Ian Fletcher has noticed that they don't discuss economics much anymore. Instead, we mostly hear something that pretends to be economics but is judgmental lecturing unsupported by any critical thinking. He calls it "fakeonomics," and it goes something like this...
Free markets are always right, always and everywhere.
Anyone who doesn't believe this is stupid. Smart people not only understand that free markets are best, they like free markets, because free markets mean opportunities to get rich.
Or maybe they're corrupt. The opposite of free markets is government. Government is always incompetent. It never does anything right. Ever.
Or maybe they're evil. Anyone who doesn't believe in perfectly free markets is a Marxist wannabe or a loser jealous of more-successful people.
Free trade is just free markets applied internationally.
Glenn Greenwald's asked: What sets Tea Party politicians apart from the radical right-wing republicans who preceded them? Here's part of Andrew Sullivan's response:
I think what the tea-partiers would say is that they are for real - that, unlike Bush, they won't spend the country into oblivion, that they won't bail out the banks, that they won't pass unpaid-for entitlements, that they actually will make sure that abortion is illegal, that they will round up illegal immigrants and enforce the border, and will not pretend that we are not fighting Islam in a civilizational war. And that they will refuse to raise taxes even if it means the most radical dismantlement of the entitlement state since the New Deal.
Now you can argue that this kind of extremism was always part of the picture, but the Rove method was to use these convictions, not actually share them. Bush increased spending radically, added a huge unpaid entitlement to the next generation, pandered to Hispanics, favored immigration reform, did nothing to prevent legal abortion, felt awkward demonizing gays, pretended he wasn't torturing prisoners, did not kill enough Iraqis, and made a major point about not having a fight with Islam as such. The base wants to get rid of any of these nuances and get the real thing.
But here's more to the inner-psyche of at least some Tea Party advocates. Each of the following positions have been promoted by Christine O'Donnell (this excerpt is by John Farrell):
Darwin was wrong, the earth is 6,000 years old, and creationism should be taught in the public schools. God wouldn't want us to lie to the Nazis, even to save folks from concentration camps. Onanism is a pressing social issue. She's going to Washington to fix the federal budget, but can't seem to pay her own bills and taxes, or compose an accurate resume
I do suspect that these sorts of positions are intentional displays of ignorance in order to impress similarly situated others regarding one's loyalty that that group. It's much like wearing saggy pants or professing belief that Mary was a virgin who had a baby. I don't suspect that the Tea Party advocates necessarily really believe many of the things they say--I suspect that they don't really feel strongly about Onanism (masturbation) or lying to Nazis, for example. But it's not really about Onanism or Nazis. These purported positions are more about attempting to coordinate the energies of many individuals in order to make a power grab as a group. Not that they wouldn't then try to pass some laws along these lines, in order to further their displays to each other, in attempts to prove sincerity. This could create a dangerous situation where intra-group stroking is the impetus for enacting self-destructive laws.
A group called Grass Roots Organizing (GRO) held a rally in front of the Bank of America Building in downtown St. Louis, announcing that big banks are quietly financing the biggest payday lending companies. The announcement was based on a report issued by National People's Action out of Chicago.
I videotaped portions of the rally, which was led by an energized woman named Robin Acree, Executive Director of GRO. When you understand how payday lenders operate (and subvert the political process), you'll also understand why it takes some spunk to stand up to the lenders and to expose these shady dealings. [Note: Acree's microphone had malfunctioned just prior to this segment--she was still carrying it, but it wasn't working].
After seeing a bit of Acree's presentation, you'll see a two-minute confession by Graham McCaulley, who formerly worked at a payday lender and offers a laundry list of the unscrupulous practices he saw first hand.
Consider that these two presentations constitute a formidable indictment of big banks. Here's an excerpt from the NPA document handed out at the St. Louis Rally:
Major payday loan companies receive their funding from the largest national banks . . . Major banks provide over $1.5 Billion in credit available to fund major payday lending companies . . . The major banks funding payday lending include Wells Fargo, Bank of America, U.S. Bank, JP Morgan Bank, and National City (PNC Financial Services Group) . . . Our analysis find that the major banks indirectly fund approximately 450,000 payday loans per year totaling $16.4 Billion in short-term payday loans . . . Major banks access credit from the Federal Reserve discount window at 0.5% or less, these banks extend an estimated $1.5 Billion annually to eight major payday lending companies, who in turn use this credit to issue millions of payday loans to consumers every year at average rates of 400% APR.
For a lot more information about 400% payday loans and why they should be outlawed, see this earlier post, which includes a powerful video of St. Louis attorney John Campbell (John and I work together as consumer lawyers at the Simon Law Firm). And isn't it incredible that it is almost impossible to convince state legislators to cap consumer loans at the substantial rate of 36%? Sad but true.
Researchers have found that low self-esteem and materialism are not just a correlation, but also a causal relationship where low self esteem increases materialism, and materialism can also create low self-esteem. The also found that as self esteem increases, materialism decreases. . . . The paradox that findings such as these bring up, is that consumerism is good for the economy but bad for the individual.
The study announcing this finding was by Lan Nguyen Chaplin (University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign) and Deborah Roedder John (University of Minnesota), to appear in the Journal of Consumer Research.
Just imagine how incensed most Americans would be if they saw the above (untrue) headline on the front page of their daily papers. Do you have any doubt that they would quickly investigate and prosecute the offenders, then throw them into prison?
How amazing that when we substitute "Catholic" for "Muslim," so many Americans forgive the rapists and lean upon their victims. This is a paraphrase of a line used by Christopher Hitchens in an Slate article where he describes the unwieldy Belgian "problem" of the Catholic church. Well, the Belgian criminal justice system is now starting to crack down and the Catholic clergy continues to condemn this intervention of government, all the while stifling the investigations by attempting to withhold the evidence. The Catholic clergy would much rather be left alone, of course, but Hitchens sees this new development--that of "earthly justice"--to be an important and necessary step.
If only this interest in those who have obstructed justice would happen with vigor everywhere. I would offer this suggestion: Dress up the American Catholic clergy as though they were Muslim clergy--tell people that they were Muslim sexual predators rather than Catholic sexual predators--and then watch the American media and justice system go at the offenders like attack dogs. We might even see some action aimed at those numerous accomplices who have worked so hard to cover up the evidence. Hell, we might even see Americans tear down Catholic churches that were within 10 miles of ground zero, if only we could somehow convince Americans that the Catholic clerics were disguised Muslims.
Hello, I invite you to subscribe to Dangerous Intersection by entering your email below. You will have the option to receive emails notifying you of new posts once per week or more often.
