, not people who have a tremendous storehouse of money and for whom the greatest strain is reaching to the top of their pile. But then, maybe they’ll hire poor people to do it…

The economy began to shrink intensely in third quarter ’08. The largest reason it did so was, yes, because the house of cards that much of our available capital was resting on predictably collapsed. No capitol means no investment. But it wasn’t the only domino in line. There were several dominoes in advance of that one.

The strain that ultimately pushed the collapse over the brink was the massive stress placed on our economy by booming gas prices that were caused (so we’re told) by Wall Street speculation on oil prices. More and more people bought oil futures and gas prices shot up and exploited poor fuel economy in personal vehicles as well as shipping fleets. Shipping products to stores raised product prices and demand for high priced products shrank. People who were employed to manufacture those products that weren’t in demand were then unemployed. That unemployment further reduced demand. While all of this was happening, those same people who could only barely afford those sub-prime mortgages defaulted and… voila… economic shrinkage.

What could have steadied the oil futures market, so that the price couldn’t exceed the ability of the economy to sustain those prices? Regulation. The famous r-word.

The conservatives’ answer to putting out our fire is instead to add more fire. Steady our economy by removing regulation that impairs business from swinging wildly again. After all… when everything is burned down, there won’t be anything left to burn anymore. Fire gone.

Republican ideology is dead. It died tonight by suicide.

By dubious means, Wisconsin’s Republicans just passed a law forbidding collective bargaining. If the law is just and needed, why the stupid parliamentary tricks? Why pull shenanigans to sneak it through?

The outcome in Wisconsin only goes to prove how irretrievably stupid the Republican party has become. How could you look on the past few weeks and not see that this whole venture wasn’t unfathomably stupid? Do they not understand how quickly the political pendulum is going to swing left again for this exact reason? Do they not understand that when control swings left again, that the law will be immediately and forcibly overturned? Do they not understand that their efforts are transparently anti-middle class and how the Republican party is now to be fully cast in that light?

You have to be decidedly idiotic to act this tone-deaf. Either that or this is only the first in a series of non-democratic maneuvers that will result in the effort toward full autocratic governance by whomever is secretly leading the Republican party now.

We’ve all been exposed to what the right regard as liberal politics. Not a lot of people remember that there is a counterpart on the extreme right wing that is called radical politics. We live in an age now, where increasingly the right is dominated by radicals. These radicals are pulling the discourse so far to the right that the moderate is to find himself center-right in the balance. I am not so certain the term “moderate” defines me anymore. I can thank the Republican party for that.

They doubted the resolve of the working class people? Well, the hive has been kicked now. I hope they can run faster than their fat, white asses would suggest.

I am done with moderation. I am a Democrat now. And if the pendulum is to swing, I will be pushing as hard to the left as I am capable. I have always wished to conduct myself without a bearing of political immodesty, trying to remain sensitive to those who regard themselves as fiscally conservative. After all, there is good sense in saving for a rainy day. But this is the end of that — the modern “conservative” notion is that we spend all of our money on the rich, while it is fiscally irresponsible to take care of the shrinking middle class or the aging and infirm. It is apparent that the conservative position is that of aggressive seizing of cash. I mean, its always been sort of obvious, but now the greedy are using both hands and a bulldozer.

So if this is the moment where the Republican party irretrievably cedes claim to being a protector of the working man and woman, of looking after the children of America, then I am to take them at their word, and there can be no posturing that will lead me back to their side.

I will see the Republican party disbanded and forgotten before I ever vote for a Republican again.

So, prior to the great economic collapse in 2008, the United States endured a summer of extreme prices for fuel based on the speculation of oil futures. The price crept up and up and up and before you knew it, groceries and goods cost more as well. Businesses that relied on travel (such as tourism) were taking a hit too. Then suddenly all around us, the house of cards hit the floor.

Now, you can make a case that people taking on housing loans that they couldn’t afford created the economic downfall of 2008, which in turn exposed the weakness of a banking culture playing hot-potato with sub-prime mortgages. But isn’t it possible that some of those people could afford these loans until incidental expenses started to skyrocket on the back of record profits for the oil industry?

By the way, we pointlessly subsidize that oil industry. Which is to say, we give them free money. As in: for nothing. But worry not, as some Americans receive large sums of that money back in the form of political donations to Republican congressmen.

Now that our economy is starting to recover, how long do you suppose this returning vigor will last as the oil industry has once again begun to suck from the vein of the middle class? Do you really think the unrest in the Middle East is truly responsible for the gas prices you’re paying?

I listened to Lou Reed’s Coney Island Baby today. It was the first time since I lost my cassette copy back in 1990. I was in Lawrence, Kansas walking down Mass Street, when I saw a spare-changer tripping out of his gourd. I’m pretty sure he was trying to ask me for money, and as I was trying to slide up change from my pocket (I was an easier mark in those days), I noticed some patrolmen on foot heading our way. Lest the guy get pinched and taken in for, at best, public intoxication, I grabbed his elbow and took him into a nearby sandwich shop. I bought him a sandwich. He was grateful and held his head together while I sat with him.

I walked hurriedly away afterward, having set him up with a warm meal — I was late to meet my group. Once I was in a vehicle and on my way out of town, I realized I had left my Walkman at the table with the tripping guy. I hope he was coherent enough to take it with him and that Lou kept him stable through the rest of his journey.

Anyway, it was pretty nice to hear that album again and it’s funny how quickly it took me back to the way Lawrence was in those days. Before the Gap and Starbucks.