The only thing cooler than last night (other than A’s success):
293 thoughts on “I’m not FKing Over It.”
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The only thing cooler than last night (other than A’s success):
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DFWAS
The rare double-despair day.
I mean, why are people too stupid to understand how tax brackets work? I’ve definitely heard people worry about getting a raise into the next bracket because it will increase their rate.
I’m not sure I really follow the argument. But what I do know is that taking 10% more on someone making 250k (25k) is SIGNIFICANTLY less of an impact than taking 5% of someone making 50k (2.5k). And if that 25k sinks the person with 250k, then quite frankly, it was likely going to happen anyway because they were clearly mismanaging their finances. If that 25k costs a job in the market, we’re talking about a single minimum wage job or a part time job. And even that’s a HUGE stretch because if a company wants to grow and/or be successful, they’re going to have to employ people to do the job anyway or else lose a lot more money then they’re supposedly saving.
Brackets only apply to income over the dollar amount. Someone making $50k and someone making $10M pay the same amount of taxes (before deductions, etc.) on their first $50k of income.
Ah… okay, so if I make 60k, the first 50k are applied at the 50k rate, the additional 10k is applied at a new rate making the “I don’t want get a raise for fear of higher tax bracket” dumb since you still make more money from the raise. Gotcha.
Exactly.
And, apologies if the “people are stupid” part came out wrong. I was intending to target it at tax critics but I think I missed pretty wide.
No worries. There’s a TON of ignorance when it comes to these things and the GOP/Tea Party loves to play off the reality that people by and large would rather believe their lies than admit that ignorance. It doesn’t help that there’s a major stigma associated with not knowing something, particularly when no one knows everything and there are always willing people to teach.
Exactly. I mean Obama has cut taxes more than any other president in history. Just think about that. Any other president in history. And the tea party keeps telling people that Obama raised taxes. Its truly mindboggling how disconnected from reality these people are.
And, of course, any journalist would cover that as “Obama claims to have cut taxes, but the tea party disagrees” and pat themselves on the back for their lack of bias.
exactly, the problem is “While Democrats points to samples taken on a moon walk showing that it is infact made of rock, the Tea Party says the moon landing was a filmed in a Holywood basement so the government could take your guns and hide the fact that the moon is in fact made of cheese. You decide!”
You make an interesting case… I really like cheese, oooooh and movies. I’ll take door number two!!! It’s the shit!
Nah, I think they’d point out that taxes have been cut. They’d just bury it six paragraphs deep in an article otherwise devoted entirely to enumerating Tea Party grievances. And/or blame it on Democratic “messaging”.
When were the last few recessions and what was the tax rate just before them? Anyone know? I’m wondering if there’s a correlation to be drawn to tipping the economy down when the tax levels get too low to pay for services.
Here are the top and bottom rates. Here are the recessions.
Hmmm… nope. It still amazes me that the GOP has cut taxes so much, more than it’s been in decades and then contends that, with less money we should be able to balance the budget. Anyone who’s lived could tell you it’s significantly more difficult to pay the bills when you have less money… oh that’s right, all the family’s struggling right now, with lost jobs, hour cuts, pay cuts… all of them are living that nightmare right now.
What bothers me most about this is that he RAN ON RAISING TAXES. Of all the promises you’d expect someone to follow through on.
But the good news is he’s starting to run on it again!
K’s brilliant and/or insane thought of the day:
We are currently living (or re-living through a simulation) the long and drawn-out process of the creation of God.
K’s second brilliant and/or insane thought of the day:
Religious people are living out mimicry of past and future states in an infinitely cyclical reality. However, at this point of the cycle, for a limited time, agnosticism is the closest thing we have to a “true religion”.
So everyone laughed at Rick Perry’s impossible desire to take Herman Cain and mate him up with Newt Gingrich.
Clearly, however, Perry has taken me and Bloom and mated us up with Philip Seymour Hoffman.
Yay! We make guns! We’re gonna be rich, Monkey!
No matter how hard we try to look different, we almost always still look like someone. Once a lot of people get access into an exclusive club, the original members get turned off and leave to find another smaller, more exclusive club to join. I have often wondered if I should feel guilty because of my role in this. On the one hand, it is disturbing, but on the other hand, I admire it.
Anyone want to hang out with Kevin Drum for dinner tonight in North Beach/Chinatown at 7:00?
Yglesias appears to be here as well
That is bullshit. Lunch options at SFO suck. Unless you are in T2 and then the Lark Creek Grill/Napa Farmers market would qualify.
They really need a Whole Foods there.
The Napa Farmers Market basically is one, you know just more expensive. But they serve mighty leaf tea at their coffee shop and with the 15% employee discount is reasonable at 2.79 for 16 oz.
T2 also has Cat Cora, with $14 small plates and $16 cocktails. That certainly qualifies as ridiculously upscale .(It may also qualify as suck).
