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Re: The Next American Paradigm

ColoradoMatt — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 11:23:54 -0000

Any student of history knows that prosperity is cyclical. Any student of history also recognizes that at the bottom of the cycle there are always the doomsday people who claim that "the world is broken, we must fix it!"

Regardless of your political affiliation, take a moment to stop and think... is the "world as we know it" really "coming to an end"?

Stop over-reacting. It's a cycle, we are at the bottom and it will come back around. Sure, if you want to change the world to fit your way of thinking it is convenient to have a crisis around. Our President's esteemed Chief of Staff even acknowledged as much. Just don't expect everyone to cower in fear and say "lead me to prosperity"... because some of us have actually read what happened on this planet before we got here.

Re: Teabagging: Opportunism or Revolution?

ColoradoMatt — Wed, 06 May 2009 11:22:51 -0000

I call "Straw Man".

While I didn't take part in any of the demonstrations, I talked to a number of people who did. I wanted to know what they were protesting. These people were not gathered with a singular voice to protest a particular policy or set of policies. Rather they were gathered to protest an administration that seems hell-bent on doing whatever it wants because "we won the election."

The people of today want to be heard (and represented) just as much as the people during the Revolution. You can downplay the voice of the people if you wish, but that didn't work out very well for the last President and it won't for this one either.

Re: National Charter Schools Week: A Holiday Worth Celebrating

ColoradoMatt — Wed, 06 May 2009 11:26:15 -0000

My kids go to a charter school and I wouldn't have it any other way. Thank you for working in one!

Re: Biden’s Bunker Blunder

ColoradoMatt — Mon, 18 May 2009 11:05:58 -0000

I have always liked Vice President Biden's direct nature, however I dismissed him as a serious candidate for office a long time ago. I was disappointed when President Obama picked him as running mate.

Allow me to be tongue-in-cheek... perhaps Vice President Biden should use a teleprompter like President Obama. Seems to work well for the President. Fools most of the people into thinking he is eloquent and well-spoken. :)

Re: Base Clientele Jumping

ColoradoMatt — Mon, 18 May 2009 19:53:38 -0000

I have difficulty parsing this statement:

"...perhaps the air travel industry was economically inefficient; that maybe it wasn’t meant to be entirely private."

Whether a good should be provided by the government or by private industry should not be determined by the efficiency of the industry that produces the good. Rather it should be determined by whether that good is a public good or not.

You could perhaps argue that air transportation, like local bus transit, should be a public good. But that starts with the assumption that local transit really is a public good. :)

Re: Obama’s pick for Japan Ambassador: a lapse into nepotism?

ColoradoMatt — Fri, 29 May 2009 10:41:48 -0000

Good posting although I wouldn't be too quick to accept the claim that President Obama has "transcend[ed] old Washington politics." Most of his moves are carefully calculated politically. Karl Rove isn't the only politically savvy person in Washington.

Dick Morris has an interesting take on some of the political moves, including the Clinton appointment that you referred to.
http://thehill.com/dick-mor...

Re: In WH Briefings, Facade of Transparency

ColoradoMatt — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 11:39:41 -0000

Well written. There are times when I watch Gibbs and I can't help but wonder if he would get along so well with the press if much of the press wasn't ideologically in lockstep with this administration.

I don't mind the press having an ideological affinity with a particular administration, I just hope it doesn't lull them into believing that critical thinking is an unecessary skill.

Re: Obama to Propose New Financial Regulations

ColoradoMatt — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 10:59:18 -0000

"It would appear as if the Obama Administration is taking the necessary next steps to make the federal government a larger player in the day-to-day operations of the free market."

You do understand that "federal government a larger player" and "free market" are diametrically opposed ideas right? You might feel that the Administration's steps are necessary and that is fine, but this sentence indicates a fundamental lack of understanding of economics on your part.

Re: The Downside of Twitter: We Can Actually See What’s On Politicians’ Minds

ColoradoMatt — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 11:19:49 -0000

Isn't this sort of like our Vice President claiming to know how dangerous chasing terrorists was like... because his helicopter was grounded for weather? :)

Don't let your ideology blind you to the fact that politicians on both sides of the aisle are detached from our reality.

