indexed

Brilliant!

Add Greenspan.

Hah.. one that I actually get.

Unfair!

HAH

Haha, yowsa!

Love the blog except for the gross liberalism. It stinks. pooh!

Genius!

Except he's been trying to help solve the economic issues... whether you call it fact or fiction, I'd have thought you'd have been happy he's actually doing something other talk about the War on Terror.

You can't have it both ways.

-ISammael

Two years ago, our economy was fine.

Two years after we vote for change and a Democrat led congress it is crap.

GB approval around 30%
Congress, in the teens.

And they are the ones that truly change things.

Congress can't change a thing if the president continues to veto everything that comes across his desk.

Anyone remember the lesson re: checks & balances?

Hmm, how is Bush in hiding? What is your definition hiding?

S. Edwards

Also:
Kim Jung Il, Axl Rose, and Steve Bartman!

Hiding: knowing better than to publically endorce members of your own party during an election year because you are a HUGE embarassment. i.e. Republican National Convention.

They are indeed two sides of the same crazy fundamentalist coin.

This bailout deal is the first noteworthy (not necessarily good) thing he's done in months. Most of his time previous seems to have been spent on tasks which could be considered time-fillers. And that doesn't even mention his unwillingness to answer any questions from the press at his (very) brief and few press conferences in recent months. I think the economy crashing may have actually reminded him that there are a lot of things he's responsible for . . .

I'm guessing that you're audience skews younger, so this won't totally be true, but you do realize that when you go political, you're collectively slapping the faces of half the potential audience out there that might otherwise enjoy the slice of life pictures you create.

janleac,

What exactly has Bush been vetoing?
Just curious?

Pelosi is still complaining about failed economic policies (did so today, in fact). Except that for the LAST TWO YEARS or so, *she* is the person most responsible for setting economic policy. Everything starts in the House and she runs the House.

Love the blog except for the occasional conservatism. It stinks. pooh!

You let Bush off easy by comparing him to Bin Laden. Next time try the devil or somebody worse.

(x, why?) & anonymous: it's her blog. if she wants to get political & liberal, she's allowed to get political & liberal. if you'd rather not be "slapped in the face," you don't have to continue reading.

One of my all-time favorites. Classic. Epic. With a slight rose aftertaste.

I heartily approve.

good one... its really to bad dubya showed the world just how daft americans can be... america just another business to run into the ground...

Bingo! This makes perfect sense, sad but true.

Jessica, please keep slapping their faces with the naked truth. It might hurt like hell, but you'll never see those poor guys change their minds.

@ Devil

Nor will you ever change yours...

If she has the right to slap our face, then why can't we quip back?

The "slap" mentioned above needs to swing both ways, don't you think? While George W. Bush hasn't been the perfect president (who ever has been?), the Congress has been the absolute worse, maybe in history. Gives a new meaning to "do nothing Congress..." The only thing they have done is kill our economy. Two years ago, before they came into power, did you hear any democrat complaining about the economy? No! It was all about the war...now, with them in power, it is the economy. Is there a correlation here? Sure seems to be!

Come on! Do you really believe the economic situation that lead to the current crisis is less than two years old? What, there was no subprime before the Democrats got Congress? There was no government hyperborrowing?

Great post!!

In regards to the comments, some of you seem to be tripping over a common logical fallacy. Post hoc ergo propter hoc - after this, therefore caused by this. Yes, the opposition party took over the congress. And then the economic disaster, which had been looming on the horizon for a long time, finally happened. Yes, there is a chronological proximity, but that does not imply causation.

It's better to look at the root causes of our current economic woes, and then if you want to play the blame game, trace those back to where they originated. The repeal of glass-steagall comes to mind, among other things.

I generally love this blog, even when you take shots that I don't agree with. But, bearing in mind the actual atrocities committed by Bin Laden, I have to say that this comparison seems unfair and, more importantly, in really really poor taste.

Even good ole President Bill put the blame on the Democrats in congress. He tried to stop this during his presidency and the congress democrats blocked him.

hee hee... :p

http://tinyurl.com/3pq85m

(its a safe link, no worries... just funny and wanted to share)

Democrats bad for economy? Read this:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/31/business/31view.html

A brief summary: From an economic perspective you are either selfish and rich or just plain retarded if you vote republican.