Hmmm haven’t really looked into that one. I spend the least amount of time in T2, even though it is the nicest, I have the fewest members there (well on my turf at least).
Have you been to any other airport ever? They suck compared to the financial district, but usually your options are (1) McDonalds; (2) Starbucks; and (3) Chili’s. There is stuff I don’t mind in all the SF terminals.
Houston had, IIRC, a Chick-Fil-A, a Fox News Store, and a Howard Johnson’s Ethical Suicide Parlor.
And they were all closed on Sunday!
Hey, CFA is better than a lot of airports.
Well Chicago has some pretty good options IIRC. Dallas FW has barbecue
The potbelly in Midway is one of my favorites because it’s marked up like 25 cents a sandwich over their other stores. Also, the Sonic in OKC is essentially normal-price.
I’m flying out of SFO on Sunday evening. Thoughts or suggestions for where to eat?
El Toro.
What terminal?
What terminal? If you’re Southwest, I usually eat at Max’s. If you’re United, I usually eat at Boudin’s. I don’t have any experience eating in the International terminal.
And if you want to eat real food that’s south of the city, go here.
United, and Boudin’s it is.
Cool. It’s in the food court in the round central area (that used to have a truly epic beach blanket babylon hat). Some of the other places there are fine too if they better suit your mood.
The BBB hat is in international G side now.
Interesting. I wonder why they moved it.
I would do Anchor Steam. One of the few places I actually eat.
Guess I’ll have two dinners.
Mrs. coin claims that the milkshakes and Just Desserts in the United Terminal are top-5.
I think the Just Deserts are in T1 not 3
I thought it was in that same food court (in the island towards the center)
It is.
There might be two there is one pre security in t1
Somewhere not at the airport where they jack up prices because they know you can’t leave.
flying out? Home before you leave
?
I don’t eat at the airport unless I have to
I’m with you.
I used to bring a sandwich from here on any flight where it was logistically possible.
I probably could have sold some of those sandwiches for $50 once I broke ’em out.
Ah.
It will be a long flight and I’ll have a small per diem available to me.
Then carpe that muther out!
Emphasis on “small.” Government reimbursements rates (you can look ’em up) are a far cry from what you’d find out in industry (at least, that’s what I hear).
$16 Mufffins!!!
Yeah, I wish.
I bet there’s something at Just Desserts you can spend $16 on.
Yeah, and if I do I won’t have enough per diem left to keep me from starving the rest of the day.
What city are you headed to?
Best SFO dinning that wont require a second on your home to pay for: Anchor Steam Brewery’s Chicken Ceaser
For veggie food, margaritas, and baseball on tv while waiting for an international flight, Andale is OK.
Andale is an 8 dollar burrito that is smaller than my wrist.
TWSS
Max’s. Boudins. Just for starters.
And if your complaint is that food costs more there than not in an airport, you’re not going to get much traction from me.
I have to work here and it costs 14 dollars to leave and come back and the discount is very minimal.
Sure, but you’re not exactly the typical user. And I think you have to compare like to like.
Also Max’s is kinda Meh. Boudins I haven’t been to here but probably should
Their hot sandwiches are usually pretty good, at least for me. And plenty of kraut.
Max’s reubens are pretty good.
ahhh well I haven’t gotten their reuben.
I mean, they’re definitely not cheap (I want to say $12-$14) but they’re real.
TWSS.
Yay employee discount of 1.20!!!!!
Margarita goggles.
I apparently need to travel a lot more, and a lot farther.
Someone needs to make an ani-gif of this
2009 called. It wants its news back.
Just as soon as we will have been about to get the neutrinos in order.
Meet the neutrinos.
I already did.
the war with oceania is almost over?
The sloop boats will soon return, laden heavy with spiced meats and drinks of wheat and berry.
The bees would have had this shit solved by now.
bees?
Future Ed’s not on board.
You don’t ever meditate on the vast simliarities between bees, ants, and humans?
They all want to kill me and extract my essential oils?
Humans are just a big, emotionally stunted version of bees & ants. Our societies are more complex, but also far more dysfunctional.
We have great advantages we use to thrive on this world, but what matters is that we’re the only species capable of getting out of this gravity well to drop seeds of life on other worlds. If we’re no’t gonna do that, then fuck all are we good for?
Yglesias bait
Oh, the ironing.
Thanks, and go As.
it says loser right there
it does. prophetic, really.
Actually, it says “LOOZAH”
Wow, Douche Hand. I’ve done the math, I don’t think you can fit anymore asshole on that hand.
So, basically, Beane and Wolff have been lying the last week.
Sure, maybe that’s a bit strong — but Beane acknowledges that this most recent “you’ll know soon” has no stronger predictive value than any of the other bugger-offs they’ve been continually getting the last 2.5 years. Why go public with this one — and in a coordinated party-line effort? There’s definitely some reason for it, but I really can’t tell what the benefit (or even, really, who the intended audience) is.