Re: Some Cap With Your Trade?

ColoradoMatt — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 17:03:45 -0000

There are two relevant questions in this debate: 1) Is "Climate Change" real? 2) What's the best way to take care of our planet.

The fact that Climate Change is the new name for Global Warming tells me that there is significant reason to debate that one. Despite all the efforts of Al Gore & Co. to convince the world otherwise, a growing number of scientists are questioning his conclusions.

The second question is somewhat dependent on the first. If we aren't killing polar bears, then perhaps it's OK to take a longer term approach and make a more reasoned decision. If we are killing polar bears every time we start our cars, then perhaps we should take a more aggressive approach. Regardless, we have a moral obligation to care for our planet. Let's not just do it one way because Rahm wants it that way.

Regardless of how you feel about either debate, these issues deserve a good public hearing and frankly, our Speaker and the leadership are not giving us that open discussion. If they are right, what are they worried about? If they aren't right... it might be time to fess up.

Re: The Smartest Thing Sarah Palin Has Ever Done

ColoradoMatt — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 21:00:03 -0000

~~Ryan~~ er... Hillary ... some interesting things here. You *do* realize however that it was Tina Fey who claimed she could see Russia from her house right? Sarah Palin actually said you could see Russia from Alaska. Which you can.

Hopefully if you choose a career in journalism you will get better facts than just watching SNL :)

Re: The Smartest Thing Sarah Palin Has Ever Done

ColoradoMatt — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 12:58:11 -0000

Thanks for the clarification! :) I tend to agree with you that being able to see another country doesn't qualify you to shape foreign policy. It does however mean that as governor of Alaska you have to be more cognizant of international issues than say Governor Ritter here in Colorado. And for what it's worth, President Obama has had more than one international relations faux pas so I think arguing over "who was better qualified for foreign policy" is a bit of a moot point now.

I am watching the liberal / progressive reaction to Palin's resignation with some fascination. As a fiscal conservative / social progressive I think it's a little bit funny how afraid the left was of Palin. She definitely excited much of the right wing base of the party but there are a lot of us who would rather find someone who is more moderate and a better leader to move us away from the far left fiscal agenda that the President and Speaker Pelosi have undertaken.

Re: The Smartest Thing Sarah Palin Has Ever Done

ColoradoMatt — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 13:10:13 -0000

Xristo,

Not to be rude but you seem to be talking above your own head here trying to prove a point. Hillary is a ~~high school student if I remember correctly (correct me if I am wrong Hillary.)~~ college graduate. There is no need to put her down with personal attacks. Her opinion is neither "dim witted" nor "cliche riddled". I don't agree with it and where she got the facts wrong I certainly called her on it, but when did we as Americans decide that everyone who disagrees with us is dumb? I tire quickly of both conservative and liberals who can't see that it is perfectly valid to have differing opinions.

I have been reading Scoop44 for a while now and I enjoy the youth perspective here even though I don't often agree with it. As such I try to offer helpful comments even though my comments are biased by my conservative thinking. The young authors here might not appreciate my comments but they are offered with sincerity! :)

Re: The Smartest Thing Sarah Palin Has Ever Done

ColoradoMatt — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 10:57:42 -0000

I can't believe I am responding to this... but seriously, if you can find a video or audio clip of this I would love to see it. I can find lots of clips of Tina Fey pretending to be Sarah saying this but I can't find any evidence that Sarah Palin actually said this. If you want people to take your point of view seriously, you should learn to do some research.

From the Gibson interview I find this:
GIBSON: What insight into Russian actions, particularly in the last couple of weeks, does the proximity of the state give you?

PALIN: They're our next door neighbors and you can actually see Russia from land here in Alaska, from an island in Alaska.

---
Given that you can't seem to get the facts right on this... why would anyone take you seriously on any of your other opinions? Just curious.

