LIQUIDATE, LIQUIDATE, LIQUIDATE!
In an interview with the editorial board of the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Mitt Romney said that he doesn’t support foreclosure relief for the millions of Americans struggling with underwater mortgages, untold numbers of which have been the victims of fraudulent lending or foreclosure practices. “Don’t try to stop the foreclosure process,” said Romney. “Let it …
THE METAPHOR AMERICA NEEDS
More than two months ago, Drew Westen, a professor of psychology at Emory University, wrote a piece for the Times in which he criticized President Obama‘s failure to seize the narrative of the political issues of our times. Well, the president has made a lot of appearances in that time, but he still has yet …
A PLATFORM EMERGES
In Rolling Stone, Matt Taibbi recommends five demands that the Occupy Wall Street protesters ought to set as their agenda: “1. Break up the monopolies. The so-called “Too Big to Fail” financial companies – now sometimes called by the more accurate term “Systemically Dangerous Institutions” – are a direct threat to national security. They are …
ZUCCOTTI PARK, LOWER MANHATTAN, NOON, OCTOBER 13TH
This is the Occupy Wall Street encampment on its 26th day. The usually sensible Mayor Bloomberg has announced his intentions to perform a wholly unnecessary removal of the “creature comforts” of these peaceful protestors–sleeping bags, tarps, etc.–in what is obviously an effort to break up the protest and cause the participants to lose “unit cohesiveness” …
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OUT WITH THE BAD MONEY
Writing in The New York Times today, Martin Feldstein, who was the chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers under President Reagan, argued for “permanently reducing the mortgage debt hanging over America.” Failure to do so, he writes, “ means that further declines in home prices will continue, preventing the rise in consumer spending needed …
AL DAVIS: OWNER, MAVERICK, MILITARY GENIUS
Al Davis, the legendary owner of the Oakland Raiders who died today at 82, was famous for saying something that ought to chiseled onto every lintel in the Pentagon, needle-pointed into a Whitman sampler and hung in a frame on the wall of every member of Congress, and tattooed onto the knuckles of every general …
DID STEVE JOBS CARE ABOUT MARGINAL TAX RATES?
The morning after Steve Jobs died, I watched a usual Morning Joe panel step far outside its sweet spot and try to eulogize Jobs’ impact. Joe Nocera was pretty effective, mostly because he had paid close attention to Jobs and Apple, and Willie Geist was at least in touch with the culture. But Joe, Mika, …
THE LITERARY SEX LIFE OF JOHN WATERS
For a long time now I’ve been saying that the readers of the world have to step up and defend the value of the written word. Don’t be didactic, but by all means, be a little bit elitist. When your friends start talking about Dancing with the Stars, talk about a book or magazine article …