I disagree. I think Beane and Wolff have in fact received a signal that an MLB decision is coming. And I further extrapolate that it will be a pro-San Jose decision.
Sometime after the Series and before Christmas, I’d expect. The Winter meetings are in Dallas Dec. 5-8.
This feels really right.
I will miss attending baseball games in person.
Well, you can still attend games, crash on our couch, and hope the cats don’t smother you in your sleep.
They may try to eat my skin!
MMm… raw Bloomyskin.
..you are part cat, aren’t you?
Just part? Mostly cat.
this is where NewMatt’s not really Matt. He prefers (like a normal person) dogs.
You know who likes dogs? Terrorists. Do you want to support terrorist behavior by being subservient to a subservient canine species? Cats are part of the master race. And they don’t keep you from arriving somewhere at 2pm before it closes. Dogs do. The terrorist bastards.
this
cats will actively try to stop you from leaving. I’ve had cats attack me in an attempt to get me to not leave. Cats are the terrorist sons of bitches and you know this. Dogs aren’t smart enough or independent-thinking enough to be terrorists.
Dogs aren’t smart which makes them the perfect Patsy for Terrorist.
I think a lot of this situation is going to hinge on what happens with the Dodgers.
so much depends
upon
a blue dodger
owner
glazed with divorce
proceedings
beside the greedy
commissioner.
At this point, unless the A’s and MLB are about to announce a move to Sacramento I just don’t give a damn.
While I personally agree with FSU, even if they haven’t heard anything and it’s same old business, it still makes sense. By putting it all front and center, if MLB *doesn’t* make a decision, it makes Selig et al look even worse since they have this nice, polite franchise patiently sitting there waiting. It’s their way of forcing the issue without making ultimatums or overtures that would make them look bad to the collective of owners that could ultimately decide their fate. In other words, they’re playing ball. At worse it lets them spend nothing this off season, pocket the change and when the media or players union balk at it, they can point their finger squarely at Selig have *them* bitch and force the issue.
that makes a lot of sense, but where do the expanded rosters, Wolff owning the Dodgers, NL DH and New Jersey Rays come in?
No, no, no. Wolff will own the expansion LA team replacing the Dodgers after the Dodgers get the boot because of their owner’s Dodgy behavior.
I think that last sentence is 100% on the squirrel. They’re basically coming up with a way to justify reducing payroll either way, even though they claim not to be.
I think while they’re reducing payroll just for the sake of reducing payroll, they’re also doing it to play into the master plan of both forcing the issue and playing the “we’re poor” part their eager to sell. Just because the part their playing is, arguably, true (albeit slightly exaggerated) doesn’t mean there isn’t ulterior motivations to do so.
this.
How dare you make me think on a Thursday night!
Maybe we should stop subsidizing environmentally damaging behavior.
If only there was some way to make sure natural gas is always cheap as compared to coal.
If only there was some way to make sure natural gas is always cheap as compared to coal.
Subsidize fracking?
Heh.
Like an RNC convention?
12-year olds, dude.
Change I can believe in.
Give a bum money, but make sure he doesn’t waste it on you know, the wrong stuff. Make sure he spends it on booze.
Reverse Elias rankings say Crisp just missed the Type B cut-off. Pig is a Type A and DDJ a Type B. The official rankings probably won’t be out for another week or so but the reverse engineering has been pretty spot on.
Yikes. Do we really want to offer DDP arb?
yes
Agreed. One more year of him on the cheap isn’t going to hurt the team or the budget. And he may actually improve given the horrifically bad year he had and, who knows, might become a Type-A or net something in trade if he decides to accept.
hat Domas said, except hes not going to be a type A. DDJ had one of his best seasons in 10 and that is gonig to be replaced with 12
I should throw a wishcast around that “might”.
I think so.
1) No arbiter is going to give DDJ a raise based on his 2011 base stats.
2) While $6 million might be the best 1 year offer DDJ can find, he needs a good 2012 if he wants to land one more big contract before he retires. No hitter is going to try to re-establish his offensive value in Oakland unless he has no other choice.
3) If you trust the way Fangraphs counts their numbers, DDJ earned 2.2 WAR… a $10 million value for a player earning $6 million in salary. Most likely, 2011 represents the floor of DDJ’s value going forward. Paying $6 million again for a minimum of $10 million in performance is a win.
What the g said.
Are there any potential Type-A’s we can steal from someone in the Piggy-mold?
Actually haven’t looked real close. Been busy getting up to speed on Cincy’s and LAA’s farm systems.
bref has him at 0.6 WAR, which I think is the biggest difference for any A’s player between the two sources. (I’ve been thinking about making a little chart, comparing the two. May get to it soon.)
About half of the difference is defense, and while that’s something that is difficult to evaluate by eye, he certainly didn’t seem like anything special in the OF to me.
