dagblog - Comments for "In case you were wondering about "Freakenomics""

Those delivering medical care

rmrd0000 — Sat, 17 May 2014 01:48:52 +0000

In reply to I read your link at TPM and

Those delivering medical care were very happy.

There is a complete lack of

rmrd0000 — Sat, 17 May 2014 01:44:27 +0000

In reply to Fascinating article...so many

There is a complete lack of empathy. Some of those born into wealth cannot understand why poor people cannot lift themselves up. The wealthy can point back to a point in time when their ancestors were impoverished. Their ancestors triumphed why can't the poor overcome.? The poor must be lazy or immoral. That appears to be one rationalization.

That is because they are a

trkingmomoe — Sat, 17 May 2014 01:24:07 +0000

In reply to The MSM never puts a

That is because they are a corporation and don't want to upset their advertisers. Pundits are just TV personalities. They want some of the advertising money that the Koch bros. are spending on promoting their brand of crazy.

Tampa Bay Times was 2 newspapers until a couple of years ago. ST Pete and Tampa combined into a a non profit news paper. It is now the largest newspaper in Florida and is still growing. I get better opinion and news then most of the country. This looks like the model that will be the future of newspapers. They have been doing some good reporting.

Paul Ryan is doing the Koch Bros. bidding. He needs some of that 125 million that they are spending to buy the mid term election. He has no idea how the poor thinks or how they are managing the day by day problems they face. He just looks for a narrative that justifies his ideology. There is a push back that is gaining momentum and we will see more of their advertising disputing and uncovering the GOP con game. I don't see the beltway being engaged in the debate or push back. They love throwing saddles on goats for the up and coming GOP 2016 Goat Rodeo.

Fascinating article...so many

Peter Schwartz — Sat, 17 May 2014 01:11:55 +0000

In reply to William F Buckley noted that

Fascinating article...so many things to say about it.

A more correct understanding of human beings would be more skeptical, Gingrich argued. It would recognize that they will not practice self-denial even if it makes them better off in the long run -- that they will accept welfare instead of a job that holds unseen promise.

If it were "human nature," then how do the majority of people get up every day and "practice self-denial" by going to work? Why is this piece of "human nature" only expressed by the poor, or one segment of the poor?

And what is "unseen" about this "promise"? Welfare doesn't pay well compared to a well-paying job. And when you're hired, the promise isn't unseen or far off in the future. You see it fulfilled with your very first paycheck.

Indiscriminate Soup...what an amazing title for a book.

There's something much deeper at work here than different ideas about how to end poverty. Conservatives basically want to boil down all social problems to problems suffered by individuals. They see problems afflicting large numbers of people, but they can't think in terms of large scale solutions.

Thatcher is reported to have said: Society doesn't exist. Only individuals exist.

The MSM never puts a

rmrd0000 — Fri, 16 May 2014 22:50:52 +0000

In reply to I read your link. I want to

The MSM never puts a competent economist or historian to counter Ryan head to head.

I read your link. I want to

trkingmomoe — Fri, 16 May 2014 20:48:31 +0000

In reply to William F Buckley noted that

I read your link. I want to point out that Eleanor Roosevelt was a young socialite that spent time working with the poor. FDR was so impressed with her understanding of poverty. He was attracted to her because she thought differently then other young ladies of privilege. She schooled him well on the subject while he was courting her. From that came the New Deal radical approach to poverty.

Paul Ryan is a fool. We know what works well and that was proven in the 40 years of the New Deal.

Yes by now the NHS is like a

Flavius — Fri, 16 May 2014 20:41:43 +0000

In reply to Making a profit and limiting

Yes by now the NHS is like a piece of old furniture. It went through a period when Margaret Thatcher and her successors had so cut it back that it was commonplace to be told you had to wait 2 years for a procedure, but the Blair administration fixed that and I think it stayed fixed.

Making a profit and limiting

trkingmomoe — Fri, 16 May 2014 20:07:08 +0000

In reply to In case you were wondering about "Freakenomics"

Making a profit and limiting health care for only those willing to pay the highest price has got to be disgusting to a Brit. He was too rapped up in his own hubris to even realize that. The glory days of the Chicago School of Economics is long gone. We are living with it's failure.

I read your link at TPM and

Richard Day — Fri, 16 May 2014 19:09:56 +0000

In reply to One of the "victims" of

I read your link at TPM and it appears that the 'victim' died a happy death.

The poor clinic was stuck treating all these uninsured folks and in the end the clinic simply used their resources to sign these people up.

Kind of a happy ending, really.

I recall a cartoon from

Flavius — Fri, 16 May 2014 14:54:41 +0000

In reply to William F Buckley noted that

I recall a cartoon from 1964-I think Herblock- Barry Goldwater snarls at a pan handler "why didn't your father give you a department store"?