10.16.09
Posted in Current Events, Economics at 10:08 am by madcap
A reader spars with Andrew Sullivan over which administration(s) deserve credit for the Dow hitting 10,000: The Daily Dish - Dissent of the Day
Allow me to offer a different dissent:
In 1999, when the Dow hit 10,000, the unemployment rate was 4-4.5%. In 2009 when the Dow hit 10,000, the unemployment rate was 9.5%.
Let’s not start uncorking the champagne just yet.
Most Americans don’t enjoy a lot of benefit directly from the stock market. Even for those of us who have significant savings there, it’s mostly tied up in retirement accounts.
Yes, growth can lead to jobs. But it doesn’t necessarily have to. And until it does, the recession will not be over for most people, especially those looking for a job. So why don’t we all sit back, take down the “Mission Accomplished” banner hanging over Wall Street, and maintain a little bit of cautious optimism instead?
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06.19.09
Posted in Current Events, Politics at 11:08 am by madcap
Photo by Gary Godfrey
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06.16.09
Posted in Culture, Current Events, Economics, Politics at 11:40 pm by madcap
I’m just catching up with Nico Pitney’s live-blog of the ongoing protests in Iran. (Funny enough, I’m seeing him being interviewed by Rachel Maddow in a repeat of today’s show right now.)
In his 2:21PM ET entry, Nico reports a reader’s communication with family in Iran, an excerpt of which follows:
He said that probably half the stores are closed, but that unemployment is 40% anyway, so its not like protestors have anything better to do. These people are mostly young, unemployed, have poor access to higher education, and no foreseeable future prospects.
My thoughts while reading this were (in this order):
- 40% unemployment?! No wonder they’re rioting!
- It’s about time we saw some masses of young, unemployed, under-educated men in the Middle East with no future prospects fighting for the forces of good. In that respect, I guess thanks are deserved to Iran’s oppressive theocrats.
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06.14.09
Posted in Current Events, Politics at 9:25 pm by madcap
Twitter was all aflutter yesterday with criticism of CNN for its lack of coverage of the on-going protests in Tehran (see #cnnfail and
#IranElection on Twitter, also this article from the NY Times).
Howard Kurtz, of CNN’s Reliable Sources offered a defense CNN via Twitter itself:
Maybe CNN should have taken CNNi feed last evening. But it was middle of the night in Iran, and even journalists have to rest sometimes.
Howard Kurtz, via Twitter
If you ask me, CNN should take CNNi feed every day, all day(*).
(*) Except for the cricket scores. They can leave those out. 
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04.20.09
Posted in Culture, Current Events, war at 11:11 pm by madcap
To read the four newly released memos on prisoner interrogation written by George W. Bush’s Justice Department is to take a journey into depravity.
Their language is the precise bureaucratese favored by dungeon masters throughout history. They detail how to fashion a collar for slamming a prisoner against a wall, exactly how many days he can be kept without sleep (11), and what, specifically, he should be told before being locked in a box with an insect — all to stop just short of having a jury decide that these acts violate the laws against torture and abusive treatment of prisoners.
Editorial - The Torturers’ Manifesto - NYTimes.com
Someone remind me what we’re fighting for.
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