The Atlantic - Latest Comments in Worst. Talking Point. Ever.

Re: Worst. Talking Point. Ever.

zosima — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 17:06:36 -0000

Talking points are not meant to be kept secret. Talking points are generally things that officials talk about publicly and that they encourage the media to source and print. Your unsourced claims about unsourced claims are exactly the opposite of talking points.

Re: Worst. Talking Point. Ever.

ArrowSmith — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 15:06:01 -0000

Obama will make sure not to let a crisis go to waste. He'll simply keep blaming it all on Bush, and laugh all the way to a 2012 re-election.

Re: Worst. Talking Point. Ever.

ArrowSmith — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 15:03:05 -0000

Why? Because it exposes the Democrat hypocrisy?

Re: Worst. Talking Point. Ever.

Bill Rutherford, Princeton Adm — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 10:20:25 -0000

"As a side note, my appreciation for Goolsbee's schtick was not its absolute quality compared to the summed realm of comedy, but the pleasure of finding a certain amount of such talent in a college professor who has undertaken a career in a relatively dry field. My summary dismissal of his detractors came from the shallow and unnecessarily nasty tone several of them employed, perplexing in light of the fact that nobody was forcing them to watch a five minute routine that evidently did not to speak to them."

Jesus. Unless Goolsbee was a close friend or relative, I think it's high time you learned the fine art of choosing your battles.

Re: Worst. Talking Point. Ever.

Alsadius — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 23:48:42 -0000

Yes, tomorrow they would be. And in six months, they'd all be on the streets again, because with a couple million less customers, layoffs are inevitable. Brilliant long-term planning, I must say.

Re: Worst. Talking Point. Ever.

blissfulight — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 20:26:32 -0000

One day you're a communist, the next a capitalist. You spin so much, it's no wonder you're confused...

Oh, wait, I get it: You're a communist when it applies to you, and a capitalist when it applies to everyone else.

Re: Worst. Talking Point. Ever.

blissfulight — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 20:14:58 -0000

I like "Tea Baguettes" myself. Viva la revolucion! Let them eat bread!

Re: Worst. Talking Point. Ever.

blissfulight — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 20:10:49 -0000

Careful, guys, TallDave will stoop to any level to get his point across.

Re: Worst. Talking Point. Ever.

M. Simon — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 06:09:15 -0000

The rise in the stock market is temporary. The stimulus did its job. Now it is waning. Car sales are down. Foreclosures are rising again and companies are still shedding jobs. I will believe we are in a recovery when job growth returns to zero. Right now it is negative.

Re: Worst. Talking Point. Ever.

M. Simon — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 04:44:18 -0000

You don't have to vote Libertarian to elect libertarians. You can vote Republican.

http://libertarianrepublican.blogspot.com/

I think it was in NY or NJ that the voters got so fed up that they actually elected a Libertarian.

McCain nominated Palin to pick up the Libertarian vote. She did just that:

http://powerandcontrol.blogspot.com/2009/11/why-mccain-picked-palin.html

Re: Worst. Talking Point. Ever.

M. Simon — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 04:38:27 -0000

Sarah has done a pretty good job sniping from the sidelines.

It might be much better for the Ds if she was in office.

Re: Worst. Talking Point. Ever.

todayslies — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 21:48:41 -0000

Stop being so darn stupid.

Re: Worst. Talking Point. Ever.

todayslies — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 21:45:46 -0000

If this is the best Megan can come up with, this blog is in deep, deep trouble.

Re: Worst. Talking Point. Ever.

movertyperguy — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 16:04:51 -0000

THREAD WINNER

Re: Worst. Talking Point. Ever.

movertyperguy — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 16:03:47 -0000

Yep, Josh ... there's lots of policies that Barack Obama has implemented that have killed job growth in the country.

I'm surprised that the liberals would even raise this topic for discussion as it's so trivially easy to demonstrate that Barack Obama is purposely keeping people unemployed to achieve his political goals.

Someone needs to step up to the plate and do the right thing before we're all unemployed.

Re: Worst. Talking Point. Ever.

CAMP — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 13:27:54 -0000

The stock market does anticipate a recovery of sorts. The really destructive deleveraging in September 2008, then November and then February was premised on end-of-the-world scenarios. Now the armageddon tail of the distribution has been taken off the table by the wall-of-money and the government takeover of GM. ATMs dispense cash and IRA statements come in the mail, suggesting that accounting entries on computers in various big cities still have some relationship to purchasing power in 20 years. Everybody cut back on discretionary spending from August 2008. Data out this week saw consumer credit use contract $ 14 bln in Oct. In the Bush 50x levered economy, this number expanded at a $ 7 bln/month rate. 17.5% of the working population is un- or under-employed, so their spending is truly constrained. But, everyone was made more insecure by the headlines and everyone cut back spending. (except maybe Goldman bankers, who needed Blankfein to tell them to "be discreet.") So the still employed will start to spend again, and their money goes further thanks to deflation. The comment by the DEM was accurate if inartful.