Ballsy move Rays
(Not that they are), but if I were facing Detroit, I’d absolutely make that sort of gamble. Against the Rangers, meh. None of their pitchers are Acey.
Lawyerball is #7 in all of baseball in Fangraphs WAR.
Meh. He’s sub-McCarthy.
As anyone looked at whether there’s an advantage in a short series to run your #4/#5 starter against their #1 so that you can match up your #1 to their #2, #2 to their #3, etc.?
My guess is that it’s less than the cost of having to use your #4 twice in 5 games.
Matt Moore is the shit and has been for a while. Im down with it.
HOLY SHIT! WE FOUND TATOOINE!
Old news.
Oh.
REEEEEEEEEEEALLLYY old news, since even I’ve seen that.
Football Outsiders now has the Niners as the third most likely NFL team to make the playoffs, at 75%. They peg the Raiders at 49%.
Yeah. And given the Rams’ shitty start and the Seahawks/Cards’ shitty everything it’s probably fair.
Which isn’t, of course, to say they’ll win a playoff game.
Bingo!
Boy. I really can’t tell if Michael Lewis is a grade-A moron, or a malign Rick Santelli-type prick.
Or perhaps just a hack like me who knows how to tell a good story and get paid for it.
The latter, I think. It’s an odd article, joining together four or five storylines which are all pretty common-sensical (CA is ungovernable! Muni pension obligations are untenable!) but which together don’t really tell a very cogent story. But readable.
Yeah. California has a couple major structural problems: (1) Prop 13; (2) inability to increase taxes; (3) term limits -> worthless/disinterested reps.
Of course, most political “discussion” is along the lines of “ha ha liberals suck at government!!!”
I’m kind of starting to believe they do suck at government. Not because their ideas are wrong, they’re not. They’re just really fucking shitty at selling their ideas in the complete opposite way the GOP is fucking awesome at selling their shitty, mindnumbingly, going to decimate (reduce by ten) this country asinine ideas.
That’s an issue I’m really worried about. That said, I can’t tell if it’s (1) governing based on reality is more complex -> harder to communicate than “If [Problem], Cut Taxes”; (2) there’s something fundamentally wrong with liberals; (3) it’s a journalism issue: forthright liberal is shrill, careful liberal is wimpy, no other options exist; and/or (4) it’s insider bias and conservative partisans worry about their party sucking at messaging too.
I certainly don’t have an answer.
isn’t it a kin to telling people RsBI are not a good measure of a base ball players skill
I think it’s a fairly good analogy. RBI/AVG/W/etc are actually very complex calculations (mostly due to bizarre exclusions), but people grew up with ’em so they seem simple. And anything else is an affront even if it works better.
“Go back to your mom’s basement” is a pretty darn close analogy to “Al Gore is fat”.
That’s certainly true with Keynesianism vs folk economics.
That actually shares more space with a different issue I spend too much time thinking about: why humans don’t know how they do things. The specific example I fixate on is that it’s really really hard to program a robot to see (in part) because we don’t see the way we think we do.
The analogy is people say “well, if I get fired I don’t INCREASE my expenses, that’d be stupid.” But, in fact, a huge number of Americans graduate from high school and rather than get a job they deficit spend tens of thousands of dollars to improve their future outlook.
It’s a cui bono problem. No one with any skin in the game pays for genuine liberal messaging. I think we get exactly the (D) messaging that the (D) moneybagseses pay for.
I also suspect that the (D) team has a too-many-clientside-stakeholders organizational problem. Impression I get is that (R) campaigns and fundraising are more authoritarian/visionary/executional.
they certainly have the
gooselock-step downBut that’s what I mean about (4). I think conservatives can feel pretty fragmented too.
If I were a politician I’d lead with “this policy will cost me $X of my own money, and I think America is worth it” whenever I open my mouth. Of course, that would probably prove I’m a communazi.
I think from an inside/organizational perspective, there’s a whole lot of conservative activists who feel really shafted b/c they don’t get “access.” But … their guys win elections and control the ongoing public conversation. Whereas D insiders likely feel more accommodated … and that very act of accommodating makes D political organizations/campaigns ineffective decision-makers.
Of course, there’s the basic problem that there are fewer self-ID’ed liberals than there are conservatives …
Maybe. But it’s not like the GOP wins a ton more elections than Dems do.
And, whatever they self-id, liberal policies tend to poll much better. Not to mention that if we didn’t have such unbalanced representation things would look a lot more liberal.
I think that’s a result of how of they’re handled on the national level vs. local. At the state level they seem far less controlling so they win their share for governor/rep/senate. Whereas on the national level, they come across more iron clad.
I don’t know that that’s right. Chris Christie gets endless blowjobs. Alan Grayson gets ridden out of town, and people act like Al Franken is a clown. Scott Walker is a conservative hero, while Clinton got impeached. Weiner resigns for breaking no law, Vitter to this day lectures people on family values after getting off scot-free.
