Short Takes
I find it mostly a relief that the campaign is over and it's been great to throttle down in consumption and processing of news. I almost feel normal again and have celebrated my more relaxed state of mind by adding a spiffy Samsung giant HDTV into the household.
Here's a few thoughts on some things happening around me:
** The Joe Lieberman Story:
As regular readers already know, I was a premature anti-Lieberman type, refusing to vote for him and Al Gore in 2000. I knew he was a schmuck then. He's a schmuck now. Should the Senate Democrats strip him of his chairmanship or even expel him from the caucus because he was a strident supporter for McCain-Palin? Answer: Who cares? If the Democrats expelled every Senator who was a putz, they'd be down to very, very few members. Why not expel those who voted for war in Iraq? Those who voted for NAFTA? Those who backed down on banning torture? etc etc. Yawn.
** The Great General Motors Bailout
Unless you're an unrepentant Marxist or a knuckle-dragging Republican, you ought to be supporting government intervention in General Motors. And let's call it that cuz that's what it would be. GM sucks, of course. But its failure could mean the economic collapse of literally millions of American families. Question is -- what sort of intervention? On this one, I'm with SMU economist Dr. Ravi Batra. His proposal, in simple terms: the government should buy about 2/3 of the shares of GM (each one currently worth a little more than a role of Charmin'). This would be a drop in the Treasury's bucket at these bargain basement prices. Then GIVE those shares to the workers of GM, convoke an immediate shareholders' meeting, vote out the chumps who have driven the company into the ground, and let GM emloyees elect a board and choose a CEO who actually knows how to build great cars. GM should heretofore build ONLY very efficient, very economic, relatively inexpensive cars -- and continue the manufacture of Corvettes, of course!
** Hillary As Secretary of State
Gawd no. Come on, Barack. Wait till you're in office a few months before you spring something ugly on us like this. Hillary, the gal whose hubby race-baited Barack? Hillary who played the fear card against Obama? I somehow thought we were voting for Obama so we could get rid of her. Anyway, I'm opposed to anything that Henry Kissinger is for. Let's hope this all blows over. My hope is that Bill and his Presidential Library are so soaked in greasy contributions, Hill can't be vetted.
** L.A. Weekly Decline
I promised you last week I would write in detail about the long, slippery slide of the L.A. Weekly. Haven't worked up the sufficient level of grim-ness yet to complete the task. And not sure anyone is very much interested. But will probably get to it next week sometime. Maybe.
** The Future of the HuffPost's OffTheBus
For the past fourteen months I had the treat of acting as editor of The Huffington Post's OffTheBus citizen reporting project. We humbly think it worked pretty well and broke some important new ground in trying to redefine journalism in the digital age. Our mandate, however, was limited to covering the '08 campaign. So as co-founders Arianna Huffington and Jay Rosen now make official, we are formally parking the bus and simultaneously will try to import its collective reporting methodology across the entire HuffPost. Still working out the details. And what role I will or will not play in this effort remains to be defined. I'm quite heavily involved in several projects at USC and a lingering book-to-be-written so sometime after Turkey Day I will try to sort it all out.
November 17th, 2008 at 10:26 pm
Tits failure is about the worst kind of failure there is.
November 17th, 2008 at 10:41 pm
Ha! Thanks. Caught the typo!
November 17th, 2008 at 10:52 pm
Totally agree about GM.
The service economy is a myth. The knowledge economy is a myth. Manufacturing matters. And letting GM go out of business would be very bad indeed. We bailed out Chrysler in the 80’s. If anything the car manufacturers are even more important now.
The whole American car culture probably needs to be completely rethought, but for now it’s what we’ve got.
November 17th, 2008 at 10:56 pm
Welcome back to a more relaxed state of being, Marc. Definitely count me among those interested in hearing your report on the L.A. Weekly’s demise. Like many others here, I remember the glory days when I could count on thoughtful columns from you, John Powers, Harold Meyerson, Brendan Bernhard, etc. Now the paper is just a shell of itself–even the online version is ratty looking, replete with font formatting errors (in Firefox, at least). Glad to hear you got out of that sinking ship.