What's really interesting is the 9.5% leap in business productivity. BHO would not, could not give business tax cuts with the hope that jobs would be created. So businesses are generating the retained earnings - through layoffs - that are necessary for the private sector to eventually expand. Instead of every company being given money so that some would expand employment, now only the leanest, most efficient companies have the wherewithal to eventually expand. More unemployment than necessary but a stronger economy when we get there. As PD QUIG points out, though, its not going to happen until they end the Health Care tax uncertainty. For job-creation, the worst thing Pelosi can do is extend this sausage-making into next year. I suspect PD QUIG is right about the union power issue as well. Penny Pritzker IPO'd Hyatt this week. I really had trouble reconciling her hotel chain and exposure to the SEIU with support of BHO. So now we know.

Re: Worst. Talking Point. Ever.

derek — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 13:16:58 -0000

Brian: >Demographics are destiny and the GOP is on the wrong side of too many demographic trends.

Young people don't know what high taxes look like. They will find out, and see how little it gets them. Especially when they see a very large chunk of it go to pay interest on the debt.

Then they will vote for whoever keeps taxes low.

Derek

Re: Worst. Talking Point. Ever.

24AheadDotCom — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 12:36:34 -0000

Thank you for showing just how little patriotism libertarians have. At the present time, jobs are indeed "zero-sum": if a million illegal aliens left tomorrow, Americans could be filling most of those same jobs the next day. Of course, they might require higher safety standards and the like; libertarians and the Dem and GOP leadership are perfectly happy to have an expendable foreign workforce that works with minimal safety standards (passing the costs on to everyone else), but that's not exactly the American way.

And, by freeing up jobs for Americans, we'd reduce the number of Americans on unemployment, thereby saving us money. It would be a net financial gain, but some people don't want it to happen because they're taking a taste or because their ideology doesn't allow for patriotism.

Re: Worst. Talking Point. Ever.

24AheadDotCom — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 12:31:42 -0000

There's no "blind link" in my comment; most people should be able to tell from simply mousing over it that it goes to my site - a site that's been online since 2002 in one form or other including being previously hosted at a site I started in 1996 - and that the title of the link matches the text of the link.

When someone follows me around and says things like you do, it indicates that they're someone who I beat in a debate when they were using a different name. I'm sorry you lost, but following me around like this isn't the way to do things; consider trying to understand why your argument was faulty. Also consider telling us who you are so we can help you.

Re: Worst. Talking Point. Ever.

Charlie (Colorado) — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 11:31:13 -0000

Stan, what we have here is an example of how something can be both arguably right, and incredibly stupid.

Re: Worst. Talking Point. Ever.

evilado — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 11:24:02 -0000

Okay, it's one thing to say that you think they were paraphrased inaccurately, but you seem to be claiming that you think no Democrat said anything like this. The reporter did not, I am near-certain, make it up. *Someone* told them that the stock market recovery showed that what they were doing was working, even if hey, everyone's losing their jobs--and that eventually this would translate into broader recovery.

I can't speak for the other posters, but I explicitly said that it doesn't matter if your point is accurate, there's no indication from the quoted article that this is a Democratic talking point. *Someone* could have been the gang of argumentative Democrats at his soup kitchen. And I have no idea who could have been paraphrased incorrectly, because I have no idea where the info came from and whether or not this person represents the Democratic party. And neither do you.

Re: Worst. Talking Point. Ever.

JoshinHB — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 10:30:38 -0000

Obama could allow energy exploration and development in the US. This would lead to jobs in the short term and lessen the trade defecit in the long term.

Obama could have presented some plans for the stimulous, to keep the money from being wasted on BS political kickbacks.

Example - $5billion to study a high speed train between LA & Vegags. - Just exactly how many jobs has that created?

Obama can stop the radical poilicy changes the progressives are proposing, until the economy recovers.

The uncertainty is freezing investment and hiring.

Obama can do something to address the debt that is crushing individuals and small businesses. Government spending will be the only growth area until the debt is disposed of. Either make bk easier or direct the next bail out at individuals / small businesses instead of the WS bastards that killed the economy.

Re: Worst. Talking Point. Ever.

JoshinHB — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 10:13:01 -0000

What are you talking about?

Are you trying to say that the geographic area that now is the 23rd has changed over time (what congressional district hasn't) and that geographic area has only voter for reps in the past, even when it may have been in completely different districts? How can anyone track something like that?

The meme in the media is that the NY-23rd has only elected republicans for 150 years. This is clearly wrong.

The meme that keeps getting repeated is an example of how some bullshit is said by a "trusted" source, then repeated endlessly, with no one ever bothering to fact check it. Eventually the fact that every "Knows" that it is true is used to prove that it iss true, and anyone doubting the statement is ignorant.

This

Re: Worst. Talking Point. Ever.

bullman — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 09:20:51 -0000

"Stocks have almost always recovered (strongly) a good six months or more before the overall economy has begun to show signs of real improvement… and jobs tend to lag the overall economy."

So no matter what the government does, sweaterhogan, the economy will recover? Like France?

Re: Worst. Talking Point. Ever.

Megan McArdle — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 08:29:24 -0000

As for the allegation that I am The Mouse--well, I'm very flattered, but sock puppeting is a) a firing offense and b) a really embarassing lapse of character. I have commented anonymously on other blogs, but never on my own, never about any debate I was publicly involved in, and certainly never about me or anything I said. Mouse is admirably independent, and freely criticizes when we diagree. I believe that one of my favorite trolls can also confirm that Mouse has an independent presence in a city very far from where I live, though I will leave it to them to elaborate, if they care to.