I mean Warren Buffett is definitely a moneybagses and he can’t break through either.
To the extent it’s cui bono, it’s people failing to understand that getting $50 off their taxes to give people like me much more is not bono-ing.
Well, you’re talking media coverage/PR. Not my department. :)
Seriously, though, it’s a separate albeit related issue. Structural problem is that the PR people will be the ones pushing hardest to exploit existing tendencies/prejudices — like Obama’s awful/stupid “government finances = family finances” moment from last month — and it’s still crucially necessary to use PR to work media coverage.
Is Buffett a major donor? That’s what I meant. I don’t know that anyone’s really funding good branding and messaging efforts.
People give more when they are getting value back. Buffet and the dozens like him have the “what’s the matter with Kansas” problem when they donate. The don’t benefit.
But the thousands of big GOP donors “invest” in politicsm and make money from bad policy
I think so. He appears to make max-donations to major democrats. And (I assume, brings in real money by hosting fundraisers etc)
True. But the problem is that people don’t think they do that. They think they tighten their belts when there are setbacks.
I venture to guess that most people do tighten their belts when there are setbacks, whether voluntary or not.
Not as often as people think they do. Hence credit card debt, for example.
It’s really easy for a lot of people to keep going and max it out, because they’re addicted to their particular level of consumption, but mainly because going bankrupt is not illegal and/or punishable with jail time.
If anyone who went bankrupt was subject to loss of job, jail time, and a criminal record, like it used to be back in England 300 years ago, people would do desperate desperate things to avoid it, let alone merely a little belt-tightening.
This is perhaps the dumbest idea ever. It would make more sense from a polity perspective to simply execute the poor, the sick, and the unemployed.
Oh, we’ll likely get there before the century’s up, if not way sooner.
It’s easy to say it’s morally unconscionable while I’m sitting at my cushy desk in a time of peace and relative prosperity (compared to the near and intermediate future), but not so easy to say after the shit’s hit the fan and former UN member countries are threatening to nuke each other over defaults, while resource war rages on unabated in the third world and a cold civil war simmers hotter at home.
Basically, what needs to happen if humanity is going to hit a shallow bottom and then move upward and onward together, is that we need a common sense of purpose. Just like the bees in the article DFA linked to the other day, we need to be willing to literally drop our core beliefs and forget about them if it’s what’s necessary to move the whole of society forward. If everybody’s main core belief is in the smart growth, maintenance, and mobility of society, towards the attainment of a mutually agreeable quality of life, we will be best equipped to efficiently use resources in a balanced and sustainable manner on the Earth’s crust. We will also be best equipped to colonize space, sea, and other rocks, which, at least to me, seems to be the point of a planet evolving sentient life in the first place.
Related. Sir Thomas More: enemy of mankind.
Maybe we should just start by executing the lawyers
MB- My late grandfather used to talk a lot about how “Lawyer Season” and “Politician Season” should be added to the hunting calendar.
He was also naive enough to think that lawyers and politicians who did their jobs with honor and free from corruption would be spared, while the greedy corrupt ones would be killed.
Well, I’m not making the stereotypical argument for executing them on general (lack of) principles, but because they’re going too far into debt given their collective job prospects.
Sigh. I just wrote out a list of objections to this (lets just say it’s more wrong than right) but I think it’s oversharing.
I figured. I was just using it for the execution/penury gag.
I just think that a lot of things that were once unthinkable turn from being social horrors into possible social actions when times of prosperity turn into times of scarcity within a few short years.
Liberals and people of conscience are going to have to work their asses off over the coming decades if they want society to fund/keep things like retirement and pensions, non-emergency health care, social safety net programs, sentences other than immediate death for violent felons, and other benevolent social elements, because those cuts all become easier and easier as recession turns to depression. The poorer and more desperate the people are, the crueler they become, and the more they get away with it.
Someone famous who I don’t feel like looking up once said that humanity’s veneer of socialization is razor thin. I tend to agree. I want to build it thicker, but I think that a bunch of holes are going to be worn into it first, before it gets painful enough for people to put aside the concepts of religious hegemony and wealth hoarding to work together to build a better existence.
My gut feeling says that technological sublimation of human desire through brain implants will likely get this job done well before we would ever organically evolve into it on our own.
We could all rally around an alien invasion…
and to clarify, on our current destructive path, I see debtor’s prison AND execution of the weakest in society both coming to pass in “civilized” nations.
It only takes a generation or two, tops, to turn a society batshit evil. Hell, extreme poverty from reparations did it to Germany in less than a generation.
Clinton sexually harassed an intern and lied about it under oath. It was kinda a big deal.
