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May 08, 2012 03:35 PM UTC

Tuesday Open Thread

  • 34 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

“A self-fulfilling prophecy is an assumption or prediction that, purely as a result of having been made, cause the expected or predicted event to occur and thus confirms its own ‘accuracy.'”

–Paul Watzlawick

Comments

34 thoughts on “Tuesday Open Thread

  1. Ever have an idea that someone else had, except theirs was better? Good for you! You made the TV do that thing it did!

    Or, feel free to put words in Romney’s mouth. Turns out while he was pushing for the auto industry’s bankruptcy and total lack of government support, he really meant managed bankruptcy, with government help at the end.

    It also happens that Romney’s only real complaint of what Obama “eventually” did was the protection of the union worker, calling it “crony capitalism.” Because what industry where needs skilled workers to work? Surely the dramatic turnaround could have been realized with new, untrained and underpaid employees.

    http://politicalticker.blogs.c

  2. In yesteryear’s empty world capital was the limiting factor in economic growth. But we now live in a full world.

    Consider: What limits the annual fish catch – fishing boats (capital) or remaining fish in the sea (natural resources)? Clearly the latter. What limits barrels of crude oil extracted – drilling rigs and pumps (capital), or remaining accessible deposits of petroleum – or capacity of the atmosphere to absorb the CO2 from burning petroleum (both natural resources)? What limits production of cut timber – number of chain saws and lumber mills, or standing forests and their rate of growth? What limits irrigated agriculture – pumps and sprinklers, or aquifer recharge rates and river flow volumes? That should be enough to at least suggest that we live in a natural resource-constrained world, not a capital-constrained world.

    http://steadystate.org/what-is

    1. In the software world it used to require substantial money to take a company from idea to profitable (or acquired). But it is now so dirt cheap to start a company that you have dollars chasing people rather than people chasing dollars.

    2. the hot concept of “structural unemployment” is largely an excuse for the wealthy to say…no need to raise our taxes or spend money on job stimulus programs because it’s hopeless anyway.

      According to this view, shared by Krugman among others, not so much:

      http://www.huffingtonpost.com/

      1. There is a lot of unemployment due to the fact that we’re in a recession. And a lot due to reduced government spending.

        But housing was previously at an unsustainable level so it had to come down. And we have fundamental changes that drastically reduce employment. Craigslist has 27 employees and they have eliminated hundreds of thousands of jobs in the newspaper industry.

        We also have a significant change in the employment picture. Lots of people out of work and yet there are tons of open jobs where there is no one qualified available. Very big mis-match between job need and employee skills.

  3. First, based on the comments coming out, I think McNulty will kill the bill. He will put financial support from the base ahead of winning competitive seats. While this is not in the best interests of a GOP that wants to dominate the state, it is in the best interests of legislators in safe districts.

    Second, the political pendulum swings back and forth. From FDR it moved right (with a shift back left under LBJ) to Reagan and then Bush II. And as always occurs, it swings too far and then swings back.

    I think we’re seeing the swing back. Big time. Both in the battles for gay rights occurring in state after state. And in the recent votes in Europe in favor of growth over austerity.

    Civil unions will probably not pass over the next 2 days. But it will pass next year, and gay marriage will pass within 5. All of it under a Democratic majority that will move us forward to a better future.

    1.  “From FDR it moved right”…..

      His name was Harry S. Truman, one of the greatest Democratic presidents this country has ever had.  He ran against the “do nothing republican Congress” and he signed an Executive Order integrating the military in 1948, an election year, risking his election and splitting the democratic party.  Talk about guts. Truman was not a “rightist.”  He succeeded FDR in 1945.

      1. let facts get in the way of David’s pendulum metaphor?

        The rightward swing came in the 1970s, with Prop 103, PATCO union-busting and the Reagan tax cuts and military build-up. But if David wants to think this happened between FDR and LBJ, who’s to argue?

      2. disses Truman and nada a nod to JFK’s New Frontier.  

        That swing left in ’60s started at the end of Ike’s term with Civil Rights Act and was furthered a bit (foreshortened in Dallas) when he appointed 40 African Americans to sr govt posts (5 as Federal judges), created the Commission on Equal Employment Opportunity, his Justice Dept filed about 60 lawsuits suing to overturn voter rights discrimination in the states, and started the Peace Corps.

        But then again history is all too factee …  

        1. He sent the troops to enforce a Supreme Court decision that mandated that public schools be integrated. The Warren court made that decision.  Warren was a Republican, nominated to the Court by Eisenhower.

          Even tho Eisenhower was a Republican, the civil rights movement started during his administration, after he “went to Korea and stopped the war.”

          We probably should redefine “right and left,” and recognize that time was when bright  brave men and women manned both sides of the political divide.

      3. Yes Truman continued much of FDR’s legacy and moved us a bit more forward on Civil Rights.

        Eisenhower swung us back, not by a lot but he did swing us back. At the same time he enforced the law even when he didn’t agree with it and therefore continued us on Civil Rights.

        I don’t think JFK accomplished much (I’m in the minority there) and mostly had his hand forced on Civil Rights. But LBJ did amazing things with both the war on poverty and Civil Rights.

        Then came Nixon who moved us back to the center.

        Then came Carter who moved us back some to the left. I think he wanted to move us more, but was unable to do so.

