Mickey Mouse Economics
A McCain economic advisor visits Disneyland and says we can't be in a recession because, hey, the line to get into the haunted mansion was really, really long! One wonders if that sort of rigorous analysis led to this screamfest a few years back. A more recent look at this guy's record is here.
posted by The Cunning Realist at Monday, August 18, 2008
13 Comments:
Wile E. Coyote, super genius!
http://bigbrightbulb.com/in-general/15-business-lessons-from-wile-e-coyote-super-genius
"So it's a mess to be sure. But it's not a real mess — it's just a psychological mess."
The economic equivalent of the "we create reality, and you can study it, judiciously, as you will."
Not only is Luskin's detachment from the current economic dynamic troublesome, it is potentially disastrous in the long term. I watch the neo-conservative policy positions of the Bush administration pushing the nation toward ever greater military colonialism (now Georgia, now 3 carrier groups steaming toward the Persian Gulf, now reinstatement of a forward missile array in Poland) and I have an eerie feeling of dejà vu. We've seen this movie before: a post WWII global power succumbing to ever more reliance on military power and ideological expansionism in lieu of real economic growth and innovation. It took the collapse of the Soviet Union to bring that empire's over-reliance on military economy to an abrupt halt. One wonders whether the United States will continue on this path or whether we're doomed to repeat history without the benefit of learning a whit from it.
At this point I'd accept Mickey Mouse as our President.
He was actually a Ron Paul supporter before he declared himself a "McCain adviser"
I was actually hoping Paris was serious about a presidential run. I would vote for her.
Then there are folks like this: Meet the Economist Who Thinks We're Doomed
I don't know, how many of those folks at Disneyland went into deeper debt to finance the trip? Did they skip on healthcare, college or retirement savings? Americans' priorities are so out of whack, it is hard to tell.
My neighbor says the unemployment line is long, really long. Does that count? That line at that failed California bank was long too.
On the other hand, some folks are doing really well in this economy. There just isn't as much middle ground. Lots of development still going on. And the parking lots for restaurants and stores are packed. Yard sales aren't much fun, for sellers that is, because there is a lot of cheap stuff (quality?, customer service?). It doesn't pay to take care of your stuff for future resale, because something you paid a lot for new, now you spend 6+ hours of your time to get $1. It is easier to toss it or donate it. That wasn't always the case.
I think people are just plain burnt out with Republican BS of all kinds. How much of Fox Faux reporting can one country take... HHmmm...
Tough choices: Disneyland or the Infrastructure
Alabama county faces biggest U.S. local government bankruptcy
"Alabama's largest county could be headed for the biggest local government bankruptcy in U.S. history, a $3.2 billion mess created by the nation's credit crunch and a colossal, corruption-riddled sewer project."
Wonder if there will be long, really long lines at the voting booths ;-)
Luskin reminds me of this chart.
Off-topic perhaps (or maybe a refreshing counterpoint to an ignoramus like Luskin) -- here's a talk with the most lucid and astute political observer in America today, Andrew Bacevich. Unfortunately, as an empirically-inclined adult, Bacevich reaches conclusions that aren't quite as sunny as Luskin's.
-- sglover
How I'd love to see Bacevich on this year's ticket.
He would be totally and throughly defeated. After all he is an American hating terroritst sympathizer. Who has disgraced his son's good name by even suggesting that our war isn't the most noble fight in the history of the human race. He can take a cell next to Cindy Sheehan in Guantanamo.
Don Luskin's opinion or a pile or manure? I'm not sure which is worth more.
anonymous, that's easy. You can use a pile of manure as fertilizer.
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