Deep down, I don’t think people are willing to handle reality. Not just politically speaking, but in general. They stay in bad relationships when reality makes it clear they shouldn’t. They spend all their money on stupid shit when they’re deep in debt. They struggle to control their vices even when it kills them. Sadly no one is immune to it. And because of that, sadly, when it comes time to be truly serious about the economic state of this country, it’s far and away easier to believe a reality where the liberals are evil and stealing their money because that means they themselves aren’t to blame and don’t actually have to do anything to make things right other than putting a stop to them.
You have:
Door #1) You are the problem, you have to tighten your belt, be an adult, and accept responsibility and act.
Door #2) You aren’t the problem, you can go off and have fun, consequences be damned, and blame someone else while you sit on the couch, hand down your boxers, while you watch football.
The average person chooses Door #2 every time. And the non-average person will *want* to choose Door #2 because it’s just easier and less work. That leaves a few small group willing to step up and enter Door #1.
Of course, a lot of Democratic policies are a lot more like 2 than 1. Monetary easing / social safety net / mortgage restructuring / etc.
I think a big part of it is othering. Sarah Palin sounds pretty darn liberal about support for special needs children because she has one. One of the most effective ways to change people’s minds about gay=horrible is for them to see that some of their friends are gay. So dude with hands down his boxers is hurting himself, but at least he’s keeping those inner-city welfare queens from eating T-bones with his hard-earned defense contractor money.
I was kind of waiting for this to com up in this conversation; it seems like an unresolved tension among liberals. Like it or not, there is the perception that liberal intellectuals think the average person is plain stupid and needs a massive amount of guidance and help to survive. In fact, that’s how I read dmoas post.
I have a pretty different view of human nature, and a large part of it is that when humans engage in cooperative, mutually-beneficial behavior (the dreaded free market!) we make up for our individual deficiencies. But that’s just me.
I wouldn’t say the free market is dreaded. I would say it doesn’t exist, and that conservative policy tends to move away from it.
I think it’s fair to say that liberals think the average person is pretty stupid (I’m liberal, and I often do), but I think it’s a pretty weak criticism of the current high-profile liberal policies. Carbon pricing is an attempt to price in the cost of doing business so companies can figure out how to mitigate environmental damage. The ACA is an attempt to provide access to healthcare that is both affordable and actually healthcare (including market incentives for innovation).
Conservative policy suggestions seem to be giving 99% of the country a $1 tax cut and the other 1% a massive one. And afterwards, to do it again.
And this is why, while I frequently agree with liberal policy, I will never identify as a liberal.
(for the record, there should be a “some” in there)
And that’s fine. I don’t want teammates anywhere nearly as much as I want better policy. Of course, if that feeling causes you to vote for a republican, then you’re cutting off your nose to spite your face.
wait.. the average person IS pretty stupid
Thanks, and go As.
No the average person is actually of average intelligence.
Funny, but true.
These two things are not necessarily in tension.
This
Don’t take this the wrong way, but that’s a pretty low and, IMO, unwarranted opinion of your fellow man.
Not sure how it’s unwarranted. Low yes. Pessimistic absolutely. But I think a very good case can be made that it’s nevertheless true. While we have enormous potential, we as a race (myself absolutely included) are nowhere near as smart as we’d like to think we are.
And all too often it only gets worse when we get into crowds.
What is it we do so well?
This isn’t really a discussion where one of us is going to persuade the other.
I find most conversations worth having aren’t intended to persuade the other of anything, but share differing opinions/perspectives and make you think about how we all view the world differently. That being said, I could understand why you wouldn’t want to continue the discussion.
You’d be surprised. Internet discussions never persuade people (or at least rarely/me) in the moment, but they’re food for thought and more honest than real ones where someone gives in too easily.
Too true nm. Not necessarily internet-wise, but some of the best discussions I’ve ever had were pretty heavy arguments that I adamantly opposed the other person’s view only to realize not too long after that some of their views sunk in just a little more, not necessarily to the point of changing my view, but to the point of reshaping it for the better.
My argument was mostly that people were inherently lazy and, given the the opportunity, will chose the easiest way they think will get them what they want. It has nothing to do with intelligence. I won’t suggest in all of that, that a purely liberal nor purely conservative approach will fix things. It won’t. But it takes someone willing to do the gritty work to get things done and by and large people don’t *want* to do that work.
As for the notion that the free market will create the spirit of cooperation, I don’t see it. History is full of cases where the haves have basically fucked over the have nots when given the case to be cooperative. That sort of cooperation really only works in small groups where people are forced to interact with someone they’ve screwed over one-on-one on a daily basis, not in a country where you can go off and hide in a McMansion to avoid the eyes of the little people. Just look at message boards, the anonymity allows for a lot freer speech than you could ever have if you had to say it face-to-face.
I didn’t mean that it creates a *spirit* of cooperation as an altruistic conceit; I was using “cooperative” more in the sense of “synergy” (hate that word). It seems to me that development of markets has done more to lift people out of poverty, in both an absolute and relative sense, than any other human innovation.
