17 Socialsts

Rep. Bachus (R -- as if you hadda ask) has declared there are 17 Socialists in Congress. To which I say, well, 17 beats 16.

I R A Socialist 2!

We iz all socializt.

Nick Cavuto is Stupid

Nick Cavuto is stupid.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,511655,00.html

I'm not talking ordinary stupid here.
I'm talking what'd he just say? stupid.
He is honey-bar-the-door-I-think-they're-getting-in stupid.
I'm talking stunning stupid.
He is stupid enough to make stupid look smart.
I'm talking somebody actually pays him for this? stupid.
He is it-cannot-be-said-in-too-many-ways stupid.
I'm talking ... and here I am not exaggerating ... he is ... well,
George Bush stupid.

Free Market Myth

I'm getting heartily tired of listening to Those People talk about the "free market". Tired of them talking about it as if it exists or ever did exist, and tired of them talking about it as if it were manifestly a Good Thing.

First, dearest Virginia, there's no such thing as Santa Claus and there's no such thing as a Free Market. Go ahead, have a look around. Tell me when you find one.

Do they mean free as in "unregulated"? A market with not a single regulation? Of course not! Very well, we are not talking about differences in quality but differences in quantity. Some regulations are good, more regulations are bad. The line being exactly wherever the Republicans decide to draw it this week.

Do they mean free as in "..." well, I can't come up with any other meaning. So there's no such thing as a free market; there are only markets regulated to one degree or another.

Second, let's look at degrees of regulation. The first great wave of regulation came during the Progressive Era, in direct response to the crash of 1894-95 and to the excesses of the robber barons. There was a comparatively unregulated business environment, and what happened? Well, for one thing, a helluva lot got done. Railroad boom, oil boom, massive real estate development, and industrialization pretty generally. But what also happened was many small businesses were driven out of business as corporate giants gobbled them up, then the giants conspired to keep power in their hands and cut off startups. Until they got so big and centralized that when an economic crisis hit, the consequences were exacerbated. And the working man took it in the chops.

After the Progressive Era, we had another round of Republicans (and let us be fair: the behavior was international, with free marketeers infected most advanced countries). We had the boom of the 1920s, and once again much got done, but with a terrible price: the Great Depression. Once again, the working man took it in the chops.

And again in the 1980s and again now. *Every* time regulations were rolled back, ordinary folks got hurt. There are no exceptions.

I'm less afraid of the government than I am of a corporation. I have a voice in my government, however tiny. I have no voice in corporate America. When was the last time you saw a wave of populist reform driven by moral considerations inside a multi-national? It literally cannot happen.

So screw the free market. It's a myth and it's a golden calf. Regulate the corporations. Hell, we keep our *dogs* on a leash with less good reason than for keeping the corporations leashed.

Let's see.

This week Obama made a presidential order that the government should follow science and reason.

This week we stopped calling people "enemy combatants" so we could just lock them away and not be bothered with annoying legal procedures.

This week Obama gave the green light to stem cells so fundamental biological research could occur.

...

I think I kinda like this socialism thing.

Three feet high and rising

That's the sentiment out there all right. Socialism is just bustin' out all over. I'm still having trouble spotting it.

Oh, the *threat* is there. Good gosh golly, the threats are just positively everywhere, ain't they? I mean, just look at all the money they're spending. Spending lots of money is socialist. Innit?

Wait, wait, I got a better one. Nationalizing the banks. Now that's socialism, yessir, no doubtaboudit. Yet now we're hearing Republicans suggest we nationalize some banks. Nationalize the "right way" they say. If a Republican says it, is it still socialism?

How high's the water, momma?

Sounding the Tocsin

"This is the first salvo in the establishment of a Marxist state, and anybody that doesn't think so had better get out there, had better open up their eyes and better see what these people are doing. Nobody out there knows exactly what this guy is going to do, but they love him. That's basically how the Bolsheviks did it. "

http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_110508/content/01125108.guest.html

Huh! The Bolsheviks got elected? Or is it the reverse? Did Obama storm the Winter Palace and I missed it?

Well, I took this Brave American's advice. I got out there. I opened up my eyes. My neighbors probably wondered why I was standing in my front yard in the dead of winter with my laptop in hand, but there ... they are probably all Bolsheviks too. Mensheviks, at the very least. (hm, the spell check is fine with Bolshevik but not Menshevik -- that's what happens when you lose!).

Anyway, I was unclear as to which people I was supposed to see doing. I forebore to peer into my neighbors' windows. Maybe the Brave American was referring to something he saw on TV, although in that case getting "out there" presents something of an existential quandary. After some minutes, I went back inside.

See, I just needed inspiration from the right source.

Boring So Far

Given the frantic predictions of the election season, I confess I'm disappointed in the pace of Socialism in America to date. Perhaps I'm expecting too much from our new president. Rome was neither built nor destroyed in a day, although Nero had a good run at it.

Still, you'd think we'd be seeing something by now. Some loss of freedom, some heartless federal takeover, some random bit of oppression.

I blame the economic crisis. It's taken everyone's eye off the target. Even the socialists.