At blah:

-Votes Republican.

-Is not selfish or rich.

-Is finishing Master's in Music Education; studying astrophysics and cosmology online; scored high on the WAIS.

Must mean one of two situations: (a) your summary of the article is incorrect, or (b) the NYT (which I read daily) occasionally is wrong.

-ISammael

(It's not bragging if it's anonymous, is it? That wasn't my intent, anyways...)

The NYT presents statistics there. Nothing to be wrong or right about ...

I guess my summary is a little harsh but I also think you forgot two more options:
c.) you are not as smart as you think.
d.) you vote republican for other than economic reasons.

Oh and if you disagree with that, read the article carefully. I think we can agree that statistics carry at least some weak prediction power for future performances. Then, please, explain to me why do you think it is a good idea to increase income inequality.

I hate it when you're political.

Certainly the almighty statistic is infallible. However, just to point something else out, let's do some math.

Since Nixon, here are the breakdowns for inflation by presidential party:

Dems: 4.995% (must round to 5.00, as we have only three digits)
Reps: 4.66%

The latter is inflated for two reasons:
1. Holdover from the Carter administration (note: Carter was not the initial cause of inflation).
2. Two years of oil crisis, which certainly is beyond the control of a president.

Let us assume this holds, however.

Ratio of income level to inflation:
Dems: 0.56% increase
Reps: 0.35% increase

This implies, with as much correlational (but not causal, as the NYT 'article' implies) truth as Professor Blunder says, that the difference is really not so big. However, two things:

1. Presidents have about as much control over both inflation and income as you and I do.
2. Blinder's article does not point out that taxes for the lower middle class will actually be higher under Obama than under McCain (see the former's medical tax cuts for the working class).

That said, perhaps I tend to vote Republican because I am a racist, anti-feminist, anti-unionist, anti-educationist, closed-minded... whatever. I know I'm not, and that's good enough for me.

~ISammael

P.S. My main point is that Blinder takes this information as causal, when any social economist would scoff at that notion.

You have the right to quip, but not to whine. If you find yourself in a debate, make sure you add to it, not take away from it.
Most of the people here are doing a great job of this. Back-pats all around.

You should have noted Sarah Palin's position in the "in hiding / globally despised" area.

> Love the blog except for the gross liberalism. It stinks. pooh!

I know, enough with this Bin Laden bashing. He's the best thing that ever happened to the Republican party!

McCain in 2008!
Let's end this Bill of Rights once and for all.

It's not the absolute growth that is interesting. Yes the general economic growth is probably more influenced by other factors, which Prof. Blinder (by the way very clever word play there ...) also pointed out.
But the interesting part is how this growth is divided up. And to me the table in the article speaks miles.

And as a side (a note on causality if you will) tax cuts do not imply income growth ...

I love it.

The whiners can always turn on Sean Hannity.

HA HA!

Sometimes, I try to give this site a try since it is linked to XKCD. But then I realize why I didn't read it regularly because of cards like this one.

I guess us whiners are just bitter.

Well, by reading this blog, you are subjecting yourself to being slapped in the face. I think that, however, you would not be at fault for arguing against the card, but to say something stupid like "Oh, now I remember why I don't read this" is just complaining. Or whining. Or whatever you want to call it, its all semantics.

Sorry to nitpick, but acknowledging that someone is despised does not equal despising them yourself. Therefore "liberal bias" is fail.

2. Blinder's article does not point out that taxes for the lower middle class will actually be higher under Obama than under McCain (see the former's medical tax cuts for the working class).

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/01/us/politics/01mccain.html -- not true, because those tax credits for health care would also mean you paying taxes on that health care. That's also ignoring the fact that McCain's credit covers $5000... when the average cost of health insurance is $12,500.

The thing people don't realize is that the GOP isn't a conservative party, it's a fundamentalist party. They grow the government and waste tax dollars just as badly if not worse than the Democratic party. See the past eight years. I really wish that a party with actual conservative principles (small government, low taxes, protecting the constitution) would either displace or rise out of the current Republican party. There are some good looking third party candidates, but America's political system doesn't really have room for them.