        Then came Reagan/Bush I who moved us way further to the right. Way, way, way.

        Then cam Clinton who moved us back some to the center. Clinton was to Reagan as Eisenhower was to FDR/Truman, moved it back some to the center but is was a much smaller “correction” to Reagan’s large shift.

        Then Bush II moved us even further to the right. Way, way out there.

        And now we have Obama who, like Carter, has moved us back some to the center. And would like to move us further (I think) but has not been able to do so.

        But I think we’re now about to see a fundamental shift where we do move back to the left side of the median.  

      4. But I also like Ike – freakin’ pacifist socialist.  

        And JFK.  LBJ not as much (too corrupt and controlling) and Nixon was a criminal.  Thence begins the rightward shift. (Ford was the pre-Reaganlite Regan lite. Carter wouldn’t bash the shit out of Congress,  Reagan, Bush1, Clinton/Gingrich, and Bush2.)  

      5. Congress moved sharply to the right after FDR’s failed court-packing effort and the Dixie-GOP coalition began a decades long reign that was only broken by LBJ with the civil rights bill in 1964. I agree truman was a good man but his only success on civil rights was by executive order like integrating the military.

        1. “I agree truman was a good man but his only success on civil rights was by executive order like integrating the military.”

          That took incredible courage, from a man from Missouri, that still had Jim Crow laws when I was there in the 50s.

          Don’t you know, military historian that you might be,

          that the military would grant compassionate transfers to men so they didn’t have to take their families to states with miscegenation laws way into the 60s.

          I think it important to realize that the so-called “swings right and left” were in response to specific events.

          So the Dixie GOP coalition was in response to Truman’s

          Executive order integrating the military.  The rise of the GOP in the south was directly related to Nixon’s Southern Strategy to capture old line segregation “forever” dems into the republican party.

          I am uncomfortable with the idea that significant progress in extending civil rights to disenfranchised citizens can be reduced to “right and left” swings.

          Right and left, to me, has to do with economic and social policies, not fundamental human rights.

  4. …because I was certain he’d be all over this US News & World Report survey that ranks High school education, which shows the great job that Colorado is doing…

       One of the states with flexibility from No Child Left Behind mandates, Colorado tests students via state assessments that cover math, reading, writing, and science. Colorado has programs to help homeless students, create drug-free schools, and promote nutrition education, according to the Colorado Department of Education.

       There are 88 Colorado schools ranked in 2012 among the U.S. News Best High Schools, including 18 gold medal schools, 22 silver medal schools, and 48 bronze medal schools. One of Colorado’s top-ranked secondary schools is Peak to Peak Charter School, located within the Boulder Valley School District, which is about a 40-minute drive from the state capital of Denver.

    http://www.usnews.com/educatio

    1. he checked out for a couple of weeks and the mornings are much brighter and the world is more happy.  Now ya know he’s not gonna come back an read old posts … especially old posts with factual links so you might as well save ’em up.

  5. GEN Shinseki’s speech at the Student Veterans of America Conference:

    Over 315,000 good people come to work at VA every day. One third-over 100,000 of us-are Veterans, and our goal is 126,000 Veterans, or 40 percent of our workforce. Every year, VA hires over 40,000 new employees.

    Now, most of you know VA as a healthcare provider, and for the most part that’s true. We are the largest integrated healthcare system in the country-152 medical centers, over 800 Community-Based Outpatient Clinics, nearly 300 Vet Centers, and a number of outreach and mobile clinics-doctors, nurses, medical technicians of every discipline, social workers, psychologists, physical therapists, dietitians-and the list goes on.

    More broadly, in size and scope, VA is on par with a Fortune 15 company, with a 2012 budget request, currently before the Congress, of $132.2 billion. Here is what’s also true about VA:

    We are second only to the Department of Education in providing educational benefits of $10 billion annually.

    VA guarantees nearly 1.6 million home loans with an unpaid balance of $248 billion. Our foreclosure rate is the lowest in all categories of mortgage loans.

    VA is the nation’s 8th largest life insurance enterprise with $1.3 trillion in coverage, 7.1 million clients, and a 95% satisfaction rating.

    VA operates the country’s largest national cemetery system-131 cemeteries.

    Beyond healthcare professionals, we also hire-engineers, accountants, lawyers, claims adjudicators, and specialists and managers in every imaginable field, including acquisition, human resources, public affairs, and information technology. And then, we grow them into situationally aware, adaptive leaders to build decisiveness and agility in this department. It’s our Veteran-heavy workforce that’s, in large measure, responsible for much of our success. Nearly three-quarters of our cemetery employees are Veterans, and for the past 10 years they have been, hands-down, the top-rated public or private sector organization in customer service in the Nation, according to the American Customer Satisfaction Index-outperforming Google, Lexus, Apple, and all other comers.

    Our Consolidated Mail Outpatient Pharmacy filled over 111 million prescriptions last fiscal year. J.D. Power and Associates recognized it as one of their 2011 customer-service champions. And in 2009, our Clinical Research Pharmacy Coordinating Center received the prestigious Malcolm Baldrige Quality Award-America’s highest honor for innovation and performance excellence presented annually by the President-only the second federal agency to be so recognized in 23 years. That’s the quality of performance and leadership Veterans provide at VA. So, we have raised our goal for Veterans hiring to 40%

    http://www.va.gov/opa/speeches

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