I got where you were coming from in terms of cooperation. You’re thinking in terms of a symbiotic relationship. But even in a symbiotic relationship, one hand can be controlling the entire body. Business owners in the early 1900s needed employees to run their factories, but that doesn’t mean they didn’t take advantage of the “freedom” to take away wages, force ungodly hours and employ young kids in deadly working conditions. The workers did it because, symbiotically, they needed the job. Sure it’s all cooperative, but it’s hardly a world to aspire too and while it wouldn’t happen overnight and possibly as severe, it’s certainly the direction things will head.
I would argue that the regulation of markets have done more than anything else to lift people out of poverty. Lets face it, capitalism unrestrained creates great wealth for very few and little to none for the rest of us.
I agree with you here.
Another thing to remember is that throughout the industrial revolution and on to WWII, many if not most worker gains came from strikes and violence and implied violence and sabotage, rather than from benevolent policy changes in regulation of markets. The changes often came after the carnage, as a result of.
You are taking too narrow a view of history by confining your definition of “people” to Westerners and “history” to the last 75 years.
What kinda bullshit makes you think that Im constraining my argument to the last 75 years?
Washington Consensus guy, eh?
Red Klotz should totally change the name of the Generals to the Consensus. That would be so funny and ironic.
That would be awesome.
Or the Centrists.
Free market: respect and freedom for all.
I assume you’d agree with me that what Amazon really needs is more deregulation.
I don’t think that the GOP is better at selling their message; I think they’re selling a message that’s more palatable to an undereducated, emotion-driven public.
I’m late to this discussion (and the tangent that has followed), but yeah it’s quite a feat to write about California’s state/muni finance issues and not even mention Prop 13. Also, the ballot initiative process in general, which would even have fit into his “voters want services, but don’t want to pay for them” narrative.
The part portraying Arnie as this heroic independent who just wanted what was best for the state was also pretty bad.
The heroic independent who just wants to do the right thing … is the profile he fits every pol in the article into.
I’m actually a lot more Arnie-positive than most folks of my political ilk…I do give him credit for being more independant of the anti-tax and other lodestones to which almost every other Republican pol in the state is beholden. And I found this take credible:
He was legitimately good on climate issues. No way AB32 or SB375 gets through without his (substantial) backing.
He was actually pretty good on prison stuff too. To the point that Brown isn’t noticeably better.
But he (arnold) was noticeably better than Davis
Yes.
wait, you DO get paid to write?
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…then what the FK we doing here?
TWG_SSTN***
and a year late at that!
Yep. I repurpose every single comment here into award-winning copy that effectively sells pharmaceuticals. Let’s see, Bloom … B … ah, yes, here we are: I use most of your comment to sell a candidiasis drug.
The p is for placebo.
I thought Bloomie was on the Leishmaniasis/Kwashiorkor account?
Looks like Francona might be cooked.
can we de-bob in time?
I wanted Ozzie!
I want someone not named bob
How about…Mob Belvin?
I would take Felix Bernandez for the rotation
Trade?
I mean, not that I give a FK about Boston’s monumental collapse and who has their head roll because of it, but shouldn’t the eyes be on Theo more than Francona?
Incidentally the Harden non-trade loomed pretty damn large, and that was all Theo’s FKup.
Thanks, and go As.
True. Harden would have been a better option than whatever dreck they were running out there.
Yup, and I don’t believe for a second that Theo didn’t realize Harden was an injury risk before agreeing to the deal. I think he FKed up and didn’t make it conditional in the first place, and then tried to reneg and Billy rightly told him to stuff himself.
Thanks, and go As.
I thought it was bad faith. Now I think it was desperate sloppiness
Both, IMO. The latter is what led to the former.
Thanks, and go As.
Yeah. They really could have used him, even in his end-of-season bad form.
Someone on ** last night posited that the whole “Oh, he’s teh injured!” line of bs from Theo was all totally posturing to keep the Yankees from getting Harden.
So I’ve watched Crawford’s non-catch a few times now. Seems to me that he either should have gone into a full out dive to attempt the catch, or intentionally play it on the bounce and throw while charging. Even with his FKup the throw wasn’t *that* late. I have to believe that a well-timed charge-transfer-throw would have had a good shot at nailing the runner. It was, after all, a single to shallow left.
I think you are right on both counts
Surprised I haven’t seen much commentary to that effect; I figured it would be on Primer but haven’t seen anyone say anything.
How wet was the outfield? On the low-res video I’ve seen it’s not clear if that was a factor in the sloppy slide.
Good point; don’t know.
TB double agent!
Thanks, and go As.
Likeliest explanation.
Rays : Baseball :: Goldman Sachs : Government
Lost in all the AL drama, I feel really bad for Huddy. Wilson booted the ball behind him and then Kimbrel blew the save. I feel like the A’s let him down like that a few times.
s/A’s/Foulke
Thanks, and go As.
