A true history of "Trickle Down Reaganomics" | 20 comments (20 topical, 0 hidden)
my official TYT Producer reaction (none / 0)
I was unable to watch the interview because internet video is annoying to me (how ironic) with all the buffering, but I read the transcript.  Reading a transcript of an interview is also annoying, because people don't speak in the same way they write, so the comments can come across as disjointed in a transcript.  (Why am I wasting time with all these disclaimers?)

Tim got me interested with his title because I too blame Reagan more than anybody else for most of the problems of today's world.  But Kevin Phillips didn't really focus on Reagan much in the interview.  He painted it more as a Reagan/Bush/Clinton/Bush Jr continuum, with heightened opprobrium for Bush Jr and scathing criticism of the entire political class in power during this Administration and today.  

The more eye-opening and distressing part of the interview was when Phillips spoke about how bad the situation still is and may become.

In this interview in which Bill Moyers clearly had sympathy for what Phillips was saying, I wish Moyers had pushed back a little instead of so willingly accommodating Phillips. I didn't like the chumminess, and I think that by being Phillips' lap dog for the interview Moyers failed to bring out more explanation and sharper criticism from Phillips, thus hampering even Moyer's own agenda.

I envied Phillips when he said he was 85 years old so he didn't care much. On the other hand, I despair sometimes where I am too in age. It's too caught in the middle.

Man, I am rambling and being a needless dick. Thanks for posting this Medford.

David

by yturks on 09/20/2008 03:27:58 PM EST

Why blame Reagan? (none / 0)
The new talking point is that WE are to blame because "we bought McMansions we couldn't afford".

I could be wrong, but I've now heard that phrase 3 times in the last 2 days, so I suspect it's one of the new talking points to deflect the blame away from where it's relevant.

Blaming individual consumers is a great way to minimize the fact that bad loans should never have been given out to begin with. The fool on MSNBC just said that consumers share HALF of the responsibility.

Bullshit.

by Tom Hanc on 09/20/2008 04:48:25 PM EST

[ Parent ]
whine whine whine (none / 1)

the quintessential american mentality: "i am so fat, so corpulently disgustingly obese, not because i lack any self control, but because mcdonald's keep feeding me all these tasty meals for such a low cost that i am absolved of all blame".

of course, mcdonald's should not have been providing cheap happy meals in the first place, and banks should not have been providing cheap bank loans either.

spoken like a true american. 

by neo on 09/20/2008 06:41:32 PM EST

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I knew it (none / 0)
As soon as I wrote what I wrote I thought "that capitalizat ion challenged guy will stop reading Ayn Rand for a minute to come to piss in the punch". You didn't disappoint! :)

And that's a terrible analogy by the way.

by Tom Hanc on 09/20/2008 06:45:14 PM EST

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I find (none / 0)
that if you read all of his posts using a stereotypical snooty French beat poet accent, it makes the comments a little more tolerable.  Just a little...  Though the points are obviously still retarded.

by Spencer on 09/20/2008 06:53:58 PM EST

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Awesome (none / 0)
.

by Tom Hanc on 09/20/2008 07:37:02 PM EST

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it is a valid analogy (none / 0)

i take breaks from reading ayn rand to piss in the punch (or crap in the canape) because i can afford to.

you, on the other hand, need to focus on paying off your credit card and not spend time being a whiny bitch on tyt. 

 

after all, how dare that credit card company offer you a credit card in the first place, and offer a low-low teaser rate in the second, and encourage you to transfer all balances and charge away on that card, in the third place, when they should have known that you would only abuse those privileges and not pay your minimum balances on time, and then bitch and moan and whine on tyt when your interest rates are jacked up.

yeah, it is definitely the fault of the credit card companies. how dare they give a credit card to a worthless whiny bitch like you?

don't like that analogy either? in the reality based community, it does not matter what you like or dislike. you can whine all you want; your credit card interest rates are still going to be quite large---and rightly so.

by neo on 09/21/2008 02:22:39 AM EST

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HEY IT WORKS! (none / 0)
Thanks, Spence!

by richardshort2001 on 09/21/2008 02:25:30 AM EST

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You should try it with an Irish accent... (none / 0)
...with a little musical ditty twinkling in the background.  It makes neo almost entertaining!

by EveningStarNM on 09/21/2008 07:37:26 AM EST

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Great idea! (none / 0)
:)

by Tom Hanc on 09/21/2008 08:53:00 PM EST

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Right, right (none / 0)
The sure sign of someone losing an argument? Unwarranted personal attacks (hint, hint).

Mortgage brokers are often just looking to make a quick buck (as someone else said, they are worse than used car salesman), and they often take advantage of their experience and huge knowledge base to sell teaser rate mortgages to people who often can't afford them.

The average person doesn't have an accounting/mathemat ics degree and is not a pro at reading through tens of pages of jargon laden contract written with the specific purpose of being as confusing as possible.

To pretend otherwise would be incredibly naive.

by Tom Hanc on 09/21/2008 08:58:43 PM EST

[ Parent ]

A true history of "Trickle Down Reaganomics" | 20 comments (20 topical, 0 hidden)