November 17th, 2008 at 11:30 pm
With regards to the GM bailout and all due respect, bollocks! GM won’t go out of business if it doesn’t get a handout, the same way that the airlines kept running through their bankruptcies in the 80s. What will happen at worst is that GM goes into Chapter 11 bankruptcy, which is court-supervised reorganization of the company’s operations and finances. It’s creditors will own the company, they’ll have the freedom to sell-off or shut down what isn’t working, renegotiate their labor and pension contracts, fire the management, and start making and selling cars that people want to buy.
Shoveling billions in government money to Detroit is like giving a crack addict another hit: it will just enable them to keep on doing what they’ve been doing and limp along a few more years until we’re right back where we started.
We’ve already been bailing out Detroit for decades, through trade restrictions, centering our transportation infrastructure around automobiles, and fighting wars for cheap oil, and this is what it’s gotten us. We’ve been bailing them right out of business.
November 18th, 2008 at 1:53 am
CH on HC
November 18th, 2008 at 3:06 am
I’m with Tom on GM on the superiority of Chapter 11 versus a bailout.
But no one should kid themselves that “making small cars people want to drive” is as easy as willing it so.
It’s not just that GM bet big on big SUVs. It’s also that company lacks the network of compliant, complicit suppliers that so benefits Toyota, Honda and other Asian rivals.
Without an industrial policy that compells more fundamental industries such as steel, tiremakers, parts makers and glassmakers (along with health insurance providers) to at least partly subordinate their interests to that of the carmakers, none will be able to defeat their Japanese rivals.
A lot of commentary these days implies that the people running GM are either stupid or incompetent when that, for the most part, just isn’t the case. They are dealt a far tougher hand to play than their Asian rivals — ALL of whom jumped on the high-margin SUV/truck bandwagon as well.
Autoworkers should get a bailout for sure, in terms of retraining and unemployment payments for a transition period. But there is just no reason to insist that GM can only exist in its present configuration.
November 18th, 2008 at 5:34 am
I was concerned about the potential Hillary appointment until Hitchens came out against it. Hitchens’ freakout convinced me Obama knows precisely what he’s doing…
November 18th, 2008 at 6:05 am
Marc,
We have a Samsung HDTV - LOVE it!
You are the guy who didn’t vote for Gore/Lieberman? (I voted Nader and still regret it)
OFW - we live and learn, eh?
Joe “The Schmuck” Lieberman should be axed - he is a DINO and has proved it over and over again.
When will the D’s get the difference between a big tent and sleeping with the enemy?
Thanks!
November 18th, 2008 at 6:41 am
I want a meeting between Jay Z and Tipper Gore, dedicated to Frank Zappa and Chip Heston.
November 18th, 2008 at 7:30 am
Cooper, don’t you read newspapers? Most of Obama’s advisers and proposed cabinet choices are Clinton-era retreads from Paul Volcker to Madeline Albright of it was necessary for 500,000 Iraqi children to die infamy. But I can’t imagine that any of this would bother you since you are obviously far more interested in Obama’s image than in his substance. That, of course, is what happens when you make a living as a bourgeois journalist. You become susceptible to the superficiality of the magazines and newspapers that you whore for.
November 18th, 2008 at 7:34 am
Marc, another correction.
You need to change “The Great General Motors Bailout” to “The Great UAW Bailout.” Union leadership and Democrats are pushing the bill, because, if G.M. declared bankruptcy, all of its union contracts and obligations would immediately be voided. That would stop the hemorrhaging.
But, if G.M. employees were GIVEN controlling stock interests and elected a new board and chose a new CEO, you can bet that their first action wouldn’t be to build a great car but to get more pay raises.
Anyway, if the union employees had the stock, they wouldn’t keep it long, because they would sell it right back into the market and lose control, as they should for being stupid, greedy, and non-productive.
I truly sympathize with people who might lose their jobs as a result of company problems, but taxpayers cannot continue to support losing businesses…which brings me to AMTRAK.
November 18th, 2008 at 7:38 am
Marc, if you’re heavily involved in projects at So. Cal, you might want to ask them to fly me out to help teach your journalism classes. We’d start with Accounting 101 - how to read an income statement.
November 18th, 2008 at 7:47 am
Range of reactions among Obama supporters and aides to the Clinton thing - probably the best roundup of sensible people on the pros and cons I’ve seen to date:
http://tinyurl.com/6rqquo
(Also, for the record, Paul Volcker did not serve under Clinton, but under Carter and Reagan. You can read that in newspapers!)