Yup.
IIRC, Huddy let us all down a few times like that, too.
The other thing I noticed was that on chris Davis’s ninth inning double, the Sox almost threw the ball away. I’m not one to claim that they were all gutless chokers, but they appeared to playing pretty tight last night.
so. After watching the Papelbon interview in the clubhouse afterward, I feel even worse for him. He really is a stand-up kid. He can’t be any older than 25. And I have a sneaking suspicion he’s gonna get Bucknered here.
As an addendum to this, I often forget, up until 2004, the Red Sox were innocuous in my mind. Somewhat annoying in their enthusiasm and general NorthEastern prickishness, but generally speaking harmless. They were ultimately impotent, and often shot themselves in the foot before we had to. In 2004, I was even rooting for them, excited that they had finally overcome the Yankees. I despised the Yankees and all they stood for, and watching Giambi fail was priceless. Although he returned to the A’s and I forgave him, I still love the fact that he never got a ring by “joining the winning side.”
Something changed with the Sawx after they won in 2004. Their ranks swelled to about five times their number before they won. They became insufferable. They become the bullies instead of just taking them on. They acted just like the Yankees fans. Worse, even.
Something about last night reminded me who the Red Sox really are.
Maybe you just didn’t have much exposure to Sox fans prior to 2004.
Yeah, I certainly also reviled them during their run of failure. Always loved chanting “Nineteen-Eighteen” and “86 more years” from the Coliseum stands.
My first Red sox game in the 70s at anaheim stadium was such a bad experience for my mom that she refused to take us to games when the Red Sox were playing.
I’m with you, to a point: pre-2004 Sox fans were, if anything, somewhat pitiable. Their dickishness was always tempered by their legacy of utter failure–especially juxtaposed with their biggest rival’s glaring successes–and knocking them down a peg was just way too easy. Sure the Ruth thing was stupid, but it showed their basic inferiority complex. They were the Cubs. I don’t know anybody who wasn’t rooting for a Cubs-Sox WS in ’03. Of course, it may have helped just a little bit that the A’s were better than them for nearly half my years as a fan pre-2004.
But those times are irrevocably over. Let’s talk about who the Red Sox, and their fans, really are once they’ve gone through another 86 year drought. These aren’t the Bills here, where they could win two championships in five years and (I imagine) the fans could somehow refrain from demanding more, immediately, as their birthright. Boston fans have no time for historical perspective, not when they’re in their golden age of fandom: being able to lord their athletic prowess over every other city.
You might hope that this season’s Icarus impression would disabuse Red Sox Nation of their delusions of perma-superiority, but I’m not seeing it. They’re the same assholes they’ve been all season. 2003 ain’t coming back.
And Papelbon is the biggest FKing asshole of them all.
Does anybody know why FK automatically changes my (and I assume others’) em dashes to en dashes?
Absolutely no idea.
Papelbon is 30.
Huh. Okay. FK him.
monkeyball, in keeping with one of your favorite patterns of post titles, I hope your plan for today includes a Grill called “I’m not over FKing it” or “I’m not FKing it over.”
iFSU, it’s not FKing over you.
Does anyone know enough about football analysis to know whether this makes sense? My instinct is that situational stats matter more in football than baseball, but these are so far out of line with what I’d expect.
Which ones in particular?
My impressions (to be taken w/ a grain of salt; I just read the methodology behind DVOA for the first time last week):
–I would think that QB ratings in general would be somewhat–>substantially higher against the blitz, but 143.1 is obviously not gonna continue.
–Alex has been great at ball security inside the red zone, so his high QB rating there makes sense.
–I read a quote the other day from Harbaugh that he often can’t tell the difference between Bowman and Willis on the field, b/c they play so similarly/well. I’d say that part is for real.
–Eric Johnson had fewer than six 100-yard games in his career?
I’m just thinking about slicing stats into “in the red zone” or “against blitzes” and whether you’re getting more signal than noise by reducing sample.
QB rating itself is pretty stupid, so there’s that issue, but just like pitcher wins and RBIs, a perfect one is still an indicator of talent.
I couldn’t believe that Brent Jones wasn’t on there.
Yeah, that surprised me too.
Saw Moneyball last night with my wife. We both loved it–pretty good script and great acting, though I will agree that PSH’s Howe was probably a bit unfair (though still quite good). The rest of the audience seemed to like it, too.
My wife now wants to read the book (which I’ve currently loaned out to my sister-in-law) and learn more about some of the characters.
Cool. I hope Mrs. N and I can find time.
Same thing happened here. Mrs. Aces took a friend to see it and now he wants to read the book.
Keynes: still right. Too bad we can’t be as smart as Chile.
/S&TC
Can that really be true?
I sense a theme here…
i thought you could get people to write sports stories for free
Long since replaced.
Don’t tell ****.