Posts by: Phil Scarr

Arrival of the Autocracy

On February 20, 2012 By

Autocracy arrives in Europe.

When Wolfgang Schäuble proposed that Greece should postpone its elections as a condition for further help, I knew that the game would soon be up. We are at the point where success is no longer compatible with [...]

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Tracking the Decay

On February 15, 2012 By

A simply powerful and powerfully simple chart showing the tight correlation between the anti-union movement (really the anti-worker movement) and the decline of income share of middle-class Americans.

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The Consequences of Over-Denial

On February 15, 2012 By

There’s a scene in what should be every Democrat’s favorite movie, All The President’s Men where Woodward and Bernstein are meeting with their editor, Howard Simons to talk about a conversation Woodward had with a PR guy from the White House press office.   Woodward found something funny in the way the guy responded.

This [...]

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One Conservative’s Struggle with Math

On February 14, 2012 By

In this case, it’s my old buddy Cindy Kilkenny!  Math, alas, is not her strong suit.

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Tea Party gets Stomped

On February 13, 2012 By

In Washington, House Republicans accede to the Obama Administration’s demand for an unencumbered payroll tax extension.

WASHINGTON, Feb 13 (Reuters) – Republican leaders in the U.S. House of Representatives on Monday dropped their demand for spending reductions to pay for extending a tax cut for 160 million American workers, setting up a likely breakthrough [...]

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More Evidence that it Might NOT be Working

On February 13, 2012 By

According to the Journal-Sentinel, 500 Frontier Airlines Employees based in the Milwaukee area are set to be released into the wild.

Frontier Airlines will cut nearly 500 Milwaukee employees – nearly half of them flight crew members based at Mitchell International Airport – as a result of a major service reduction here.

Those job [...]

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Concise Takedown of Gold Buggery

On February 13, 2012 By

Pushing back on the ongoing derailment of the G.O.P. and the commitment of both Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul have committed to appoint one of Wall Streets best-know gold bugs to chair the Federal Reserve.  This would be a ReallyBadIdea(tm).  Any romantic notion that a return to the gold standard reflects a poor understanding [...]

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Republican Derailment Syndrome

On February 13, 2012 By

Paul Krugman’s OpEd today succinctly lays bare the catastrophic derailment of the modern Republican party.

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Obama Derangement Syndrome Burns Brightly in California!

On February 12, 2012 By

Wow… Just wow…  Meet the cult of victimhood that is the modern conservative movement.

Obama is a socialist, said Ray Vercammen. He may be faking his so-called Christianity, said Sam Ackerman. And he wouldn’t be much of a public speaker if not for TelePrompTers, said Loron Hodge. And naturally, “big media” are out to [...]

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Democracy: Only a Faint Echo to the GOP

On February 11, 2012 By

Hamlet, Act 1, Scene 4

Horatio: He waxes desperate with imagination.

Marcellus:Let’s follow. ‘Tis not fit thus to obey him.

Horatio:Have after. To what issue will this come?

Marcellus:Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.

Horatio:Heaven will direct it.

Marcellus: Nay, let’s follow him. [Exeunt.]

Something is rotten in the GOP nominating process.  After tonight’s Maine [...]

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