November 18th, 2008 at 7:59 am
Here’s a liberal’s solution to the economic crisis:
With a recession in sight, the case for legalizing marijuana and taxing it for government revenue seems more practical than ever.
November 18th, 2008 at 9:33 am
Legalizing marijuana makes perfect economic sense, from a business perspective. Of course, making perfect sense is something outside of the grasp of most Republicans, despite their lip service to free enterprise. No surprise there.
November 18th, 2008 at 10:10 am
There is quite a bit of chatter about keeping gas prices high in order to induce people to buy smaller cars. An alternative which is less politically charged would be to put a substantial tax on the larger vehicles which would include a tax on the purchase price and a yearly tax on the vehicle licensing fee. This would involve cooperation between the federal government and individual states, and would likely involve some forgiveness for pickup trucks in agricultural states.
As for GM, I think it is prudent to keep the company afloat. Notice that the creation of a national health plan or lowering Medicare eligibility to 55 or 60 years of age would relieve GM of a substantial fraction of its retiree obligations (wouldn’t help on pensions, but health insurance is a big part of the problem).
The quickest route to a national health plan: The large corporations should announce that they are getting out of supplying health coverage to their employees, and that they expect the government to take up the slack. We would have a national health plan inside of a year; the employers would get charged tax to recover their current outlays, but the nonsense about eligibility for part time workers etc would be avoided.
November 18th, 2008 at 11:06 am
reg -
where did Hitch discuss Hill?
November 18th, 2008 at 11:55 am
Marc, seeing that Northern Nevada is the only part of the state that still pays 3-2 on blackjack, maybe your next book will be called `Reno: The Last Honest Place in Nevada’?
November 18th, 2008 at 12:05 pm
If Marc needs a title for his next book, how about “Marc Cooper: Confessions of a Repentant Socialist.” That’s what I’d like to read.
November 18th, 2008 at 12:16 pm
“where did H diss H”
Chileno - 1:53am
November 18th, 2008 at 12:23 pm
Hillary should take the Secretary of State job, as it could be the fastest way for her to become President.
November 18th, 2008 at 12:41 pm
Marc, congratulations on the new TV. I often recommend that my clients who have been terminated from employment go out and purchase an expensive toy to show they don’t need their stinkin’ job.
November 18th, 2008 at 1:16 pm
Woody: So you can read an income statement, but how about a moral balance sheet?
While it’s more important that Obama won the election, it’s certainly more fun that the Republicans lost.
It’s comedy gold watching them try to formulate a response.
What’s funniest is that the debate is centered on what the best ideology is for attracting voters. The party seems divided on whether it simply needs to yell louder or to adjust the wording it uses to clash less with reality.
What I most love about this is the GOP’s inability to see that its ideology is not the problem. The freakouts about sex still have enough appeal with the religious, the anti-tax stuff will always be popular and the crypto-racism will be good enough again as soon as we can find a suitable dark-skinned dictator to focus the hate on.
What turned Americans off to Republicans is the habitual dishonesty.
Bush lied to start a war.
It doesn’t get any more diabolical than that. And even people who supported the war initially concluded that without WMD, it just doesn’t fly morally. So when the war failed as a practical matter as well, the lying became unforgivable, even to many who might have let it slide otherwise.
Of course, we can add that Bush lied about his tax policies, the cost of the Medicare prescription law, how Cheney’s energy policies were formed, the Valerie Plame affair, Rove’s purge of public attorneys and so on and so forth.
Now, repenting at leisure, Republicans are busy trying to mix up a new batch of Kool Aid, with new improved Resentment FlavorsTM, when really, all they have to do to win back voters is STOP LYING.
But of course they can’t do that, since doing so would require the honesty to admit that lying is the problem.
November 18th, 2008 at 2:18 pm
Clinton as SoS at least means she would no longer be my Senator. Small potatoes perhaps, but a small glimmer anyway.
November 18th, 2008 at 2:25 pm
bunkerbuster, have you been taking estrogen supplements?
November 18th, 2008 at 2:39 pm
I think Hillary’s people spread the rumor that Obama had asked her. You know, because then it would look bad if he actually wouldn’t ask her.
November 18th, 2008 at 2:43 pm
It looks as if Obama will choose Eric Holder, a former Clinton appointee, as his new Attorney General, who proved his competence by agreeing to the pardon of Mark Rich. This is change? At least he’s black, and that’s all that counts.
