dagblog - Comments for "Dr. Mengele, Economist"

I'm not entirely sure that

DF — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 17:36:34 +0000

In reply to Privatizing the Post Office?

I'm not entirely sure that traditional mail delivery is a natural monopoly, which would be the efficiency argument for maintaining the USPS. Indeed, there is some interesting history here that indicates this might not at all be the case.

However, there are other potential reasons that we might want to maintain a basic public mail service, even if the cost of delivery is higher than it would be in a competitive market.

It's worth remembering in all

DF — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 17:29:58 +0000

In reply to Dr. Mengele, Economist

It's worth remembering in all of this that Harley-Davidson would probably not even exist today without the statist intervention of that mercantilist, anti-free-marketeer Ronald Reagan.

"Where is the good outcome in

AmericanDreamer — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 16:29:42 +0000

In reply to haiku: "Your car's in the

"Where is the good outcome in this for workers/consumers?"

If David Petraeus had pointed himself in this, instead of another, direction, he might put it: "Tell me how this ends." Do you suppose any of our modern-day Captains of Industry think about where our society, and not just their company, might be heading, and what implications that might have for them, other than setting up that offshore tax haven asap?

Awesome Zappa ... terrible

kgb999 — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 02:06:56 +0000

In reply to Dr. Mengele, Economist

Awesome Zappa ... terrible news. Hadn't heard this yet. I guess we're watching the final throes of the slow death that started under Regan. I'm not in a union, so maybe I'm reading this wrong. But to me, the labor leaders (Stern being my arch type - but the NFL would be an equally good example) seem to be more beholden to the corporations and glittery elite than the workers.

They sure seem to have lost the idea of solidarity. I just don't see that they care about, reach out to, or even acknowledge the workers not able to unionize. I think the understanding that labor means ALL workers and workers ultimately sink or swim together was a key to the ascendancy of the labor movement. Now they behave like talent agents, taking their percentage and representing the established movie star.

I do think that if there is to be a response, it will have to involve not just production but also consumption (or maybe more specifically consumption). In other words, boycotts seem more effective in a globalized world than strikes. And really, as Americans, we will never have more clout than we do right now. We should definitely figure out what to do and move on it before they can re-jigger the economy to rely on another source of consumption - because right now, we still represent the big pappa in that regard.

Privatizing the Post Office?

SleepinJeezus — Sun, 19 Sep 2010 23:12:12 +0000

In reply to Privitize he post office? ...

Privatizing the Post Office? The way it works now: If UPS has a package that, say, needs to get to Black Duck, MN, it essentially gets dropped into the mailbox to be delivered via USPS. It simply isn't cost-efficient for UPS to service everybody in every corner of the nation. Privatize the mail service altogether, and you can bet that the citizens of Black Duck will eventually have to settle for going after their own mail or accept delivery once a month or some other such accommodation to "efficiency."

Postal workers continue to be targeted for wage reductions,and the Postal Service is itself criticized for its "inefficiencies." It remains a valuable service provided at reasonable cost (even WITHOUT the subsidies!) and the jobs provided are among the few remaining family-supporting jobs still available to the working class.

{{snark}}It goes without saying, therefore, that the Postal Service has gotta go! How are we ever going to get UPS and other Teamsters working for minimum wage with USPS setting such a bad example? We just gotta be competitive, after all!{{end of snark}}

Privitize he post office? ...

MrSmith1 — Sun, 19 Sep 2010 21:35:18 +0000

In reply to Sleepin this is a six minute

Privitize he post office? ... grrr. If they try that, Benjamin Franklin will rise from the grave and give them a good licking ... so to speak.

Hey, maybe that could be the Liberal's "tea party" symbol; Ben Franklin. Franklinites? Benjis? Kite-flyers? ... hmmm, never mind.

Sleepin this is a six minute

Richard Day — Sun, 19 Sep 2010 18:30:11 +0000

In reply to Dr. Mengele, Economist

Sleepin this is a six minute video I more or less hid in my blog:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/09/17/al-damato-unloads-on-fell_n_721...

This young and certain and successful frick is on FOX talking about how all postal workers are useless and untrained and unskilled and should be driving cabs. Now except for judges and Senators and Representatives and our President, the Post Office is the only specific governmental 'department' really mentioned in the Constitution.

Now in the video D'Amato severely chastises the prick for being a racist, which he is. But I think this guy's spiel about how come the Government should not have anything to do with letters is very illuminating. People are just bugs to the repubs. They do not count.

The worker adds nothing to the economy.

What is the salary for an employee of UPS as opposed to the USP and what are the benefits.

To the repubs the game is to pay every employee except management as little as possible so that shareholders and management can make as much money as possible.

The actions of Harley to its employees surprises me not. The reactions of state and local governments to the actions of Harley surprises me not.

There is simply no good

SleepinJeezus — Sun, 19 Sep 2010 18:06:12 +0000

In reply to haiku: "Your car's in the

There is simply no good outcome for workers or the American consumer in any of this. But that isn't the plan. This ain't OUR economy, after all. This economy belongs to monied interests that own it.

As Beddoes so chillingly points out in her pragmatic assessment, we are at a point where the American economy has been pretty well picked over. Its now time to abandon the carcass and move on - to China and elsewhere. The "owners" have chewed us up and spat us out, just as they will do with the Chinese laborers and the Indian workers and those in Malaysia and VietNam and...

On top of everything else, it's damned easy to see that the global expansion of the consumer economy is wholly unsustainable. But lest you think this presents cause to arrest this headlong descent into madness, I remind you that the owners care not a whit about long-term sustainability. All they are interested in is the next quarter's profits, and the "consumption" of "human resources" looks like it offers terrific opportunity as a bull market for the immediate future.

By the way... Nice haiku! ;O)

haiku: "Your car's in the

MrSmith1 — Sun, 19 Sep 2010 17:32:28 +0000

In reply to Dr. Mengele, Economist

haiku: "Your car's in the ditch,
Don't pump the brakes to get out,
Hit the gas pedal."

First off, thanks for the Zappa clip. I was a page at NBC in 1976, and was actually in the studio for this performance. When Don Pardo started doing the lyrics and the ooze started dripping out above all the monitors, we were hysterical. I was standing just to the right of one of the guys with the portable cameras in the balcony.

When the economy goes bad, it seems to me, it's always blamed on either the worker or the consumer, which, of course, means that either way, we're to blame, not the businesses or short-sighted business executives that actually make and implement all the decisions. We ask for a living wage, they out-source our jobs, we ask for health insurance, they hire part-time workers so they don't have to pay health insurance. We elect people to congress to help the 'little guy', and Big Business inundates them with lobbyists and buys their 'cooperation,' or effectively blocks it by buying up enough of the other members of congress. Then they actively demonize Labor and do PR campaigns for less government regulations, so they can go back to doing what they want, all the while telling us that if we raise their taxes, they'll push the costs right back onto the consumers, driving them further into poverty.

Where is the good outcome in this for workers/consumers?

But but but... CHEAP

quinn esq — Sun, 19 Sep 2010 14:46:51 +0000

In reply to Dr. Mengele, Economist

But but but... CHEAP STUFF!

And.... must COMPETE!!!

And... BE PRODUCTIVE!!!

While STILL CONSUMING!!!

Then.... REPRODUCE!!!!

And.... DIE!!!! HAPPY!!! MOST TOYS!!!! EVAR!!!!!

These economists and businesspeople and flaks should all just go to hell. At this point, their prescriptions have just become absurd. Beyond. Bent.