Disqus - Latest Comments for Musa

Re: Class War!

Musa — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 19:51:15 -0000

hmmm....confusing argument. I thought B.E was talking about income inequality, which is a measure of income distribution between workers, while you delivery your supposed smackdown with a chart showing compensation for all workers, which I imagine includes those rich CEOs. I'm not entirely sure what she said, too bad you didn't address it..

Re: Class War!

Musa — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 22:03:12 -0000

I'm not sure if they are included in the graph at all, but if they were, they would probably constitute the non-union line on that graph.

Re: Mission to Burma: Failure

Musa — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 14:45:26 -0000

Sorry to hear this. I'm surprised there wasn't an opportunity to bribe someone.

Re: Liberaltarian Reactions

Musa — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 14:46:20 -0000

Especially if they're on a diet of peanut butter.

Re: Sachs on the Self-Defeating Stimulus

Musa — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 11:28:29 -0000

Jeffy Sachs? Oh dear, that's the same guy who ruined both the Russian and Bolivian economies right?

Re: Sachs on the Self-Defeating Stimulus

Musa — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 17:17:41 -0000

Actually, its more of a filter than a switch.

Sachs' thesis that policy shifts produce bubbles, which in turn cause larger economic pain down the road is interesting, but his argument is mostly grounded in: 1) conflating monetary policy with spending poilcy and 2) a bunch of assertions that aren't backed by any real evidence (to be fair, it is a short piece). Given #2, all I'm really left with is Jeffrey Sach's good name that what he's asserting is reliable. His role in taking "pre-ruined" economies and re-ruining them in all sorts of new and interesting ways, and his generally dreadful book "The End of Poverty" (sorry, not enough time today to get into why this re-packaging of failed 1950s development ideas is so bad - oh wait I guess that's enough) all I'm really left with is his name and my so-called "switch". He's not a bad man, just not someone who, after producing a piece like this, should be taken seriously.

Re: Are We Flirting with Fascism?

Musa — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 14:58:30 -0000

Sheldon's definition is conveniently narrow enough for Will to run with it, just so long as he ignores what Fabio Rojas' point that Fasicst control of the economy is to pursue the ends of nationalism of clientalism. Stipulating how GM will spend the money they are begging for scarely meets Sheldon's definition, and doesn't come close to fulfilling Rojas'. Maybe all that Naomi Klein is finally getting to Will.

Re: Outing Myself (from the Cannabis Closet)

Musa — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 18:47:55 -0000

I would be very disappointed if this were true. Surely someone of WIll's refinement and experience would no longer be smoking Mexican Schwag.

Re: The Party of Nixon

Musa — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 12:57:37 -0000

Doubtful. Bush's popularity has also increased by a similar measure over the same period, but with nary a word about torture. Meanwhile, Obama's approval ratings have generally held steady. Cheney's leaving is what has left him more popular.

Re: The Public Option vs. Public Reason

Musa — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 13:13:19 -0000

Shorter conservative logic: government run health care would be the worst thing ever; if we have a public option plan its gonna be so awesome that everyone will sign up and all we're gonna have left is a government run single-payer plan, which would be bad, because government is bad I guess.

Re: Why Can’t My Team Do Whatever It Wants!?

Musa — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 20:53:33 -0000

Considering that Medicare, and social security, enjoy broad popular support, it looks to me as if reform is quite popular in the concrete as well.

Re: Urban Farming

Musa — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 11:21:28 -0000

While I agree that, for a lot of reasons, urban farming could never supplant what goes on in Iowa as our primary source of food (do the author's actually make that claim?). It seems worth noting that the largest irrigated crop in the United States is grown almost entirely in urban areas - turfgrass!