November 18th, 2008 at 2:49 pm
I think “change” has always meant from the lies and government opaqueness of the Bush Administration, and not from the actually halfway decent Clinton Admin.
A good barometer of whether or not Obama is doing a good job is if people like Woody (otherwise known as 10% of the country) are complaining or making snarky comments.
November 18th, 2008 at 4:43 pm
The Woodpecker asks: “have you been taking estrogen supplements?”
I answer:
What’s wrong with going pharmaceutical to try and offset the raging manliness, testosterone glut and sheer animal magnetism for women I had the fate to be born with?
November 18th, 2008 at 4:46 pm
You guys need to get laid, Part II.
November 18th, 2008 at 4:47 pm
Jim H:
Yes, good idea. Blackjack also pays 3 to 2 at many Vegas tables but they are all multi-deck and have other onerous rules. Currently there are a total of about SIX BJ tables in all of LV that are single deck and pay 3 to 2. These are all in downtown dives and the tourists dont even notice them nestled among the rip off tables.
When I was last in Reno a year ago there were still plenty of single deck 3 to 2 games forunately/// but most of them you could double down only on 9-10-11 thereby sgaving the odds a bit. Times are tough everywhere!
However, if the econ continues to slump, Vegas will be in so much pain they might even have to re-introduce some real gambling instead of the current vacuum machine model!
To DJ Slim: I am TOTALLY offended that you label me a “bourgeois journalist.” Please be advised that while I have bourgeois aspirations I am, alas, only a petit-bourgeois journalist. Or what other Stalinoid robots like you used to call “cabbage-headed intellectuals.” Or was that Pol Pot?
November 18th, 2008 at 5:00 pm
The Carson City Nugget has recently layed off 20 employees, and of all things, is thinking of going non-profit to enable a development scheme another local has in mind (to upgrade downtown Carson City, don’t ya know).
More as this develops
November 18th, 2008 at 5:18 pm
It’s actually a pretty interesting story…can the Adam’s family be for real?
November 18th, 2008 at 6:00 pm
Marc,
Re the TV, my brother has his own business installing home theater systems with builders. he has a 1080P projector projecting onto a 96″ glass-beaded screen, two subwoofers one at 1000 watts the other at 1250 watts with blackout curtains and a chaise lounge with a cooler under the arm rest.
Strap a Depends on and you’re set
November 18th, 2008 at 6:28 pm
Does this mean that my black-and-white tv is out of date?
November 18th, 2008 at 6:46 pm
The Democrats let Sen. Lieberman keep his chairmanship. They want to control 60 votes in the Senate any way that they can. Sen. Lieberman supported the Iraq War and the Republican candidate. This must drive the left crazy.
November 18th, 2008 at 7:00 pm
Thoughtful article on path for an Obama presidency by Mark Schmitt, whose “Theories of Change” piece in American Prospect was IMHO the best analysis of Obama’s strategy during the primaries.
http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?article=the_audacity_of_patience
Woody - I’m convinced, as is Howard Dean, that the Lieberman move was smart and will help consolidate Dem power in the Senate when it really matters. Lieberman’s totally in Obama’s debt. Obama’s about a thousand times smarter than you are. He’s playing chess - you’re diddling yourself in the john. You’re not fit to shiine his shoes. Go post your natterings over at Firedoglake if you want to haggle over this crap. You’re a boring, irrelevant drone…
November 18th, 2008 at 7:34 pm
reg, you might allow that I’m at a disadvantage because I’m not black, which allows Obama to avoid scrutiny by being in the position to have critics labeled as racist.
Do you consider yourself smarter than Obama? If so, tell us. If not, admit it and quit commenting, as you think that one must be smarter than a president to make statements.
I hope that Obama is smarter than me and that, for once, he actually uses his intelligence to help the U.S. Otherwise, he’ll ruin us with a socialist agenda, which is not smart.
Now get back to your job of being a bag toter for people better than you–like me.
November 18th, 2008 at 7:44 pm
Your disadvantage has nothing to do with race, but it’s considerable.
November 18th, 2008 at 8:20 pm
Woody,
Your anxiety over your sexual identity is raging today!!! I have seen slander all over this board. Needless to say, it is amusing to us all that you have to mask your homosexuality with insults. Being a bully will not make you straight. It will not help you find a women, loose weight, or make something of yourself. You will still be fat, stupid, and living in the closet. Come out!