Re: The Smartest Thing Sarah Palin Has Ever Done

ColoradoMatt — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 12:01:12 -0000

So.... um.... Hm. How to respond. Did you *read* the transcript? She says that Alaska shares a maritime border with Russia. She didn't say she could see it from her house.

I would link to a Google map to show you that she is right... but something tells me you wouldn't believe it unless it was on Huffingtonpost or DailyKos. :)

You can continue with the name calling if it makes you feel better.

Re: America: Try to Look Away

ColoradoMatt — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 13:04:45 -0000

I don't understand the hype around Michael Jackson or Sarah Palin. I am old enough that I had classmates in school who thought it was cool to wear one glove. I am also Republican enough that I have a good number of friends who have "Palin '12" stickers on their cars already.

Me? I don't get it. Michael Jackson was a force in his day but has become irrelevant. The same can be said for Palin. Even so, the people have spoken. They think both Jackson and Palin are relevant.

Embrace the voice of the people Max, don't run from it. As a budding journalist, don't get caught up in the web of putting people down for their way of thinking. Influence minds with your reasoning not empty rhetoric such as ".. for the country's sake" and "... car wreck.." You can do better than this I am sure.

Re: Fox & Fiends

ColoradoMatt — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 01:33:38 -0000

Greg,
If the show is so bad... why do you think it is "strangely successful"? Perhaps... maybe... because there are a lot of Americans who don't agree with your point of view. Next time maybe give some substantive reasons why you think the show is bad.

Wait... I just noticed that you fancy yourself a comedian? Hm... I don't think it's working so well. Try again maybe?

Dropping the F-bomb is a lot more effective when doing stand-up. For political humor it's not quite as effective. Try something a little more nuanced... unless of course you don't think your liberal readers are savvy enough for that? :)

Re: STUDY GUIDE: Cap-And-Trade

ColoradoMatt — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 11:08:21 -0000

Hillary this is a phenomenal explanation, you did a wonderful job here. I like that you pointed out "it depends on who you ask" as to whether it's a good idea or not. It's time for Americans to start looking to their value system for direction rather than some absolute "right or wrong" metric.

Anyone interested in a little more in-depth view of this issue can read "Common Wealth" by Jeffrey Sachs. He has an admittedly liberal bias but has a brilliant mind and is an excellent author. "Common Wealth" covers a broad spectrum of ideas but I distinctly remember the cap and trade section because it changed my perception of the policy.

Re: Liberals Must Let America Move On

ColoradoMatt — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 11:13:59 -0000

Max, I agree with the gist of your article however I would caution that it's not necessarily a bad thing to "set the precedent of investigating, and possibly prosecuting, members of a previous administration". As someone who voted for President Bush twice, I do not think for a second he is above the law. If he violated my trust then I most certainly want the rule of law to win the day.

You are right however that any such investigation now would be highly biased and very political and as such, very unlikely to yield useful results. One of the downsides of our polarized political system in America is that every issue tends to be seen through the ideological lens of a political party.

Re: Mr. Franken Goes to Washington

ColoradoMatt — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 10:35:42 -0000

I loved to listen to Sen. Franken when he was on Air America. I don't agree with his views but I liked his humor and wit.

My concern with him running for Senate was much the same as it would be if say Limbaugh or Hannity or Beck ran for office. They are comedians and entertainers. That is not to say that comedians and entertainers can't be public servants. I just can't help but wonder if the good people of Minnesota couldn't have found someone who could serve them better than a blatantly ideologically biased comedian with no real experience doing anything other than entertaining people?

Re: Mr. Franken Goes to Washington

ColoradoMatt — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 20:11:41 -0000

And if you think Limbaugh is as evil as Hitler or has as much influence as Hitler then you should pick up a history book or two and learn some real lessons from history.

Limbaugh is an entertainer, not a comedian. He isn't particularly funny. (Nor entertaining if you take him too seriously.)

Re: Pelosi Wants Millionaires to Pay for Healthcare

ColoradoMatt — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 01:07:08 -0000

Alexander, I do know a good deal about economics and I assure you that your article makes perfect sense. Markus is engaging in the same tone that many liberals and lately conservatives employ when they encounter an opinion they don't agree with... they simply make fun of it.

