dagblog - Comments for "Bain for Dummies"

Republicans long range plans

NCD — Thu, 19 Jul 2012 05:40:41 +0000

In reply to I listened to that show. It

Republicans long range plans for the country never extend beyond 2 years, the next election. Often, as recently with the budget and federal debt, or with Mitt and his position on issues, things change by the hour.

60 million of more voters (see below) can't or won't remember what happened last year or last week, although their ability to recall in detail the supposed crimes of Bill Clinton may have no time limit. For millions, memory and comprehension don't encompass much more than a bumper sticker slogan, or a 30 second attack ad loaded with untruths, funded by undisclosed tens of millions from wealthy contributors who hire guys like Rove who know how to push buttons and exploit prejudice. That huge block of ignorance and bias, and the money necessary to get votes, are a huge hurdle to deal with and overcome by Obama, or any politician trying to move the nation forward and solve major issues.

Whoops!

Qnonymous — Thu, 19 Jul 2012 03:12:05 +0000

In reply to I listened to that show. It

Whoops!

I listened to that show. It

Orlando — Thu, 19 Jul 2012 02:34:56 +0000

In reply to ...four years after crisis in

I listened to that show. It was fascinating and depressing. And everything he says is happening was pretty much 100% predictable from at least the late 1980s. One problem is, as he frames it, that Americans stopped caring about planning for the future when Ronald Regan told them it was okay to stop caring about the future. Now, the future is here and we're pretty much screwed.

It's odder that Sarah Palin

NCD — Wed, 18 Jul 2012 16:11:35 +0000

In reply to I get why Bain is a problem,

It's odder that Sarah Palin didn't run for Prez, as Republicans and 60 million mericans voted that she was the best to run the country a heartbeat away, and was really real connected to the real world.

I get why Bain is a problem,

Qnonymous — Wed, 18 Jul 2012 14:59:54 +0000

In reply to Bain for Dummies

I get why Bain is a problem, and why Romney is the wrong guy, and that most of the upper class can't get it. But there's another, different difficulty - much though I enjoy kicking Romney in the nads. You see...

Four years after the crisis in the financial sector threw the country into this massive recession, the Democrats will nominate the guy who bailed out, favored and protected the financial sector for President. He claims that he can make everything okay again, by going back to the old policies from before 2008.

That may not sound odd to our investor class, or our politicians, or our mainstream journalists, or many Democratic voters. But actually, it's really odd.

Not seeing why favoring the financial sector is a problem is part of not seeing why nominating Obama is a problem in the first place. Not seeing why Obama is a problem is part of not seeing what's wrong with our financial class or our economy....

The ruling class is committed to not seeing why even modest new financial regulations are necessary. They are committed to not seeing that the banking sector needs reform. They are committed to not understanding why Obama has been "so hard" on Wall Street, let alone seeing how soft Obama has actually been on Wall Street....

But this election is about something even bigger than that: the reality principle. The next four months are going to appear to be a bitter, dogged campaign to break down our ruling class's fundamental disconnection from real world. The illusion this attack on the ruling class is meant to generate in the minds of the American middle and working class is that the ruling class doesn't like it. When the reality is that they couldn't give a shit, because one of their guys gets in either way. But they're gonna make noise about the Bain Capital attacks: because they know that's how you negotiate, that's how you do politics. But once this election is over, the truth will still be that.... the ruling class won.

And the truth hurts.

Well, I think everyone has a

Doctor Cleveland — Wed, 18 Jul 2012 13:24:43 +0000

In reply to You've put it very well, Doc.

Well, I think everyone has a bubble of some kind. The two questions are whether you *try* to see outside it and whether you have the luxury of *not* trying. The upper class doesn't have to consider other perspectives if it doesn't want to, although that will burn it in the long term.

I think the Obama Administration has been too influenced by the investor class's perspective, sometimes in ways that are not realistic. My primary hope is that Wall Street's intransigence will push Obama into having to be harder on them. And of course, the Green Party has a different kind of bubble, and can seem completely divorced from the perspective of, say, 99.5% of the voters, or the basic realities of what can actually be accomplished at any given moment.

Coincidentally, just read

Donal — Wed, 18 Jul 2012 00:41:38 +0000

In reply to Spasmodic dysphonia.

Coincidentally, just read about that condition today: http://www.dilbert.com/blog/entry/larry_pages_voice_problem/

Spasmodic dysphonia.

Dan Kervick — Wed, 18 Jul 2012 00:30:40 +0000

In reply to That sounds interesting, and

Spasmodic dysphonia.

Really really good read.

anna am — Tue, 17 Jul 2012 23:20:37 +0000

In reply to Bain for Dummies

Really really good read. Thanks so much.

Well argued, Doc. And, of

Michael Maiello — Tue, 17 Jul 2012 22:12:48 +0000

In reply to Bain for Dummies

Well argued, Doc. And, of course, you're right. The Republicans don't see the problem with nominating Romney and I don't think that most Democrats do either. Our team has its share of Romney types on it, for sure. Steve Rattner's done everything Mitt's done, just not quite as well. The difference is that Rattner knows that the people would never elect him while Romney persists in what Woody Allen once called "the opposite of paranoia," which he defined as "the insane delusion that people like him."