On the President's speech

After listening to the speech and shutting my ears to the pundits and thinking about it overnight as I went to sleep I realize that this is a worthy effort though not as big as it should be or in fact needs to be.  But at least it is something that might get through a recalcitrant congress (read Tea Baggers) and may be of help and may in fact prime the pump for the needed recovery.  The only troubling aspect of President Obama's solution is that he kept his powder dry for too long. And that thought made me think cynically that perhaps he waited to kick off his re-election campaign which puts this effort squarely in the realm of the political.

My Grandmother

If my Grandmother was still alive she'd be 116. I spent my boyhood years living with my grandmother and listening to her talk about how things were. Believe me you get great perspective if you pay attention to the old folks.  I still credit her beliefs passed on to me as the ones that have carried me this far. She was an immigrant with third grade education and a Phd mind.

On the Prospect Park Bike Lanes

I cross the PPW bike lane several times a week every week. Believe me when I say how frightened I am by the prospect of having to do so. Do I wait for the light to change? Do I have right of way? Those six feet of walking is so fraught with danger that sometimes I lay awake at night unable to have another thought in my head. It just spins and spins in my brain and of course I can't sleep. I have fantasies that I can't turn my head to see if a bicyclist is coming. I am frozen with terror. Those green lanes, those horrible green lanes turn into vile toothed creatures with claws. Oh the horror. The horror.  . .And now my shrink is demanding that I pay more since all I do is talk about bike lanes, bike lanes, bike lanes . . . help. 

On the state of politics as we know it today

Back in the days before there were any media at all, except maybe the local weekly (if that) or maybe the local preacher (See "Sinners in the hands of an angry God," Jonathan Edwards 1741),  people had little to look forward to in the way of entertainment. But what they did have were politics. And when the politicians came to town they had themselves a good old fashioned party--which is probably why the politicians called their organizations "parties." Now given all the media and entertainment we have, politics still or maybe more so has become a huge entertainment business. And it seems that every cycle it has become bigger, louder, more annoying, time consuming but providing no insight into anything and hardly more entertaining. . .    

Another example of Corporate malfeasance

When Patents Attack

http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2011/07/26/138576167/when-patents-attack?ps=cprs

GDP drops

Keynesian economics at this juncture indicates that this is not the time for government to stop spending or even cut back. See the "Paradox of Thrift." There is no equivalenc

­y between our homely little budget and what a government­'s budget should be. We need jobs. And we need to spend ourr way out of this.

As to debt, deficit negotiatio­ns congress has two tools: Taxes and cutting spending. You just can't take away the taxes tool as has been done by this dumb Grover Norquist pledge that these Republican congress people have signed. The American public is being taken for a ride by the Republican message (which BTW is very clever). .

Some don't care about the collapse of the debt ceiling negotiations

http://agonist.org/numerian/20110725/why_some_people_are_just_fine_with_the_collapse_of_the_debt_ceiling_negotiations

Why Some People Are Just Fine with the Collapse of the Debt Ceiling Negotiations

If political functionality were a means test for a country’s credit-worthiness, the US would have lost its AAA rating a long time ago. The country which prides itself as the “World’s Greatest Democracy” has puts its dysfunctional political system on display for months now, in a struggle to get the debt ceiling increased. The resulting spectacle has nauseated even the ever-complacent American public: both Democrats and Republicans are now given losing grades by the voters for their performance in this farce. If the country had a legitimate third party to vote for, the Democrats and Republicans would be in serious trouble. Of course, the political system is geared to prevent third parties from emerging, so the country flounders about, looking for leadership from pusillanimous Democrats or ideological Republicans who consider raising taxes a mortal sin. The voters are probably a few steps away from concluding what is meant to be hidden but by now should be obvious: American democracy doesn’t exist, and the political system in Washington is beyond repair. What is worse: there are people and organizations who like things just the way they are and will fight any attempts at reform.