It's none of my business but I would be interested in knowing if Markus is in that millionaire group that can "afford to pay a great deal of their income."

At any rate, Markus is echoing Galbraith's view in "The Affluent Society" and the theory certainly has some merits. Of course there are some other economists who think that Galbraith (and Keynes) were wrong because they ignored the effect of monetary motivation on human productivity.

If you ignore for a minute that millionaires are typically the ones who create the jobs for the rest of us, and if you ignore for a minute the fact that even though they don't *need* the money, they still *work* for money, you can sort of see the logic in their argument. Those are two pretty big assumptions to put in the ceteris paribus column though!

An argument that liberals really *should* be making is that rich people (meaning business owners) end up paying for health care one way or the other anyway. A nation of well individuals is likely to be more productive than a nation of chronically ill ones. Increased productivity consistently contributes to the well-being of capital owners as well as laborers. As such you can *almost* make the argument that health care should be a public good. :) Almost.... if you liberalize your definition of "public good"!

Anyway, interesting take on the topic. A little surprised at your opinion after reading some of your other work but it makes sense. One of my son's high school teachers told me last year that "the older I get and the more money I have in the bank, the less liberal I am!" :)

Re: Teaching Dollars and Sense

ColoradoMatt — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 17:43:33 -0000

Ryan, excellent points regarding the whiplash reaction to President Bush's policies as well as pointing out the pet project spending.

Your friend that claimed she wasn't in debt even though she was making car payments may well have been right actually. As long as the car is worth more than she owes, technically she isn't in "debt"... or rather in "deficit". If you can cash in all of your assets and repay all your liabilities, you aren't really in debt.

This is an important concept to understand when looking at whether government borrowing and spending is a bad thing. It's not always bad... as long as the programs end up producing enough revenue to cover the principal and interest, it might well make sense to borrow the money. Of course measuring the tax revenue effect of government programs is difficult at best but I think it's pretty obvious that many of the programs being foisted on the American public in the name of stimulus are not going to produce any lasting positive effect on our economy or tax base.

Re: Pelosi Wants Millionaires to Pay for Healthcare

ColoradoMatt — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 18:32:24 -0000

Markus, I don't see where he says millionaires are overtaxed in the article. He does point out in his later comment that he feels they are a "ridiculously-highly-taxed" group but that wasn't his initial argument.

His initial argument seemed to be a reaction against the liberal mindset that implies that A) most rich people are evil B) rich people can afford it so they should pay for anything that needs funded. Not all liberals think this way of course but Speaker Pelosi's comments seemed to be trying to placate those who do.

I also don't see where he says that millionaires owe nothing to the government or the needy but I might actually get on board with that argument! :) I think they have a moral obligation to care for those less fortunate, however I am not sure I want to live in a society that forces that level of morality on its members.

You and I obviously come from different places on the value scale when looking at economic issues. I think it's important to recognize that Alexander wasn't coming from a strictly economic standpoint with his opinion. It seemed to be more of a gut check than an academic argument.

As such I think scoffing at opinions is far different than mocking poorly formed arguments. Perhaps a more reasoned and less mocking tone might have had a bigger impact on changing his opinion. Presumably changing his opinion is more important to you than looking smarter than him? :)

Re: The sad state of our health care discourse

ColoradoMatt — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 11:01:12 -0000

"... the hell with incentives..." is a better state of health care discourse? Seriously Markus, I get that you are a hard core socialist but you can't really believe that we would have a better health care system if we say "... the hell with incentives..."

Perhaps we would have a more universal health care system meaning everyone would get some level of care. But we wouldn't have higher quality under such a scheme... in fact quality is going to take a huge hit.

I guess if making sure that everyone gets something is more important than making sure that most people get what they really need then "... the hell with incentives..." is a good plan.

In my mind, "everyone getting crap" is not better than "most people getting good". Just my opinion though. Well... my opinion and a whole lot of other Americans. Maybe we are all wrong. Or maybe you and the former Soviet Union "the hell with incentive" advocates are wrong. :)